The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-08-02
YOUNG DEFENDS NEWSPAPERS.
Tells of Sacrifices of Publishers.
Space Should be Paid For.

II any lulluel dlldCh - llldue upoll
them looking to discriminatory taxa
ton. Speaking recently in the house
against the proposed changes in sec
onti class postal rates, Mr.. Young
pointed out the Injustice Of the pro!
posal rs follows:
1T is true that the amount paid
by the publishers of newspapers di-
rect to the government, i consider
ed by itself, may appear insufficient.
but if what the publishers do for the
public free of charge is taken into
account | believe it will be found that
they pay their full share of the cost
of the handling Of the mails.
Sound and efficient government
must rest upon an intelligent, educat-
ed public opinion. For that reason
it is highly desirable that the citizens
of the country should be we'll inform
ed upon all public questions and all
details of government. In this field
the newspapers give space worth
many millions Almost every public
official from the president of the
United States down to forest ranger
secures valuable publicity.
''The cabinet officers send out i'm
mense quantities of publicity matter,
telling of the activities of their re-
spective departments. And they are
quite imperious about it. The post
master general himself, who discusses
this subject in one of his annual re-
ports now before me, gets for the
government advertising of immense
value, covering one of the greatest
business enterprises in the world, the
postoffice department.
"Then the newspaper gives to the
public without charge a very large
amount of valuable advertising space
in support of State, county, city, char
liable, religious and other activities,
which if taken into account, would
run into very large sums of money.
And this class of citizens, upon whom
the catalogue house men would de-
scend with the idea of wringing' from
them rates sufficiently increased to
enable the government to give them
a reduced rate upon first-class matter.
''It is we'll established principle
among large business concerns that
certain lines must be handled at lit
tie or no profit. In the conduct of
the great postofice department
thoughtful people cannot fail to real
ize the wisdom of encouraging circu-
lation of mediums of publicity. There
is no telling to what extent letters are
written carrying first-class postage
about matters advertised in news
papers, big and small. They stimu-
late all kinds of business. Advertls-
ing is the backbone of the postal de-
partment. Cripple it, and its sources
of revenue from the sale of first-class
postage will be tremendously reduc-
ed. The prudent business man will
not thoughtlessly cause radical re-
duction in his chief source of income.
The proposed change in second class
rates displays a lack of statesman
ship.
Value Not Appreciated
'The value of publicity to the de-
partments of the government is lit
tie appreciated by those who have not
stopped to think about it. Almost
every government activity requires
publicity. The president of the Unit
ed States appreciates this, if some
other officials forget it. In a recent
address he used these words:
Il beg that all editors and publish
ers everywhere will give as promi-
nent publication and as wide circula-
ton as possible OF this appeal.
What is worth asking for is worth
paying for.
Il find, after looking it over, that
if the United States government had
paid to the publishers of the Ho-
GUAM Daily Washingtonian a fair
price for all the advertising given to
this government they could afford to
send this paper out by first-class pos
tage.
There is a Red Cross item of S3
lines. Papers in North Dakota of
the character of this paper would
charge more than 10 cents line for
reading matter, but we will figure it
at 10 cents line. That would make
$3.50. There is an item on crop
stimulation, very important at this
particular time, e47 lines. That
would be s24.70. There is an an
nouncement there of 54 lines by
United States representative, the