The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-12-13
circulation FIGHT
ENGAGES NEWSPAPERS
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
BEING SPENT IN MOST RE-
MARKABLE PAPER WAR.
PUBLISHERS WILD SCRAMBLE
christmas Cheer" and Smile Coup
ons" Handed Out by Lavish Hands.
Bluff, Buster and Inuendo RAM
pant in Windy City.

pant Al WAAAy SNJ'
CHICAGO-In a bitter fight for
circulation supremacy two of Chica-
COS leading newspapers are spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars
that is, they are giving it away to
whoever holds the lucky numbers.
The process begins with the distri-
button of smile coupons" or 'Cheer
checks" according to the newspaper
issuing them. Each coupon or check
bears four numbers. These numbers
are drawn every day, and prizes run
from 81 to $5,000-in certain eventual
tiles, possibly twice that. The coupons
or checks are distributed through res
taurants, movie houses, barber shops,
cigar stores, grocery stores and on the
street. and practically the whole pop
uation of Chicago and suburbs is
Jumping hurdles to acquire as many as
possible of the coveted tickets.
To secure the coupons it is not nee
essary to buy paper or anything else,
but naturally holder of large num-
Der of the coupons will buy paper
to ascertain whether or not his num-
bers are listed among the lucky ones.
Not a New Scheme.
The scheme is not necessarily a new
one, as it was employed by the New
York Evening Mail in 1919, though
at that time is appeared not to have
caused the furore that the present in
stance has in Chicago.
The fight was started by the Her
ald-Examiner about two weeks ago,
when it announced that $4,000 would
be given as Christmas smile money"
to holders of numbers which would
be distributed. Sales of papers jumped
by tens of thousands. Then the Her
aid Examiner announced that such
success had resulted that the prizes
would be awarded after Christmas
also. and the amount to be given away
would be increased to $4,000. Then
it was raised to 100000.
At this stage the Tribune had few
million cheer checks" printed and an
nounced it would distribute free $780,
1000 on the same plan inaugurated by
the Herald-Examiner, and lntlmated
that, as city, state and national au-
thorities had seemed to endorse the
distributions enthusiastically" that
paper would take a hand and sit in
the game with large stack OF blue
chips" The Tribune maintained that
such a game ought to be played as
a real sporting event, and largely in
creased daily and Sunday prizes to be
awarded.
Expense Enormous.
While the circulation-that is, sales
OF both the Herald and
the Tribune is growing by tens and
hundreds of thousands, the expense OF
the war to both papers is almost in
credible The cash prizes announced to
date total $300,000 The printing OF
millions of coupons and checks IS a
large item. The regular space rate Tor
the display advertising, photographs OF
winners, daily story OF the drawings
and columns of buster, innuendo and
burlesuue, probably will equal mil
lion before the fight is finished. There
are hundreds of ext n assistants III the
offices on the streets, on the trucks
at IL" stations and other places dis
tributing coupons or doing other work
which the papers normal activities
would not require. There is small adj
vertising matter to pay Tor and extra
postage on circulars, and innumerable
incidental expenses which only giants
of the newspaper world could meet.
! And in the meantime dignity is for
gotten and people are scrambl1ng toi
| the little white and green tickets
boarding them like actual money ano
dreaming of the lucky day when then
numbers will be published in the morn
ing papers and they may buy bun
galow, a speed car, fur coat.ol
merely have their shoes halt-soled al
the expense of Chicago newspaper