The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-07


certain carriers Of the State Journal in
this mornings Capital 1t is so mani /
festedly unfair as to be unworthy of /
further reply. It is untrue. The pro- 1
prietOr of the State Journal has never
threatened the carriers with confscation |
of their routes. We have told them re-
peatedly we never sell routes.
We viii have the paper delivered, |
however, and we will sell the paper
for one cent per copy to Wholesalers |
if we wish to do so, as we have an
nOunced we intend to do in certain
cases to be sold at higher prices at re-
tail:
Carriers answer to the statement of
| the editor of the State Journal in Fri |
day evenings issue.
In reply to the statement published |
| in the State Journal last evening re- |
garding the position of the State Jour |
nal carriers, the carriers wish to state |
that:
l. The editor of the State Journal
states that he has on deposit in the
4 banks of Topeka thousands of dollars.
This amount of money has been earn
/ ed by the Topeka state journal on ac-
1 count of its large city circulation and
this city circulation is largely due to
the efforts of the college and high
school carriers of the paper. When
I the paper was taken charge Of some
years ago by Mr.. MacLennan and the
! present system of carrying inaugurated
/ its circulation was small but began at
once to increase. One of the carriers
/ as quoted in last evening issue as
having a. small route and poorly car
ried has worked up his subscription
/ list from $50 to 1913 in the last two
! years, showing an increase of one
| fourth. It is preposterous for the
management to expect its carriers to
| place papers in every house in the city
/ The showing made by Mr.. MacLennan
! 100 c-fa,,
/ prima facie that the proportion of
/ papers delivered to the number of
| houses on each route is unusually
large.
2. Mr. MacLennan made the state
ment that the State Journal paid out
/ every month to it's carriers more than
one thousand dollars. The State jour
nal has never paid to Its present car
1 riers or any carriers for many years
4 any sum of money whatever as wages
4 for carrying the papers. The carriers
| buy the papers outright and sell them
/ to their customers and their only re-
| muneration is the profit in these sales
They are dependent on their Subscrlb-
I ers for their income. Furthermore, IN
his statements Mr.. MacLennan did not
I quote the average, but cited only the
/ largest routes.
The conclusions reached by Mr..
! MacIs sennan as to the profits made by
I the carriers or the time used are NOT
I correct for the following reasons: Mr..
ton only the actual time expended
upon the route and has not figured
! the time required in going to and com
ing from the routes and getting the
I papers which practically more than
/ doubles the time used each day, thus
/ dividing the profit per hOGS as sug-
( gested by Mr.. MacLennan by two.
/ When we deduct from this the inter-
est on capital invested and losses from
| subscriptions not collected, he can
not truthfully say that Journal car
riers are the best paid labor in To-
pelSa- 49,,
I will not refuse to deliver the evening
/ state Journal If our customers do
not get their papers regularly each
| evening it will not be through any
neglect of ours. WE WILL NOT
8 The editor of the Journal makes
| a showing that his new system would
increase the profits OF the carriers pS
increasing their subscription lists. The
| subscription lists are aiready Wen
worked up and recent efforts on the
mart Of the paper by special solicitors
| shows that no marked increase can be
made. To increase prohts unuer tne
nroposed system the subscription lists
of each route would have to be in
creased more than 25 per cent, when
is absolutely impossible.
4 There is not and never mas peeh
any rule on the part of the paper
made known to its carriers against the
distribution of circulars by the car
riers. The carriers did not intend to
aid the Capital, they did not intend 10
inillre the Journal but merely to call
attention to the fairness of one man
agement in comparison to the attitude
! Of another The carriers knew of no
! other way of getting their side OF the
case before the public than by the
method adopted. The subscribers of
the Journal have expressed their sym
| pathy with the carriers and out Of
/ more than four thousand approached
! by the carriers less than twelve re-
fused to make an expression OF their
sympathy with their carriers by sign
ing the petition, and these petitions,
signed by more than four thousand
of fbe citizens of the city of Topeka
and subscribers of the state journal
were absolutely unheeded by the man
agement of the Topeka State Journal
FThe carriers WON'T let us read this
petitionl-Editor.I
The carriers of the Topeka State Jour
i nal regret deeply being compelled to
take any such means TO protect theH
rights but they are all boys and young
men whose only means Of livelihood lies
in these routes and it means to them
an opportunity to gain an education
Under these circumstances they feel
iusfified in taking the most stringent
measures to protect their interests.
71l7ev were threatened Friday afternoon
with forfeiture of their routes and sub
: stitution Of other carriers unless they
would agree forthwith to the Journals
! arbitrary dfctation.
Our only recourse was to appeal to
the courts and our customers. Such
? action was not taken without the most
earnest consideration and after exhaust
ing every means of persuasion and
argument in trying to reach some rea-
sonable settlement with the Journal
and without making it public
: on the result Of this action and the
LOYALTY of our customers depends the
enforcement Of what we consider our
rights. Respectfully yours
TFTE CARRIERS OF THE TOPEKA
STATE JOURNAL.
Nv James A. Mcclure, A. ]. Bollinger.