A Word for Newspaper Proprietors.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 196, 12 August 1873, Page 7

A Word for Newspaper Proprietors.

Why is it that the public for the most part hold curious views as to the nature and value of newspaper property 1 ? Whv is it that the newspaper propriety* is treated in different fashion to other business mortals? No one would dream of asking the merchant for a bag of flour as a gift, but there are many who unblushingly ask the newspaper man for a free paper. Managers of Mechanics’ Institutes are the greatest sinners in this line. If a paper is worth having it is worth paying for, is'a maxim we ourselves have of late religiously followed, and in carrying it out we have revised our free list heavily, dwindling it to the smallest proportions. A free paper is by no means “ free” to the man whose capital produces it, hut it means in the twelve months a very appreciable outlay in actual cash besides that expended on clerical labour, and when some dozens of copies are down as “ dead heads” the loss entailed to a business is large. Besides this tax on good nature and pocket, the newspaper proprietor must stand the racket of another ios a , a loss to which other businesses are not liable. When iron rises or sugar is high, it is the customer and not the merchant who has to pay the difference. But the newspaper proprietor cannot so regulate the market as between himself and his customers. The price i f his paper is fixed, and is in a manner unalterable, and placed, as that price is, at the lowest limit )>ossil)le, he standi in* the unenviable position cf U.ihle to Icso, rate!/ if

ever to gain by any difference in that price which ruled at tin* outset; and-, of course, a rise in the cost of paper or Of printing material is to him a direct and substantial loss. For many months past, both papei* iuid printing material—the formed csjk*cially—have risen considerably, and we but name this fact as oiir reason for reducing our free list, and us a hint that wd may Very possibly reduce it still further,—, Titmhl Jlera’d, July 21.