The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1900-01-03


Continued from last week.
The after meeting at the First church
was now regularly established. Henry
Maxwell went into the lecture room on
the Sunday succeeding the week Of the
primary and was greeted with an en-
thusiasm that made him tremble at first
for its reality He noted again the alb
scence OF Jasper Chase, but all the 9th
ers were present, and they seemed
drawn very close together by a bond of
common fellowship that demanded and
enjoyed mutual condolences 1t was the
general feeling that the spirit of Jesus
was a spirit of very open, frank confess
sion of experience. 1t seemed the most
natural thing in the world for Edward
Norman TO be telling all the rest of the
company about the details of his news
paper
1.-THE fact is, / have lost a good deal
of money during the last three weeks.
| cannot tell how much. l am losing a
great many subscribers every day.
''What do the subscribers give as
their reason for dropping the paper2"
asked Henry Maxwell All the rest were
listening eagerly.
"There are a good many different
reasons Some say they want paper
that prints all the news, meaning by
that the crime details, sensations like
prizefghts scandals and horrors of
various kinds Others object to the dis
continuance Of the Sunday edition. /
have lost hundreds of subscribers by
that action, although l have made sat
isfactory arrangements with many Of
the old subscribers by giving even more
In the extra Saturday edition than they
formerly had in the Sunday issue My
greatest loss has come from falling off
In advertisements and from the attitude
1 have felt obliged to take on political
questions. This last action has really
cost me more than any other The bulk
of my subscribers are intensely par
tisan. / may as well tell you all fraIst ~
ly that if I continue to pursue the plan
which / honestly belieye Jesus would
in the matter Of political issues and
heir treatment fsom q moi 2 . IN and
,..2Sa s point The News will not be
Str TT ITS operating expenses I'M
<-lor in Raymond can be de-
He paused a moment, and the room
as very quiet Virginia seemed spe-
ally interested. Her face glowed with
serest 1t was like the interest of
rson who had been thinking hard of
y same thing Norman went on now
mention.
THAT one factor is the Christian
ment in Raymond Say The News
\ lost heavily from the dropping off
people who do not care for a Chris
I daily and from others who simply
upon n newspaper as a purveyor
III sorts of material to amuse and
- rest them, are there enough genu-
Christian people in Raymond who
rally to the support of a. naper
r., m, Jesus would probably edit, or
= 7a6its of the people so firmly
established in their demands for the
Irregular type Of journalism that they
will not take paper unless it is strip
ped largely of the Christian and moral
purposeg may also say in this fellow
ship gathering that owing to recent
complications in my business affairs
outside of my paper, / have been
obliged to lose a large part of my for
tune. l have had to apply the same rule
of Jesus probable conduct TO certain
transactions with other men who did
not apply it to their conduct and the
result has been the loss of a great deal
of money.
GAS / understand the promise we
made. we were not to ask any questions
about will it pay2' but all our &C
ton was to be based on the one ques-
ton, What would Jesus dor Acting
on that rule of conduct, | have been
obliged TO lose nearly all the money
have accumulated in my paper. 1t is
not necessary for me to go into details.
There is no question with me now, aft
er the three weeks experience | have
had, that a great many men would lose
vast sums of money under the present
system of business if this rule of Jesus
were honestly obeyed. | mention my
loss here because have the fullest faith
in the final success of a daily paper
conducted on the lines | have recently
laid down, and | had planned to put
into it mylentire fortune in order to
win final r9ccess AS it is now unless,
!, as j said, - Christian people of Ray
fn>~aS fhs church members and profess
mn disciples will support the paper
Win subscriptions and advertisements,
cannSt continue its publication on the
present. basis. "
Virginia asked a question She had
followed Mr.. Normans confession with
the most intense eagerness.
"Do you mean that Christian daily
ought to be endowed with large sum,
like a Christian college, in order to
make it paya"
"That is exactly what l mean. 1
have laid out plans for putting into The
News such a variety of material, in
sucb strong and truly interesting
wav. that it would more than make up
for whatever was absent from its col
umns in the way of un-Christian mat
A. - my n1ans called for n very large