Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/425

 reased

and misleading 83 even when not absolutely false, as has often been the case in regard to medical panaceas.

But while the pernicious effects of advertising are often la mented, although not always proved, it must be remembered that there is another side to the question and that the beneficial effects of advertising on the business administration of the press

may have been even more important. An examination of the autobiographies, recollections, lives, and other forms of personal records of men connected with the press in the past shows that a happy- go -lucky spirit has often prevailed in the setting up of a new newspaper with little or no capital, credit, or business experi

ence.84 A man with a gift for writing but with little interest in business started a new venture in the newspaper line, failure swiftly followed, another newspaper was started , and there fol

lowed a constant repetition of ambitious hopes and subsequent disaster. But the advertiser of to-day demands business stability in the

newspaper that carries his advertisements. Audit bureaus of circulations must guarantee circulation and the best advertisers demand in addition a circulation among the classes in society and in business that they desire to reach .85 No paper on the verge

of bankruptcy and no paper that has a shady reputation in a the expenses of one office $150,000. Glynn reduced state expenses $ 10,000, 000 . A vote against Glynn is a rebuke to the President." Even the newspapers themselves sometimes advertise their own merits in

a misleading way. A flagrant illustration of it was the case of the advertise ment, “ The Staats-Zeitung Leads them All! First in Circulation, First in

Advertising.” At the end of the advertisement, it is evident that all refers to the German newspapers published in New York City.

84 Merle Thorpe notes the inefficient business management of many

papers, - general carelessness prevails, debts are not collected, bills are not paid, and credit is poor. In Kansas, in 1912, eighty -two per cent. of the

publishing business was mortgaged. “ The country paper,speaking generally , stands at the foot of credit ratings .” — The Coming Newspaper, pp. 12– 13.

The indifference of the editor to the business side of the newspaper is probably best illustrated in the case of Henry Labouchere. See A. L.

Thorold, The Life of Henry Labouchere, especially chap. XVIII, “ Mr. Labouchere as a Journalist ,” by R. Bennett. 85 The New York Evening Post, August II, 1916, showed by a map of

New York City that its circulation covered almost exactly the distribution of greatest wealth in the city ; it publishes in graphic form the headings of different publishing houses whose advertisements it carries; it gives an

analysis of its advertising showing the ratio of each kind of ad