The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-09-15
Several Rich Cities Consolidate Their Newspapers
and Get Much Better Service at Greatly
Reduced Cost Little Cities of West are
Rapidly Changing Front Regarding Publ
cations.
TESTING BENEVOLENT DEsPoT1sM"
The East Long Ago Awoke to Realization of
Profit by Supporting Consolidated Enter
prise Which Gives Fullest Measure of Value
Franchise Given to Publisher.

People who look around LITTLE
in the west and have noticed tina,
every little county seat and small
town has from two to four news
papers, have. seemingly come to thu
conclusion that that condition is Q
necessity or is the best condition
that can be found. The little towr
of Bellevue on Wood river, about
such town as Moreland, had two
newspapers a few years ago. The
little town Of HALEY had two daily
newspapers. Bellevue hasn't any
now and Haley has one newspaper
consolidation of the two that once
were there, but the little western
towns whose newspapers depend
largely on legal notices and land>no-
tices are not the measure of the way
things are done thruout the country.
In the states of the Mississippi val
ley and along the Great Lakes where
population is denser, where cities are
larger, different program has been
going on. In the last twenty-five
years where the population has just
about doubled, there are only about
half as many daily papers as there
were generation ago. They have
been consolidating and thinning out.
In Grand Rapids, Mich, The Press,
a consolidation of other papers, DOM
mates the business Of the city and
the country around, giving more sat-
isfactory service from every point
of view, than the several papers did
before. Its policy has been to give
people so much better service that
they would not want to go back to
the old condition of competition. At
the town of Flint, Mich. the Daily
Jurnal is a consolidation and the only
paper in city of 125,000 people.
1t has a monopoly but is so rich and
Independent that it can afford to
cover all the different lines to suit
everybody and to be so generous and
broad In its working principles that
is pleased with it. The
Daily Journal doesn't have to do
thing unless 1t wants to, but it is so
big and generous that it does it any
way, At Saginaw, Mich. there was a.
consolidation of The News and The
Courier, now called The News-Cour-
Ter, and it is the only paper in the
city. It's service is cheap, efficient
and satisfactory. At Jackson, Mich.
The Citizen and The Patriot consoli-
dated, making a newspaper that
the whole section and fur
nishes a cheap, satisfactory and ef-
ficient service; and the people would
not go back to the old competitive
system If they could. They have a.
small competitor, but The Citizen
Patriot is so prosperous it pays no
attention to the competitor. At Bay
City, Mich, The Times and The Tri-
bune consolidated with the same re-
suit and it is the only paper in the
city. At Muckegon, Mich, The Chron-
lcle is the only paper in the city. At
Ann Arbor, The Times and The News
consolidated and are now operating
IS The Times-News. It has a
monopoly and is such a generous
monopoly that it gives satisfaction.
else is published in the city
except a student paper at the uni
versity and that is only published a
part of the year.
Quoting High Authority
Ralph Harmon Booth is Detroit
man, who has consolidated large
number Of newspapers thru the State
of Michigan and 1t is his policy to go
INTO city and buy up all the news
papers there and make them into
one, that is Infinitely better than
my of them had been. When men
CONTINUED on Page g.