French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1917-02-08
SHIPMAN ARGUES IN FAVOR
OF ADVERTISING BILL.
The Measure is Approved by the Leg
islatiVe Committee Of the Two
State Press Associations.

Il
NJ. L. Shipman. newspaper man ex-
Q clio and in fact, is in earnest about
the passage of the legal adveI Using
bill now before both houses of the
General Assembly says the Raleigh
News and Observer. Mr.. Shipman is
chairman OF tho joint legislative COM
mittee of the North Carolina Press As
sociation and the Association of After
noon Newspapers.
This BILL" he declares, els approx
ed by the legislative committees OF
the North Carolina Press Association
and the State Association of After
noon Newspapers, who feel that the
rate for various classes of advertising
required by law should be uniform.
That the request for the enactment of a
law readjusting the rate fer this class
| of advertising is reasonable one,
cannot be denied, in the face of the
| fact that the rate proposed is lower
than that prevailing in any other
State, with the single exception of
North Dakota. The present rate al
low ed by law in this state is far be-
! low the rate in effect anywhere else
in the United States. 1t was fixed by
the General Assembly of 1868-69, when
notices of a legal character were not
of unreasonable length. Today a sale
under execution often covers moro
than column of, space. Yet. the
newspaper man cannot legally collect
an amount in excess of three dollars.
The Supreme Court has SO ruled and
| fair rate should be legalized. ! am in
formed that some of the papers ask
for their commercial rate and attor.
ueys pay it and include the charge in
excess Of the statutory rate, in their
| fee. or commission. The necessity for
such evasions of the law ought to be
removed. The lawyer charges a f""
commensurate with the service he rem
dcrs and the editor should be privileS-
ed to do likewise.
The papers ere simply asking that
all classes of advertising, required by
law to be published in a newspaper. be
placed upon a business basis and have
named the commercial rate for most
of the papers in this bill
A legal advertisement certainly ought
to be charged for ct the same rate as
an advertisement in the want column
of a newspaper, which is generally
An advertiser should pay for the space
he occupies at fair rate. And there
is no reason in the world why q legal
advertisement should have preference.
In order to oblige a good lawyer
friend. the editor often holds his forms
open until the very last minute for the
insertion of a legal notice then. per-
haps, wait three months 70 rthe pitia-
bic sum of three dollars. and some
times never gets that. Furthermore,
some classes of legal notices are set
tied through the courts and afhdavits
have to be made, all of which takes
time from the EDITORS business. Those
who participate in a dance should be
willing to play the fiddler, and a man
who wishes to fill a column of space
in a newspaper ought not to object to
paying reasonable rate. such as this
bin provides.
Another point in favor of the adop-
ton of the bill is that the rate will be
uniform. All classes Of advertising
required by law is placed on a similar
basis and the rate in every county will
be the same. Six cents per line for the,
first insertion. of any notice, and four
cents per line for each subsequent in
sertion. There will be no confusion
about price. The editor will be paid
only for the service actually rendered
and no more. The length of legal
notices may be easily reduced and in
that manner prevent the newspaper
man from becoming "bloated bond
holders as a result of the passage of
the McCoin-Brummitt bill.
IT have not been engaged in the
newspaper business for a number of
years. but my official position enables
me to keep in touch with the men in
the profession who are facing condi-
lions most serious in the service of
their respective communities, The
price of paper is three times as much
as it was year ago and every item
That is included in the production of a
has advanced in equal pro-
portion. Many of the papers have
been forced to advance their rates for
subscriptions and commercial adver-
Using in self-defense. But a statute,
enacted nearly fifty years ago, re-
mains to plague them and ought to be
expunged from the records. There is
neither sense nor justice in it. The
of the State have been pa
tient and suffering. They have
fought the battles of their respective
parties dong enough and faithfully |
enough to entitle the only request !
they have made in the last forty-seven |
years to the most favorable consideEa- |
ton of their respective, Representa-
tives in the General Assembly"
81.