The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-12-24
william Allen White in the Emporia

William Allen White in the Emporia
Gazette: The text for the following
brief and more or less sensible remarks
is found in the Lincoln Sentinel in the
issue Of Oct. 80, 1918. It runs thusIy:
The local paper never gets credit for
what 1t does, but 1t gets a~bundantiy
blamed for every little thing 1T omlts
to do. There is not another business
in any town that gets SO little credit
for it's efforts toward the upbuildlnS
of the town as does the local paper
And worst of 1t Is that the biggest share
of the criticism comes from people VINO
contribute least toward the support OF
the paper.
Now every man is entitled to one
drink a year If he wants 1T, and every
We haven't had our crouch for two
years, and it's kind of ingrown and
bitter, and this text rather ~aggravates
1t. Moreover, this screed is written on
sloppy day that would make the Angel
Gabriel bite his horn. so probably we
are entitled to cur grouch-good and
hard.
Gazette; 1t Is no better than most
and not SO good as some,
but the business, the newspaper bust
ness, the n~ewspaper buslness-What an
the Gazette office this morning.
big advertiser in a neighboring city.
He said he wrote around to a dozen
newspapers in nearby towns Offering
them advertising for his business, n
he said, do you know, just
my busin ess was competing with their
local merchants, not a one Of the doz-
en- newspapers would take 1t at any
price" Then he added that the bank
ers n merchants with whom he wish
ed to compete were sending their
printing to be printed-the statements,
deposit slips, envelopes and what not
to the very city, in which ne lived:
you're in a fool business" quoth the
merchant.
For years the Gazette has refused to
take the advertising of quack doctors
and of patent medicines which claim TO
answer is that we haven't had a bit of
Job printing from but three home doc
tors since we began this .policy-and
we owed one of them a bill. More
over, the Lyon County Medical society,
as a delicate tribute of gratitude to the
Gazette, passed some sort of a resolu-
ton or had some sort OF an under
standing that advertising was unethi-
cal-and do you think there has been
an inch card of any kind in the paper
from any Emporia doctor since? More
than that, just to show that we ike
to crawl on our tummy When the so
clsty decided hat 1t was unethfcal to
print the names of doctors in connec
ton with any case-we crawled- You
haven't seen any doctors name since.
The SUBSCRIBERS are ueUieu the news,
the business office is denied the simo-
| Icons. n the paper generally Is used
as a doormat, for the further glory Of
the Lord-probably.
That, however, is a small matter.
Every paper has corked up in it bitter,
burning wrongs, which 1T never airs.
Some day, when the time ZONES we
| propose to get out a special edition,
and for once in a long n useless
career, tell the truth ABOUT grating
| church workers who think that in the
advertising of their entertainment, to
| steal and cheat and graft for the Lord
Is a pious act; In that edition we pro-
pose to tell how many dollars the var
ious busted fair associations owe us
| for advertising which never was paid
Ifoir; how many men the Gazette has
supported for office who went around
declaring that the Gazette did them
more harm than good; how many times
we have got behind the town-booming
propositions. wasted our time ana
space and good black ink and white
paper and in the end had q lot of
ivory-headed chumps hold a lodge of