The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1915-01-28

as the men in charge of them had
reason to expect, and many a 10
cality that now barely sustains a
newspaper will sustain it liberal
| y in a year or two.
Florida has more newspapers in
proportion to population than any
Southern States, and we thing has
more in proportion to population
than any state east of the MisSiS-
sippi river. This state has more
newspapers than quite a number
of states that might be mentioned
that have two or three times as
many people as live in Florida.
We have more big dailies than
any state in the South except
Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and
Texas, though our state has the
smallest population of any of the
Southern States.
The papers of Florida average
high in quality as well as in num-
Der. The average man would
gave credit for this to their man
agement, and he would be mistak-
en-. Of course, management
counts for something. An able
writer is superior to a poor writer,
and a first-class business man is
ahead of a ffth-rate one. But
the character of a newspaper is
founded on something much
broader than the talents of one
man or of a group of men. 1t is
fixed by the community it serves,
whether that community be part
of the county or the whole state.
Money makes newspapers, and
newspapers have to make money
in order to properly represent the
communities in which they are
published properly. i
We should have said they have
to make money in order to favor
ably represent the communities in
which they are published, for the
poorest papers that come off the
press generally represent the CON-
munities in which they are pub
lished properly. Poor newspaper;
poor community; good newspaper,
good community-this is the rule
that has about as few exceptions
as any we know. The owner of a
paper knows that every dollar
spent on improving it adds
to its earning capacity, and this
fact keeps newspapers close their
revenues. The average editor TAX
es as little as possible for his per-
sonal use, and applies as much as
possible to building his paper up.
No class Of men live more in the
future than newspaper men.
The community must make the
and then the newspa-
per makes the community. When
the people of a town make pos
sible improvements in the newspa-
per that represents the town, these
very improvements are the best
possible advertisements of the
town, and the paper as it grows
lifts up every legitimate interest
with it. We find in every com
pessimists who knock
their towns: Did anyone ever
know a newspaper man who be-
longed to this class? There is not
a newspaper man in Florida who
is not a booster, and this fact has
rs much as anything else-yes,
more than anything else to do !
with the prosperity of the state.
The newspapers of Florida diff ,
Ter on many points, but all are ,
for the good of the state. !
some are working in broader and ,
others in narrower fields, but the |
after are doing their share as I
as the former. The size :
IT paper is generally measured i
~ the size of the city in which it 8
S published, but the brain of the ,
'ditOr is not. A number of the ,
weekly papers of Florida are man. c
lged by men who could hold their S
wn with the ablest men on the big t
iailies. There is a great deal of I
uck about newspaper environ {
nents as well as environments in T
'ther lines of endeavor, and then $
here are great many able men {
Who prefer to be their own boss {
n a small community rather than g
lire themselves out in a larger I
'ne.-Jacksonville Times-Union. {