The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-02-26

lives appear to have resided in Mis-
souri,.
But the newspaper man, the editor,
also has something to say on the SUBJ
ject.
In the first place Jim is wrong
about this professional business
The editor is not professional man
like the doctor or lawyer. He's first,
last and always a strictly commercial
man. If he isn't, he doesn't stay long
in the newspaper business. The days
of the editor as a professional man
have gone. His business now is to
take white paper stock and by adding
something to it in the way of coat
ing of printers ink, raise it's value
from three and half cents to about
seven, and pocket the difference.
He is a salesman.
He is selling news and advertising
space, and nothing more. If he can
do good and improve things along the
way, all well and good. But he is
manufacturer, selling product that
people pay money to possess and he
has no more license to give 'em red
goods when the public demands white
| than has manufacturer to furnish
automobile tires when the public calls
| for ice-cream freezers. The publish
| ing business has changed of late
years. 1t is a grim proposition of
dollars and cents. Newspapers are
run to make money. The pictures
que old editor who ran his paper to be
power in the land, passed out with
the C. A. r. We are commercial
men, in the same class with drummers.
For which woe unto us-perhaps. But
we can't help it. We are products
of modern times, the same as Jim
| Taylor and his public Improvement
job.
The reason we are slow to jump in
and hammer the public into boosting
every worthy proposition that comes
along is two-fold. Long experience
in dealing with the public has made
US more or less conservative in trying
to crush" the public faster than il
wants to be rushed; secondly, we
lack the organization in our limited
country offices, to go outside our re-
gular line of business and boom en-
4 terprises and when once we have
started them, follow them up. We
have learned that putting a forced
draft onto the public in this matter
of pulling off improvement stunts like
the big city papers can do, acts only
as boomerang on the paper.
81 don't want to be preached al
overnight" says John Jones of Fox
boro as he unfolds his evenings copy
of the little local sheet. 81 pay fol
news, not propaganda I'm going te
subscribe for the paper that lets me
read each night in peace and isn't al.
!. ways hammering me to give toward
Il something, or vote for something, OF
improve somebody or something
somewhere" And he does. If jim
doubts it, let him try to run news
, paper for while and find out.
, Now this doesn't mean that WE
are not sympathetic toward all good
!. works and public improvements such
as Taylor is wearing his life out fol-
in the finest kind of heroism of these
: days of peace. But we do know oul
public and we have to cater to il
! or we don't stay in business. We
can't be the town scold- or the towr
!, soap-box orator. We've got to accept
the somewhat discouraging Tay
or-proposition, that the townspeopls
, and not ourselves, own the home
newspaper. It's their organ. And to
! be successful it must be a mirror OF
the community's life and not tt