The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1923-01-18


of the country called the wes
by those who live east of thu
Alleghanles, and referred to lovingl,
as back East by those who dwell
west OF the Rockies. II is a countr,
town where, as the song goes, "you
know everybody and they all know
you" and the country newspaper Office
Is the social clearing house.
4 In our little newspaper office we ar,
1all reporters, and we know many init
mate things about people that we dc
not print.
As the merest incident of the daily
GRIND. II came to the office that the
"bank cashier. whose retirement was
announced with half column of re-
greet, was caught $500 short, after
70 years Of faithful service, and that
his wife sold the homestead to make
his shortage good.
Though our loathed but esteemed
contemporary. the Statesman, speaks
OF our town as "this city," and calls
the marshal "chief of police" we are
none the less country town. Like
hundreds of Its kind, our little daily
newspaper is equipped with typeset-
ting machines and Is printed from a
web perfecting press, yet II Is only a
country newspaper, and knowing this,
we refuse to put on city airs. OF
course. We print the afternoon Associ-
ated Press report on the first page.
dc til.
pretense OF dignity. but that first page
Is the parlor of the paper. as 1t is of
most OF Its contemporaries, and in the
other pages they and we 20 around In
our shirt sleeves. calling people by
their first names; teasing the boys and
girls good-naturedly; tickling the
pompous members of the village with
straws from time to time, and letting
out the family secrets of the commu.
nifty without much regard for the feel.
ings Of the supercilious.
Nine or ten thousand people In our
town go to bed on this kind of mental
pabulum, as do country town dwellers
all over the United States. and al
Though We do moi claim that IL Is help
fui. We do contend that II does not
hurt them Certainly by poklng mild
fun nj the sliams-the town pharlsees
we nuke II more difficult To main.
tain the class lines which The pre-
tenders would establish. Possibly by
printing the news of everything that
happens. suppressing nothing ION ac-
count Of the responsibility of the par
ties concerned" we may prevent some
evll-doers from going on with their
plans. but this Is mere conjecture, and
we do not set II down to our credit.
What we maintain Is that In printing
our little country dallies, we, the
scribes. from one end of the world to
the other, get more than our share of
fun out OF life as we go along. and
pass as much of II on to our neighbors
as we can spare.
Because we live In country towns,
where the only car gongs we hear are
on the bakers wagon, and where the
horses In the fire department work on
the streets. Is no reason why city
dwellers should assume that we are
natives. We have no dialect worth
recording-save that some of us west
erners burr our RS little or drop
an occasional final e." But you will
find that all the things advertised In
the backs of the magazines are In our
houses. and that the young men In Dur
towns walking home Mt midnight. with
their coats over their arms, whistle
the same popular airs that lovelorn
boys are whistling In New York, Port
land, San Francisco or New Orleans
that same evening. Our girls are those
pretty. reliant, well-dressed young
women whom you see at the summer
resorts from Coronado beach to Bug
Yards bay. In the fall and winter |
these girls Ill the colleges of the East |
ana the state universities OF the West. |
We take all the beautiful garden
magazines, and our terra-cotta works |
are turning out creditable vases
which we pronounce "vahzes." you may |
be sure--for formal gardens. And
though we men for the most part run |
our own lawnmowers, and personally |
look after the work of the college boy
who takes care of the horse and the
COW for his room, still there are few
OF us proud and naughty creatures
who have automobiles At the flower
parade In our own little town last
October there were ten automobiles
In line. decked with paper flowers and
laden with pretty girls In lawns and
dimlties and llnens-though as n mat
ter OF fact most OF the linens were
only Indian head" And our partic-
Mar little country paper printed an
Item to the effect that the real social
line Of cleavage In the town Hes not
between the cutglass set and the dew
,tees OF hand-palnted china, but le-
tween the real nobility who wear gen.
iine linen and the base limitations who
xear Indian head.
In some towns an item like that
would make people mad. but we have
'ur people trained to stand n good
Zeal. They know that II costs them
I've cents line for cards of thanks
md resolutions OF respect, so they
lever bring them In. They know that
'ur paper never permits zone who was
here to report social functions, so
hat dear old correspondent has re.
igned; and because we have insisted
or years on making an item about the ,
lrst tomatoes that are served I'm sprlpr
i any dinner or reception, together ,
With the cost per pound OF the toma.
oes. the town has become used to our ,
Nn-Llsv al m /,