The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-10

into court, the libel editor assumes
+ responsibility and goes to Jail. That
| is his job; that is what he is paid for.
| We do not want in this country cir
/ culation editors who,-for salary COM
menSurate with the risks they run will
| take a chance. commit perjury, and
| then act as scapegoat for the real
| criminal
INSCRIPTIONS Competition.
"Once the real circulation liar sees
the penitentiary doors opening, the
situation will be clarified. The honest,
truthtelling publisher will have the
menace-and it is a menae@of I'M
serupuIous competition removed from his
path. All publications will be on all
! fours, and the maker of a good news
paper will reap the reward of his in
duStry, genius or whatever You want
to call it, and the maker of a poor
newspaper will suffer. for his incom
potency.
Honest Publisher Injured.
The gentlemen whose tongues and
pens print more papers in a minute
than their press rooms can turn out
! in twice their running time, not only
cheat the advertiser, but they also
hamper you by hampeFig the honest
publisher. The man VINO makes
truthful statement knows that his dis
honest competitor will simply take his
.
get someone to swear to his tabula-
ton, or fix his books and records and
get some auditing or investigating
company to certify to the correctness
of the figures handed to its repre-
sentatives. You have all seen these
certificates The large majority, /. be-
lieve, tell the truth, but the fraudu-
lent ones throw doubt and discredit
placed in the position by submitting
his books to this examination, and by
accepting and using the certificate re-
sulting from the examination, of boil
steering up and certifying in way to
the correctness of the certificate OBJ
tanned by his competitor through
fraud and chicanery.
Accountants Fooled.
The methods of securing these at
testations or certificates are various
Some advertisers send their own au-
ditors into newspaper offices in an et-
fort to determine the facts l say TO
you that the accountant does not live
who can go into the office of pub
licatfon and come away with the pos
tive and absolute knowledge that he
has obtained the real facts. What
these accountants certify to are mere
ly totals of figures furnished to them
by the publications themselves If
these original figures are correct, then
the guarantee, or certificate, or what
ever you call it, means something. If
not then the certificate means moth
ing.
Hard to Learn Truth.
Consider for moment a hypo-
thetical case. Suppose that an account
ant enters the offices of two newspa-
pers in one city. Suppose that one of
these newspapers tells the truth, and
the other furnishes the investigator
with false figures-crooked press fig
sheets. falsified drivers sheets, rec
ords that suppress returns, lost, mis-
laid, too late, frees-from which to
draw his totals His certificate goes
as far as the general advertising
public is concerned. each certificate
has equal value. The association nr
individual responsible for this ex-
animation is in the position of having
placed the honest newspaper in
flase light by certifying to figures for
its competitor which that competitor
does not possess. gs.5Cz
Hope in Postal Law.
IF the new postal law is held con-
stitutional, and a few gentlemen go TO
the penitentiary-and 1 think you can
safely trust the newspa pers of the
country to see that perjury either is
not committed, or if committed, pun |
ished-then the necessity for these
examinations, and the resultant GER
will cease. If on the other hand !
the law is not held constitutional, |
in the method of examining circula- |
tons, if the advertiser is not to be |
swindled and the honest publisher is |
not to be handicapped in the method
have mentioned, by a dishonest COM |
petitor. One method would be to ap-
point a committee to assist the eX- |
aminer in each city. This committee !
to consist of one representative from !
each of the newspapers in that city /
who permit examina lions. The men /
who know most about circulation are /
the newspaper men themselves. They
not only know the cireula lions, but I
they know the tricks of the circula |
ton faker. Also, your official exami- |
nation is not worth one battered red |
cent if it is not supplemented by an |
outside examination. Simply insist on ]
knowing how the claimed circulation |
is distributed and where it goes. This !
is the proof of the pudding, 1t is /
easy enough to take a census of news !
dealers and carriers in a city or in |
certain sections thereof. The result |
of such a census can then be checked |
against the figures obtained from |
each individual newspaper. When |
you get these figures you will know |
the exact situation.
Best Newspapers May Withdraw
Let me make a prophecy, gentle |
men: If the postal law is held I'M |
constitutional and if the only method |
of distinguishing between truth and |