Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-09-11
BREAKING THE LOOKING GLASS.

| BREAKING THE LOOKING GLASS.
/ 1t is very likely that an honest and
fearlessly conducted daily newspap pc.
never existed in any city where GER
1tain proportion of the population did
mot SEE a splendid field for an oppo-
lsition daily" A good newspaper Is a
mirror of the daily life Of the territory
lin which it circulates. The events of
the day. good and bad. find reflection
lin its pages for public Information and
Interest. In all this there is much that
certain persons are anxious to sup
press for their own salvation and more
/ that interested individuals are anxious
to add for their ACKNOWLEDGMENT or
Ibenefit. Baked of their desires and
failing in their endeavor these form a
Eccterie of the disgruntled and disap-
pointed anxious to break the looking
glass. It is this class that advertises
| the opposition field as highly promis-
| ing.
| Just how these theories work out In
practice has been recently Illustrated
| in Atchison. Kas., town with about
/ Is. 600 population. The Daily Globe,
with a circulation of 1000, gathers the
news after metropolitan fashion and
lis brilliantly edited. Its crisp editorial
Iutterances have brought Atchison more
notice than any otherone influence. Two
wears ago a second daily paper was
started in Atchison, and its owner and
editor concluded that a good plan
would be to abuse the Globe. The
Globe paid no attention to these at
tacks, but Went on calmly saving
wood The opposition daily, after con-
Quoting fierce campaign all by itself,
died the death of such ventures and
Tits publishers and editors went look
ing for another field of activity in
which the salary ghost walks of
Saturday afternoon.
The managing editor of the opposi-
tion daily contributes an article to the
Topeka Capital on the situation
which so thoroughly sizes up the stua-
Ition, not only in the particular in
stance to which he refers but In
every case where an excellent and
fearlessly conducted daily has aroused
the inevitable buttonhole demand for
Opposition" that 1t is In the line of
education. He says:
in many respects the Atchison Globe
is the most remarkable newspaper in
the world, and there is, perhaps, no
other that is so frequently and widely
quoted. But IL is remarkable only in
sane. common sense way. There is
nothing of the sensational or spectaeu-
lar about 1t. The Globes great strength
lies in the fact that 1t prints every
scrap OF news in the territory ii covers
every day and backs il up with an edi
torial page that is keen, immensely
clever and convincing. / doubt IL the
Globe ever in its twenty five years Of
existence tried short cat to populari-
ty or public attention. The dominant
idea in the Globe news room is to get
the exact facts about every occurrence
OF the slightest public interest. savored
and softened IL possible by the humor
with which every situation, however
tragic, abounds and print it the day 1t
happens. In its news columns 1t Is
always fair, printing both sides OF
every story whore 1t Is possible to OBJ
tain them. / have an idea that Howe
Is better to his friends than he Is to
his enemies, and that occasionally, as
favor to friend, he suppresses news
item that the public would like to know
about, but in the main the Globe sticks
to its last and prints all the news all
the time. II exercises the most pro-
digious influence on its community of
any newspaper 1 have ever known.
Measured from the standpoint of the
country newspaper-and the Globe is
a country newspaper--it IS a remarka-
bic financial success Its circulation is
equally remarkable No other news
pa per. and some dozens OF news paper
men have tried the game, has ever
been able to strangle its hold on its
subscribers.
Il went to Atchison once to run 4
newspaper against the Globe l had
been editor and reporter for ten or
twelve years and thought / was pretty
good. The Globe staff went round mine
like a cooper round barrel. They
"scooped" me at every jump in the
road, and had to read he Globe every
evening to get the news. / had been
much impressed by the apparently
hostile attitude of the town against
Howe. Various men had welcomed me
with open arms. They had taken me
into stairways and back into private
Offices TO tell me what mean man
Howe was. They reviled the Globe,
which they referred to as a vicious
sheet, and assured me that the town
would rush to the support of a fair. |
honest reputable newspaper The rush
may have occurred, but 1t was not In |
the direction of the newspaper / was |
printing.
And in the brief time spent in |
Atchison / learned a good many things. |
One of them was that the town, while |
often reviling Howe, is fully alive to |
the wonderful newspaper he prints
When he dies he will have a very long
funeral procession. and the town Will |
talk of his virtues and his achieve
ments to the end of the generation. / |
learned that most Of the men who |
hated Howe did SO because the Globe, |
inadvertently or otherwise had baked |
some scheme for personal aggrandize-
ment. And | learned also that the |