Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1905-09-15

Cn1Sc4 Dg ZIG C44F-1 Ea4 1A8 A4E- ~ -
1t would take q good many Of thost
luscious pies 70 remove Il
The writer spent several days il
| Portland last week, attending the Fail
and visiting his brother publishers Q.
! Oregon and Washington, and be die
not find single newspaper man whC
! appeared in other than prosperou:
/ circumstances and able 70 pay for al
that he got These editors were not
found hunting cheap hotels and eat
| ing houses. nor were they found ask
| ing special rates for any aooommodz-
tions. They paid their bills as they
went, and it is safe 70 assume that
they left as much money IN Portland,
according to their number. as any
business mems organization that has
visited the Fair City this year. And
it is not probable that any Of them
we're "bankrupted' by the few days
visit
The only part Of this trip for which
they were not charged was their rail
road fare to and from Portland and
their admission 10 the Fair grounds
The OBsEBvEB does not know whe;heT
the Oregonian publishers ride OF ad-
yertising passes or whether they pay
their railroad fare; il doesn't know,
neither does it care, whether they pay
their way into the Pair grounds cr
whether they are admitted free
Plainly speaking. this is none Of our
affair But we do know, and we be-
lieve every fair-minded person will
agree with Us, that the railroad
companies, the Fair management and
the business men Of Portland owe the
Oregon newspapers more than they
can ever pay for the publicity given
the Fair enterprise. Certain it is that
If the Fair had been charged the
usual rates for all this advertising,
the officials would not have found
themselves worrying over the disposi-
ton Of the surplus gate receipts. as
they are doing now.
News and editorial space was given
freely, and without thought Of
compensation, to the exploitation Of
the project from the day Of its incep-
ton, and it was this influence that
made possible a state appropriation
Of s5O0,OOO. 1t was this advertising,
continuing month after month, that
aroused the attention and enthusiasm
Of the people and furnished an attend
ance that has surpassed the widest
dreams Of the Fair promoters and the
citizens OF Portland. Thousands Of
columns Of advertising have been
cheerfully donated by country news
papers, and every line Of it has cost
the publishers good hard money.
Now, that the Fair officials and
transportation companies are CRATE
fully acknowledging their apprecia-
ton Of this aid by granting the little
in their power to give, aud
after the business men of Portland
have endeavored to show their graft
tude in most graceful manner, the
Oregonian permits some sap-head
paragrapher to class these publishers
about on a level with "free-Iunch"
buns. No such fun-making nor
comments have been in
dulged in at the expense of other
business or social organizations that
have met in Portland this summer.
and it strikes US that the editorial
meeting was poor place to begin.
The OBSERVER does not desire to be
over-sensitive in this matter. Its
editor has been in the newspaper
business long enough to learn that a
man must give and take, and would /
be inclined to pass the Oregonian |
editorial as joke were it not for the 1
TACT that such writing Injuries the |
business Of all country publishers
who are striving to conduct their 1
papers on decent and dignifled basis. |
The writer has long admired the 1
Oregonian as great and enterprising 1
newspaper, and has never lost an
to say a good word for it 1
a his columns when occasion has
offered. But we have had a right to
Expect better things from the big daily
han the editorial that appeared in its
sunday issue. Such a paragraph [
would have been bad enough in some
title obscure village weekly, but it
hould have been wholly beneath the
.ignity Of a big city paper, Let's
Iope that the poor editor" joke has
cen printed for the last time in Ore
on, and that it will eventually be-
ONE as extinct as the dOdo and other
lustrious has-beens. Let the news
aper men command respect by
themselves and each other,
nd, by so doing, give their readers
etter papers and make more money
n themselves.