St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1906-01-10

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is an interesting speculation. In one re-
spect I believe that, generally speaking
there is room for marked Improvement.
have sometimes thought 1 could detect
tendency on the part of editors of week
ly papers towards laziness in their owr
writing.
There seems to have grown up an i'm
preston that the people of rural com.
munites now look to the outside jour
nails for their general information ant
for their opinions. This is undoubtedly
true to certain degree. and will doubt
less continue to be the case: but it does
not seem that that field of endeavor
should be neglected entirely on that &C.
count; nor need it be. There is nothing
the average reader appreciates so much
as something written directly for him.
The impress upon his mind of views
formed and expressed in far-away cities
for a multitude of others like himself is
vague and unsatisfying. 1t has no per-
sonal bearing. 1t does not go home. 1t
depicts the sentiment of a foreign COM
munity, not his own. If I were now
conducting that defunct derelict once
called either the Peacham Patriot or the
Peacham Democrat, one colmun, and al
ways the same column would be filled
every week without fail by what I per-
sonally thought respecting the larger
events of the week from the viewpoint
of my environment and the environment
of my readers 1t would not be as thor
oughly done as by the great metropoli-
tan journal. But it would be done as by
one of the family whose job it was to
analyze the affairs of the world sys-
tematically and simply in the vernacu-
lar of the community for the benefit of
the other members. 1t is this sort of
personal relationship established be-
tween the writer and the reader that
gets attention, holds it, and makes direct
tangible influence 1t means the hardest
kind of work, much reading, more think
ing, and a certain amount of drudgery,
in striving for suitable and effective ex-
preston. But that is what the editor
is for. A man who is not willing to
subordinate his personal pleasure to his
profession, especially when his calling is
that of a teacher, such as an editor
necessarily is in the broadcast sense, has
no moral right to hold a position which
has become false. He should go out and
hoe potatoes, and give his pen to an
other willing to sit up nights pushing it.
COUNTRY PAPERS MIGHT COM
BINE.
There is another point of a wholly
practical nature. I wonder if, in the
mechanics of the trade, the country
newspaper has advanced along the lines
of other industries. When a town gets
big enough to have one newspaper it
generally has two. The second is a sort
of antidote. Years ago they used to
fight. One editor did not recognize the
other socially and was expected to treat
him only with contumely in public. IN
der such circumstances, of course,
working arrangements, even to mutual
advantage, were impossible. But that
time seems to have passed. You editors
whose offices even confront each other
live in peace and harmony and speak
respectfully one of the other. The pub
lie used to like the fighting, but it does
not seem to resent the sweet reasonable
ness which has settled like dove upon
your various spirits. Might it not be
possible to take advantage of this fact?
Admitting that there should be two
newspapers and two editors in each
town, must there necessarily be two
separate printing establishments? What |
reader cares or knows anything about |
how or where the type is set or the
press is run? Again, if I were conduct |
ing the Peacham Democrat and another |
fellow was publishing the Peacham |
Patriot across the way, I should go TO
him and say: See here, let US save
money on the cost of production. Let us
Jointly own q printing establishment, |
and let each newspaper pay to that joint |
ownership the actual cost of work done |
for it. We will have enough to keep the |
factory going, and we can afford a bet
ter and more economical plant; also let |
us increase our circulation. Let one |
paper be printed on Tuesday and the
other on Friday, instead of on the same
day, and gradually we will induce peo-
pie to bup both instead of one. Thus by
saving at one end and adding at the
other each of us will have more to do
with and can make a better paper, and
thereby serve our constituencies better
and more to their satisfaction" That,
I repeat, is what should say to him.
What he would say to me I can only
guess. The scheme might be wholly
If so, he would point out
the reasons therefor, and it would be
abandoned, but from my present lights
should feel that I was at least credit
ably cropping for a helpful suggestion
for the benefit of all concerned, whether
[ found it or not.
MUST REMEMBER COMMERCIAL
END.
Character and fidelity to ideals are, of
course, the true foundation of public jour-
lals, but he is fool who ignores or pre-
ends to ignore the commercial phase. The
,lder Samuel Bowles was a great journal
st and a great man-to my mind the
greatest of the splendid group of his day,
because Greeley was the only one who
ould compare with him in conscience, and
lie was infinitely broader and wiser than
Sreeley. None of you need be told of the
of the elder Samuel Bowles
n creating great journal half
Urban and half rural, but when