Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-01-10
Enter ed at the Postoffice al StauntOn, Va.
as second class mail matter.
Friday, January 10. 1908.
TO OUR READERS.

with the new year Tue SPEGTATOfS
begins the 87th year of it's existence.
Few journals have such history, few
printed today will live SO long. The
files of this paper are a history unto
themselves. They tell Of life. OF hap
piness, of sorrow, and of death. They
are record of many events not found
elsewhere. We are told by aspiring
dailies that the age and the time of the
weekly newspaper has passed. The
statement is absurd. 1t has just begun.
The daily is scanned hurriedly, often
for something sensational, only super.
ticially read always. LII ten minutes it
is in the waste basket, or the sewer.
The weekly is read and laid aside that
the whole family may read it. 1t is
taken up again and again. and every
line Is read and reread. 1t is not print.
ed for the moment, nor Indeed for the
busy man on his way to his Office, who
scans headlines and then losses it on
the street car floor, the sidewalk, or
out of the cab window. 1t is printed
for instruction, future use and preser
walton. Many families in this com
munity and many who have moved to
distant lands and want "a letter from
homen each week, file the SPECTATOR
with az much regularity. as they eat
their meals. One thousand copies of
q good weekly paper will most likely
be read by five thousand persons. For
this reason advertisements in weekly
papers are far more valua BILE and con-
sequently more costly than in a daily,
with equal or even greater GIRO ulation'
The highest priced advertisements are
found in the Monthly Magazines; the
next highest in the Weeklies. The
least costly are in the dailies. The
reason IS obvious. In the monthly
the advertisement is preserved anC
may be read as long as the magszin,
is intact. In the weekly much thu
same conditions exist, but in the dali,
il read at all, it is when the party look
especially for just such an advertise
ment, or by accident. All know tina
the issue OF a daily of Monday, will no
be picked up on Tuesday. This is no
intended to deny to daily it's legiti
mate place, nor lessen it's usefulness i
society. There is room enough for al
1t is simply stating fact. 1t is il
tended to correct the idea that a wees
ly newspaper is thing of the past,
remnant of forgotten age. Th
wagon with its heavy, slow pioddin
horses has not been driven from tn
highway nor it's places of usefulness
either by the limited express, or tn
deadly automobile. True the self COZ
ceited, monocled, dudeish, passenge
on the train, or the very swell occu
pant of the motor car, may look wit
infinite contempt on Rueben and hi
team, as he thunders or swishes by a
high speed, and Rueben's horses ma
shy little at the spectacle, but it wi
be noticed that Rueben and his team
continue to do business at the oil
stand, just as does the weekly pape
In the midst of "Sunday issues,
Funny sheets, '"Yellow journalism.
"Newsboy' Extras" and "Lates
editions. The SPECTATOR feels tina
inasmuch as it has lived 81 years it Cal
live longer, since it is not of that ella.
which hath but short time to liv
and is full of misery. 1t hath no
come up to be cut down like flower
it feeth not as it were shadow, an(
never continueth in our stay.
To those who have shown their ap'
pre- ciation of its efforts in the past WI
return thanks. To those who will as
sist us in future we will be duly CRATE
full. We promise to our readers al
that a clean, we'll edited weekly papel
can give. We will attempt truthful
succinct aid accurate account O
events, a well timed, and we hope, in
structive editorial column, clean ant
high classed literature, and we bespeal
therefor their patronage and good will