The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-06-08

day legitimate and essential part of the
scheme of merchandising. Advertising
means telling the people what one has for
them
So | say that 700 many newspapers are
an added burden to you, and too many
newspapers mean inferior newspapers.
Competition up to a certain point is good.
Beyond this point it is bad
You have two lines Of railroad between
Boston and Portland. There is business
enough for these roads to make them
profitable. How would it be Il four moro
roads were added, making a half dozen
in all? What would be the result? Would
these additional roads prove an advantage
TO you? Certainly not. II would mean 1d-
ditional burdens 1t would mean bigger
railroad fares, heavier freight rates, and
poorer service, or bankruptcy for the
roads. 1t would probably mean all four.
There would be no sense In such compe-
titiOn, and the State would not permit it.
Six competitive railroads between BOs-
ton and Portland would be Just about the
equivalent Of eleven daily newspapers IN
Boston. This Is a very fair comparison.
There is no exaggeration In 1t. There Is
no more occasion for eleven daily news
papers in this field than there is oeca-
sion for six lines Of railroad between here
and Portland. Your SIX lines Of railroad
could not be operated proftably, neither
can eleven daily newspapers be operated
proftably N this town.
Boston is the most difficult newspaper
field Ii the country. Indeed, 1t is pretty
nearly an impossible field. with the rela-
lively high cost Of labor and TIE smaller
revenue from advertising sources.
think I am accurate. in saying that
there is but one city in America where
the scale Of wages in newspaper Offices
ranges so high as in Boston. This one
exception is New York In Philadelphia
and Baltimore and Washington the wage
scale is less and the income greater. All
Western and Southern cities are wide
open towns in the matter of advertising.
With emphatically bigger advertising re-
ttlBl5 III NLACSE ONAACA bAdlCtor anu q 4ONEL
cost Of doing business, the publisher of
newspaper has show for his life.
Journalism in the old days, when
newspaper could exist and become profit
able on a few thousand circulation, was
quite different proposition from that Of
today. Then it cost little TO get out a
newspaper The machinery equipment
represented only few hundred or a few
thousand dollars. Today a big modern
newspaper plant represents two or three
hundred thousand dollars Then the
papers were small and the price big Four
page newspapers were the rule An editor
of brains and some following was the
whole thing. The reporters and the busi-
ness Office cut little figure. The paper
was a vehicle fo- the editor, giving the
news incidentally. Today the newspaper
is primarily a newspaper, expressing opin-
ions incidentally
With this old type Of newspaper, rep
resenting a tiny tangible investment, COM
petition didn't much matter. The news
paper was more or less a personal organ,
and if it failed to make living for the
man at the head of it, there was not
much loss But now journalism is a bust
ness, a very big business, requiring a large
capital and involving great risks. 1t is
Just as much a business as is railroading
But in addition to the business side, there
is the newspaper side, which embraces all
that newspaper means, or should mean
the thought, the news, editorials, the lit
erary features, and other features that go
to make up a newspaper. This side is the
heart and soul of the proposition. With
this double responsibility, this double
sided job, the work of the newspaper man,
even under the most favorable conditions,
is the hardest in the world.
consolidation of the eleven daily
newspapers of Boston into four or five