Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1900-07-07

And il we today flash this out from our
headlight to the other newspapers of
the State as we start on another year,
switch off of this pleasure track and
get on the main business line, by the
time of our next association the pleas
Of poverty, lack Of time and business
drawbacks will be brushed away and
full representative association will ride
in. There is no State in the Union
whose weekly papers show more intel
ligence, both in editorials and appear
ancc, than those Of Mississippi, but
this is due to the self-sacrifcing men
and women who have them in charge.
The healthy and prosperous appear
ance does not mean that they are a sue
cess financially, Far from it; for un-
der our present system Of newspaper
business, as far as can see, the cash
received goes into the paper, and the
promises, which are the larger part,
represent the yearly dividend,
Unlike other business, nothing is left
out Of each years earnings to protect
in old age, to buy new material or
leave for protection and care of the
family after death; and when the aged
business men of other professions have
laid down their pens or implements Of
| labor to await the messenger that calls
them to meet their loved ones across
the river under the shade of the trees,
the printer or newspaper man whose
head is white with the frosts of many
years is still standing at his post Of
labor earning his daily bread Tis no
oyerdrawn picture; in almost every city
we see it. What is the escape? There
are but two-one that the individual
printer alone change his business meth
ods; the other that we perfect an or.
ganization whose members by intelli.
gencc, fidelity and aSsociation, change
them for him.
If there ever was a time in the his
tory Of the printing business Of MissiS-
sppi when our coming together should
mean something'more than having a
good time, when union is necessary for
self-preservation and advancement,
that time is now. When | speak of
organization | do not mean organiza-
ton for the purpose of cutting the
wages Of the Office printer but in truth
it has in view the raising of every one
who works in the print shop from the
Office devil up-organization that makes
the one who has the work done pay the
price necessary to accomplish it.
Everything we use from the ink to
the wrapper has advanced almost
double in price, and the producers Of
these articles are all organized to hold
them up. The object of organization
is not, as some suppose, to increase
prices, but to prevent loss. Today
there are number of weeklies that
are being sent out at the old price ST. 90
per year-when the paper they are
printed on and the material they are
printed with cost double the price it
did when so low a subscription was
asked Again there are print shops in
the State that have not increased a
cent on their job work, while the in
crease in the price Of paper has cut off
their profits over so per cent, Failure
as in the past, will be the result of such
policy, whether it is carried on
against competition or for the want of
sense. Competition is said to be the
life of trade, but the competitor who
does work at less than cost, as many
you know are doing to keep you from
getting it, is lwarhng your business
and destroying his own.
You cannot judge your competitors
business by the number of presses he
is running or the amount of paper he
buys, for while it may be far in excess
of your own, still by his cut.throat
policy he is not making one-third as
much as you are with much less labor
and expense. The secret of his bust
ness is, he is swapping a dollars worth
of paper for dollar in silver, and he
gets his profits in the difference be-
tween half-paid labor and what it justly
deserves. My policy has been-and l
hope the same is your's-that If | have
to give The profits of my business to
any one it will be to the employees of
my Office, and not 10 The banker, mer-
chant or professional men who are able
to pay for what they get.
Every paper should make a good