The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1919-08-28

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primarily a community paper. If Thu
cooperative papers win the next elec.
ton as official papers. they must il
the meantime become the best papers
in their various counties. To attain
this goal they must first Of all be real
newspapers and should make a spec.
ialty of getting all the local news.
Papers Should Be Fair
"Our papers should refrain from
personalities and should never gel
v%ituperative and bitter. I am abso.
lutely opposed to resort to. PERSONAL.
ties in papers. Report the speeches
remarks and acts Of your opponents
with absolute fairness. BY doing 50
you will gain the esteem and conf.
dence of the public. If you do other.
wise, the public will think you art
afraid to report the truth. Do not ed.
itorialize in news columns. II your
opponents make o Or misstate.
ments, point them out in the editorial
columns. You ought to make it q
point Of honor to print all the news
that is decent and always be fair and
always open your columns to commi-
cations from any citizen whether OF
not his opinions agree with yours.
Propaganda should never proceed
local news. Always run local news
first. Unfortunately some Of our edi-
tors have earned the name some Of our
opponents have given them. They use
the plate saw too much and the pencil
too little. You are the judges of the
matter sent out by the Publishers Ma
tional Service Bureau. Make the best
use Of it, but remember you are run
ming local newspapers.
II hope the time will come when our
editors can spend all their time in
strictly editorial work. When this
time comes, they can go out and cover
the news field thoroughly and take a
professional pride in writing it up
brightly and accurately. The goal Of
every cooperative paper should be a
correspondent at every cross road in
the county. The Importance of locals
and personals cannot be emphasized
too much. For some reason they in
terest the average reader more than
anything else that goes into a paper.
We may not like this fact, but since
it is a fact it is up to us to make the
best of it, and in giving the average
reader what he likes create a paper
that interests and gains the wide sup
port Of the people. wish to announce
at this. time that we are planning to
put a linotype machine in the office Of
every farmers paper in the state. We
r also going to furnish a book of in
structions for correspondents which
will enable them to do real newspaper
work as news gatherers.
"The business end of the paper is
of primary Importance. Every editor
is required to keep a set Of books and
strict accounts Of all receipts and ex-
penditures and to report these at stat
ed periods. In, addition the bureaus
auditors will visit the papers and go
over the books periodically.
: Strict Accounts Required
Failure to keep strict accounts
arouses suspicion. The most trivial
item taken in or psid out should be
recorded. I want to say right here
that the stockholders Of the cooper
alive papers are among the fairest and
squarest people I eve met. They are
good sports and will take any kind Of
a reasonable chance to make their
uses a success. For this reason we
are bound to make good the trust they
repose in us. The central bureau in
sists on accurate reports. We hold in
trust the property Of thousands Of PEG
pie and we must account for every
penny with clean records and books
showing exactly what the money has
been spent for.
"There are great possibilities for
the cooperative paper in the proper
conduct Of the advertising end of the
business. Nothing but live, paying ad-
vertisements, gotten up in the most at
tractive style should run Nothing is
more injurious than the carrying Of
ads that are read or out of date.
have seen some ads. in country news
papers telling Of Christmas sales in
July. Never allow merchants to give
ads on the basis Of charity. It is better
to refuse them than to accept them on
this basis. Show them that advertising
is mainly to their advantage and that
they are buying something Of real val
ue.
Consult with merchants about their
ads. Assist them in getting up their
ads. See all the merchants every week
if possible. Such q cours will newt.
ably bring a great increase in adver.
| tisinp Refuse all ads tha are moi