The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-12-11
THE MEwpPAru,s CROUCH.

o0y on from the discussion OF pO11t1cS
and footing ON the Bull Moose horn he
IN moro than likely to write something
for his Emporia Gazette that tells the
whole truth, and IL thereby az fun of
human interest as q good nut IL of
meat. He did this the other day under
the caption. "Our Annual Crouch. -
and while what he had to say is woven
around the Gazette and its experiences.
and also the feelings Of its editor. the
same might be written In full truth Of
every newspaper and its editor. 1t is
q peep behind the newspaper scenes.
and II As follows:
The text for the following brief and
more or less sensible remarks IL found
in tho Lincoln Sentinel in the issue OF
October 30, 1919. It runs thusly:
The local paper never gets credit
for what it does, but it gets album
dainty blamed for every little thing it
omits to do. There IL not another bus
mess In any town that gets SO little
credit for its efforts toward the up
building Of the town as does the local
paper. And worst Of it Is that the big
gest share Of the criticism comes from
people who contribute least toward the
support Of the paper
Nov every man Is entitled to one
drink a year II he wants it. and every
editor is entitled to one annual crouch.
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
a cloudy. drippy. measly. miserable.
sloppy day that would make the Angel
Gabriel bite his horn, so probably We
are entitled to our grouch-good and
hard.
Our crouch does not concern the
Gazette; 1t Is no better than most
newspapers and not so good as some.
but the business. the newspaper busi-
ness-what an everlasting joke 1t is!
A man was in the Gazette Office this
morning. big advertiser in a neigh
boring city. He said he wrote around
to q dozen newspapers in nearby towns
Offering them advertising for his bus
mess. and he said, DO you know. Just
because my business was competing
with their local merchants, not a one
Of the dozen newspapers would take it
at any price, Then he added that the
bankers and merchants with whom he
wished to compete were sending their
printing to be printed-the statements,
deposit slips, envelopes and what not,
to the very city in which he lived.
You're in q fool business quoth the
merchant.
For years the Gazette has refused
to take the advertising Of quack doc
tors and Of patent medicines which
claim to cure the ills Of the flesh. and
the answer is that we haven't had a
bit Of Job printing from but three home
doctors 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 understand
ing that advertising was unethical-
ana 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 like to crawl
on our tummy, when the society de-
cided that 1t was unethical to print the
names Of doctors in connection with
any case-we crawled. You haven't
seen any doctors name since. The
subscribers are denied the news. the
business office is denied the simoleons,
and the paper generally is used as
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 comes. we
promise to get out q special edition. and
| for once in a long and useless career
tell the truth about grating church
workers who think that in the adver-
Using Of their entertainments to steal
and cheat and graft for the Lord is 9
pious act; in that edition we propose
to tell how many dollars the various
busted fair associations owe us Tor ad-
vertising which never was paid for;
how many men the Gazette has sup
ported for Office who went around de-
claring that the Gazette did them more
harm than good: how many times we
have got behind the town-boomine
propositions, wasted our time and space
and good black ink and white paper
and in the end had a lot Of ivory.
handled chumps hold q lodge of sorrow
over a typographical error and moar
about the fact that the Gazette nevel
does get anything right.
"some day, some blessed day. wher
the mists are cleared away. we hope II
be able to print paper that will tel
the truth about quack preachers ant
all the gorgeous hypocrisy Of the in
fernal, mechanical clap-trap done IL
the name Of the Lord. Heaven knows
the Gazette IL ashamed Of its various
piano contests, and we hope we'll hav'
the moral courage to turn down the al
Turing temptation the next time 1
comes around. But we do hate to se'
| a piano contest run in the name OF re
ligion. and some time we're going t.
| xaNn a dav off and aav no. And Whil