Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-10-30
THE COUNTRY PAPER.
Views OF a Mississippian-It Is Worth
More Than 1t Costs FIfty-Two
Times Oyer.

Views OF a Mississippian-It Is Worth
More Than 1t Costs Flfty-Two
| Times oyer.
The following article-taken from the
Jackson Miss Union Advocate, the
official organ of the Farmers Union Of
Mississippi-is SO plain and forceful g
presentation of the value and import
ance of the country newspaper that we
print it in full as it will prove of special
interest to every reader of the CUsTEB
| WEEKLY CHRONICLE. 1t was written by
Dr. b. +. Ward, one of the most gifted
men of Mississippi, ex-surgeon of the
Confederate States army; ex-president
Mississippi State Medical Association,
and ex president Mississippi State Board
of Health. He is father of B. F. Ward,
Jr., editor of the Union Advocate, Jack
son, Miss. The article follows:
The most scantly appreciated piece Of
property in the world is the country
newspaper One dollar for a country
paper is the cheapest investment man
ever makes. 1t brings richer and more
abundant returns than any other one
dollar We may send out in any single
year,
Fifty-two times in IL months we COL
lect the interest on that dollar. Fifty
two times in year our wives and chill
dren gather from that little paper some
paragraph of information, some item Of
news, some gleam of patriotism, some
moral sentiment, some ray of hope,
some stimulus to greater and nobler
effort that is worth more than the cost
of the paper.
Perhaps we are not aware, at the time,
that we are receiving any benefit from
this modest little weekly visitor, but do
not turn it away from your door with
out listening to its simple message. 1t is
q faithful missionary and is sowing in
the minds and hearts of your children
little seed that in time will spring up
and bring forth fruit one hundred fold.
BILL ARP's VIEW.
Bill Arp once said there never was a
country paper that was not worth many
times more than the price paid for it.
He said, for instance, his father came
from New England to Georgia. He was
stranger in strange land, without
money, or friends, he stopped in little
oil lNll for
newspaper. In the first number he saw
a notice of teacher wanted for little
country school. He Immediately ap-
piled and was elected. In that school
was a bright-eyed, curly-haired little
girl. When the school closed he was in
love with her. He married her and
she was Bill Apps mother.
Now, says Arp: eff my father had
not subscribed for that little country
paper he would never have gotten that
school; he would never have seen that
little girl, aud might have been some
body else"
And, we may safely add, the world
might never have enjoyed the golden
fruits of Bill Apps pen. This is hum
orous illustration, but very apt one,
of the hundreds Of ways in which little
bits of information cleaned from the
country paper may lead to great events
and happy results.
THE NEWSPAPER AN EDUCATOR.
Prentiss once said that sit is not what
a man knows that makes h i'm great, but
the use he makes of what he may
know"
The country paper is the school teacher
in the family, and only charges one dol
lar for years tuition. This generous
little teacher never misses a week on
account of sickness; never "keeps the
children i'm" never uses hickory nor
makes them eat cold dinner.
am sorry for man when l hear him
say 81 never read the country paper be-
cause there's nothing in it," Bill Arp's
father found something in it.
That is the reason there is so little in
it, because so few citizens of the country
read it, 1t cannot be a large strong
newspaper if the people of the county
do not support it. Every town has as
good a paper as it deserves, because a
paper is usually valuable in proportion
to its patronage.
You pay one dollar and get all the
country news; births, marriages,
divorces, and deaths. You get the pro-
ceedings of the courts and boards of su-
pervisors. You see real estate adYer-
tised for sale, for rent, often times at a
bargain. Looking over small country
newspaper few DAYS ago, l saw over
5000 acres of land advertised for sale in