Arizona republican., 1919-06-17
Premiums and Prizes

Our beloved contemporary, the Arizona Star, waxes querulous and complaining over an editorial in The Republican making reference to feat of our circulation department, a drive which was intended to secure 100 new subscribers in single day. The carrier boys who conducted it easily went beyond the mark and brought in 127 subscribers that day
 We thought the of that performance would bring joy to brethren of the press; that they would be puffed up with pride thereat. But the Star has been puffed up by nothing but grouch. It rreevantly and spefully inmates that the drive was made to partially replace the losses from The Republicans circulation list in consequence of the going away of many of subscribers for the summer. As a matter of fact, The Republican loses few subscribers that account. So intimate is the relation between The Republican and it's subscribers that usually those who go away for an extended period have the paper follow them.
 It may be startling to contemporary to know that The Republican has in many instances actually gained by the going away of its subscribers. Only yesterday morning a resident who with his wife is leaving the city for the summer months each going different part of the country, had his subscrip ton changed to follow his wife and then he sub scribed for another copy to follow him. There have been numerous such cases The few who have hao their papers stopped because they expecting to be moving about, more than offset by replace ments that in the counter. For years The Republican has suffered little falling off of it's subscription list in the summer months.
 Exception is taken by the Star to a statement in the editorial that The Republican offers premiums to subscribers. contradiction is found by the Star in the further statement that three small prizes and a commission offered the carrier boys in that drive as a slight additional inducement effort The Star must know that premium is a gift only to the subscriber and not compensation to a solicitor which becomes charge against the circulation de- partment, the same the salary of a solicitor Even the Star would hardly mistake a salary for premium.
 A premium is something that the publisher thinks the subscriber will think he is getting for nothing It is offered inducement to the subscriber to take paper whose merits not sufficiently attractive The offering of the premium is confession the part of the publisher that his paper is worth what he for it. It admission of the papers lack of merit of the publishers very urgent need of subscribers
 The premium offered to subscribers at large may be anything of comparatively little cost the publisher-a new kind of a butcher knife bread knife, set of dishes, any of thousand articles whieh look as if they money but which in reality very little They only intended distract the attention of the prospective subscriber from the deficiencies of the paper.
 In a deal of this kind there two points of view; that of the publisher and that of the sub scrber The publisher thinks that he is giving away the premium adjunct to the paper; the sub scrber regards the premium the important; to him the paper is adjunct more less neggi- ble of the premium. At first glance the difference between the two points of view does not vital But to the advertiser it is nightly vital He would rather have his advertisement printed, if which to the subscriber is of minor importance and less appealing