The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-09-15
WASTAGE
S. s.

the Waterfowl Daily News and vet.
eran newspaper man Of South Dakota,
recently took charge of the Woon.
socket Herald-Times and is getting
out a first class newspaper. Brother
Cory has high newspaper standards
and when he takes charge of a publ
cation the result Of his work it at
once apparent. In the last issue he
ZONES forward with an editoriol that
meets with our opinions on the mat.
ter so wholly that we publish it here
with:
Much complaint was heard during
the war concerning the fearful wastage
of paper. The newspapers were clam
oring for paper at any price. and yet
the government and hundreds of pri-
vate concerns were throwing paper
right and left as If it were chaff to
be separated from the grain.
More or less of this wastage is still
noted on the part Of both the govern
ment and private interests. We point
out only a few instances of the many
that come under our observation.
The republican national committee,
for instance, is supplying the news.
papers of the land with oceans Of
matter for publicity that not n pa
per in fifty can use at all and that
not to exceed n paper in three hun
dred uses any part of and that not
one paper in ten thousand uses all Of.
Our last mail brought US three
pages of this publicity matter from the
Republican Publicity Association"
each page being filled with single
spaced stories about this or that. The
total. If reduced to such type as the
average weekly paper is set in, would
make about three columns. Inasmuch
as we get about this quantity from the
same source three or four times a
week, it is seer what a fearful waste
Of paper the association is guilty of.
If the republican committee wants
to do something that really counts IN
the line Of publicity, let it quit it's fool
ish waste of paper and postage, boil
it's matter down to such proportions as
weekly papers can handle, and then
buy half a page of space in the
weeklies two or three times a year.
1t could easily save enough for this
purpose by cutting off it's present
wastage, it would seem to us.
Another sample OF wastage is sup.
piled by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Co., of Akron, Ohio, through it's Good
year News service" which the com
pany seems to be furnishing all the
weekly papers Of the land, and per-
haps not one in a thousand Uses any
part Of it. It's matter is sent out under
the guise of news items, but inter
woven in each is a first class adver.
tisement for the Goodyear people. We
are inclined to think that our Good
year friends of Akron, Ohio, could.
So enough on paper and postage by
eliminating this useless service to
buy a quarter of a page three or four
times a year in every weekly in
America.
Another example of wastage is fur.
nished by the Power Farming Blu.
reau," Monadnock block, Chicago,
which supplies the weekly papers with
about six columns of closely printed
lines each week under the caption OF
Business in Farming: More Mind
Less Muscle by George Z. Fuller, and
copyrighted by the Power Farming
Bureau.
The obvious purpose is to stimulate
the demand for tractors and trucks
in farming and to show that tractor
power is cheaper than horse power.
Very few of the weekly papers use
any part of this matter, and, as in
the cases already noted, the financial
supporters of this Business in Farm
ing" movement could easily save
enough to do more effective advertis
ing in the weekly press and thus serve
some useful purpose for both them
selves and their hundreds of Local
agents throughout the country.
But these are but a few samples OF
the many evidences of wastage' in
both time and money in propaganda
along many lines that is as useless
as it Is stupid.
Wv. s. S.