The Ely miner., 1943-03-25
Country Press of America Is Vital Factor
In the Job of Holding the Home Front
It Went to War on the Day
Pearl Harbor Was Bombed
And It's Still Waging
A Valiant Fight.
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON

l "
B. Howard of London, Ohio,
president of the National Edi-
torial association, was tele-
graphing to President Roose-
welt:
am sure you viii find a unit
ed press backing a united nation
in the defense of our country
and flag. am sure that / speak
for the small dailies and weekly
newspapers making up the
membership of the National Edi-
toriaI association, in assuring
you of our complete support. 1t
is fortunate that we have a free
press in America with which to
enIighten and sOlidify our ef-
forts.
On the same day a similar
message went forward to the
White House from the president
of Newspaper Association Man.
ayers, Inc, the organization of
field secretaries and managing
directors of more than 80 state
press associations.
Such was the promise. What
has been the fulfllment?
Well, it is difficult to estimate in
exact figures the contribution to
Americas war effort since Decem-
Der 7, 1941, of the II, ,000-odd dailies
and weeklies that comprise the ma
tion's "small-town press" A large
part of that contribution-perhaps a
major part-has been in the realm
of that intangible, but vitally inpor-
tant, thing called morale-in ''hold-
ing the home front.
As a matter of fact, the country
press of America began making this
contribution long before Pearl Har-
Dor. It started with the beginning
of the national defense program
when the menace of Hitlerism to
the democratic way of life became
more and more clearly apparent.
For one thing, the country press
contributed thousands of columns of
its space, both editorial and adver-
tising, to promoting the sale of de-
fense bonds. When the selective
service act was passed, the country
editor told the people of his COM
munity why it was necessary for
their sons and brothers to leave the
farms and stores and offices of rural
America and go into training so that
they could be prepared to defend
their country when that inevitable
day of attack by the aggressor na-
tionS came.
Morale Was Low.
And it was during that period,
when the morale of the selectees, in
adequately equipped, not yet adjust
ed to the change from civilian to
military life and not having the in
centive of the existence of Estate
of war" to make real the necessity
for training, might easily have
slipped to a dangerously low level.
Recognizing the fact that the draft
ed mans receiving his home town
paper was next best to receiving a
letter from home, some country
publishers began sending copies Of
their papers free of charge to the
boys in camp. Hundreds more vol
UNFAIRLY followed their example and
the good effects of this practice, in
terms of heightened morale among
the citizen soldiers, was so appar-
ent as to win special commentator
for the country press from the mo-
rale division of the war department.
The same practice was continued
after America entered the war and
it's benefits have been even more
apparent. It requires little imagina-
ton to realize what it means to a
soldier, sailor or marine in an out
post in Alaska or Greenland or on
the fighting front in North Africa or
New Guinea to open up a copy of
his home town paper and read there
how the folks back home are ''back-
ing him up" by their buying war
bonds, by their contributing to the
Red Cross blood bank, by their help
in getting in the scrap" and all
the other ways In which civilians
can aid the war effort. More i'm
portant still, perhaps, is the way in
which it satisfies their hunger for
the other news from home-the doz-
ems of little items about the normal
life in their communities to which
they hope to return some day soon.
Important as has been free pa
pers for servicemen," it is but one
Of the ways in which the country
press has fostered morale not only
among the fighting men but also
among their families. Some publish
ers have sponsored "send-offs for
selectees" - celebrations in which
the whole community joins in paying