Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1912-08-03
WHAT THE LUMBER
INDUSTRIES owe TO
THE COUNTRY PRESS
A Well Discussed Article Written
For Lumber Journal bya
Man Of Experience

give more and receive less in the wa,
of compensation than the editor Of
the average country newspaper. He
Is expected to be the mouthpiece and
personal organ of every cause In
which his community Is interested
1t rarely ever happens when a loca
organization for mutual benefit of thu
town in which he lives is to be formed
by few live, progressive, but often
thrifty citizens, that the cost of the
necessary and absolutely essential
publicity Is paid to the local editor
He Is supposed to be charitable
megaphone-and too often he is-for
anybody Or anything that happens
along.
The local merchant often feels that
the small monthly pittance doled out
In exchange for a generous advertis.
ing space, is like money donated to
any charitable institution--orphan as
lum or home for the feeble minded.
1t rarely occurs to the local merch.
ant, irrespective of whether he Is a
dry goods merchant, grocer or local
retail lumber dealer, or simply an in.
dividual who has decided that mer-
chandlsing consists in buying q few
goods and marking up price with.
out regard to quality or previous con.
dition of servitude. And this Is often
too often-the type of merchant he
has to deal with.
To succeed, the average country
newspaper man has to be as wise as
a serpent and harmless as dove.
The plea of many of the merchants
against supporting the country news
paper is based upon the theory that
either everyone in the community
knows the store Is in existence, or
the big mail order houses of Spokane,
Great Falls, Billings, Salt Lake
Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, San Fran
cisco, Minneapolis, Chicago New
York Or Paris, are getting the bust
ness, and hence advertising would
be probably of little more value than
serenade at funeral
The editors of the Inland Empire
met at Spokane on June %, and Or
ganized an association for mutual
helpfulness, at which it was the
pleasure of the Timbreman editor to
be present The resolution which
hits the nail squarely on the head
when a lot of maudlin sympathy is
being extended to the mossback mer-
chant, is to the point Here 1t u.s.
We further believe that the mer-
chants of the small cities and towns
are in a measure responsible for the
inroads of the mail order houses up
on their trade. Having the advant-
age of immediate and personal con-
tact with their customers they should
by adopting modern merchandising
methods and through intelligent and
persistent advertising, be able to com.
pete successfully with said mail order
houses.
The resolution also deprecated the
sending of money away to the var
ious large cities when the goods can
often be purchased at home for less
money,-believing that such course
is inimical to the development and
upbuilding of the community. Sound
reasonable and logical doctrine; but
only country newspaper men--who
have bled, suffered and died-real
lie the poignancy of grief and she'd
ding of crocodile tears by the aver
age merchant who feels that his best
interests are often served by sending
away for his jobwork, in direct con-
PREVENTION to the policy he Is at
to carry out for the benefit
of the town-and aptly illustrating
the difference twixt tweedledum and
tweedledee."
This now brings us up to the crux
of this article; What the lumber maIl>
ufacturing interests owe to the
country newspapers, and the policy
they should pursue toward them.
A recital of a few of the active
which these powerful local
organs for moulding public opinion
have assisted to carry to success:
The forest fire legislation Of the
various western states was made pos
sible largely through their advocacy
of the cause.
Without the cooperation Of the
country newspapers the strong and
vigorous public sentiment which sus-
tains the efforts of the local state
forest fire associations, and the broad'
er and more comprehensive work OF
the Western Forestry and Conserva-
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