The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1922-04-03
As Others See 1t
BUILDING CIRCULATION
(Orlando Reporter-Star.)

If you began to realize the Importance of proper
cover that either the central pumping station Of
your anatomy not tunctioning properly, OF
that the outlets and inlets clogged, you
would probably consult physician to ascertain
what was the matter with your circulation. He
probably would tell you that your whole system
was clogged by improper food and lack of whole
some exercise. He would correct your diet first of
all, and then lay down some rules for you to fol-
low in taking physical exercise. Long walks in
the fresh, open air, golf, or better STILL enjoyable
recreation among the flowers and shrubbery of
your home where you might exercise in useful
manner and yet get real enjoyment.
No physician who wears that title by right,
would ever advise you to turn to a diet Of foul
and filthy food, sick or WELL nor would he tell you
to build circulation by exercising among the pig
pens, slaughter houses and city dumping grounds.
These would be farthest from his mind.
Newspapers to build circulation can no more ig.
more the rules of cleanliness and whoesomeness
than can the editors thereof for the building of
their physical bodies and the life circulation.
Hundreds Of them are attempting to build circu-
lation by reveling in filth and folly, and by jour-
neying among the slaughter houses of morality
and decency and long halts among the murder
alleys and pig-pens of society.
II you were to ask these newspaper publishers
why they pursue this policy they would answer,
| because we are trying to build circulation and
this is the sort Of news that people want" But is
it? study of the movie situation today might
| convince such publishers OF their wrong estimate
of the public taste. Movie producers, under the
leadership of men and women of degraded tastes
and debauched practices, played up to what they
insisted the people wanted" They played up too
well and lived up to what they advocated AS a
consequence today the waning industry is going
into the ranks of decency and morality even to
the highest governmental Offices and inviting men
OF high character to come in and clean up the
house they themselves have debauched with in
decency and disgraced by degradation
The widening influence of the country news
paper is largely due the fact that they never
played up to the sob stuff" the sex suggestive.
ness and the rsque pictures with which too many
OF the large city dailies built their calculations
BY glowing advance announcements of the spe-
cial features that would be carried, people were
induced to subscribe for these newspapers until
for time it looked as though the large daily
filled with trash rather than news, would drive
the home town paper out of business. But grad.
ually the people have come to realize that they
have been deceived and cheated and are turning
to the home papers that give straight news with
out sensauonalism and emotionalsm What do
the law-abiding, clean-moraled people Of Orlando
care about the corrosive influences of New York
and Chicago with their tenderloin districts and
constant supply of rich moral reprobates? How
many of the good people of this city are there
who will longer be willing to have the dirty linen
OF such people the Thaws the Stillmans and
the Humans and others of that type aired in
their homes under the gui5e of news?
Just as many of the large magazines of ma.
tlonal circulation have iourished for a time and
then failed because they built circulation ON the
false premise of exploitation of emotionalism.
sensationalism and broken homes SO the newspa
Der5 that follow that policy fall to the ground.
Undertaking magazines and newspapers have al
most entirely passed out of existence When one
studies the pictures and much of the tainted and
painted news Of the large dailies, and especially
the Sunday issues with their silly vulgar and
suggestion special features, he wonders how long
this craze will continue before the publishers
learn that the people have been overfed on this
unwholesome stuff. How long will publishers give
ear to the arguments of puerile press agents and
statesmen OF vice and scandal?
Fortunately, there are and ever have been
newspapers in this country whose proprietors
have stuck consistently to the policy of quality
rather than quantity and have devoted their en-.
ergies to publishing straight, news without color
ing or discoloring and while some of the more
sensational have for a time, passed them in cir
cuation, yet on the whole the straight-line news
paper has held up with better continuity and has
had wider reading than the pandering and vice
disseminating journals.