The Penn's Grove record., 1914-03-20
The viclssitudes Of Local journalism
George Fitch In American nagazine
continued from past week

continued from past week
There are not many of us Homeburgers.
VIZ will never see twenty-five hundred
again, for as families grow smaller most
OF the Illinois towns OF our size are con-
tracing slowly in size ever while pros
porous. The Democrat" hasn't above
seven hundred subscribers, but every one
of those subscribers gets his name in the
paper at least ono a year. even if it is
only a general mention of his patriotism
when he pays his annual subscription.
No baby born in Homebnrg is too hum
BILE to get its exact weight heralded to the
world through the Democrat. Mrs.
Maloney's pneumonia and Banker Pay
ley's quinsy grieve the town in the same
paragraph under the heading "Among
our SICK" The widow Swanson's ten
mile trip down the line to a neighboring
town gets as careful attention as Mrs.
Singers annual pilgrimage to California.
In the matter oil news We are a pure de-
mocracy. The man who buys a new
automobile gets no more space than a
member OF Patrick Quinn's section crew
who scores a clean scoop by digging his
potatoes one week ahead of the town.
And when the humblest of US lies down
in death he does it with a serene consci-
business that he will get halt a column,
anyway, with more ii his disease is rare
aud interesting, and that at the end OF the
article, the city will sympathize with the
family in its bereavement. When Mrs.
Agnew died OF her broken hip she got a
column, though she had been financially
unable to take the paper for years, while
in the same issue Jay Gould got a two
inch obituary in its boiler plate inside.
Your big papers pride themselves OH
their brevity except in murder cases,
and I understand that almost every New
York editor thinks he could boil the
story OF the Creation down into less than
the six hundred words which the Bible
wasted on it. But Editor Ayers could
give all your editors instructions in this
kind of economy. II the Creation had
happened around Homeburg while he
was OH the job he would have called
attention to it in the next week about as
follows:
We understand there was a creation in
these parts during the last week. We
did not learn the particulars but those
who were on the ground at the time say
that it was a successful affair and that
the new world is doing as well as could be
| expected under the circumstances.
Ayers would write it this way for two
reasons. In the first place he hates to
write more than one paragraph. Coming
after a hard days work collecting bills
and chasing subscribers it is a wearing
effort. Nothing gets much space in the
Democrat" except obituaries and marri-
ages, and they are all CONFERENCE.-The
former by the relatives and the latter by
the minister. In the second place, there
wouldn't be any use OF wasting a lot OF
space on a big item because by the time
Democrat" comes out everybody knows
all about it, and the mere facts would be
stale and unimportant beside the super
structure of soaring fancy which has been
built up by easy-running l~maginations Of
our chief news dispensers on the street
corners. And so, when the creamery
burns down or the evening fast freight
runs through an accommodation on the
crossing, the old man puts his duty off
until the last minute and then writes a
few well-chosen lines merely to let us
know that he is on the job and lets no
news escape him. When you are run
ming a weekly paper your competitors
III the new business are the takers in
the town who mingle seven days a meek
and issue q hundred thrilling extras to
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