Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-12-19
RURAL EDITOR
HAS HARD ROW
TOHOE TODAY
Metropolitan Papers Have AL
most Wiped Out Little
Sheets. 1874

NEW ORLEANS, Dee 19.-"The coun-
| try weekly newspaper is on the way to
extinction" declared Carl c. Taylor,
North Carolina State College, in his talk
before the American Country Life Con-
| ference being held here, as member OF
the committee on investigation.
1.-The chief cause of death among coun-
try newspapers is the advent of the city
daily. The country paper can't compete
with these powerful competitors as dis
pensers of world news, in editorial erudi-
| ton or as agencies for circulating ma
tional advertisements. They must get
out of the field of competition with the
daily papers or perish from the face Of
the earth within the next generation. 1t
used to be the chief function of these
| small papers to relay the worlds news
from the great dailies, magazines and
other metropolitan sources into the coun-
| try. Today country people take the
dailies themselves. If, therefore, the
weekly is only to reflect the news and
ideas presented in the greater papers
it will not be read. Country people, like
all the rest of us today, want the news
while it is hot. The r. T. D. and city
daily hand it to them right off the
| griddle"
MAKES STARTLING
SUGGESTIONS.
Some startling suggestions were made
by Prof. Taylor among his recommenda-
lions for the weekly's salvation. He said
it must cease to be political, cease to
be natioHil, cease to be dominated with
local town materials only and make good
its survival and development by becoming
local community institution with mis-
sion. He visualized a future country
newspaper that is "predominantly rural
in its organization and viewpoint, COM
bination between newspaper and agricul-
tural journal"
| Several hundred papers in Missouri,
| North Carolina and elsewhere were ex-
amined in his study of the weekly pa
per from many angles. Complete reports
| from 243 papers showed 70 per cent of
the total space was of strictly local in
terest, the remaining space being COM
posed of national syndicate, boiler plate,
patent insides, fiction and clipped ma
terial OF the local material % per
cent was given to town interests, leav-
ing Of per cent for strictly rural in
terests. As the size of the towns in
which the papers are publish increased
the space devoted to local material de-
creased, with q corresponding decrease
in the percentage of strictly rural ma
terial. These papers averaged less than
. per cent editorial matter, the amount
of editorial space increasing as the size
of the town increased. Local editorials
comprised 90 per cent Of the total ed
itorial space, this percentage decreasing
as the size of the town increased. Local
editorials have no less than % per cent
DEVOTED to town interests, thus less than
per cent was given to rural inter-
ests. As the towns get larger they usurp
mara and mora of tha npwSOaDer'S SPACE.
HOW SPACE
Is DIVIDED.
| The news space takes up IS per cent
of all the newspaper space, and IS per
cent of this space is devoted to local
news, the remaining O. per cent being
national, syndicate, clipped, patent in
sides and boiler plate mtaerial. The
towns get the lions share of this local
matter, 81 per cent being town and only
IS per cent rural news. While the
papers in the largest towns had the
smallest percentage-34-Of news, local
news made up more Of this copy, since
! patent insides, boiler plate, etc, are sell
dom used there. AS the towns in which
| the papers were published increased in
| size the local news space devoted to ru-
| raj interests diminished until less than
Is per cent was devoted to this cause in
| towns of 1900 population or over.
The advertisements took up 81 per
cent of the space in these papers, a per
cent of this space being local advertis
| ing OF this local advertising, country
Advertising" by which is meant adyer-
tisements of goods to be bought or sold
mainly by country people, got 81 per cent.
The local advertising receded as the towns
grew in size. The percentage of country
advertising decreased even more rapidly.
The smallest towns had - per cent OF
such advertising. The largest towns car
RED 81 per cent in their papers.
LOCAL SPACE
DEMAND HEAVY.
When these papers were analysed as
to percentage of country circulation it
was found, as might be expected, that
with the increase of country circulation
the total space given to local interests
| increased. A surprise is found here, how
ever, in the fact that the largest per-
centage of this local space devoted to
country papers was in papers having from
81 TO 10 per cent of their circulation in
the country, while the papers having more
than rs per cent rural circulation carried
almost as little country local news IS
did the papers with small country circula-
ton. The total showed less than 80 per
cent of the total space devoted to coun-
try interests. Although the cause of this
condition is not shown in the tables of
the report, it is probable that the heavy
use Of boiler plate may have cut out local
material, as the latter necessarily means
Office composition.
Editorials seem to increase in 1mpor-
lance in the eyes of editors as the per-
centage of country circulation increases.
The total space devoted to editorials and
the percentage of this space devoted to
local editorials alike increased as the
country circulation grew.
The total space devoted to news IN
creased with the increase of the country
circulation. The percentage of total news
space given to local news is least in
those papers having % per cent or less
country circulation, while it is greatest in
the papers having from &c to 80 per cent
local circulation The percentage of local
given to strictly country news is only
l. per cent. 1t is greatest, 16 per cent, in
those papers having from 81 to rs per
cent country circulation and lowest, per
cent in papers having less than 20 per
cent local circulation.
A rsS1On0 Row KILLS