Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-07-26
NEWSPAPER BUSINESS IN WAR TIME.

The war industries board has ordered newspapers tC
cut off a free copies and to reduce the average size OF
their newspapers This order is for the purpose OF con-
serving both news print paper and labor.
Not many publishers will resent the order, since they
have realized for time that the most rigid economy
in these matters must be pracced The order of the gov
ernment will make it easier for them to do some things
that they hesitated voluntarily to do although they be-
]ieved they should be done.
In times like this the newspaper business is not a
snap There are no war profits instead prices of labor
and material are going up and advertising the papers
greatest source Of revenue is curaied Every industry
or business the governments grabs hold of in any manner
stops advertising Immediately.
War reports cost vast amount of money, and the
papers must carry them in order to satisfy the public
craving for daily information on this subject. For in
stance it costs from $50 to So word to get cable
sages from Petrograd Salonik, in the Balkans From
France cable tolls 25c word Added to these tolls
the high salaries of army OF correspondents and
their excessive expense bills while following the path
of the war; When you read the full leased wire telegraph
report in the Capital Journal calculate what must have
been the cost of gathering it. Of course the Capital Jour
nal only pays its proporonate part of the cost which is
shared by all United Press papers But its share very
much heavier than it before the war broke out in
Europe
Everything is going up that way and only circulation
receipts keep pace with rising COSTS More people are
reading newspapers than ever hefore--but the news
paper business was not built the theory that subscrp
tion receipts would pay the running expenses.
Advertising, based circulation, is relied upon by
all publishers for their profits Advertising has in this
way been responsible for making it possible for newspa
pers and magazines to be sold at price within the reac
of ALL That is why the people generally owe good deal
to the enterprising businessman or manufacturer Who
advertses-he is paying for the reading matter they get
at only a nominal cost.
Now that war restrictions have reduced advertising
newspapers must raise subscription prices reduce the
size Of their publications or curta their subscription lists
Probably they will do all these things and that is just
what the order recently issued by the industries
board seeks to accomplish
The Daily Capital Journal fot instance is sufferngI
from too much circulation now. 1t is only slightly below
5000 copies daily the average and that is too large for
the volume of advertising carried and the rate we are
able to get for it in field like this We keep pruning
the list of those who are slow pay and of advertisers and
exchanges but the list continues to growthe people evil
dently want the war news
The order of the government to refuse to permit
papers go out of the office unless paid for in cash will
not work hardship upon papers like the Capital Journal
1t will only assist them in holding down rising expenses
and only making official order of what business
Judgment dictates they must of necessity do anyway.
What the government should do however, is to pay t
for all the advertising space it in the papers for war
activities. In France and England this is done. Ad7er
tsng space is the only commodity the newspaper has to
sell and there is why the government should
expect to get it free when it pays everybody else high
prices for what it wants That is why the government
sells bondsto pay for what it requires in the conduct
of the war;
And yet the government expects the newspapers to