The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-20

within his power to pacify OF aid. He
learns to know good thing when 1t shows
and lets we'll enough alone unless an ave-
nue. Of progress opens through the mael-
strom. He is naturally conservative but
without ties when private necessity or
public veal demands plain speech and
palmer acts. And this 1s In part the
man who makes the good country weekly.
Although he has many OF the qualifica-
lions Of greatness he does not always
rise above the obscurity that hedges him
about, but there, in the flower of Gods
country or in the solitude Of the desert
he bushes on his readers and casts about
the sweetness of his ways.
Much depends upon the town, for no
man under the sun can run a really good
newspaper in town that won't have 1T.
The saving grace of creditable represen-
tation seldom lights on. and never long
abides within, the community that doesn't
banker for this advantage The spirit OF
the promoter may be willing, but when
the Inevitable rap hits his pocketbook his
purpose weakens and the Jig is up. The
town, then in which a good newspaper
can be run must first of all be alive to
it's own interests and anxious to advance.
It must be willing to employ printers Ink
and the reasonable talent that have
mentioned to aid it In the struggle which
all the world is prosecuting against the
ma nkind and it must be willing that the
business man who invests his money,
time and talents in this enterprise should
be allowed to accumulate. a surplus the
same as It's general merchant. It's drug
gist, It's banker or it's professional man.
Not by any means that a newspaper, good,
bad or Indifferent, is or should be con-
sidered at any time or place as a dump
ing ground for public pelf or seeker
after private aims (and, by. the way, no.
paper that approaches in the sremotest
degree the standard have set will, by
act or deed, allow itself to be placed upon
the plane of the mendicanD but merely
as, a business institution, advancing the
interests Of the cona1nun't y with whichsit
is allied and deserving of reasonable
srecompense. ItEEmnst be admitted that
this power Of the press in the public eye
is largely influenced by the personality
Of the publisher and that the individual
and the community fix the standard of
their respective requireme ntsa for them
selves. but have endeavored, after the
process Of adoption and absorption to
which first referred, to Ak q fair exam
pile Of the publisher Of good newspaper,
and if the people Of one town do not ap-
preciate this creature, he has but to re-
mind himself that he Is but one of the
thousands whose efforts do not meet pub
lie approval and pass on. L have seen
some fair sized towns in which do not
believe the most capable man alive could
on the other hand I have seen some ham
lets OF 25O inhabitants support one In a
highly creditable manner.
And now we have the man to run the
| good newspaper and the small town In
| which the good newspaper Is to be run.
Put them together and you have the good
newspaper in the small town. Possibly
4 fifoS 49, IL =
tactical journalism off the stage in the
eyes of some, but I have never yet seen
where honor, integrity and personal
worth, coupled with honest ambition and
determination, has failed to demand pub
lie recognition in business or to yield a
satisfying response to age. By being thus
honest with itself and fair with Its pat
rons the good newspaper Is and will be
run In the small town. It may not save
the country every week with a full page
of sparkling editorials, or 1t may not
scoop its nearby contemporary In every
matter OF news. It may not contain the
brightest written ads or have the very
latest outfit. However, 1t does have the
largest bonafide circulation Of any paper
in Its locality. 1t has this because 1t is
reliable; because 1t is bright. clean and
new with every issue; because its motto
Is to do Its level best and keep everlast-
lngiy at 1T. ST. Pauls, was not builded
J the Slstfne Madonna painted nor Mozart s
great Requim written in day So the
i good newspaper in the small town, y
which is as much a credit and comfort to
MIN who accomplishes it as any of these
IS not the work Of night In a pictorial
sense it is a Santa Maria crossing the sea
or life, searching for the goal Of which
many hear and which few reach, wea ther-
ing the fercest gales, riding the highest
pillows and steering clear of the sunken
rocks on which the serf rolls and roars
down before the storm is one of the
most natural Of things, for, between you
and T. very few small towns want good
newspapers enough to be honest in per-
forming their consideration to the con-
tract