The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-30
VALUE or THE WEEKLY ezEss
 The Charlotte (N. C.) Observer says:


 The weekly or semi-weekiy papers which are worth while at all are quite may not clip them much-we do not, by reason of the Limitations of space.but they are valuable by. way of suggestion, h M stimuietinE thousht g and AT in ksep,ng tns ns events in counties and communities. He often uttiixes. in one form or another. fact or an Idea which he had gotten from . weekly or semi weekly exchanse' SIX months or a year previous.
 The Advertiser has on more than one occasion spoken up for the weekly papers. Some of them are among our brightest ex- changes, and, as The Observer says, from them we get many valuable hints and les sons. True, there are Q few on our list which rarely have any editorial ideas of their own, but they keep up with the news and events of their localities and are for that reason invaluable. There are q few in Alabama which never notice The Advertiser except to hit 1t a clip over the head, but that's all right. It amuses them and doesn't hurt The Advertiser, and let them have their fun in their own way. We like fun at times. and wouldn't deprive others of theirs. In fact, we rather admire some of them for the way they lam us. <It shows that they have some spumk, whatever we may think of their judgment.
 Another thing we must repeat, for we have more than once said 1t, and that is that any community fails of its duty If it fails to encourage and support the local paper. It may not be as large, as well filled or as ably edited as the big daily of the cities, but country newspapers, in Shakspeare's words, "are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time; after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their i'll report while you live" That is an undeniable truth. A man may boast that he cares nothing for the good or i'll will of his county paper, but if it turns against him he feels it and resents it, and will take measures to placate or counteract it. It may not have the outside influence that some of the dailies have, but 1t is tho record of home events. of marriages, deaths and other happenings which are of interest to him, and which the city papers never set. Some business men in the small towns have a queer idea about supporting the home paper. If they subscribe and pay for it they seem to think they have come up to the full measure of their duty. They will conduct a business year after year without spending a dollar in adver- Using. If the editor should send to the city for everything he buys tine merchant would denounce his course in not patroniz- ing his home dealers, but what right would he have to do so? He expects the editors trade, but forgets to give any thing in return. He apparently forgets that there is such thing in this world as reciprocity.
 When we look all over one of our case, and fail to find any home advertise- ments, we wonder what kind of business men they have Our estimate of any town falls very materially when we find that its merchants do not advertise in their weekly paper. "Man cannot live by bread alone" and the editor cannot live by subscriptions alone. Advertising is the life of the newspaper, in city or country A large subscription list and ] we'll filled advertising columns bespeak 8 wide awake community. Every man who is so situated that he can do so ought to take at least one daily newspaper. but before doing that he should subscribe and pay for his home paper. Justice, like charity, should begin at home, and it is a duty, as 1t should be real pleasure, to help the country paper on it's way. It's life is frequently hard one. at best. and if 1t starves and dies for lack of home patronage 1t is a reflection on the intelligence and fairness of tho community The Advertiser is the undertaking friend of the country press.