The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-10-12
THE COUNTRY EDITOR.
Some Charming Experiences in His
Checkered Career.

We do not know who made the fol-
lowing graphic statement. but he was
evidently some one who had been
there" himself Moreover, he was the
editor of i country newspaper, as
we are assured by the New York Tri-
bune. and if he had written for a year
he could not have stated the case more
clearly. and with such wealth Of
philosophy:
The editor has charter from the
State to act as doormat for the COM
munity. He will get the paper out
somehow. and stand up for the town,
and whoop it up for you when you run
for office, and be about your bigfooted
son when he gets a four-dollar-a week
job. and weep over Your shrivelled soul
when it is released from its grasping
body, and smile at your wifes second
marriage Don't worry about the edi
tor, he'll get along. The Lord only
knows how-but some how.
The News and Courier says that cev
ers the case. and covers it all over. The
country newspapers in this State do
more hard and thankless service for
their respective communities than all
the officeholders and professional sharps
and gentlemen of leisure who were
created for some purpose. we suppose.
They work early and late, and ninety
per cent Of their work goes without re-
ward. 1t is strange thing about the
the newspaper business generally that
most people do not regard it as 'busi-
ness at all. Customers go into store
and pay for what they get. They do
not ask for pound Of crackers, a
bunch of ciagars, a box Of candy, bolt
of cloth, or any Of the many thousand
things which are sold, but they ask
the price of the articles which they
think they would like, and if the articles
suit and the price is about what they
can afford to pay for them, they pay for
them in cash, or have it charged. 1t
is not so with newspapers. If John
Jones make great speech, and it is re-
ported at length by man who is paid
for doing the work, and is printed in a
newspaper which has to pay for putting
the story in type, Jones would like to
get half dozen copies Of the paper for
distribution among his friends, and
Jones generally tries to get them for
nothing.
If the lovely Mrs. Brown Robinson
has tea and her parlors are crowded
with the elite of the land, and the
society re porter writes a charming
account of the delightful social func-
ton, Mrs. Brown-Robinson would like
to have ten or twenty copies Of the pa
per to mail to her out-of-town friends,
and she would be shocked if anything
should be said by the young man at the
desk about so common a thing as money
in exchange for the papers, which she
would obtain for the qualification OF her
own amiable wish to let her friends
know how she figures in the great social
swim.
Several years ago, as we have been
told, a newspaper printed a long story
about the celebration Of military COM
pany. 1t filled great deal of space,
and cost good deal of money to put 1t
in shape for the entertainment Of the
reading public It would seem that
the newspaper had done its full share
in writing up the celebration, but the
next morning, all the same, request
was made for hundred and fifty copies
of the paper containing the story for
general distribution, and a hundred
and fifty copies were worth, according
to the prices prevailing at that time,
exactly 81 80. Besides the expense Of
writing up the celebration, the newspa-
per was asked and expected to contribute
$50 to the admiration fund OF the
company.
When men die who have occupied a
prominent place in the community,
and who have done good work for the
State or Church Or Society in their
day and generation, it is the lnvarlable
rule of newspapers to speak we'll Of
them. and to give an account OF their
lives. 1t would seem that in doing
this the newspaper had discharged its
full duty to the public and to the de-
ceased; but there are societies and or
ders and organizations that would also
like to make some public announcement
touching the esteem in which the de-
parted had been held by his associates,
and of how deeply they wonder at the
inscrutable decree Of Providence which
had removed their friend and associate,
and their words of appreciation and
sorrow are strung out in tributes OF re-
spect which the newspapers are expect
ed to print for nothing. We have
known persons almost Frustrated by
surprise and Indignation when they
have found that the newspaper attach
cs money value to such eulogles.
It is in the religious press that the
obituary writer finds the amplest scope
for his talents. and his work Of ''em
balmins" the memory of the dead has
been pursued with such activity that
the religious papers have been compcl!-
ed for self protection to publish such
reminders as the following which We
take from the Southern Presbytcrian
Obituary notices not exceeding five
lines inserted without charge. Excess
over five lines, five cents per line.
And it is Il remarkable thing how
many obituaries are published that do
not exceed five lines. Otherwise our
Church contemporaries would doubtless
be compelled to double the size Of their
papers in order to hold such wordy
manifestations of grief. than which
there in nothing cheaper even in these
days Of ive-cents cotton.
We would like to suggest to our
weekly and daily contemporaries that
possibly they are to blame for the value
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