The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-12-13
"A Story for Printers

This article is a brief review OF
what was done at q meeting Of news
paper men at Pocatello recently and
Is published for the information Of
about 100 newspaper men who did
not attend the meeting, many OF
whom expressed their regrets that
they could not attend and many who
were too far away to make it worth
the trip.
Ten years ago the eastern Idaho
press club was operating In the state
and on two or more occasions when
the legislature was In session rep
resentatives Of the press club asked
for revision Of some of the laws af-
fecting the publishing industry. Some
OF these amendments to the law
were made In the interests of the
whole public and in the interest Of
the publishers. Some of the amend
ments asked were more in the inter-
est of the publishers than they were
in the interests Of the public. On
such matters there was sharp d.
vision among the members Of the
legislature, some Of the members sug-
costing that the revisions or amend
ments asked for were in the inter-
ests of the publishers alone and were
therefore branded as graft. In the
discussion of those matters, there
arose a division of opinion among
the newspaper men and this opinion
continued to exist for number OF
years.
Some Unjust Laws.
For example, here are instances
OF both kinds of revision asked for:
clerks Of school boards Of independ-
emit district have been in the habit
Of publishing once year very brief
statement of financial condition Of
the district. 1t merely dealt in totals
and did not mean much to the pub
lie. The publishers legislative COM
mittee said that such expenses should
be published in detail the same as
the detailed statement of proceedings
of the board Of county commissioners
and that If improper charges or ex-
penditures were made, somebody
among the readers would know 1t.
That would be q check against ex-
travagance and waste and fraud In
school management the same as in
county management. The publishers
and part of the members of the leg
islature stoutly maintained that that
was q true theory and a safe one
that should be acted upon. Another
made by the pub
fishers was that the clerk of every
school district both city and country,
should publish a notice of the annual
school election SO that all the people |
of the district might have it brought
to their attention. This law was en-
acted but was never enforced for
the reason that school district is
such small territory and there are
so many school districts in the coun-
ty, it seems like useless expense
to publish twenty-five or fifty of these
notices in the local papers and as
soon as an effort was made to fol-
low the new law, everybody pre-
ceived that mistake had been made
and that more sensible thing to
do would be for the county super
to publish general mo-
tice showing that the elections will
be held in all the districts on that
date. When the publishers asked for
such law as had been enacted in
this state, they asked for something
they were not justified in doing and
laid themselves open to the charges
of graft. Some OF the members Of
the press took the position and
stoutly maintained it, that no law
should be asked for that was not in
the interest Of the whole public and
justified without any regard to the
welfare of the publishers. In other
words, they said that no law should
be enacted to take money away |
from people and give It to the pub
fishers except for service that was |
needed, and then the most econom-
Ical plan should be followed.
A New Analysis Of Laws.
III some Of the years that followed,
his paper made careful study Of
.ity and county government and OF
many things pertaining to the pub
fcation OF matters informing the
,eople on city and county and school
district government 1t analyzed these
matters ct great length In long series
4 articles and sent copies to all the
Of the state for their In
ormation. Many Of the publishers
{ the state have stated that those
rticles constitute the best Treatise
,e have ON those subjects IN Idaho.