The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1913-01-10
okLAHoMAN AND ADvERrIsERs.

affA Af tfAtNfNNN fNANE 49, H~ sA p ~ p us
Thou Shalt not muzzle the Ok that
reaaesh out the corn, was a com
mandment proclaimed BY an ancient
las giTer and 1t was based on justice
As well as humanitarian principles.
That. # appears 70 US, Is what the
combination 0f Oklahoma City mer.
Grants are doing IA their boycott On
the 0kiahoman Ii 81 4 most amaz.
ing spectacle. without a precedent as
faf IS we know, this coalition Of
forces to drive out Of business a news
paper that is responsible more than
aay other one factor. for the building
d our state metropolis-for that Is
Wfat ID amounts tos the Oklahoman
must go TO the wan Il the patronage
nf the merchants Is withheld from it
and Il must just as surely sink into
tie sewer IF it accepts their business
aE rates that Win not support it. The
publishers have shown that their rates
are far below those Of papers Of simi-
laf circulation in other cities and to
a newspaper man ~ ID difficult to see
how they could cut them and keep
tfeir heads above water. II they did
accede to the demands Of the mer-
Giants It would simply mean that
they would be compelled to curtail
their expenses by looping of circula-
ton and printing a poorer paper, and
that would be a condition which would
certainly not b welcomed By Okla
homa city.
easy- for anyone-to see that a
merchant must fix a price for his
goods based on their cost to him, and
ne cost OF doing business. together
with a reasonable profit. and precise
is the same principles govern the
price Of the newspapers chief pro
duct advertising. The largest ele-
meut in the cost OF course, grows
ont of the production Of the first few
hEndred copies Of a given edition, the
additional expense after that consist
ms mainly Of tie cost Of paper, press
work and distribution. but whatever
ths circulation may be. the price
charged FOR advertising must cover all
the cost Of production and give the
publisher a margin OF profit We
doubt # the Oklahoma City merchants
could run their stores profitably if
the publishers Of the Oklahoman or
any other outsiders were allowed to
puf the prices on their goods. and we
feel sure that the Oklahoman can't
est Il the merchants can arbitrarily
IS the price Of it's space.
The combination that puts its de.
mands up to the publishers is pracuc.
los the principle Of the boycott and
So have an idea if labor union were
= put the screws on the merchants
in the same way, they would rush into
courts for an Injunction to stop such
IS anholy proceeding
a community cannot prosper unless
tha principle Of live and let live OBJ
tains among its business enterprises
When they start to knitting each other
is symptomatie Of a very unhealthy
condition and a forerunner OF disas
ter IN the trying times Of the past
three years # has been hard-sledding
f0 everybody and the newspapers
nave suffered along with the rest. but
as a rule they have put up a bold
front Keeping up appearances and
hammerlng away GA every movement
Ter the betterment of conditions
Probably a larger per cent Of failures
ha been recorded among newspapers
during this time than In auy other
line Of business, and the period Of
close picking isn't past yet Under
such conditions, it IS worse than de-
plornble to see a deliberate attempt
= throttle an Institution without
which no town can be more than a
dor on The map.