St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-11-28
Newspapers Going to the Wall.


Newspapers Going to the Wall.
The failure of the Daily Caledonian,
the Wilmington Times, etc, in YER
mont, is only beginning of what is
coming, unless the newspapers are
better supported.
The Saturday Evening Post of Nov
10, had it's leading editorial on this
subject 1t stated, in brief that:
For twenty years the number of
newspapers in the country has been
steadily declining, while population
has steadily increased. In Michigan,
where the population of the fourteen
largest cities has doubled in the last
decade, the number of daily papers
has fallen from AZ to %.
while the population of Chicago
has more than doubled in the same
period, five morning dailies have dis
appeared, and no end Of consolida-
tions have taken place all over the
country.
1.-THE steadily increasing cost Of
publishing paper is the cause. 1t
costs more now to start daily in
hdldIldLOO ll1d1l II oio I"SAAeJ WI -
ago in New York city.
"War has greatly increased the
cost of printing newspapers and is
fastening failures, consultations,
etc. The new revenue and postage
law hits papers severely and will in
crease failures and consultations.
eve believe that two daily papers
in cities of anything less than 100000
population will be the exception, not
the rule This will give the sur
viving paper a lot of political infiu-
ence but be bad for the people as it
will tend to a one-sided discussion of
public affairs
The above is a cold FLOODED state
inert of facts by the editor of one
of the few really successful and pay
ing papers Of the country.
In Vermont it means the ultimate
death or consolidation of dailies in
Rutland and Burlington and in small
Ter places, and no end of weeklies.
A job printing establishment can
keep up with rising costs of stock,
labor, etc, by raising prices.
A newspaper cannot do this.
This explains why the latter are
having such a hard time.
Newspapers cannot raise Subscrip-
ton rates every time paper, etc
goes up. Their publishers must
grin and bear it, consolidate or &C
under.
That the pubic does not appre-
differently is shown by the constant
ly increasing demand upon paper:
for free space.
BY this we do not mean free space
for booming business but worthy
charitable objects.
AS an illustration, the papers O
the Messenger-Sentinel Lists las
week printed A inches of free mat
ter, 352 lines
This would have cost any business
man or men $500 cold cash.
But" says a lady, "you must fl
up your paper with something, ant
this is more interesting than plat,
| matter
Eyes, my dear lady, but we hav'
no room for plates, and, if we did
they cost 20 cents a column and j
cost in cold cash $3.50 a column t,
| set the free matter"
| We are asked and expected to Civ
| this space, and, also to subscribe casl
| the same as the ather business mel
who gave nothing from their stock
| or stores.
Other papers throughout the stat
were giving as much or more space
| We, and we know other publishers
were glad to do our part to help o.
the good causes for which this spac
was used.
But
| If there were no papers, how coul
| this work have been successfully car
ried on?
| Circulars could have been mailed
but Uncle Sam, in whose behalf in
| directly the greater part of the spac
was used, would not donate even tn
postage.
There is matter here for seriou
| thought.
What will the country do whe
| there are no papers or only yer
few ?-Morrisville Messenger.