Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1905-09-15
A POOR SORT OF JOKE

A PUUk SUKI UF JUNE
The Oregonian gave excellent ac
counts Of the sessions Of the Oregon
Press Association held in Portland
last Friday and Saturday, q fact thai
was appreciated and fsvorably com,
mented upon by every publisher
present After having received such
courteous treatment. imagine IL you
can, the surprise Of the visiting editors
when they read the following editorial
in the Sunday edition Of that paper
'sThe country editor has come to
town He has left for a time his
sanctum, his devil, his esteemed con-
temporary and the sapid pumpkin
contributed by Uncle Ebeneezer Hay
seed upon the celebrated occasion
when he called in TO pay years sub
scription. The pumpkin. glowing
through the dust Of the Office window
like serene and golden sunset, was
the last thing the editors eye rested
upon as he climbed into the smoker
with his pass in his pocket. to dare the
temptations of the great city. But
when he returns Yanquished and
bankrupt from his encounter with
metropolitan sin, the pumpkin will
glow no longer, for our wife will
have baked it into a batch Of those
luscious pies. May they take all the
bad taste out OF his mouth and re-
illume his soul with the peaceful light
of bucolic innocence. May the forms
not be pied nor the devil drunk when
he gets back, and may all his de-
linquent subscribers pay up forthwith,
either in cash or cordWood. for he will
need both. The joys OF the city are
expensive, and Winter is at hand.
It is evident that the intellectual
misflt that penned the foregoing
paragraph has not learned that ''it is
one thing to be funny and another to
be smart. While it is altogether
probable that no offense was meant,
the editorial is not creslitable to the
man who wrote it nor to the paper that
published it. A joke that tends 10
discredit or cheaper any honorable
business or occupation, or the persons
engaged therein, is no joke at all No
self-respecting man or woman enjoys
being held up to ridicule, and
especially is this so in any case where
social or business prestige is in
volved. The editorial in Sundays
Oregonian is unjust and harmful,
and Is an abortive attempt at wit that
will not be relished by any publisher
who is striving to conduct his business
In a business-like way.
The "turnlp" and "cordwood" Jokes
have had their day, and should be
permitted TO pass into oblivion. Ap-
peals for money in the shape of jokes |
about the starving editor" and his |
patched pants" are no longer found /
in newspapers worthy Of the name, |
and pumpkins do not pass as legal |
tender in modern country print-shops. |
There may have been a time when such |
unbusiness-like methods OF conduct
ing a country newspaper were common
but competition has revolutionized
the printing business in the country
as we'll as In the cities, and the pub
Usher who fails to conduct his business
on business principles soon finds him
self out OF the game. The publisher
who makes his paper an object of
charity soon finds himself an object Of
charity, and when he drops out of the
procession he confers a lasting favor
on the respectable publishers that re-
main in the business.
The country publishers Of today are
as prosperous, comparatively speak
Ing, as any other class OF business
men. Most OF them own their homes
and their printing plants, and are
laying away money for the proverbial
rainy day. They are recognized men
Of affairs in their home towns, and
take leading part In the development
Of their respective communities and
the advancement Of the entire state.
Many country editors are stockholders
or directors in their local banks, and
the number owning no property aside
from their plants is small. 1t is safe
TO assume that the Indebtedness in
CURED by country publishers in en- {
Iarging and improving their plants
has been no larger in proportion than {
hat incurred by the city publishers, '
and an examination Of the records !
would probably disclose the fact that 5
he rural publishers have been as q
prompt In lifting their mortgages as
heir city brothers have been. /
But the city editor either cannot or 6
will not see it this way. Apparently C
delights the average metro Il
'olitan editor more than to picture the p
'ountry newspaper man as an illy-fed, T
lly-clothed individual, subsisting on a
brought in by his farmer b
ubscribers, and finding his only I,
'leasure in riding a few miles on a