The Republican journal., 1904-10-06
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND ADyERrIs1Nc.
The Problems That Confront the Publish !.
ers of Country Weeklies


i ers of Country Weeklies
The proprietor of newspaper has in
his business two legitimate sources of
| revenue-the money received from the
sale of his newspapers and the returns
from advertising. Contrary to the gen
eral impression on the part of the pub
llc, the money received from subscrip-
lions and the sale of papers is the small
Ter item and of itself would be insult
lc1ent to pay the expense of publishing
the paper To render paper self sup.
porting and secure any return on the
investment it must have good line of
advertising.
The prOprietOr's stock in trade is the
advertising space he has to sell. This
is necessarily limited in amount, for
suitable space must be reserved for
news and comment, without which
there would be no sale for the paper,
and the advertisements unread would
be worthless. On the proper sale of
this advertising space and the amount
of money received in return the finan-
cial success of the newspaper prOprie-
tor depends. But there is a certain
class in every community, and far
larger class outside, which are deter
mined to secure considerable part of
this space for their own benefit without
giving any adequate return.
| The demand for free advertising is in
extent, persistence and ingenuity be-
yond the belief of any but those who
have had experience in the business. A
man who would never think of going
into grocery store and requesting the
proprietor to donate a barrel of flour,
or into shoe store and telling the own
OF hot hos n.i>,a l.,
he'll help himself to pair of shoes,
office and prefer his request for several
dollars worth of free advertising and
feel nightly offended if refused.
The solicitor of free advertising is al
ways sure that The proprietor would be
glad of something to help fill up the
paper" He is-just as glad as the gro
ceryman is glad of some one to help
carry off his stock without payment. !
Time and again under the guise of news /
items matter is presented which is |
plain advertising and if used at all |!
should be paid for as sucll.
The newspaper proprietor expects to |
furnish certain amount of free adver- !
tising to religious, charitable and pub. |
lie enterprises. If he didn't he would |
be looked on as a heathen hard hearted, |
mercenary, lacking in public spirit. !
His contribution is accepted as mat
ter of course, and rarely is he accorded
a word of thanks. Sometimes he re-
fuses to donate as much space as the
promoter of some enterprise desires,
aud then he is looked upon as unrea-
sonable and dsobliging. The proprie-
tor also expects and is willing to give
a little free advertising to those who
run paid advertisements iii his paper.
This is a matter of business courtesy
which is rarely abused. But with the
horde of solicitors for free advertising
which constantly besiege the newspa-
per offices, with 10 possible claim upon
his courtesles save the hope of getting
something for nothing, the proprietor
has no sympathy whatever
The duties that the newspaper pro-
prietor and editor owe to the public are
numerous, diverse and exacting. 1t is
high time that the public should under
stand that these duties do not include
the sacrifice of considerable amount
of valuable space for the benefit of in
dividuals or enterprises which give
nothing i'll return.-Mount Vernon
IN. y Argus.
This states the case fairly both as to
the newspaper and the public With
the increased expense attending the
publication of a newspaper the amount
of free advertising must necessarily be
curtailed. 1t is now the rule that adj
vertising for entertainments to which
an admission is charged, whether for
the benefit of a society, association or
individual, should be paid for. Cards
of thanks and resolutions of respect are
also to be paid for. The journal has
been very liberal with its free advertis-
ing in the past, and probably does
more in that line today than one of its
contemporaries, receiving in many
cases neither cash nor thanks; and
while it does not propose any decided
change in its policy in this regard the
line must be drawn somewhere. The
National Printer-J journalist, in com
| menting on the advance of the sub
scription price of local newspaper
says:
A local paper does special service
for the comparatively few people in a
limited district, and it costs just as
much to gather this special local news
and to set the types to serve thousand
! as it would to serve hundred thousand,
and hence the proportion to be paid by
| each subscriber must in all justice be
much larger. Besides, outside of fur
nishing local news, the local paper is
i constantly doing special and valuable
service for the locality and its schools,
industries, business institutions of all
kinds, and for the people individually,
that could not and would not be done
in any other way, much less by paper
published in a distant city. Paper,
type, ink, labor, the cost and style of
living, have all advanced, and there is
every reason for advancing the sub
scription price of the newspaper. No
community can afford to starve its local
paper.
| To- nj, Ii md