The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-12-22

yuc10 ~ nh[O they WOU1o neWcI Ava -
II We had put brain and muscle and
nerve and heart and soul and money
Into an honest fight: we had won
glorious victory: we were entitled to
the credit. II I had 1t to do over
again should do 1t exactly the same
way-and there's no truer test than
that.
When Success Seems Losing Game
An easy victory in the election wal
assured after the Endorsement given
The sun. the Greater st. James Com
mirtee. the Municipal League and theil
candidates In the primaries. Van
Dyke kept Que OF 1t altogether. Tuttle
and his friends made only q perfume
tory effort to elect the Republican
ticket. and the Democrats were chosen
by almost as large a vote rs they re-
ceived for the nominations. The legis-
lature did not meet until January, but
we filled In the intervening time work
Ing out the details Of the new charter
and the primary law. The five new
members Of the legislature and a, com
mittee Of five from the Greater St
James Committee got busy Immediate
~. and by January first they mad
drafted a bill emDodying substantially
the features l advocated the day after
my defeat In the municipal primaries
eight monhs before. A week before
the legislature opened the committee
called mass meeting at the auditor
ium for the purpose of reading the
bill and explaining It. Seven Thousand
citizens attended and approved the
Dill unanimously, section by section
The legislators went to the capitol with
solid front. backed by the indorse.
ment OF the mass meeting and by The
h o. Ia t,t.
nominated and elected. The Greater
st. James Committee sent delega.
ton of twenty-five that camped at ths
capitol until the bill became law
Neither futile nor Van Dyke attempt,
ed to defeat 1t, although I watched
them closely every day, confident tina
they would try to prevent its passage
For once, however, I did them an in
justice.
Before the new charter became oper'
alive 1t had TO be approved by the PEG
pie at special election. This cleo
ton was set for April seventeenth. Il
the charter was adopted, the frs
primary under it-thoroughly legalizet
would be held May seventeenth, with
the first election June seventeenth
There was no question that the charter
would carry. but the Greater ST. James
1t anyway. and the Progressive Mu.
nicipal League began casting about fo
candidates for the offices it created. B,
this time ! had found others to bea
much OF the responsibility and do mucl
OF the work Of this character. SO l has
chance to confer with Austin owe
our own affairs.
We were losing about four thousant
dollars q month. and we had less thar
twenty thousand dollars OF our origina
sixty thousand dollars left. Two of tn,
three big department stores were GU
OF the paper; go was the biggest fur
niture store. the biggest clothing stor,
and all the futile companies. We still
had the third department store ant
most OF the small merchants in ou
advertising columns. and we had al
most caught up to the circulation o
The Star. which had remained sta
ttonaly ever since we had been In tn,
field.
1t WAS pretty hard to see the pag,
and double-pRge advertising Of the BIZ
stores in the other newspapers durinI
the holiday shopping season. but wheI
I reflected on why they had II, ant
why we didn't have It. l did not fee
30 badly.
When compared with the previous
year our November and December bus
mess showed q loss and our expenses
showed an increase. That was on
OF the particularly bad features o
losing advertising. We not only los
the revenue. but incurred extra ex
penses in connection with the mater
ial used to I'LL the space that the ad
vertising had occupied. In Januar,
the clearance sales were held. to clea
the track for early spring and Easte
trade. and again we showed a loss II
business az against January Of tn
year before. Editorially We were max
ing . fine newspaper. Tho news ant
discussion Of the new charter bill an,
the beginning Of the campaign for II
adoption furnished plenty Of interest
Ing reading. Our circulation thrived
and everywhere people talked abou
The Suns victory and the new char
ter. But from an advertising stand
point the paper was sad to behold
Austin renewed solicitation OF the mel
who had quit advertising with W be
cause they couldn't control us, but h
found them Just as determined as eve
not to give W another line. He talke,
circulation and civic progress from
morning until night. but he brough
no new copy back to the office, and l
became more and more evident ever,
day that we should soon have to cal
upon Nell Butler and Ashman TO
help.
We agreed. however, to wait unit
April first before informing them hov
things were going. In the meantim
Austin was to make q desperate effor
to get Mills Brothers. the Streets, tn
Longmans. German 4 Dudge, and tn
Tuttle companies back into the pa
per. II we won the charter-whicl
was cortatn-and made . new contrac
with even one OF the big advertisers
We felt sure that our associates woul,
provide moro cash and that by tn
time the election was over and tn
new government established We woil,
have sufficient prestige and circuN
ton to get back all or nearly all o
our lost business.
The naxt three months were back
breakers and headsplitters for Austil
and mo. kept up q lively, ceaseles
campaign for the new charter, an,
spent my afternoons out with Austin
interviewing merchants. We ciassifie,
and tabulated our circulation in ever,
conceivable form, showing how man,
readers we had In every block In tn
city and how many IN every town Ii
tho territory that traded in st. James
We made sworn statements: we invite,
Advertising Enanagars and store, PRO
pr1etors to visit our circulation room
ana watch the boys get their paper
ana follow them on their routes In al
automombtle. We gave them route list
and asked them to trail the boys whel
we didn't know II. We offered to lie