New Britain herald., 1926-09-24
NEWSPAPERS NOT
 CHANGING MUCH
Modern Business Revolutions
 Have Little Effect

Chicago, Sept. 24 The newspaper
 is one Of the few enterprises of
 modern life 10 escape the trend to-
 ward industrialization. or the sub
 stitution of outside financial con-
 rrol for the personal owner-manager
 Newspapers generally are and
 have been under the direction of
 ono man or one family. a personal
 rather than a public enterprise.
 A recent series of deaths of pow
 ertui newspaper heads, most of
 them without families to hand down
 the tradition of individual control,
 has directed attention toward the
 possibility that newspapers some day
 may become public owned enter
 prises, operating in their field the
 same as say the U. s. Steel Corpora
 ton or General Motors in theirs.
 Among recent deaths of leading
 publishers and editors might be
 noted those of Victor Lawson of the
 Chicago Daily News, John c. East
 man of the Chicago Journal, Frank
 A. Munsey ot the New York Sun
  City Star.
 And not far distant occurred the death of "Marse Henry" Waterson of Louisville Courier Journal, the last of his school of noted personal Journalists and winner of a Pulitz- CT prize for his editorial "To Hell with the Hohenzollerns" and the he War.
 Lawson's Experiment
 Tn the case of some of these | newspapers 1t appeared at one time l that industriaIization might be ac- complished, but all ultimately re- mained under a personal or limited | control. 1
 Mir. Lawson, with only brother surviving, left the News to 9 bank | as trustee, with authority to dispose l of it as 1t saw fit. Several groups 1 were reputed to have bid for the paper, with intimations of reftnan- chg through public sale of stock and bond issues. That would have been the diversified control of in-
  did not believe that would have met with the dead publishers approval. Eventually the paper was sold to Walter A. Strong, the business man. seer. who had as his financial as- sociates a group of wealthy Chlcago- ans. These, remaining in the back rronnd. insure a continuance of the one man control idea.
 MT. Eastman, also without direct heirs. left his newspapre to group or his employees, who are continuing the publication under the policies of It's founders. The Kansas City Star went to MT. Nelson's widow and at her death to daughter. and ultimately, at the daughters death. to her husband, thus continuing the personal dynasty, although there were a number of outside bidders for the property.
 When Col. Watterson died, the Courier Journal was sold to Col. Robert w. Bingham and others, with Col. Bingham the principal owner. r.
 The possible industrialization Of the newspaper is touched upon in a recent book, "What's the News bv Harper Leech and John c. Car rol of the Chicago Tribune.
 Amid all this growing compleN- tv," they write, power and respons- ,bility-with hazards and competl- ton growing equally intense-the newspaper has remained a primitive capitalistic enterprise.
 "The leadership of such enter prises still is person., and even dynastic.
 Unlike Large Business
 "As yet the newspapers present hardly any instances of demo- rratized absentee ownership and ln- . .titutionalized management such as ; the American Telephone and Iele- erapr company or other great utlll- tiex railroads and industrials. There may be several stockholders, but they are all personally acquainted II not bound by closer ties. Most Of inc successful papers are yet in the hands of founders, reorganlzers or their descendants. Where manage nent has been delegated to some outsider, his control is of highly personal nature. not at all similar 10 that of a railroad president. The allegiance Of the editorial employees Is very largely personal-they work for the man. owner or hired man. i azing editor, rather than for the l. Corporate in form, news 1: papers are personal in fact to an ' 1 unusual degree. Old employees ire ' | 1uently cherish a sentiment for the institution similar to that a man 'eels for a college or even a church {: but the personal royalties are !. here too, never absent in fact from !: ]. newspaper which is alive and 1; growing. Tt Is too much to expect that !. sven newspapers long can escape the ]: rend towar dindustrialization and |. he substitution of financial control |. Or the personal owner-management. |:
 Banks Shy From Them !: "There are few If any authentic i: instances to date of newspapers sur 1: living an attempt 10 institntionalize !: hem. Bankers usually got rid of I: thrust on thenl-realiz- i. ng in a short time that here was T ;ind of property in which some of !: he cherished rules of finance and a industrial efficiency would be fatal, :: { applied 10 all departments, |. For a long time to come any in {. newspaper must sur !. i've the competition of it's personally t onducted contemporaries or en- |. ounter the competition of news 1. apers founded by ambitious men. II But on the other hand, the costs of [. are becoming so vast < hat the older type of ownership Il nd the financing of extensions out l. [ profits will become impossible. Ii