The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-07-21
NEWSPAPERS DUTY TO ITS
READERS.
Editorial from Philadelphia Public
Ledger.)


Ledger.)
Time was when railroad fare was
paid by anybody who was anybody, he
apologized for it, for nearly everybody
had a pass. The theory was that the
railroads must rnu trains anyway.
They might just as well run them full
up. 1t didn't cost the railroad anything
more to carry an extra passenger free,
so large and small shippers, newspaper
and magazine men. friends of the man.
ragement, railroad men from other
roads, politicians, grafters and others
all rode free.
1t took the strong arm of the law to
finally stop this practice, to convince
the railroads that free pass was as
bad for the user as 1t was for the rail-
road, and that it was unnecessary to
give away one of the chief commodities
it had to sell. The theatres have gone
through the same transformation. A
papered house is now the sign of
poor production.
The newspaper is the last Of the
three more or less public-service in.
situations to realize the short-sighted-
ness of trying to sell thing that it at
the same time giving away. To give
certain amount of space free in con.
junction with a certain amount of paid
advertising, no matter if the free ad-
vertising pretends to be news, pro-
duces 1uctuating and unstable values
in the newspapers chief commodity
advertising space.
The advertiser who gets one hun
dred lines of free advertising in con-
nection with one hundred lines of paid
advertising is buying his advertise
ment at just half the market price.
This is unfair to the advertiser who
pays the full price, the advertiser
whose line of busienss is such that he
asks no favors such as are so freely
, given to theatres, books, automobiles,
steamships and other commercial en-
terprises.
This does not mean that a newspa-
per shall not review book or play, or
describe in it's news columns anything
that has real news value to the public,
. provided the matter is written in the
same way that it would be written If
no advertising possibility were attach.
led.
No corollary is so well established as
the one which teaches us that the
newspaper which is most compliant in
regard to free advertising is always
the weakest newspaper.
The service that a newspaper should
offer to advertisers consists in pub
fishing clean, strong, well-printed, in
diligently arranged newspaper, which
has real and countable circulation in
: the homes in which that advertisers
goods would naturally be bought. II
should print the advertisements legi
bly, and attractively and give them the
full measure of circulation, and coop
crate in presenting as attractive copy
as possible. All this is as much a part
of the legitimate service that news
paper renders as programs, seats ant
; music are a part of theatres service
Or as iced water, electric lights ant
dining cars are a part of railroads
service.
1t is time that strict line should be
drawn between the service that news
paper should render and the service
forced from it by some favored adver
: tiser at the expense of others not sc
favored, which vitiates and weakens
the value of that newspaper as an ad
vertising medium.
A leading advertising agency recent
ly sent out to the newspapers an ad
vertising campaign for well-known
brand of smoking tobacco. 1t is given
} to only such newspapers as agree to
give free insertion to the first adver'
tisement.
i Many newspapers have accepted
this proposition. If they should follow
j such a request to its logical conclu-
where would they get OFF,. II
wa insertion is given free. why not
cou second? How much advertising