Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1921-07-21
TIE WANT I'D DEPARTMENT
OF 4 COUNTRY NEWSPAPER
BY c. s. Hobart,
Publisher of the Pro
gress, Holden, Mo.


This subject really calls for a gen
eral discussion in which experience
= may be reported, and from these VI
may Judge whether the conclusions
have drawn are sound. l intend a
the outset to lay stress on the price
to be charged for want ads. You ma!
, accuse me of riding my hobby, but i
is a good hobby, and l will ride it OF
all occasions until the newspaper
man is paid the scale of the A. A. B
P.-the Amalgamated Association Of
Bank Presidents. / have always con
tended that a newspaper man is en-
titled to the same remuneration as z
bank president-and more, for that
matter, because many times the edi-
tors services are worth more to the
community. But the newspaper man
cannot pay himself such a salary
every Saturday night With the rest
Of the "hands'-if he charges the
prices he has been known to charge
n the past more or less remote.
BY Want Ads" we understand
that collection of short items-"For
Sale" Lost, Found Wanted"
SLC. HcduCu CldS5llltQ COluInu,
The Peoples Market" or other
catchy title. What should be charged
for these Wants? To arrive at a
correct answer in logical way is a
rather difficult matter. The strenu-
GUS existence led by newspaper max
ers during the last twenty years and
the cost fallacies exploded in the last
decade would tend to cast discredit
OH any precedent handed down by the
preceding generation. But we have
one which might be of service in solY
ing a present-day problem. In those
good old days of yore" we sold ad-
vertising for 10 cents an inch (that
is, we said we did, but ofttimes that
rate would shrink to cents and
I Z centsj At least, 10 cents was
the established rate. Established
is the proper term, because il has
held on with marvellous tenacity.
We sold readers" for cents a line
Cthat is, we said we did. These
readers were set in loaded long
9rimer-excuse me, ten-point-mak-
ing six lines to the inch. That is 3OI
cents an inch, three times the space
rate.
If we agree on certain standards
the matter will stand thus: The spe-
2ial advertising committee of the Ma
uonal Editorial Association in its
schedule OF rates based on modern
production costs, fixed the rate for
papers of 1000 circulation at 2
cents an inch. Eight-point is an aver
age type for want columns. even if
me paper should be set in a larger
race. Three times the space rate-25 i
cents-is rs cents. There being nine
lines OF eight-pOint to the inch. the
'ate per line would be a trifle less
than cents, which is not cheap. 4
-lYe-llne Want" requires as much
Time for checking, bookkeeping and
collection as a quarter-page. The |
want ads proportion to the overhead
Being so much out of line. it should |
carry much higher rate than space
advertising, entirely aside from its
value. Five cents a line is too low.
As for the man who tolerates that
atrocity, 'one cent word" he
should be sent away by the hand of |
? fit man into the wilderness"
The value of the want ad has been
lnderestimated. That is a confession
lew years. Fourteen years ago ! at
in the Progress. l had read a hint"
in trade paper to this effect: Give |
4 free want ad with every years sub |
5criptton paid. | tried it, but it brot
no results. Something for nothing"
is a fallaCy even If we persist in for
getting it. The people of the town
had so few wants that a depart
iaent could not be maintained. All
that time the farmer did practically
no advertising. The very rare appear
anCe of a public sale ad was the glar-
ing exception that proved the rule
With the advent OF the automobile
the farmer soon learned that sale
bills were insufficient, so today the
-armer demands the ad in the paper;
the bills are secondary. 1t was not
long till the farmer began to adver-
tise il every other way. Most of his |
wares were few, and a little read |
er was sufficient. But this business
from the farmers has increased I'M
til today the want ad department is |
an institution. 1t is no uncommon
thing to find country papers carry
ing two and three columns of want
ads, We of the elder generation re-
member in the aforesaid good old
days Of yore," the demand made by |
the town dveller, usually one of |
those yiSitations known as the "oc-
casional advertiser that his two
liner be put right in among the
locals where people can see it."
This pest is still with us, but for
every one of his sort there are
twenty farmers who will specify that
their ads be run in the want column.
dare say my experience is identi-
cal with every publisher who main |
tains want ad department That |
proves the department. value be- |
yond doubt. Another element in the |
value of the want ad is its flexibility; |
it is the most rational department |
in the paper. The advertiser has the |
opportunity to get a maximum of |
service at a minimum of cost. II |
three lines will Suffice six Or ten