The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-11-30

able proporticns?
eve do that to some extent now.
We limit our paper to 10 pages of seven
columns At certain seasons of the year
we notify big advertisers that we will
not take more than four columns from
any one. If necessary, we cut down the
limit again. Under this arrangement
we seldom have to hold many adver-
tisements over.
Local Conditions.
ssThe Daily News and The Record are
unique in other ways, - I said. ''There
is no paper just like them in the coun-
try Do you think a paper like The
Daily News would prosper in New
York?''
Il have thought for long time that
a paper on the lines of The Daily News
could be made successful in New York, -
said Mr. Lawson ''Still, local condi-
tions differ, and what makes success in
one community might fail in another.
When The Record first made a success
in publishing stories of mystery, the
manager Of big New Y ork newspaper,
hearing from me what we had done,
started the same thing in New York
He told me afterward that he did not
increase his circulation at all. The Rec
test and made a permanent gain of
At, 600 circulation. Here are the figures
IL the rough The Records circulation
Nov. II, when the other papers cut their
price TO 1 cent, was 142, 600. It sank to
1873, 900. On the 28d of March it had
gone up to ISL, 900. The story competi-
ton sent it to 22O, 600, and it settled
back to 1913, 600. Since that time it has
grown to 252. 776.
1.-The idea of the serial story as a
feature of daily journalism came to me
shortly after we started The Record.
We were publishing a little four page
sheet then, and we had a hard time
finding space for all the news.
Acting on this idea, found space
in the Saturday paper for installments
Of a serial. don't know whether that
was the first publication of the kind IN
this country or not. The responsible
for the feuilleton in America probably
lies between the Boston Globe and the
Chicago Record. 1t was a novelty here
at least, and it soon ran up the circula-
ton of the Saturday issue 0, 600 copies
I thought I would rather distribute that
increase through the week, so I began
to publish daily instaIlments of stories,
with very gratifying results. Then came
the idea Of a story Of mystery, with a
prize for the solution. That idea took
hold of an English publisher at about
the same time, and I bought the rights
to his story and published it under an
other name-'John Martin Postmas-
ter The Englishman had offered 800
for the solution. 1 thought 81. 600 was
q mouth filing sum; so I offered that
amount and limited the contest to won-
en-. The result was so good that I got
up the prize contest for stories of mys-
terry AS I have said, that cost me over
500, 600. but It was a very profitable
Investment The new readers it brought
were intelligent peopie-the kind Of
people advertisers want to reach. The
unnatural increase we lost very quickly.
We never counted it. We have a solid,
permanent increase of At, 900 We are
still publishing the stories, though we
do not restrict the prizes to women"
Two Distinct Papers.
Mr. Lawson told me he changed the
name Of The Morning News because he
found The Evening News was the new
papers heaviest competitor. People
who were asked to advertise in the
morning paper said, ''Oh, I spend all
the money I want to put in The Daily
NEWS now. anu substitutes EaiOg
get The Daily News in the evening, and
want some other paper in the morn
ing Ia Boston the newspapers pub
lish "a hours in the day, and a man
who inserts an advertisement has a
guarantee of publication in every edition
of the subsequent q hours. Mr.. Law
son does not believe in that plan. He
wanted to make his two papers distinct;
so he called the morning edition The
News Record until his subscribers were
accustomed to the change, and then The
Record
The Record has been a remarkable
success, though it has not been a divi-
dend payer. It's earnings 90 into devel-
op1nent The Daily News made $517,-
600 last year, and if Mr. Lawson was
willing to let The Records circulation
stand at It's present limit he could take
a big profit cut of the morning paper as
well.
This wonderful newspaper success
has been achieved with so little of the
bitterness of ordinary rivalry as to
make it dOubly remarkable. There have
1,oe,, sov,,a eho7-7 tiIte hat~rfoa,, M. To.z,