Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-11-05
"A HoarY Old Fraud"

we are SuIpTlSeu tO lHu again llc
following hoary old fraud, this time
in the Rock Hill Herald:
Newspaper Subscription Laws"
Few readers or publishers Of pa
pers fully or clearly understand the
laws governing subscriptions. The
decisions of the United States courts
are:
Il. Subscribers who do not give ex-
press notice to the contrary are con-
sidered as wishing to renew their
subscriptions.
"2. If the subscribers order the dis
continuance of their periodical the
publisher may continue to send 1t un-
til all arrearages are paid.
"3. If the subscribers neglect or re-
fuse to take their periodicals from the
postoffice to which they are addressed,
they are responsible until they have
settled their bills and ordered them
discontinued.
a. If subscribers move to other
places without informing the publisher
and the paper Is sent to the former
address, they are held responsible.
"5. The courts have decided that re-
fusing to take periodicals from the Of
flee, or removing and leaving them un-
called for, is prima facie evidence OF
fraud.
"6. If the subscribers pay in advance
they are bound to give notice at the
end Of the time, If they do not wish to
continue taking it, otherwise the pub
Usher Is authorized to send 1t and the
subscriber will be responsible until
express notice, with payment Of all ar
rearages, Is sent to the publisher.
THE latest postal laws are such that
newspaper publishers can cause the
arrest of any one for fraud who takes
paper and refuses to pay for 1t.
Under this law the man who allows
his subscription to run along for some
time unpaid, and orders his paper
refused" lays himself liable to arrest
and fine the same as for theft"
About once year this solemn pro-
nouncement Is resurrected and goes
the round Of the press for the purpose
apparently Of soaring some of the de-
linquents into paying up. The intelli-
gent Rock Hill Herald and any other
newspaper which does SO ought to be
ashamed of itself for printing such a
thing, as there is no such law. Let
this be submitted to any lawyer and
he will laugh at 1t.
To begin with the United States
courts have no Jurisdiction to enforce
the collection of subscription accounts
to newspapers. These are matters for
the state courts. Almost everybody
knows that the United States courts
do not take cognizance of any case un-
less $4,000 is involved. No subscrip-
ton account with all the loose methods
of some newspaper publishers ever
amounted to as much as $4,000.
The most that a newspaper sub
scriber would be liable for would be
for the amount of the back subscrip-
ton as a civil debt only and even this
could not be collected If the subscrib-
er had ordered the paper stopped.
Furthermore, no newspaper publisher
has any right to assume that a sub
scriber who did not give notice to the
contrary wished to renew his sub
scription, unless that has become es-
tablished between them as custom.
The last part Of this ridiculous lot
Of laws" is the statement that under
the --latest postal laws" newspaper
publishers can cause the arrest Of any.
one for fraud who takes paper and
refuses to pay for it. There are few
gudgeons in this country who Will be-
iieve this. What will intelligent peo-
pie think of a newspaper which hands
out such stuff to its readers?-Spar-
tanburg Journal. ~
All Of what the Journal says on the
foregoing subject is about correct but
1. does not put the case quite as strong
as it might. Instead Of helping news
papers to collect past due subscriptions,
it most emphatically' discourages the
creation Of such claims. The policy of
the postal department Is to encourage
the payment of all newspaper sub
scriptions in advance. 1t does, how
ever, recognize credit to the extent OF
an agreement whereby 1t is understood
by both parties that the subscription
is to be paid within the subscription
reriod. But where a publisher con-
tinues to send his paper after the time
paid for, or the expiration of the sub
scription period, and in the absence OF
a new contract, it becomes the duty of
the postmaster at the office Of entry
to call upon the publisher to show
cause why he should not be deprived
of his second-class privileges.