The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-30
he dId 1t the small paper could not take

no 0lu II the enhit papef couio nut tako
 tn espAcc to tell you.
 < Truly the small paper would be pow
 erfuE arouser of public cupriosity. but.
 believe me. 1t would satisfy no one. least
 of all the busy man. We hear from time
 to time that the newspapers of the day
 are too large for this busy man l don't
 believe 1t. The busy man is just the
 man for the big newspaper, as he isfor
 other big things. and most of the busy
 men of my acquaintance 50 through
 two and three and four newspapers ev-
 cry day. They know how to dispatch their
 reading as they know how to dispatch all
 their affairs. and if I could be guilty 0f
 the folly of putting a small paper on the
 market should not look for much sym
 pathy among the men of business. The
 loafer Is the only man should expect to
 please, and, since he generally sponges
 his reading in his club. at a barber shop
 or in the public reading room. l prob
 ably should not gain a very large circu-
 lation even among the members Of the lazy class.
 The small paper certainly would not meet the requirements of the home. There the spirit of our American democracy has emancipated the children as well as
 the women, until now every member of the family stands up for his or her rights
 as a newspaper reader. and for liberal slice of the large newspaper.
 In the good old days when our fathers really were masters of their own houses, the newspaper was made for men alone, and it was so forbidding to youth and to women that 1t was the last thing that the wife or the son or the daugh- |, ter would think of looking at. That narrow spirit made it possible for the newspaper to be small. but who would revive those conditions in our day? So much for the readers. who have the first claim, and whose members form the real basis of a successful journal. How about the advertiser? The daily newspa- per is the best medium through which ad- vertisers can reach their patrons and in- crease their sales and profits. If you print from 20 to 200 columns of advertis- ing in a single issue, how can you do il 1 in a small newspaper? The whole propo- sition is so absurd that it is astonishing that intelligent people persist in making 1t topic of public discussion.
 A small newspaper was feasible when Europe was three months. instead of three seconds from this country, when Asia was unexplored, when Africa was shroud. ed in total darkness. when Washington was too or three weeks from Louisville
 
 earth on iron steeds and hitching up the lightning in the double harness of tht telegraph and the telephone. But we art living now in an age of large things. IT other words. gentlemen, this is no longel | . four-page world and a four-page civ
 ilization, and I think we are all glad of 1t The speaker then showed that we car | never have the ideal newspaper. becaus, | Journalists. like clergymen. lawyers, phy | sicians and business men. are al human | with limitations which must control then | in all of their work. He showed what < | brilliant failure Rev Mir. Sheldon's at | tempt to print religious daily proved | and demonstrated that MT. Sheldon los | a great opportunity to make useful ant l helpful suggestions to the press. H, l explained the growth of the Sunday news paper which Is merely meeting the ex | banding wants of the reader and the ad vertlser
 The speaker also touched upon tn, charge that daily newspapers publish tot much of crime and scandal. In present | ing a mirror of the events of a day it fl l impossible not to include such event. | within decent limitations because peopl, 1 demand all kinds of news in their locali ties.
 The people themselves are the real sen saticnalists. though unconscious of it. Al the first reports of bank failures, terribl, accidents, fires, etc., which are usually fearfully exaggerated, are started by tn, people themselves and grow in size a. they fly from mouth to mouth. The in telligent reporter gets at the facts and the newspaper comes out with the trutl and sets a thousand wild rumors at rest.