Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-29

money of a foreign nation thought all
it had to do was TO unload its woes,
! its debts, its political plots on Urclc
Sam; and the tragedy is-they got
away with it iii the writer's, who lad
any regard for sclf-rcspect tool; to
book work, or history, or war work. or
lecture platform, or u straight out-and-
out commission in the economic dc
partmcnt of some big institution or big
] Industry"
And the results" added the for
mcr editor "are the worst financial
losses the maga2iuc world has known
in it's history; slump OF circulation
among the daiiies because the public
no longer believes the printed word"
We'll" asked the business manager,
what arc you yoing to do about It?
The root of the trouble was subscrip-
ton at less than costs. Advertising
had to be got by increasing circulation;
and to get it, circulation was sold far
below costs; and right thcre--the tail
began to waG the dog"
Here again you have in absolute
agreement an old-timc editor, whose
magazines name was 4 household
word; writer, who is part share
holder in one OF the most popular now
style monthlies, that sells big sub
scription at terrific deficit; and the
business manager of big weekly, that
rad just expired.
Censorship Brought Evils.
The indictment is a terrific one. Is it
true?
Undoubtedly, if the advertising tail,
or the political TAIL were waggirg the
dog, the publication with the biggest
circulation at q deficit was hit hardest
when the panic Of 1920-21 knocked off
the advertising; so New York witness
cd the suddcn decrease of three pub
lications with circulation between 600,-
600 and 100000 in as many months,
one woman's magazine, one a month
ly, one q weekly, not To mention nu-
mcrcus minor sheets like church or
gans which were reorganizcd or mcrg-
cd, and purely trade organs. The first
year OF the war, when advertising fell
off with the same slump as in 1920-21,
witnessed an almost similar casualty
list--an old weekly went suddenly to
the wall A home magazine telling
people what to eat-600 900 subscribers
it had on its diet list-Stopped suddenly
and left the people to fend for their
own fare, and q dozen minor monthlies
expired without gasp. When the tail
ceased wagging, the dog ceased run
ming.
The bright side Of the picture in the
same period is that of the s;tcadiest ola
monthlics, who had never depended on
advertising and raised their subscrip-
mounted, the one that showed the
biggest profits in this era was the one
that had never depended on it's ad-
vertsing revenue-evcn it's revenue
to advertise it's own bOoks-but had
showed up its Subscription charges as
mechanical and paper costs went up,
on the suppositiQn the public would
pay for the real stuff if it got undilut-
ed literature ard history and econo-
mics. One hardly needs to add the old
monthly had its habitat in Boston; and
it's editor had passed through the other
phases Of merctricious journalism to
know the per!ls, when be came to the
monthly and piloted it through the
pcrilous era unscathcd.
There was no editor much less was
there any correspondent, who did not
feel the heavy and foolish hand of the
censorship during the war. Great
Britain led the way in the suppression
Of facts. Ireland played first base in
distortion Of facts; and Germany ccr-
tain!y won every home run for the
deliberate dissemination of news that
was not fact at all.
One has but to recall how Northclffe
blew the lid off the censorship by tell
ing the English in the carly days that
they were being licked, when they
thought they were winning. And
though in so doing NOrthcliffe's SER
vices are recognized today as having
aroused the whole British Empire from
false security, one must also recall
that in the face OF the general policy
though wireless operators and ship Of
traitor and burned in effSy from the
Thames to the Forth.
Until the 1916 elections, there was
more truth published about the war by