News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1902-12-24
TOO MANY NEWSPAPERS.
From st Albans Messenger ]


The Messenger quite agrees with
the Morrisville NEWS AND CITIZEN
that
One good newspaper we'll supported
is far better than two which struggle to
exc out an existence. There are too
many newspapers i'll Vermont and a
general consolidation would be a good
thing.
Here is a fair illustration Of condi-
tions under which competition is not
" the life of trade" The Vermont
newspaper field is limited at best
The population Of the entire State
does not equal that of one of the
second class cities of the country,
and is scattered throughout a noun
famous territory and for the most
part tucked away i'll little hillside
hamlets with a, few hundred resi-
dents. There are only eight towns in
the whole State that have a popula-
ton exceeding five thousand and the
average population for each town in
the State is less than one thousand.
There are no large residential cen
tiers where an ambitious daily news
paper can build up an extensive and
selEsupporting local circulation, but,
on the contrary, every sheet must be
trimmed to its limited opportunity
and a great part gifts support must
be cleaned from the rural region
round about and up and down the
State generally. Building up a news
paper circulation in Vermont means
an incessant hand to hand fight with
all the conditions augmented by
uncertain and infrequent mail facili-
ties, indifferent and unreliable train
connections, the thousand and one
disturbances of hard winters, and the
general lack of transportation facili-
ties off the main line of railroads, to
say nothing of the underlying condi-
ton that people scattered about a
state as residents of Vermont are do
not partake of that keen eagerness
for current news that is characteris-
tic of crowed centers and are not
such omnivorous newspaper buyers
and readers.
In the face of all this, there are
over fifty independent newspaper
foundations in this State. OF course,
the News AND CITIZEN is right when
it argues that there are too many
newspapers in the Vermont field now
and that consolidation should be the
order of the day. The contemporary
is right. One can make any number
of local applications of the truth of
this and easily demonstrate, by a few
months experience if present ex-
ample does not suffice, that a com
munity is better off with one good
newspaper than it is with two inferior
ones. Some of Vermont's newspa-
pers are giving pretty good value for
their price, and some are not. The
good ones have to suffer for the poor
ones because the latter take part of
the revenue that properly belongs to
the newspapers that deserve it.
There is little or no money in the
newspaper business in Vermont, at
best, and in many instances the read
ers are getting far better newspapers
than the conditions will warrant il
a money profit merely is to be the
criterion. Some Vermont newspa-
pers barely pay. The pride of pub
fishers is largely responsible for the
average high grade of Vermont news
papers in a poor field. But the pub
lie will get still better newspaper
service in the end if it will refuse to
encourage the foundation Of more
newspapers but will reserve its sup
port for the deserving ones already
in existence.