The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-09-29
Newspapers
Bu)wark of Nation
Says Arthur Brisbane

Says Arthur Br;sban
Arthur Brisbane, the brilliant editor of the New York Journal, and ,
'btedy the highest saaried editorial writer in the world, has decla,
al" and again that the weekly newspapers, published in the smaller tow
the nation, are the most important institution in the whole social a
fabric of the United States.
Says Mr.. Brisbane in a recent editorial:
The weekly country newspaper is the national policeman.
In the night in a great city you see a policeman standing in the
middle Of the street ''on fixed post There he stands in all kinds
OF weather. He must not move, the people must know where they
can find him.
What a fixed post policeman is to a big city, the country news
paper is to the nation.
It i the national policeman on fixed post, ready to hear the peo-
Pies complaint, ready to act and protest against dangerous legisla-
ton or dangerous public opinion.
The country newspaper is the national public forum; it is the con-
centrated expression of local thought. The country newspapers com
bined ARE the people and the power of the country.
Self-satisfied metropolitan editors and busy ilinformed big bus
mess men fail to appreciate the country editor Importance. The
man who edits a country newspaper and possesses his readers con-
fidence is the school teacher of grownup men and women.
1t is to him that the citizens mind turns in time Of doubt for in
formation and for advice based on local knowledge.
There are at least fifty million of human beings in this country to
whom the voice Of the country editor means more than any other
voice in the nation.
AS the country editors power is great in forming public opinion,
protecting public interest, influencing Congressional action, 50 t is
great as a business agent and POWERFUL AS AN ADVERTISING
MEDIUM.
Over and over the Hearst newspapers have emphasized the fact
that the country editor should be recognized and utilized as the ma
tion's MOST EFFICIENT SALESMAN.
He is a monopolist in his field. If he has five hundred or a thous-
and circulation, that means five hundred or a thousand families that
advertisers can reach effectively only through him.
The advertisement we'll told and well displayed in the country
newspaper actually reaches the most powerful buying public in the
world. And that public cannot be reached with equal efficiency
through ANY other medium.
The subscriber to the country newspaper is the best customer Of
the intelligent advertiser. He buys everything, from books to har-
vestng machinery, from encyclopedias to gas engines, from paint
for the roof to cement for the cellar floor, from fancy front yard
fencing to drain tile for the fields.
Pick out a typical American family that reads the typical Ameri-
can country newspaper and there you have a buying power that in
terests every intelligent business man and advertiser in the United
States.
This fact the Hearst newspapers have always emphasized, al
though Mr. Hearst has no interest whatever in any country newspa-
per and has on the contrary very great interest in metropolitan
newspapers, in national magazines and other mediums.
1t is the duty of those interested in the public welfare to proclaim
the value of the country newspaper as an advertising medium regard
less of personal interest.
It is important to the nation that the country editor should be alb
solutely independent of corporations, of all influence except that of
the readers whom he serves.
To increase the prosperity, the INCOME of the country editor is
to increase the efficiency of the greatest educational and protective
institution in the United States.
The business man helps to build up his country, and at the same
time uses the best medium for building up his business when he
gives a large share of his advertising appropriation to the country
newspaper.
There are nearly twenty thousand country newspapers published in
the United States, each a center of information, of intellectual &C
tivty, each a schoolhouse for the grown man and woman, each an
important member of the national police force. It is no exaggera-
tin to say that democratic government of the United States would
be impossible should this enlightening force, the country newspa-
pers, be suddenly eliminated.
For they are the local checks, the local guardians and watch
men. Every man in Congress knows the power of his country
newspaper at home and knows that those newspapers are watching
his. And if we have something approaching democratic govern
ment in the United States we may thank the country editor for it.
WIBAUX FARMER