The Princeton union., 1910-10-20
NEWSPAPER FAKIRS
Fake Voting Contests for ssPianos''
and "Trips to Europe'' Scored
by a Leading Paper.
Even if Game Were Played on Square
Contestants Do Not Stand One
Chance in Thousand.
THE VOTING CONTEST HOLD-UP.

SuDScrlpGlOn uSLS just now
is the contests methods. In this field
of activity the daily papers take the
lead. Every four months they conduct
a contest of some kind. The prizes
are tempting, and consist of automo-
biles, airships, trips to Europe and
various other things from pianos to
tooth picks. Some smooth talker sent
out by the paper putting on the con-
test comes along and interests some
one in each locality to get busy
assuring him that an airship is due to
drop right in the particular part of
the country where be happens to be
talking at that very moment. So
smooth is the ICON" talk put up by
the agent Of the big daily that
hundreds all over the state rush into
the contest and begin to roll up sub
scription lists for the paper.
That these people in the rural dis
tricts, and all other districts for that
matter, have been induced to give up
OR neglect their other occupations and
60 out to solicit subscriptions for
these daily papers on proposition
which will not compensate one out of
each 100 for the shoe leather used is
bad enough, but it is by no means the
worst part of the deal. The worst
part is the loading, by these local
agents, upon all their friends papers
that the latter neither want nor care
the least thing about There are
certain solicitors one can not turn
down. A merchant can not turn
down a member of the family of
customer. A PROFESSIONAL man can
not give the cold shoulder to the
daughter of a leading family. A
farmer can not find it in his heart to
refuse to donate years subscription
to the cause Of a neighbours automo-
bile opportunity. A politioian-well,
he, of course, walks with his hands up
all the time and all they have to do
is to go through his pockets and help
themselves.
Not one man in twenty who buys a
contest paper wants it. The sub
scription is given for personal
reasons. Friendship, fear of Offend
ing, business patronage, anything
and everything, except wanting the
article bought, is the reason for
buying.
The newspaper contest is genteel
hold-up and that is all there is to it,
There is nothing about it to commend
the approval of anyone. Contestants
waste their time and innocent people
are imposed upon and made to buy
something which they do not want.
OF course, there is money in the deal
for the newspaper putting on the con-
test. These big contests are a har-
vest for the publishers back of them.
But aside from this there is nothing
to commend them to anyone. And
then why should the public be ''bled -
through a system of highway
methods? The system employed by
these papers is to get some prominent
and popular young person in every
community and to let that person go
around among his or her friends and
get their subscriptions. They know
that each such person has a large
number of friends and acquaintances
who can't refuse when approached.
It's a gentler way than Jessie James
employed but it brings the unwilling
coin out of the pocket of the victim
with just as great certainty and much
less danger to the person doing the
hold-up stunt.
The people should put stop to this
kind of thing. Men should refuse,
absolutely, to be subjected to this
kind of a hold up. Every contest
merely means that the public is being
played for sucker and it is time that
that long suffering animal retaliated
by refusing to take the bait.
A paper should sell on it's merits and
when it wants to increase it's SUBJ
scription list let it do so through the
aid OF solicitors who sell papers and
not through local contestants
who merely lend the publication their
popularity which in turn is converted
into dollars and cents by the shrewd
circulation managers. We do not be-
lieve that there is any solicitor so
thoroughly detested by the average
victim of the agency graft as the
newspaper contest cuss.
And we can not but think that the
paper that puts on contest is
loser in the end. When people are
forced to buy something which they
do not want they do not. as a rule,
feel very good about it and they are