St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1918-03-13

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pasted on the wall. The public wants
( the news; the news is everything anc
everything, let the chips fall where
they may in the great hewing to get
it and place it before its readers in 6
form sufficiently appealing to crush OUT
competitors. But in little town the
newspaper is more than the mere com
pilation of news. The newspaper is an
institution in the community. It must
gear itself up with the community. II
must represent the place and its people
It must progress just as fast as the
community progresses. 1t can neither
1 fall behind or progress faster. The
moment either happens there is trouble
principally for the paper.
In the little town the newspaper be
longs to the people Of the community.
1t is not the editors paper, regardless
OF how much he would like to flatter
himself that it is. The little country
daily belongs to the town and it must
be mirror of that town, not at all an
engine behind driving it faster and
faster and seeking to bring about the
millineum. 1t cannot be the town
scold; it must not play the role of the
town evangelist; it must have no poll
tics and no religion. This does not
mean that the ment behind it can have
no political faiths or that they are nee
essarily goddess men. 1t means that
being a mirror, the little local paper
must reflect all phases Of the commun-
ity life among all classes and con-
ditions Of its citizens. And the young
men i'll question made his tremendous
failure because he came rushing in
with q youthful naughty and somewhat
contemptuous demeanor and like Happy
Hooligan declared: "I'll help yousei"
He set standard and tried to drive
his townfotk up to it instead of allow
ing they might already have set their
own standards and simply going along
from day to day chummily with. them
and trying to assist them in attaining
those standards He admitted cheer
fully that because he had a city train
ing. he was bigger than the town and
its people, that his ideas were far III
advance Of theirs, that given a few
months and he would speedily change
al! that and make the place over into
a small listed city. But the town didn't
want to be made over into a small sized
city There was no reason why it
should be- It's people didn't want to
be reformed FOR they considered they
weren't necessarily any worse than the
folk OF Thousands of other American
towns. They simply wanted the boy
to keep his voice small and be modest
and diligert and respectful and helpful
and sympathetic. And the boy couldn't
get the small ?town's viewpoint. He got
his paper all out Of gear with the speed
Of the place. The town became either
rcsentfuI or amused.
Now there is no job on earth so pro-
ftable--in lots Of ways beside money
than running a little paper in Il little
town. American life all over the na
ton isn't reflected by the cities; it Is
reflected by the people of the communi,
ties of ten thousand inhabitants and
under And the man who :an cat thor
viewpoint and run paper that is helr
to his noighbors, who understands
them, whose problems are their prob
lens, whose success is their success and
their success his success, is going to get
many profitable things out of life, and
enjoy it immensely at the same time.
In the Office Of a little local paper
is known many intimate things which
cannot he printed many things are
constantly occurring which must be
handled sympathetically and with dis
cretion and the measure Of discretion
and sympathy with which they are
handled is the measure of success which
comes to the paper. The publishers of
a country paper see many domestic
snarls and alterations occur, reach q
solution or not reach a solution, come
to an understanding or end IN pathetic
martial chaos and misery. They know
which businesses in the community are
prosperous from the amount of adver-
Using done by the home merchants and
the manner III which their bills are
paid and which are ON the chute for
ultimate oblivion. They know which
women will not allow their husbands
to endorse other mems notes at the
banks, which families are living be
You'd their income, into which homes
have come unspeakable sorrow and