Illinois newspaper directory. History of the Illinois press association

Illinois Newspaper Directory and HistoryHe decried the weakness of some newspaper publishers who allowed their advertisersto bully them into lower rates and said that fear was the bogey which influencedthem.S. P. Preston, Gillespie News, couched in humorous verbiage a serious plea forprograms of a practical nature under the title of "More Business and Less Hot Air."He voiced a demand for talks from men who are engaged in the newspaper business,and insisted that the membership of the association was interested in learning how toreach a certain point in the shortest space of time.The inroad of radio advertising upon newspaper linage was the subject of a livelydiscussion led by A. E. Potts, Woodford County Journal, Eureka. Relative rates andresults of the two media, the question of whether radio broadcasting stations werecharged a differential between news and advertising matter such as newspapers pay formailing, and publication of radio programs were phases of the discussion. A constructivesuggestion that developed out of the symposium was that local dealers should be encouragedto hook-up through their local newspapers with the broadcast of national advertisers.H. L. Williamson, secretary of the association and editor of the United StatesPublisher, discussed "Equipping the Back Shop" and gave many constructive suggestionsfor the general improvement of newspapers. He also sounded a warning against minimizingthe importance of the radio as a competitor of the newspaper.E. H. Childress of the Wayne County Press at Fairfield introduced the subject of"Co-operation in Securing Community News." Mr. Childress described the WayneWanderer's edition issued yearly by his paper and told how it had grown steadily inpopularity and had proved a means of enhancing reader interest. Howe V. Morgan ofthe Sparta News-Plaindealer told how the editors of his county make a practice ofkeeping self-addressed, special delivery stamped envelopes on the desks of the othereditors of the county. When a good story broke in the territory of one editor that wasof special interest to another community, he dropped the item into the envelope addressedto the interested editor and got it in the next mail.C. W. Hinton of the Iroquois County Times, Watseka, declared that his paperfound it most satisfactory to train advertising and circulation solicitors out of theirown organization and that they did not employ traveling or outside advertising solicitors.He declared that he believed the practice of selling a page to an outside solicitor andpermitting him to resell it for what he could get from the local merchants to be badbusiness, as it could do nothing more than cut down the advertising appropriation ofthe merchants who buy space in that way.Mr. Hinton said that they frequently found country correspondents to be quitesuccessful as circulation solicitors in their own communities.The banquet Friday evening was presided over by President J. E. Dertinger. DickSimpson, former Taylorville newspaper man, as song leader, did much to put the guestsin a festive mood. Dr. Clyde W. Howard, pastor of the Second Presbyterian church,Chicago, pronounced the invocation. An instrumental trio from the Thornton TownshipJunior College, composed of Miss Rowine Hayes, Burton Isaacs, and Miss RobertaHayes, furnished musical numbers throughout the evening.Senator Arthur A. Huebsch, candidate for renomination at the April primaries,and chairman of the Illinois tax investigation commission, addressed the editors onchanges in taxation which would be recommended to the next session of the state legislature.Senator Huebsch asked the newspaper men to co-operate in a reform of thepresent taxing system.To say that the entertainment feature of the evening was the Mock Election producedby the Honorable Edmund K. Jarecki, judge of the county court of Cook county,298