The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-08-31
Advertisingaud News

The Charleston News and Courier or
a recent late had the following timely
article on advertising and news. which
will apply to this state as well as 20
South Carolina:
About a mont & The News and
Courier received a highly gratifying
communication from a number OF gen
tlemen in this city who are interested
in educational work, thanking II for
The generous manner in which you
manifest our interest in the general
education of the youth OF the state"
Yesterday we received a letter from
the president of one OF the most Hour
ishing colleges In the state enclosing
an advertisement OF The college and n
check for three dollars to pay for 1t
The advertisement was long n h
check short. In addition TO the publi-
cation of the advertisements, as many
times as we could AFFORD for the money.
a request was made for sue a notice
in the reading columns OF the paper a.
we could prepare. 1t is only fair to
say that the president expressed re-
greet that the appropriation for OVER
Using was so small that he could not
expend more than the mount trans
mitted for the purpose. But we should
like to know why the appropriation for
advertising the colleges and schools Is
always so small? The newspapers in
South Carolina are remarkably gen.
erous in their treatment OF the colleges
and hoo In no other state in the
union, we dare say, do the newspapers
fill so much Of their space with free
advertising for schools. In no other
state, we dare say again, do the coll
leges and schools spend less for news
paper advertising. AS to the college
which we now have in mind, the news
papers have within the last few years,
or since it's establishment, given il
thousands of dollars worth Of adver-
Using, and given it gladly, and from
a sense Of public duty, and without h
hope or expectation of reward We
doubt that it could lave succeeded
without their assistance-certainly il
would not have made its way to b
public heart so quickly without h
approving words of the press. But
when it comes to business" the COL
lege is s~ingularly contracted in its
view as to the value of advertising. II
has been willing to accept all that
could be sal Of it and for it in the
news columns Of the papers, but il
outs the appropriation for advertising
to the bone when it comes to doing
business in a business way. And as
long as the newspapers accept what
it chooses to offer for their services
they will never get better paid. The
president Of the college in view doubt
less proceeds upon the theory that "a
bird in the hand Is worth two in the
bush," n that a check, however
small in amount. will often pay for
work really worth from two to three
times as much as the amount offered
This is trading, however. and not
business.
While we are on this subject we
should like to suggest to our Columbia
contemporaries and to other newspa-
pers in the state, that there is a great
Zeal of what Is called Official adver-
Using" that should be paid for, but liz
done for nothing. Possibly there liz
some news" in almost every official
statement, but the news" could be
covered in a few lines while the fuH
statement would fill half a column or
perhaps several columns. Why waste
space on proclamations and orders
declarations and statements of a pub
lie nature that are worth so much to
the newspapers as news" but would
be worth a great deal more as adver-
Using? The present experiment in cam
paign reporting a given SO general
satisfaction to the newspapers n the
public that we AVE thought il might
be extended in the direction we have
indicated. The Baltimore Sur is a veTy
rich newspaper, and it has made a
pile Of money out Of the politicians who
have statements to make. We have
been told that in active campaign years
the income Of The Sun from this source
amounts to as much or more than $685.
600. A little condensation in the
news" reports would doubtless have
a good effect on the advertising bust
ness. An associated press -or news
gathering is a good thing-an associa-
ted press for bua ness purposes might
not be a bad thing.