Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1931-01-15
Long Live The Rural Press.

Long 1--we Ine Kufal I,fcSS.
The repainting of neighbor's red
barn, the Thursday postponed meet
ing of the Tuesday Afternoon
Ladies Sodality and the glad tidings
that a fellow townsman is recuper-
ating from his recent illness-what
important events these are in the
life of the average small American
community. The cities can have
their picked over news and society
stupidities but the rural press con-
tinues to flourish on local chronic
lings of genuine interest.
Just as the country is the back
bone of the nation SO is the rural
press guiding light in American
journalism. Indeed, it is today more
of a beacon than ever.
The country is no longer ''hick. +"
Good roads, radios, movies, and,
particularly, the progressive local
papers have brought to it new day
On the other hand, unfortunately,
there has been developed in our
cities new type of citizen painfully
more dense than the much malign-
ed "hayseed" was ever played UP to
be. He has been properly termed
the metropolitan backwoodsman. :
His is a metropolitan complex. His
knowledge, his experience in life, all
his horizons are limited to the mar
row streets of the city in which he
dwells.
The rural resident on his part, by
reason of his new contacts with the
outside world, has shaken off most
of the ideas and views invited by his
former isolation and is now, in
many respects. more worldly wise
and better informed than is his city
cousin And the community news
paper has been largely instrumental
in bringing this about.
1t is true that the great city
dailies and the national magazines
are now procurable at the corner
drug store or elsewhere in any rep
resentative small American com
munity. but that does not mean that
the local press has lost its grip.
Quite the contrary, it is more firmly
entrenched than before. That is
why we find by our questionnalres
many rural residents subscribing to
as many as seven to 10 state. coun~
ty and local publications. The mod
ern countryman may take city pa"
pers and magazines for general
news, agricultural advice and other
reading, but he still depends on
home periodicals for local news.
The town or community with an
independent and fearless local or
gan need not worry about being die
tated to and having its opinions
formed for it by outsiders often
swayed by selfish interests. Today
il we were to seek another Greeley
or a Dana or a Bennett we would
first search for him in the country
There. probably in some dingy edi-
torial office and press room com
bined, we would find him sweating
under mortgages. taxes and other
burdens, but continuing to give al
the local news that's fit to print
while still finding time to hammer
out editorials dictated by his oWr
conscience For in this day OF
more or less standardized metrOpol
itan press. syndicated features an6
chain tabloids, it is really the rura
press which offers the best evidence
Of individual journalism i'll thought
as well as in community service.
Country papers have been I'M
measurably helped by the bettel
type of advertising that has OF late
been coming their way and appre
ciating that their readers are ever
interested in their community ano
it's happenings, have been filling 10
cal needs to highly satisfactory
degree. The Pathfinder.