The Lexington advertiser., 1942-06-18
"THE FORGOTTEN NEWSPAPER.


)" The Picayune (Miss.) Item publishes
owing editorial written by j. r. Furr,
which has more truth than poetry in
weekly newspaper publisher, like all OF
Ill business men, is having wartime profile
solve and his public responsibilities are
lsing from month to month. Mr.. Furr's n
e:
We deal with the problems of the
weekly newspaper because that is the
only class of publication we know any
thing about. We take it from the NOR
tality rate of the daily papers over the
country they must have their problems
also.
We do not believe there is more
patriotic bunch of men and women in
the world than the publishers of the
weekly papers. They are local in scope
and are just as vital to the social, eco
nomic and progressive problems of the
communities they serve as the schools,
churches, lodges and clubs. In fact, all
these are subsidized and non-taxed,
and we admit non-profit sharing orga-
nizations in the sense of commercial
profit. We are not complaining; that is
a part of our American way of life
which we think is the greatest way of
life.
If man ever started weekly pa
per with the idea of making money, he
was the most disillusioned of all men
unless he got into the racketeering busi-
ness. We do not mean to say those who
have made moderate success have re-
sorted to questionable methods, for
there has been time the weekly paper
could be run in connection with COM
mercial printing plants and the plant
would earn a small prpofit.
We are not at war as yet, but when
organizing and utilizing national re-
sources are concerned, we can see little
difference between total emergency and
total war, if that term is clear.
We have lived through one war;
we are now struggling in one emergen-
cy. While the government expected the
weekly press to do it's part during the
first World War, and of our knowledge
every Mississippi paper did its part,
provisions were made for the weekly
paper to survive.
In this emergency, the demands on
the weekly paper are trying to deliver
under the staggering load they are be-
ing asked to carry.
All during the depression the
weekly papers have in a large degree
supported the measures of rehabilita-
tion and gave literally of their time and
space in the support of administration
policies, even though, many times the
wisdom of these, or some of these poll
cies were doubtful as recovery meas
ureS.
In every mail we receive an arm
load of franked mail from more branch
es of the government than we thought
existed. One department is just as i'm
portant, or more so, in the mind of its
administrator, as any other, and we do
not argue the point, but the point we do
raise is the imposition upon the weekly
press to publish all this information
without making some provision for at
least payroll and machinery mainte-
nance while it is going on.
During World War 1, when the
newspapers were just as important for
dissemination of information as they
are today, the government heads were
practical enough to know that publish
ing plants represented the investment
OF private capital and as such should at
least have a reasonable return on the
investment. To make this possible, ad-
vertising experts were employed to
draw up patriotic advertisements to be
underwritten by merchants and other
business concerns. These were sent out
with their releases, and as result the
general public had a part in information
propagation which added to it's influ-
encing power. Now, the post office de-
partment and newspapers are carrying
the load.
If we were to publish 25 per cent
of the franked requests that come to us
for publication it would require the en-
tire productive capacity of our plant
and force, leaving no time for private
work for expenses. Imagine sawmill
being asked to devote it's time and it's
products without pay. What would a
merchant think, if requested to have
his clerks wrap up his goods day by day
and deliver them in his trade territory
without pay for them? Sounds unrea-
sonable, doesn't it? That very thing is
being done to the weekly press of the
country and just how long it will con-
tinue will depend on how much money
ho aI; hor L