Connecticut western news., 1906-08-23

THE NEWS has just had with the adver tising agents of two of these concerns. One of them entered the sanctum with one hand on the handle of his grip and the other clutching a handsome fountain pen with which the editor was to sign the contract for years advertising. He deposited the ''copy" on the editorial desk, laid the contract before us and gracefully proffered the fountain pen, cap removed and ready for business. We didn't take that pen. Instead we picked up the contract, read two or three lines and-wearily handed it back. We say "wearily" because nine out of ten of those patent medicine advertising con- tracts will make almost any newspaper publisher weary. It was the same old tory-advertisement preceded and fol lowed by reading matter, on local or editorial page, each advertisement to be accompanied by one-inch reading mo- tice free of charge-alvertising which at our card rates would amount to $35, and which rates are paid by other adver- tisers, none of whom ask us to do un- reasonable things. For this service the patent medicine concern offered the at tractive sum of SIP The agent expressed extreme surprise when we informed him we didn't want the business at that price nor would we give his advertisements the position he required at any price. We told him if his advertising was in serted ill this paper it would be at card rates and without position. The result was that the fountain pen was recapped and returned to the waistcoat pocket, the hand again sought the grip handle, the contract went into the waste basket and the medicine man headed for the station.
 The other agent approached us i'll pre- cisely the same manner, wanted precisely the same things, offered us precisely the same price and received precisely the same answer. But there was one diffei- ence, come to think. The second fellow had the stereotyped contract except that it contained cunnipgly concealed pit fall which might not be observed in nasty reading. It mentioned no particu- lar space, simply stating that the com- pany's advertising was to be run one year for $l2. The editor who signed that contract would bind himself to give that concern one page of advertising every week in the year if they saw fit to de- mand 1t of him. This medicine man also departed i'll high dudgeon because he was unable to do business.
 It looks to us as if these patent medi- cine fellows have held conference and decided upon a uniform plan by which to bamboozle country newspapers.
 The cold, hard facts in the case are, however, that no one is more to blame for the penurious methods of the nostrum manufacturers than the country news papers themselves. Some are so anxious to fill their columns with advertising that they accept it at almost any price offered and consent to all sorts of un- reasonable conditions. The medicine concerns are not slow in observing this and, therefore, endeavor to carry out their one-third or one-fourth rate policy with all papers. There are some news paper offices in which it won't work, and THE NEWS is one of them. They pay regular rates or their advertisements don't go in our columns.
 We would really like to know what sort of an explanation is made by the newspaper men who take this advertis- ing at cut rates when local advertiser asks why he is made to pay full price.