The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-07-10
THE LOCAL PAPER
= Powerful Influence For coo5 {, Ire
Community

me influence Of the modern naws-
paper and periodical on the th7ugbr
and character Of the community in
winch it circulates is vastly greater
'nan most people who zivz il a casual
OnouSht may realize.
mere never has been a reform of
any magnitude successfully carried
out without the help of the paw.pa-
pers' and a radical change in the poli.
y OF a party of government along re-
form lines is never undertaken until
mat reform has been forced upon II
by popular sentiment expressed
through the papers columns.
Popular sentiment produces reform.
ana mat sentiment is produced by the
newspapers. So We see that the news
paper Is at the bottom of all reform
movements. This is true of all right
~ conducted journalism. but is dcub-
~ true of the local or country daily or
weekly. and for these reasons:
The large metropolitan dailies. with
their enormous calculations. are main
~ read by business men. and a Iarge
percentage of these men rarely. if ever
glance at an editorial. The papers
are largely left in car seats or thrown
into wastebaskets. and the proportion
which reach the family hearth is
small, and these are simply scanned
for sensational news. and the editor
lals are overlooked by the ladies Of
the family almost entirely.
Now, how different it is with th4 To-
cal weekly paper! 1t is read top. bot
tom and sides by every member OF the
family and particularly by the wLm-
en- Its editorials are read. discussed
and commented on, and the communi-
.ty largely gathers its opinions from
the tonne Of these articles.
The women of the community have
much greater weight in shaping the
policy of that section than they are
usually given credit for. 1t is in cry
many respects the case of the gray
mare being the better horse. and you
will nearly always ind them on the
right side, opposed to graft and wrong
doing and fighting for the pure in life
The local paper helps them TO under
stand political and social questions
and to act and talk intelligently in re-
latiOn 10 them. and through the wOm-
en- OF the household a tremendous in
iuence is eNerted on the voters OF that
household.
This is largely the reason that I To-
cality like that covered by these pa
pers is so clean politically. Who ever
heard of graft or fragrant cases of
wrOngdOing in the towns covered by
these papers? And We rather iatter
ourselves that these papers and the
influence they exert have done much
10 keep the district pure and clean.
Our readers have always found Us
i'm the past arrayed on the side of
good government. Regardless OF any
ones feelings. We always speak out in
meeting on all public questions vital
TO the interests of our towns, and We
propose to stand for all time on the
same platform.
But it is the strangest thing that the
borrowers of the local paper make
greater demands upon an editor than
q regular subscriber. All sorts of
church affairs, all family troubles. and
particularly the financial family tlou-
bles. are sent to the publisher. The
weekly country paper has the best
interests of the community at heart
and wants to and does serve the pub
lie. hut it. in turn, must be supported.
Those that have a business IN town
should advertise and help the local
naper. That is the thing that makes
a paper pay. We are pleased that all
have enjoyed the paper the past year
-Duxhurv Mass Standard.