The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1913-09-11
NEWSPAPER POSITIONS.
Sometimes Difficult to Give Ger
tain Articles S Prominent Place.

Inc following article cllppeu from
the Conway Herald contains so much
that is true and not known to the
general reader of a newspaper that
we want our readers to get the ben
eft of it. We, as doubtless every
other newspaper, have had these
complaints about obscure position,
when it has not been the fault of the
editor at all. AS matter of fact,
outside of the editorial and local COL
umn,we never know what page or
position any article will occupy.
That is left entirely to the printer
o. makeup" man, who distributes
and places the various pieces he
has in type according totheirlength.
1t is no small task to make two or
three dozen pieces of columns of
type fit into a six-column form,
so that the page may be locked up"
ready for the press, and the busy
printer, as a rule, is wondering
far more where certain article will
fit in" than what column or page
it will occupy. 1t is a fact little
known to the uninitiated that after
the type is set it requires from three
to four hours to make up" each
form of the paper Ia form contain
ing from two to four pages, as
rule). Then comes the work of max
ing ready on the big press getting
the impression regulated. the ink
distributed, etc. Then comes the
printing folding, labelling, wrapping
and mailing two thousand papers.
A country" printing office is busy
s,ene Wednesdays and Thursdays.
That is why we haven't time to set
much type on those days The fol-
lowing is from the Horny Herald:
In addition to the numerous other
troubles and tribulations of the
newspaper man is always added the
fault-fnding and complaints of GER
tain people who think that they have
a right to dictate to the editor the
exact way in which his paper shall
be conducted, even down to the mat
ter Of what special position on the
printed page he shall give to certain
articles written by them or in which
they feel some special interest. We
had an example of this short time
ago, when man who has taken the
paper for many years wrote US to
discontinue his subscription for the
reason, and no other, that an article
he had contributed had been printed
on an inside page. How small such
q complaint as this appears to one
who is familiar with newspaper Of
flee, the one who makes such COM
plant will perhaps never know. In
the case that we here mention, there
was not even a special request sent
with the article to publish it on the
front page. AS it seems to the edit
or, any contributor ought to know
that the paper and its management
will do the very best they can for
him and his needs. This is the atti-
tude that a man ought to have.
Should any request be denied or
modified in the performance, take it
for granted that the editor of the
paper had good reasons for the
course he took and wait for better
attention the next time. The con-
tributor of an article does not know
the circumstances surrounding the
paper and its management at the
time the article reaches its office.
How can he know the exact state of
the type forms and the space that is
available at that particular time?
From the way some people act, it
appears that they do not think that
it is any trouble at all to publish a
newspaper. They think that it is
just as easy to get an article in the
paper and print it as it is to strike
it off on a typewriter or duplicating
machine. If their sort would spend
a week in the office of any country
newspaper and thus understand the
difficulties, the perplexities. the wor-
ry and the nerve-racking trouble
that is the portion of the printer,
they would henceforth and forever
refrain from raising complaints such
as that above referred to. AS we
have already said, give the paper the
credit for doing the best it can un-
II -. e.