The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-11
THE COUNTY NEWSPAPER.
DON c. sEITz TELLS HOW TO RUrs
ONE


Quested TO furnish an essay for the
Augusta meeting Of the Maine Press
association, ana not feeling equal 70 tnd I
task the editor invited the business [
manager OF the New York World. ar.
Don q. Seitz. who learned his trade tr +
the Advertisers Office and whom the (
present editor OF the Advertiser succeed 4
ed Ia business, to give mis- ideas Of how Z
% run a country paper Below Is MI T
6citzs reply.
MIR. Sanborn has asked me to look out /
OF the windows Of the World building +
and to tell you from that perspective F
now a country newspaper ought TO be +
run He could tell you better than 1 /
could, but he mOdestly refuses to do so. /
4 VIII give you my views. IL would be I
just as proper. though for the editor OF /
country weekly to tell me how great I
daily ought TO be run.
Indeed I got my first lesson in jour /
mahsm from Simeon Drake, who taught
me the printers trade in the old Ad-
Vertiser office at Norway, Me. I was
printers devil. but ] worked for moth
Ing and boarded myself My liberty was
considera BILE and my privileges many /
Uncle sim wanted items. he thought a
boy who lOafed around as much as [ did
ought to pick UP a few. 1 rather timidly
the Licking was bad.
For the life of me I couldn't see any
thing or hear OF anything in Norway
worth printing. But during the six un~
4ruiLul weeks OF search, an item had
peen rapidly growing in tine garden next
door. Uncle Granville Reeds two hins
OF southern corn had hustled until the
taLest stalk was thirteen feet high Like
a nash the importance Of the event pos.
Heased me and ] sat down to write il
Hl- Try as l would / could not seem
% sel the words together. and finally
the struggle resulted in a measIv little
para graph that Granville Reed had a
stalk OF southern corn in his garden
thirteen feet high When [ handed il
IN Mr.. Drake looked at 1T critically took
cleared MS throat a couple of times. ana
then Taught me my first and funda-
mental lesson ia journalism, big or lii
You don't say who Mr.. Reed is
ne began. you don't tell us where he
nVes and you don't make any point
lnal IS complimentary to him
MI Drake never wrote anything but
used case of bourgeois In few min
ules ne gave me it to read. 1t was
something like this:
Former Selectman Granville Reed
has an agricultural wonder growing in
mis- Wen kept garden on upper Main
street In the shape of a stalk of corn
which under his able attention has
teen feet"
You viii notice" he added gently.
that nave cut out the word South
ern before corn Southern corn ought
TO be thirteen feet high
Here it was all in "a nutsheUt State
the facts, nothing but the facts. but
state ali of them attractiVely and if
possible amazingly. There is interest
In almost everything and it is the
newspaper makers business to find it
and make it plain to his readers He
who does this has succeeded
There is no better property to own
nor more pleasant life to lead than
that which goes with editing a country
newspaper, if it is properly done. 1t is
e. common jest to speak OF the poor"
editor Editors sometimes lend them
selves to the idea No editor in any
good Maine town of 1000 inhabitants
ought to be poor, going by local stan
dsrds, il he wiz follow these lines:
l. Run his paper entirely as a news
paper DO not NEEDLE in politics of any
sort Do not try to improve the COM
muuity any faster than it wants to be
improved ard DO not borrow money of
your advertisers or any sO-called lead
ing citizen" Get it of the bank which is
comparison and only wants interest
in return for the money.
g. Have no editorials unless they be
little Celebrations of facts. The ten
dency to blow the bugle is almost ire
sistible if the horn is handy
3. Get a good correspondent in every
town. big or little. in your territory and
print what he Writes~sO long as IT does
not lie or insult anybody Do not edit
his English, even if a little twisted, it
hurts his feelings and makes his mean
ing obscure to his neighbors. This is
one Of the secrets of keeping country
correspondents and getting good out OF
them. They are invaluable.
q. Don't do your work on your adyer-
Using for nothing. Remember that as
a rule you have monopoly of the field
When my good friend, George p. Row
ell. years ago used to send me SO in
cash for $50 worth of advertising, and
would print the advertising because
didn't know when I would see SO again
made great mistake. OF course no
body can make money by doing S5(
worth of business for $40, but in accept
ing the SO ] established a rate that
was never able to increase on my for
eigu list because in making quotations
against rival agents, Mr. Roweu was al
ways able to hold the field
Z The small community is a sensi-
tive community. The editorial lash cuts
81 more deeply than any blow that car
be dealt When / say lay low and
print the news, I do not mean that
man need be q coward or a sneak be
cause he runs a country paper L NEAR
that the community does not require
his advice or his guidance, and tina
when he tries to sell them what they
do not want he makes a mistake. They
do want the news and they viii always
pay for it.
g. The country items are otter
laughed at, but no greater mistak
could be made than to belittle their i'm
pOrtance- They are the life of the pa
per. and however trivial, often give tn
greatest pleasure to that very valua bl
single seal list or SuDScrlDers who pa
In advance and who scattered all owe
the world. want all the news fron
home" I know nothing makes m
madder than to find my copy of tn
Norway Advertiser mislaid.
g. AS I said before. there is Inter
est In almost everything that happen
could you but find it. as you must t
be successful maker of newspaper
Above all. be particular to print tn
things about which your constituency
already informed by personal contac
Nothing is so interesting as to rea
about an event we have seen wholly @
in part. The reader likes to compar
the printed report with his own recol
lotion IL --an-a 10 --no-- Il tn. ra.o-