The record-union., 1896-12-13
COUNTRY EDITORS WORK.
Enterprise, Industry and PrOSresSiVeness
Characterize Il.
An Influential Person in the COmmun-
ity-One of the Failures and
the Cause of 1t.

I'VE have a store, a church, a notel
and a schoolhouse. The store has big
stock of goods, from garden seed to SILK
dresses; the hotel is a 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
is paper
SO wrote man from manufacturing
village which had grown up around a
finally reached young man who had
learned the printers trade and who i'm
pressed his friends with so much conf
dence that they aided him in fitting up
a printing shop in the little place, from
which THE Weekly News" was 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 viii
lage than THE Eagle" which was is
sued every Wednesday ten miles away.
and by bringing THE News" out on
Tuesday he figured that he could head
off his nearest competitor; and SO it was
decided that the new paper should be a
Tuesday paper. With visions of steam
presses, type-setting machines, large
circulation and journalistic reputa-
tion, the village paper was launched.
Everybody was pleased with it, and
even the village swell who went TO
town" every day and who said: 1T
won't be weekly-it will be a try-week-
ly. They'll publish it one week and try
to publish it the next and maybe they
will succeed and maybe not" even he
bought it and read it regularly.
That was years ago. The little paper
has grown with the village and has be-
come a feature of the place. The expe-
rience of the enterprising young printer
was that of hundreds of country news
paper men in all parts of the United
States. In many instances there was no
home industry to give the young news
paper man encouragement, and in hun
dreds OF cases there were competitors
near by and in the same village. But
these facts did not deter the ambitious
journalist. and they do not frighten
him to-day, and the consequence is that
the United States is rich in small news
papers, and that through them thou
sands of people keep posted in affairs of
the day.
The country newspaper man occupies
the same place as to success as the aver
age country business man; there are no
more failures In the rural newspaper
business than there are in the rural
store business. Still, the country editor.
1 q mo
paper, would say. Don't" He would
tell the aspirant for journalistic honors
that the work is thankless and burden
some. that there is9flo money in it. tha.
the country newspaper must compete
with the metropolitan papers, and that
every subscriber wants fayors which
cost many times more than the annual
subscription. But the complaining ed
itor remains in business, his paper
grows, he adds new presses to his outfit
and shows other signs of prosperity, and
ne would not abandon his plant except
for handsome consideration.
How can / sell out 2" one country ed
itor said when approached on the SUBJ
Ject. Il am firmly rooted here. Have
MY family in the place and belong to it.
[ had to take pay for my paper in all
sorts or things that would be no good to
a bachelor, SO married and that settled
it,"
The resident Of a large city who is
accustomed to receive his paper daily
and who reads the news from all narts
of the world before he reaches his placa
of business, has an imperfect idea of the
average country newspaper, and when
an occasional copy reaches him he is
apt to sneer at the queer little sheets
with their personal gossip and strange
business notices. To those who have
seen the offices from which some of
these papers are issued there is nothing
ridiculous in the little papers. and the
perseverance of their editors inspires
them with admiration and respect.
One room frequently constitutes the
whole plant. This contains all the type-
setting and printing paraphernalia. a
desk which the editor, who is also bus
mess manager, advertising solicitor. re-
porter and foreman of the printing de-
rartment, divides with his assistant. a
library consisting of a Bible, a copy Of
Shakespeare, red book. the Tribune"
almanac and some public documents
contributed by the Congressman and
member of the Legislature from the dis
trict, and ornaments in the form of
posters from late campaigns. cattle
show and fair advertisements. and
cheap portraits of prominent politicians.
usually constitute the outfit of the one
room office.
But the country newspaper. no matter
II 1t comes from a primitive one-room
Office or from one of themany neat and
comfortable establishments in the small
places near New York. is progressive,
as a rule. and its proprietor is proud of
his position in the community and jeal-
Gus OF the influence of his paper An
exception to the rule was met recently
by New York newspaper man who
went to village on a special mission
and VINO looked up the local newspaper
office with view Of spending his spare
hour before train time with the village
editor and possibly writing up" the
place.
this place." he said Its dead as a
corpse and nothing could be written
about it which would be of interest to
anyone"
No history, no business, no poll
tics?' was asked. rs there nothing in
the past, present or future of the place
that would look we'll In print?''
We'll, If there is you'll have to find
it," he said. I've 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 a fiat failure"