Arizona republican., 1911-10-20
Small Says He Disposed of All His Stock in the Phoenix Sun Some Days Ago and Now Has No Responsibility,
UNDER SHERIFF HAS
 CHARGE OF PAPER
Creditors Seize the Busi- ness Under an Attach ment Issued for Purpose of Recovering Local Banks Claims.

It was no surprise to the most of the public when Under Sheriff Wood | yesterday levied on the property of ! the Phoenix Sun
 It has been known generally for a I long time that the paper was in fi- | nancial difficulties. IL has been known | that il did not meet it's obligations and that it was getting in deeper and deeper all the time. Finally, matters came to a crisis and yesterday the plant was seized by the sheriff. There are two attachments for about S100 each. issued by the Union Bank and Trust company. one of them is against the Sun Printing company and the other is against sam w. Small. the founder of the paper and supposedly it's chief owner.
 In explanation of this matter Rev. Small last night called up The Re publican and said he wanted to make statement. He said that week gc he had intended closing down the paper but that some gentlemen came to him and asked him not to do it."
 Who were those mem" the rev erend was asked.
 Small gave the name of one and added. and others" Then he said. But you needn't use the names"
 Small said these men stated they would re-organize the paper assume all debts and obligations and pay off the girls who worked in the sub scription contest Small said that he and Wright and Mrs. Craven then stepped out and that he was hired as editor.
 Also, according to Small. he has had no responsibility for the past week
 Furthermore. he said he had sold all his stock in the concern.
 According to this statement it would seem that MT. Small Is entirely clear and that the debts of the concern will for the most part have to be met by Phoenix people. The entire equipment Of the plant is worth very little and the good will. of course. is no longer an asset.
 Ordinarily there is some surprise at a business failure: but any one who knows anything about the news paper business could hardly have helped knowing that the Sun was doomed from the start
 For one thing it started with in- sufficient capital
 It never pretended to have more | than S30,O0O capital. and nobody on the | outside knows how much promotion | stock there may have been.
 Newspapers are not made in that | of h. 1 inside of the game it may be stated | that more than quarter of a mill lion dollars has been spent placing | The Republican in the position which | it occupies
 The Republican is not fully in- | formed as to the other two papers of | this city but it knows that fully | $l00.000 has been spent on the Ca zette and more than half that amount | on the Democrat.
 There were other reasons why the | Sun should fail-reasons that any | newspaper man could not help but see.
 There was absolutely no demand | for a fourth paper in Phoenix This is a small town and the community is sparsely settled. The circulation problem here is big one The wire service is extremely expensive It is safe to say that in no town of its size in the United States are there three papers of the excellence of those published in this city And in no city in the United States is there a town the size of Phoenix where there is as much money spent in newspapers as here. It was hardly likely that a newspaper. with almost no capital. could crowd out one or more of three long estab- lished papers. and succeed as against those papers that had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their properties
 And as usual in such cases. it is the local man who has to bear the burden. The Sun lived more than three months: and even in that brief time it cost considerable money-an expense the community had to stand.
 Naturally, everyone will feel sorry for Messrs Hughes. Irwin. and others. But they will know better next time"
 There were other reasons why the sun could not hope to succeed. One of them was that contest matter. The Sun made arrangements with various young women to secure subscriptions and it is known that these girls worked faithfully. According to state ments published day by day in the paper the subscriptions were gather
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