The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1907-08-02
LOCAL PAPERS VALUE
No Modern Town Can Get AIonu
Without the Press.
REFLECTIONS OF A VETERAN.

weekly tfe TlonetF OF FFo9TcSS-t1S
Value to the Public.
II have just read little item," re-
marked the veteran newspaper man,
ito the effect that certain town in
| Texas is now without a newspaper.
The publisher of the local paper has
moved his plant to another town and
started paper there. Well I'm sorry
for the town that he Left
"Oh, I reckon 1t can get along very
we'll without a newspaper said the
cynical listener. Rome lasted several
centuries without any newspapers and
grew to be a stable city"
every true" replied the veteran,
every true. But you must not forget
that Athens and other rival towns like
wise were without Hcal papers. You
are talking of ancient times. am dis
cussing the present. Just suppose that
the Greek metropolis, for instance, had
possessed a thriving and progressive
newspaper-the only one on earth. I'm
decidedly Of the opinion that little old
Rome would have sat on one hill in
stead of seven, and Athens would have
spread out until the ancient rapid
transit problem would have been the
biggest public question in Greece"
But what has all this got to do with
the little town in Texas?"
"Well, just this. We are living now
in a newspaper age. The local newspa-
per is the great town booster. Ancient
Rome could grow without newspapers,
but any modern city would shrivel up
and leave only dry spot on the map
If all its newspapers should shut up
shop and move to rival cities. The To-
cal paper is the pioneer Of progress.
No other agency has been so powerful
in the building up and development Of
America. The great west and south
west and northwest have been built
largely by newspapers. Carpenters and
bricklayers and plasterers and plumb
ers do their part, but the newspaper
does more.
"A hundred years ago the United
States consisted Of a fringe Of popula-
ton along the Atlantic coast and few
pioneers In the wildernesses farther In
land About that time the newspaper
began to make showing. From year
to year it has been coming more and
more into evidence, with improvements
in machinery, In paper manufacture, in
type casting and the like. Now the To-
cal paper Is a public necessity. No
town can get along without at least
! one paper. There are very few towns
now that are without their home week
ly. Take the map of any state and
look it over closely. Get q newspaper
directory and study it along with the
map. You'll find that any town big
enough to be on the map has its local
paper, with very few exceptions.
"As I say, the town paper is the pio-
neer. In many cases the paper has ar
rived even before the town. This ap
plies particularly to Kansas, Oklaho-
ma, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Texas.
I have had experience in some Of those
states in the newspaper line when they
were in what you might call the pio-
neer stage, and know what I'm talk
ing about. I now see telegraph news
items from towns in Kansas, for in
stance, which knew twenty years ago
as mere spots on the prairies, laid out
in town lots and waiting for popula-
ton. In several of these towns the
first building put up was hotel. One
room was occupied by small printing
plant, and local paper was pub
lished. News? Why, plenty of 1t.
While the town may have had only
half a dozen people, 1t had bright pros
poets, great possibilities, and the edi-
tor was continually writing about
those possibilities and prospects. New
citizens were coming In, outsiders were
buying lots, and that little newspaper
grew up with the town, being itself
the chief instrument Of the towns
growth. 1t circulated outside and let
the outsiders know the prospects and
possibilities Now those towns which
started in that way have daily papers,
most Of them, and home circulation
that is not to be despfsed.
"I'm sorry for that Texas town be-
cause it doesn't seem to be living in
this day and generation-in the news
paper age. 1t apparently didn't have
enterprise enough to keep the local
editor there. He has moved, no doubt,
to a town which knows good thing
when it sees it and Is disposed to help
push 1t along. When I call this the
newspaper age I mean that it Is the
age of advertising, Of publicity. Print
er's ink publicity Is the kind that
counts. Every newspaper Is a big free
advertisement for its community. II
talks It blows the towns horn when
otherwise the horn would not be blown.
It makes the town where it Is publish
ed the center of the earth for the peo-
pie who live there and for others whom
It may induce to locate there. In these
lays town without gumption enough
to appreciate the public value Of q
local paper is not worth map space
and it won't incumber the ground very
bng."