The Dickinson press., 1917-12-08
OTHERS THINK WELL
OF THE PRESS AND WE
BELIEVE THEY'RE RIGHT

We were aware that we were get.
ting out a f~irst-class paper and ou1
judgment has been justified in a re.
cent issue of the National Printer
Journalist, a publication devoted ex'
clusively to the newspaper craft. W.
are just in receipt of that journal ir
which appears the following critique
The first page here shown exhibit
10Y can only partially exemplify what
a superlative paper Dickinson, N. d.
has in Ernest L.. Peterson's Press
The Press is a s"even-column quarto
all home printed, with contents about
as nearly perfect as one is ever apt tt
find in a weekly newspaper. Typo
graphy is very delightful and tn.
presswork is equally good. l urge
the reader to notice particularly thu
nicely by which the heads on thi:
front page, from the creates. to tn,
very least, has been written and com
posed, so that each line is of just tn,
right length-and also observe tn,
perfect harmony and uniformit!
throughout. Completed thus, thu
page has more the appearance of thu
handiwork of the Supreme Typo
grapher, than that Of human hands
and I must most sincerely congratu
late those responsible for such perfec,
ton. Nor is the Press excellence con
fined alone to it's mechanical feature!
not by any means: l note tina
every story has been carefully ane
intelligently written, as carefully ma
chined and proof-read. And as a YER.
important portion of the sheet, Broth.
er P%eterson's three columns (nore OF
less) of editorial paragraphs form q
veritable gem. Changing the meta.
phor to a smile, equally true, il
might be said that these editorial
paragraphs of Brother Peterson's arc
like a cluster of diamonds set in pure
gold. I might have chosen pearls or
some other precious stone for my
smile, but diamonds is best, because
these paragraphs, like the gem with
which I have Iikened them, sparkle
with brilliance. And I wish that the
reader might behold the exemplary
amount of local news in this fine
sheet!-four pages full of it, and the
minimum of plate in use. There is
some country correspondence, too, and
other original matter-very little (if
any, quoted stuff, and that's what, in
my opinion, makes an ideal home
weekly. Some makers of such papers
seem to think if they have filled their
columns, even though the filling may
be done with midget miscellaney"
and a mess of stuff of more or less
interest clipped from exchanges, they
have fulfilled their mission and ably
acquitted themselves of all obligations
to subscribers; but Pm inclined to con
slider that in order to render the SUI
preme service which should be the
constant aim. of every loyal news
paperman, the paper should consist,
so far as possible, Of original matter
gathered and prepared personally by
the editor and his force-purely a
product Of the home shop. And all
this brings into order for discussion
another point-that rule of journalism
long honored as perfectly right and
proper to take, re-write and appropri-
ate to ones own use, or submit for
sale and publication in other mediums,
news stories and feature stories gath
cred and discovered by others-not
them, which is little better in my op1n-
1O1ls l nave 1ICVSI dppAOVSu VI C!1o
practice, considered all right never
theless in the ethics of Journalists,
nor have I ever knowingly stopped to
it When another writer's words are
desirable and in all good literature we
find them an editor is perfectly within
his rights to quote them but in all
such quotations the endeavor should
yer be to give full credit Just a
word now concerning the advertise
ments in the Press and I will pass on
to the next specimen: The compositor
does his work exceptionally well, as J.
prove by showing three of his ex-
amples, but tits a shame that they are
not all arranged systematically &C
cording to the ideal method so often
exploited in this Experimentation
al Printer-Journalist.
The ideal method referred to in the
above story does not quite meet the
policy of The Press for the reason
that the arrangement Of ads as given
in that scheme does not allow for h
preferred position of all ads. The
Press believes that it gives more
prominence to Individual ads under it's
system than does any other weekly
paper under that papers particular
style. Our ads stand out and are
readable. This, coupled with our eA-
tensive circulation, gives the maxi
mum of results for the advertisers.