Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-03-31
sworn Testimony Reveals
Methods Used by Mag
Mates to Secure Newspa-
per Help.

o. I,.ernat1 Labor News Servics)
= sbington, d. C., March 29-Hos
,,,nsrs have endeasored TO sub
- - the newspaper world is graph
.siIg told in their own words and ma.
- an excellent indication OF thel
prsseni policies. ,
esseording to sworn testimony, thu
zine owners policy is:
Know intimately as many news
o.nsrmen as possible.
pa5 Advertise as heavily as possibl
.nd axpect friendship to follow tn
adyertising contract.
'u rss - mine owners publicity polio,
Aas beeu in effect for many year
a9d doubtless will rule through th'
afyike if one takes place in April a
The result of mine owners breach o
't TSgl mine owners contribute on,
nil per ton to the fund for publicit.
and In the effort to subsidize tn
press. -. A..
,nhlicity methods of the Nationa
Coal Association is contained In tn
renort of the hearings before tn,
Committee on Manufacturers of th'
L : Senate, in 1921. Following an
few quotations from the proceed
;ngs If one of the meetings of tn,
National Coal Association:
Mr.. A. NJ. Ogle says:
I'VE know from our experience
that you get results from paid
advertising. 1t is not guesswork,
il is not surmise, it is positive
knowledge from the experience
that we have had, in the changed
attitude of your newspapers. We
are paving for that. We are con-
tributing; they know it, and they
reciprocate, just as you recipro-
cate to the people with whom you
do business where 1t is mutually
profitable"
Mr.. Bockus says:
"A 5 per cent increase in the
selling price | don't believe is GO
ing to be very serious on any
body. The trouble with US is that
we operators are always trying
to pare down our bills. | think
that the operators should regard
this as part of their selling ex-
pense and increase it only 5 per
cent and then they would not
take it very seriously"
Mr.. Barker says:
Il am conyinced if we want
helpful publicity, if we want use
ful articles written it will be to
our advantage to patronize those
mediums from whom we are ask
ipy thozc favors, Il we can do 1t
with profit to ourselves we ought
to do it, etc"
Mr.. Brewster says:
Il saw an example of the bene-
fit Of this particular publicity,
which has just taken place. The
matter that Mr.. Peabody had sent
out by the Associated Press ap-
peared in the st. Louis papers,
and each one of the papers wrote
an editorial on it. The next day
after those editorials appeared,
five contracts were delivered to
our office which had been hang
ing fire."
The Director of Publicity wrote the
following to Mr.. Jenkins, Vice Presi-
dent of the Hutchinson Coal Com
pany:
at is not straining the fact
and this is impaired in the ut
most confidence-to say that the
Associated Press preceding the
meeting, in which emphasis was
made of the fact that unreasona-
BILE prices have not generally pre-
vailed throughout the coal short
age emergency, and in which
stress was also laid upon the
matter of inadequate car supply
at the mines during the coal
shortage, with its relation to the
whole situation, was to a very
large extent the word-for-word
product of the publicity depart
ment. The great advantage of
this report, from the operators
viewpoint, lay in the fact that the
National Coal Association no.
where was quoted as authority
for the Associated Press state
ments, the Associated Press MAX
ing them on it's own responsible
tty. In this way they were of
more convincing effect than had
they been qualified with the in
reference of partisanship."
Congressman Huddleston, speaking
before the Committee, said:
When | see a newspaper pub
fsh an expensive advertisement
today in behalf of a selfish in
terest and come forward tomor-
row with an editorial calling at
!!entlon to it and backing it up, it
is pretty hard for me to think
L is entirely innocsat"
following is sample of the "buy
now propaganda which has been
widely used by the coal operators to
maintain prices and to manipulate the
economlc situation to their own ad-
vantage in times of labor contro-
versy:
All users of coal should stock
up on this commodity early in
the season, and where it is pos
slole 10 do so, it will be wise for
9sers OF coal to stock up until
June /, 1922. The reason for
tals is that miners settlement
Is TO be made at that time, and
tae lack of transportation, to-
gether with the uncertainty
caused by the miners settlement,
"lll' no doubt, bring about an un-
usual demand for coal the later
Part of 1921 and at the beginning
o. 1922. The buyer who takes
adyantage of the market during
ne hrst half of 1921 viii be
IN addition to purchasing space in
a'5,s nS5,@spapers in the hope of controlling
eaieoflal policy in favor of the coal
S1lpSs:fators, It is an apparently settled
ssoiley on the part of the National
ss.n JoS association that all its msmberl
sasll .,.sll Keep in touch with as many
papermen as possible. The
js.eslod i. ;nd and purpose of this program
--a Illustrated hxr IL