The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-04-14


or OF public opinion.
| The vilcst man or woman IN the slunis
OF the great cities will stop and cast a
| longing glance at that which Is neat In
mechanical design. neat in the perspective
and which on close Inspection still pre-
SCENTS an attractive appearance. The So
ciety lady, the business man. the houss-
wife and the children around the fresids
are attracted by neatneAs and good order.
| IL Is virtue that wins admiration and
holds attention everywhere. Next to the
high character which should be given 10
all journals. / would rank neatness In
mechanical makeup, neatness In tie fold
! ing, in the mailing aud In every point OF
| the paper or magazine sent out TO the pub
lie. The best OF editorial or local matter
may be 80 utterly spoiled by the printing
that the reader Will turn from 1t in dis
gust. aud thus your brain work Is gone.
ana soon your subscription list Will FOL
low 1t. and there will be nothing left 10
show for your investment or your labor.
Many paper ranks high In Its community
on account OF It's neatness and the go d ex-
ecution done with type, ink and presses,
while the matter II contains Is far below
the ordinary. Indeed. a paper filled with
nothing but Advertisements properly dis
played and neatly printed will 1--we longer
and have more actual readers than the
paper over which the editor has spent
~
great edit rails and turned 1t Over TO a
botch workman to mash II out in sotnG
style, blurred, wrinkled, ruined. There
has been much Improvement In the papers
OF Texas In this particular in twenty
years. but there Is vast field before
many OF the brethren yerN which they viii
do we'll TO occupy. Neatness in printing
| requires, as a hrst essential. good psp4r.
New type occasionally is an absolute ne
cessity, but no matter what kind OF paper
you buy. nor how much you may invest in
type, no man can do good printing or
make a paper OF neat appearance without
gooo presses and good rollers. The day
OF the army press Is gone, the Washington
hand lever has almost disappeared, and the
rule is now TO have an Office equipped Tor
work, or TO be counted among the ante
diluvlans. Tho man who Is too poor or
TO stingy to buy paper, good paper. good
presses, good rollers and all the other
accessories to good printing, ought 10 re-
tire from the business and give place to
some OF the young bloods, who must make
their marks in journalism at some future
day.
Promptness In business matters Is rec
ognlzed the world over as one of the chisf
virtues. Some fellow who was probably
miser at heart started the plan Of pay
ing his bills on the 9th OF the month He
Is today despised almost as much as the
man VINO does not pay at all. II you have
Dill to pay, pay it promptly, and II you
are going to issue paper, see that 1t Is
Issued on time. II your publication is
dated on the LIST, Sth and 18th of the
month. see that the p ople are In posses.
sion OF 1t at that time. and see that all
are supplied. paper can have no bet
ter eommendation than Its prompt arrival
at the homes Of its patrons, and it can
not have a worse cond mnatlon than 10
gllf nj Ia
when it will arrive or whether it Will come
at ALL
What is yaid In the foregoing applies to
all classes Of periodicals, but as the Texas
Press association is composed largely of
weekly newspaper owners and editors, II
occurs to me that when they placed me
on this programme and assigned me this
subject, they expected me to say some
thing that would be specially applicable TO
that class of publications. The country
press has special mission, and one In
which 1t is probably more difficult TO sue
coed than In the publication OF the great
city dailies. Such papers are exnected to
be largely local in their character, anu
local news they must contain or their mis-
sion is failure Three sticks full of
local matter intersperssd with patent
medicine reading notices and four yards
OF plate matter do not make a country
paper although IL must be confessed that
there are yet some of this class in the
land The paper of twenty years ago
without its weekly leader on some
State or National question would have
been an oddly, but the successful weekly
papers OF this day have largely exclude
editorial matter, and have substituted in
us place the news from all parts of the
county where published and discussions
OF all matters Of local interest Hence,
when take IN the Brentwood Banner
Bulletin l expect first of all to nnd in
formation about what has been going on
IN Brentwood during the past week. ami
an insight into what they expect to do
next week. And there / lind IL. for our
present president makes "a model country
weekly paper. So much attention is now
devoted by the country press to loaal
news that all readers look directly to tho
local department., for information about
the region where the paper is published.
Ia tact in many Instances the local de-
partment has crowded out the editorial.
miscellany, general news and all other
things | need not tell you brethren OF
the weekly press that The papsr that gives
the largest quantity and the best quality
OF local news is the paper that has tho
largest circulation in its territory and
that holds its subscribers with an iron
grasp.
WHAT constitutes local matter is an Ina
p-rtaRt question. The writer once knew
an editor who spent great deal OF his
time away from home on the theory that
1t was cheaper TO ride on his pass aud live
on Two meals day than it was 10 stay
at home. This man boastsd that he could
sit down at any time and imagine three
columns OF local matter. have the boy sci
Il up and so TO press. 1t was noticed
that his imagination frequently failed TO
work we'll. and me years ago he retired
TO distant stats, changed his line of
business, and is now working for an In
suIance company, where his Imagination
can have larger and more apt employ
ment Local matter does not consist in
the imagination. nor In the exercise OF
fancy, Whtn Il happens that news Is
scarce. discussion OF local matters for
the benefit OF the city. town or village
where the paper is published is always IN
order, and sometimes thus sentiment
that was lying dormant is aroused. ami
results in much good to the community.
The great wave OF industrial development
now sweeping over Texas was brought
about largely by the discussions OF such
subjects by the local press. Many in
stances could be given. but these ought
TO come out In the discussion.
Personals as a class make the best OF
local matter, but the constant meation Of
one or iva individuals. even TO tnu tx-
clus.on OF Others, will make your per-
sopais so chsap that they viii DE worth.
less 10 the individual mentioned aud
hNr ffNff AL ~ h DaVer l.