The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-06-19
The s.t,ernent of Newspaper.

the Colfax Chronicle, and the absorp-
ton of the business Ut that paper and
auaItlou OF its subscription list to
the Chronicles already large subscrip.
tiun list, lnte article in the Shreve-
port Times Is both timely and peril
peut. Editor Chevis, of the Times,
perhaps has had AS much experience,
aud knows about as much about the
ups aud downs of the newspapers,
fIun the country cruss-roads weekly
~ the big daily at the State capital,
~ any nan We know, and his opin-
ions are not formed from hear-say,
but from actual experience, becaus
he hns been all along the line. He
says:
Within the past two weeks sever
al combinations have been effected
by North Louisiana newspn peers
which will undoubtedly result in
greatly strengthening the press OF
this section vi the State both in quail
ily and influence. At Monroe the
two daily papers. the News and the
Star, hive combined; at Mansfield,
the Journal und Progress have joined
interests; and at Colfax the Democrat
hus been merged into the Chronicle.
Thus one daily and two weekly papers
have been suspended, giving better
field for those which are left and plac-
ing these IN u better position to rrn-
der good service to the communities
which they serve.
'MoDroe has never supported two
afternoon papers properly, or rather
thu tieid il not there for two after
Moon peppers to be conducted with
profit To either. Tins fact has long
been recognized by those connected
with the two Monroe papers. They
have existed and they have been fair
ly good papers, but neither has been
inn position to- issue the paper it
might il it had prospered as it should.
The usefulness of a newspaper tn any
community il in proportion to the
suppurt.it receives. When there is II
division Of this support to the extent
that the publication Of several pa pers
Ia the same community becomes II
thrUat-cutting affair the reading pub
he il found to suffer through the ne
cessity Of a restricted service. The
Times believes and trusts that the
News-Star will prosper, and, if it does
il is certain that it will become II bet
ter piper than either the News or the
Star has been.
1T is the same with the weekly pa
per. Hitherto there have been three
papers published at Mansfield, the
Journal, the Progress and the Enter
prise. Naturally, this has restricted
thu field aud thus handicapped each
publisher. With the merger Of the
Progress into the Journal the latter
will be 10 ~ better position To give
its clientele good service. In this
coui,rction The Times notes that Mr..
W..P. Head, former editor of the Ar
cadin Argus, is to conduct the Jour
nmi aud that he will have associa ted
with him. Mr.. j. T. McClannhan, for
rier editor of the journal, and Mr..
+. A. l~s,ning, one of the owners of
the Progress. All three Of these ger-
tlp,npn arr well known tn Louisiana
journalism, and each has been sue
ceaSiul az lar as conditions permitted.
Trey ARE making arrangements to
better equip the Journal plant with
the view OF giving the people OF De-
Soto aud surrounding parishes bet
ter paper, and it goes without sa ying
that they will he successful.
AT Colfax the Chronicle has been
at the business for over thirty years.
Ii has survived several papers which
have been established in the interim.
Recently it acquired the Democrat
whirh had been struggling for its rx-
isr-ncr during the past year or two.
Since the acquisition of the Demo-
rrat the Chronicle has been enabled
To- make improvements in it's plant
and IN the paper, and in this why the
rrud-rs OF both papers have bene-
fitted.
''Thr newspaper business in Lonisi-