would cause a gust of merriment in metropolitan newspaper circles, but with the country press it is vastly different for each one of us possesses that silent, indefinable force that makes us and our business precisely what what the public measures us to be. For those whose thoughts, aspirations and achievements are identical a local organization would be most beneficial.
The newspaper man is both a manufacturer and a merchant in that he really creates and must sell his own products. His business is unlike any other in that it does not shift or change but is always the same, only in the matter of improvements, hence his line of conversation, his whole being is wrapped up in a business that would naturally debar him from a conversational standpoint from association with men of any other profession or craft. To reap the highest possible benefit he should belong to an organization of his own class. The friendly handshake of his fellows, the words of greeting, might ofttimes be all that is necessary to adjust himself to an exacting but not an unfriendly world. The common friendly meeting would do much to check the hasty word, refute the charge of an enemy and establish a friendly relationship that would result in bringing forth to the surface what is best and noblest in us all——a kindly heart and an unwavering faith.
I need but mention "Money" to secure your hearty approval as that is what we are after. Money and yet more money is what we all demand and must have and the only way under the sun we can get it is for us to organize into county units, establish our rates, and STICK".
If we are to take our place alongside our brother merchant in the limousine we must have more coin of the realm. Many of you have as much money invested as the merchant next door, but for some reason he rides and you walk. He waits on a few customers a day and reaps enough profit to give him ease of body and peace of soul, while we toil early and late on work that brings us meagre returns in comparison. The time has come when this thing must be adjusted. A publisher must have more money to meet not only the demands of the "Forty Thieves" but also give him a chance to get a little enjoyment out of life.
As business men we are up against it to organize or be the constant prey of many contending forces. This is an era of cooperation and exactitude. Every man must know instantly and accurately every detail of his business. The day of guess-work is gone never to return. The publisher is paying tribute into many hands these days and many are the hands out stretched for favors with no shining coin to pay. In other words not only has our income been diminished by the extra cost of materials but the demands for free advertising have increased many fold. We should meet thee issues squarely with a hostile front and resist to the uttermost every attempt to filch from us our hard earned coin.
With a county organization this cooperation to fix just prices could easily be arranged and I know in Benton County it has proved of decided value although our organization was made with fear and trembling and has experienced the usual buffetings of a troubled sea.
Two very practical results were accomplished in Benton County which 1 need only mention to prove the value of what I am contending for. The
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