The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-11-10
Montana Growth Aided
ByPower Of Home Papers

the country or country towns, o.
again it may be because the weekly
paper of the small town seems more
daily which to many seems to be al
impersonal institution. But whatev-
er it may be, whether it's the coun.
try weekly or the city daily, if it's
the paper that was read when one
was a youngster-it's his Home
Town Paper, and it's contents, nc
matter how poorly written or print
ed, are as welcome as the sweetness
of a mothers face and the handclasp
of a dear friend.
Not a Charity.
1t is the intent of Subscribe for
Your Home Town Paper Week" to
spur people to subscribe to a "cause"
as one is asked to subscribe to the
Red Gross, the Salvation Army or to
a civic improvement. In supporting
the Home Town Paper one does not
perform an act of charity for the
publisher. 1t is a simon pure bust
ness proposition in which one pays
for an article that he can III afford
to be without and in return gets
that article for a whole year-all of
which is an investment that pays a
higher return than any other legiti-
mate investment on the market.
The reason that so many persons
look upon the country editor with
pity and feel that subscribing for his
paper or advertising in it is an act
of charity is because, in the old days,
the average country editor became
a country editor for the reason he
loved his work whether he was prop
erly compensated or not, and too
many of these country editors were
better editors than they were bust
ness men.
Taking the United States by and
large, however, the country editor
now is doing one of two things
either making himself a real bust
ness mar and conducting his institu-
ton along up to date lines, or he is
engaging as a partner or employe a
who is a real business man.
In any event, the country newspaper
is rapidly becoming an efficient and
modern business institution and in
many respects is more efficient and
progressive than it's neighbors, the
country bank and the country store.
Editor Loves His Job.
Louis A. Coolidge, a prominent
Massachusetts, manufacturer explains
the country editor in this fashion.
'The average local editor is in the
place he occupies because he loves his
iob-because he likes to write, be-
cause he finds contentment in meet
ing, week by week, day by day, the
of n%eighbors, most of whom he
friends.
"The country editor is in a way
much like the country doctor. He
knows the gossip of his own vicinity,
the joys and troubles of all sorts Of
men. He knows the citizen who does
his best for the community, whom he
can count upon in any worthwhile
work. He knows the run of
sentiment in politics and business and
he reflects it. The reader and the ed
itor react upon each other. The local
paper goes into the home. 1t is not
read by the headlines. It is read by
page and by column. Its local adver-
tisements are so closely scanned as
personals or editorials.
"It is a we'll of local history and
biography. The local editor is every
body's confidant, just as his paper is
a moving picture of his time. If |
were sounding the opinion on any
given question in any given place,
the first mar l should try to see
would be the editor, and on his judg-
and those to whom he might re-
fer me, / should rely"
Montana Papers Are High Class.
The newspapers of Montana rank
high in professional standards with
those of the whole United States. 1t
has been said by editors who have TAX
en- the pains to analyse representative
publications in the east and in the
west, that the average Montana
published in a town of 1000
has more pages, has better
makeup and contains a higher stand
ard of news, than the average week