Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1949-09-29
The Editor Speaks

Rediscover Your Home Town." will be the theme
for this years observance Of National Newspaper Week
which from tomorrow October to Friday, October
8. This will be the tenth year of observance of the
week nationwide basis In celebration the Sentinel
offers some extracts from talk its editor made on sta
ton WGAY during the SERIES THE Editor Speaks"
during the summer.
editing the only truly rural weekly in Montgomery
County-but my problems and compensations as editor
LEARN are typical of those experienced by the editors of
the other five weekes in the county-except that be-
cause of its and background the Sentinel is bound
by some rather mossgrown traditions which its editor
at times finds very irksome However the long list of
paid in advance subscribers attests the Sentnes popu
arity, and its somewhat nostalgia qualities compar
able to those of small town papers all the country
The weekly newspaper field is not one in which to
gain financial riches However, it is rich in contacts
in experience-in goodwrich in service and in oppor
unties to do something worthwhile for respective
communities. No business profession provides
greater opportunities to practice the Biblical injunction
of charity.
First of ALL an editor we are told, should approach
his newspaper work from ideaistc standpoint. We
should recognize that the primary function of
paper is the dissemination of information The subscriber
is the person who is entitled to primary consideration
one subscriber multiplied by many our stock in trade
our circulation And where there is circulation, adver-
tisers follow.
Ever often someone asks, what is your editorial
poicy? And feel very much the same when my
ead?" OF course like all publications we have certain
rules of ethics and good astemany of them unwrtten
We try to think out carefully any editorial bearing
controversial issue. Our paper like many other rural
papers which farming areas puts more effort into
stories than into editorials Rural people really
like to think things out for themselves. They not
particularly anxious to have the dgested for them
The majority of the upper Montgomery County families
subscribe to of the four splendid Washington daes
Many take and read both morning and afternoon daily
So the Sentinel devotes its space mainly to local
and features
Farm folk of today talk glbly of monopoies, sub
sides and cooperaves their fathers and grandathers
talked of corn, wheat and 'taters There hay
seeds in the hair of farmers of today and c0bwebs
on his BRAIN either. If we country people slow to
accept changes, for example the form of govern
ment, just bear with u.s. Remember we had greatgrand
parents who helped set up this county government in
ITS and we CLING to the idea that it good and
workable one
It is true that Montgomery is one of the richest
counties in the United States largely because of its
Suburban residents-that it has more people in Who's
Who than any other county in the United States prnc
pay because of outstanding residents of the Suburban
sectonbut it because the county rated highest in
standards of RURAL LIVING that it nosed out West
chester County N " several years ago, and like to
think that through its editorials and the space it has
given to news stories from the County Agents-the
Homemaker Cubs-the girls and boys clubs that
paper played some small part in the achievement
Life is what you make it'-'Gve to the world the