Evening star., 1923-09-28
PRESSMEN'S STRIKE.
BLOW TO RETAILERS.
Business awful" in New
York as Result of Cutting
Down in Advertising.
BY j. c. ROYLE.

Especial Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September 2S.-The
strike of the web pressmen on the
New York daily newspapers is eN-
pected to have a far-reaching effect
advertising volume and rates else
where. Advertising men assert that
It has brought to the merchants
fuller realization of the extent to
which their sales are dependent on
,fwspaper advertising.
Retail merchants here admit that
~business has been awful as result
of the unavoidable curtatlment or ad-
vertising, although they refuse to dis
close the amount in dollars and cents
which the strike has cut from their
gross sales. The fact that the falling
off has been extremely heavy is SUB
stantiated. however, by the eaGerness
with which they have endeaVoreo TO
increase their advertising space as
conditions improved in the press
rooms.
Very Heavy Losses Sustained.
There is small doubt that the loss
to merchants and distributors has ap-
3roximated the loss OF the newspapers
themselves. How great that loss mas
been can be judged by the fact that
the strike is estimated to. nave cost
one newspaper here S150,0OO a day IN
sumed its own identity.
Advertisers are Clamoring for space,
yet papers are. compelled 10 refuse
advertisements exceeding approx
mately one-quarter page in size an9
are begging advertisers to stay out.
| One morning paper here has applica-
tions for space sufficient to fill forty
four pages, yet the publication stlll
- restricted to a siXteen-page paper.
| Circulation now has returned almost
to normal Fpr time the newspaper
| sales amounted to only from 25 to 40
per cent of normal.
New York May Raise Rate.
Higher rates for newspaper adver-
tising here are forecast as result
| of the conditions cited. One man IN
close touch with both advertisers ana
| bhblisherS said today that this was
the merchants fight as we'll as the
| publishers and that the merchants
eventually would have to pay their
share.
Any trend toward higher rates, ad-
vertising men asserted, would have
an indirect and psychological effect
throughout the country. Two large
middle-west newspapers have an
nounced rate increases already. A
factor also is the opposition express
ed both by readers and publishers to
further enlargement of publications.
This attitude points frankly toward
the use of smaller space in preferred
positions at higher rates.
Surplus OIL Oyerhangs Industry.
While the peak of flush production
In the oil fields of California is de-
clared to have been passed. short
age of crude oil still is far in the
distance. California production fig
ures have been halted in their climb
toward the ne-mililon-barrel-a "a day
mark. and the production from the
Santa Fe Springs, Long Beach and
Huntington Beach fields shows a ma
terial decline. Nevertheless there are
enough wells in other sections of Cali
fornia which have been throttled
down for months to shoot production
to higher points than ever before
reached if they were to be reopened.
Since last April, when holders Of
land and leases in the three new fields
went wild in drilling campaign, vir-
tually all the big oil companies have
been holding their own production to
a minimum and buying cheap oil from
eDTited promoters. In the Kern river,
McKitterick, Elk Hills, Midway, Sun
set and Coalinga fields more than one
thousand wells have been shut in.
When these are opened the flow will
offset any decline so far reported in
the Huntington Beach, Long Beach
and Santa Fe Springs districts