The Harrison times., 1915-01-23
FAIL TO sUBsIDIzE THE COUNTRY
EDITOR.


the country press on my side. l
wanted to get more kind words into
the columns of the small newspapers
and country weeklies because real
ized then, as l do now, the power Of
the country press and the great
value It possesses to present a claim
for preference before the people Of
the community,
| outlined plan to whip the coun.
try newspapers into line and arrange
for them to carry my advertising mat
ter as well as to persuade them to
give me free reading notices and ed.
ttorials, telling what great help and
comfort the mail order houses were
to the people Of the country.
1t was nothing more nor less than
bribery | believed that | could get
the editors Of the country newspa-
pers to be false to their home inter-
ests and foster ours, for a price
i had the money to pay them and
thought lots Of dollars could do the
work easily ana readily
worked months over that cam
palgn, | prepared an electrotyped
advertisement in which | advised
the use of the mail order medium and
urged the readers Of each newspaper
to send into the big cities for the cat.
alogue, | prepared sheets Of press
notices" and editorials, with elab.
crate and plain instructions for their
use, was going to convert the peo.
pie of the whole country to mail order
buying,
expected to spend thousands Of
dollars during the course Of the next
few years, but It would be worth It.
wsf | obtained the results. | was after
he peoples dollars
" A strong form letter was prepared
' as the first step, this letter to be sent
out to the editors Of the country news
papers From advertising agencies
and from various other sources |
compiled list Of something like 49,
900 newspapers, all Of which were pub.
Nished in small towns was already
fixed with the big daily newspapers
THE only touble was ! couldn't some.
how or another Ak II with the coun.
try newspaper,
The letter read something like this:
TO the Editor;
Dear SIr-You are publishing n ncwspa-
per for business reasons - not for your
health,
You find II difficult to obtain adequate
support from the merchants I'm your town
They do not appreciate the value Of your
newspaper az an advertising medium
We know that you are printing n live
newspaper In your community and that
you are entitled to moro support than you
Or0 receiving,
The postal laws, under which you onioy
The privileges Of second class postage for
mailing your newspaper require you to
accept all Legitimate advertising offered
al your rates,
Enclosed please nnd n contract for ad-
YcrtisnR 70 the amount Ofur,,,uu, dol.
lars, Please sign Il and return to US and
we viii forward eloctrotypos Of 0dycr.
tlsemgnts TO be run together with In
str :, Ons,
In giving you this business II n but
natural that we shall expect you 10 run
each weck, the reading notices ana odl-
t0rals sent herewith,
Very truly yours,
BLANK ADVERTISING AGENCY
Yes, II was n great scheme, I eS.
koted to swamp the country with
Eugared editorials and splendid no
tloes about the mail order business
/ oheerfully anticipated that ! would
put the country merchants out Of buBI'
meas, | even went 30 far as to AZ.
ure out n plan for taking advantage
OF the conditions Of business doprcs
sion that would inevitably follow such
sweeping fall IN values and consld'
cred the organization Of some sort Of
q land trust to buy up the richest
farms and most desirable town prop
erty In the communities whore the pol.
toy would work out the quickest |
was becoming multImlllonNiro with
out delay
But / experienced the most aston.
lHHlHH NlHUUlNlHlHl'Hl VI MY ill'i lh'
plan, 30 we'll considered, 30 carefully
planned. no craftlly laid out, was an
absolute n2glo,
Why9 II was the peryorslty Of the
newspaper editor lie would not be
bought, he would not be brlbed he
would not be ealoled or threatened,
In reading the preceding letter you
have noted the "bunb" and the jolly
ing, followed by the appeal TO hla
business instincts and then the covert
threat about the postal laws, Yes the
plan was we'll laid,
nut who can dolye into tho soul Of
tho mar who viii spend his days and
nlghta In running u country nowapO'
per In community that viii not give
adequate auppoFt7 Who can lath0m
the motives Of q man who hustes oil
the time TO boost HIS homo town, but
who has dlhleulty at times In collect
ing The subscriptions To hla pOpor Ond
who falls TO obtain more than q srudg
ing pittanee IN advertising from the
merchants IN his town.
| could not understand n. | be.