New-York tribune., 1896-11-29
COUNTRY EDITORS WORK.
ENTERPRISE. INDUSTRY AND PROGREo-
sIvENEss CHARACTERIZE IT.
AN INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN THE COMMUNITY
ONE OF THE FAILURES.

AN INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN THE COMMUNITY
ONE OF THE FAILURES.
I'VE have store. a church. a hotel and a school.
house The store has a big stock OF goods from
garden seed TO silk dresses the hotel Is GOOD
one. with everything TO attract the drummer or
the tourist; the school is the best for miles around.
and our church is the pride Of the place What We
want now IL a paper"
SO wrote a from a manufacturing village
which had grown up around large and prosperous
plant. and the call finally reached young man
who had learned the printers trade and who I'm
pressed his friends with much confidence that
they aided him in fitting up a printing shop IN
the little place. from which THE Weekly News
to be issued. The factory printing had been
promised TO the young man. and the doctor, the
clergyman. the school teacher and the factory
superintendent had each spoken encouragingly to
him. There was no newspaper nearer the village
than The Eagle which issued every
Wednesday ten miles away. and by bringing The
News out Tuesday he figured that he could
head or his nearest competitor: and so II was de-
cided that the paper should be Tuesday
paper. With visions OF steam presses. type-settng
machines. large circulation and journalistic
reputation the village paper was launched Every
body pleased with IT. and even the village
swell" who went Ito town every day and who
said: 1T won't be yeekly-it will be a try
weekly. They'll publish It one week and try to
publish II the next and maybe they Will succeed
and maybe not" even he bought II and read II
regularly.
That years ago. The little paper has grown
with the village and has become a feature Of the
place. The experience OF the enterprising young
printer that of hundreds of country news
paper In ali parts OF the United States. In
many instances there was no home Industry to
give the young newspaper man encouragement.
and I'm hundreds of cases there competitors
by and in he same village. But these facts
"a Iator ba afict nd tbov
do not frighten him to-day and the consequence II
that the United States IL rich in small news
papers. and that through them thousands OF peo-
pie keep posted In affairs OF the day
The country newspaper man occupies the same
place To the average country busi-
ness man; there are no more failures in The rural
newspaper business than there are In the rural
store business. Still. the country editor. II asked
by young man how to start paper. would say.
Don't" He would tell the aspirant for Journal
istic honors that the work Is thankless and bur-
densome. that there Is money In H. that the
country newspaper must compete with the metro
politan papers ard that every subscriber wants
favors which many times more than the
nual subscription. But the complaining editor
remains In business. his paper usually grows. he
adds presses to his outfit and shows other
signs Of prosperity. and he would not abandon his
plant except for a handsome consideration.
How | sell out?' country editor said
when approa ched on the subject Il am firmly
rooted here Have my family in the place and
belong y IT, My coming here was an experiment
but had 10 take pay for my paper In all sorts
of things that would be good a bachelor.
| married and that settled IT,"
The resident of a large city who Is accustomed
10 receive his paper daily and who reads the
from all parts OF the world before he reaches his
place OF business has imperfect idea of the
average country newspaper. and when an occa-
siona copy reaches him he is apt to sneer at the
queer li'tle sheets with their personal gossip and
strange business notices. To those who have seen
the offices from which of these papers are
issued there is nothing ridiculous in the little
papers and the perseverance OF their editors IN.
spires them WIKI admiration and respect.
one room irequ-h,. Constitutes ."- whole plant
This contains all the type setting and printing
Dnsii.ess manager, advertising solicitor. reporter
and and. foreman Of the printing department. divides
Almanac and Some bubble documents con, ,rbuteS
lature from the district. and ornaments In the
and fair advertisements. and cheap portraits Of
prominent polisicans usually constitute the outnt
But the country newspaper. matter II II
comes from primitive one-room office or from
one OF the many neat and comfortable establish
ments in the small places near NewYork, IL pro-
gressive as rule. and it's proprietor Is proud Of
his position ia the community and jealous OF the
influence of his paper An exception TO the rule
was met recently by a New-York newspaper man
who looked up the local newspaper Office with q
view OF spending his spare hour before train time
with the village editor and possibly writing up"
the place
"o.; there's nothing to say about this place.
he said It's dead as corpse and nothing could
be written about 1t which would be OF Interest
10 any one
mo history no business no politics." was asked;
us there nothing In the past. present or future OF
the place that would look we'll I'm print"
We'll II there H. you'll have TO find it," he said.
'Tve been here four years. and have seen nothing
more exciting than church fair
That's probably the reason" the postmaster said
when he heard of the newspaper mans unpatriotic
remarks, that his paper has been fiat failure"
The country newspaper man keeps In touch
with the nearest large city: he IL posted mat
ters OF interest to the merchants OF the place and
he becomes the source OF Information In times Of
political controversy, and knotty questions
ferred TO him for solution. matter whether they
originate in discussions in the church the
on the street.
1T makes little difference" said country
editor what the question is--how many votes In
the electoral college how many balls give a
player his first base: does a barn burn I'D or does
II burn down storied animated bust:
who did. really write the works OF Junus? II
makes difference the question Is finally referred
to the village newspaper man. and II he does not
decide in favor of all persons interested In the
controversy. his popularity is likely to suffer. The
office OF country newspaper. he added rs Q
school for diplomacy. and the country editor whe
cannot master the art has difficult calling"