The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-01-23
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER GOES FORWARD


For several months, owing to the
poor and slow press facilities, 1T has been
impossible to print u paper of even de-
cent typographical appearance. AT
times it was SO bad that one corrcspon-
dent wrote: Il cannot read your paper.
| know it is good if | could read it, and
renew my subscription ON faith"
The bad work was not all. The press
printed papers ut such a snail S gate that
now and then the subscribers missed
their mails, receiving the paper when it
was a day old. at comes late" wrote
an Ashcvillc subscriber, but it is as
true as holy writ when it does come,
and so | cannot do without it.
The members of the staff, all young
men, were rapidly growing gray under
The attempt to print modern up-tO-date
thousand, with press facilities hardly
adequate for the old time circulation of
1900. The loyalty of the subscribers
was equallcd only by the devotion of the
employees at the cost of sleep and rest.
to the task of getting out the paper.
For two years and more it has been
orr desire to provide the plant with a
modern perfecting press, equal to th2
demands of our growing circulation
HAVING invested ninn 1nIIa
in Mcrgcnthaler linotype machines, the
purchase of a press to cost seven thou
sand and five hundred dollars was an
investment of such magnitude that the
directors Of the company hesitatcd long
before making this costly addition to
thc papers plant. They would not have
expenditure much as the new press was
needed. except for. the fact that the
business for the Fall months returned II
very handsome profit to the paper-the
first time the balance has been on that
side of the ledger in SO long that it gave
proof that the time had come when the
State felt the need of an honest and
outspoken paper at the capital and were
willing to give it the necessary support,
The addition of our new pcrfccting
Cox Duplex press. capable of printing
five thousand perfected papers per hour,
together with the Mergenthaler Linotype
machines, and other additions of the
plant made since, November, 1895,
means an Investment Of nearly twenty
thousand dollars, in addition to the CAPT
tai stock ef-ni4eteen- -thouaa nd dollars,
in order to turn out the handsome six
teen pages which go to-day to 1854 sub
scribers to the News and Observer.
For the first time in the history of
newspapers in Raleigh, plant capable
If printing great newspaper is. provid
Il. The News and Observer will hence
forth greet its readers with as clean an
pouses are pure and eleyating. Today's
paper is as crisp and beautiful as
silver certificate. and we trust rings Us
clear rs the clink of IL newly coined sill
yer dollar With the new equipment,
it will be better able to wage the fight
for the White Man and the White Metal,
the shibboleth of victory in North Caro-
lima this year.
No daily paper has ever been published
in North Carolina with any thing like the
circulation enjoyed by the News and Oh
server. If, with it's slow press and 4ooI
facilities it has gained Il circulation ap-
preaching five thousand, it is the faith OF
the management that with fast press
and better equipment in other respects,
the patronage of the paper will continue
10 grow until it will reach almost twice
rs many subscribers as it reaches to-
day. The advertising patronage of the
paper has doubled since Au-
gust, 1894, and the new contracts ma lie
the present year Indicate Il considerable
1HtIbdSe III TIC UuSluCSc IOI LCDCs
The success of the News and Observer
is due to it's advocacy of Democratic
principles; its exposure of crime and
fraud wherever found; its splendid news
service, owning the exclusive franchise
of the Associated Press reports for Raj
eigh; its enterprise in publishing the
State and local news; its contributions
from the pen of the best writer's in this
and other States; its staff of industrious
and talented men whose love for the
paper causes them to render a service far
superior to the compensation they re-
ceive; it's practise of printing the news
when it is news, no matter whom it
helps or hurts; its plainness of speech:
it's devotion TO North Carolina and faith
in its men and women; and last. aud
chief of all, the fact that it is publish
ed with no Interior purpose, but solely
by men with whom journalism is an
honorable profession, who would not
abaSe their calling for any men or set