lives, but by the length of time his patrons
survive.

An advertising medium must be judged in the same way. The fact that it
has _age_ to its credit isn't so important as the _age of its
advertising patronage_. Whenever a daily continues to display the store
talk of the same establishment year after year, it's a pretty sure sign
that the merchant has _made money_ out of that newspaper, because no
publication can continue to be a losing investment to its customers over
a stretch of time, without the fact being discovered. And when a
newspaper is not only able to boast of an honor roll of stores that have
continued to appear in its pages for a stretch of decades, but at the
same time demonstrates that it carries _more_ business than its
competitors, it has _proven its superiority_ as plainly as a mountain
peak which rises above its fellows.

The combination of _stability and progress_ is the strongest virtue that
a newspaper can possess. _Only the fit survive_--reputation is a
_difficult_ thing to _get_ and a harder thing to _hold_--it takes
_merit_ to _earn_ it and _character_ to _maintain_ it. There is a vast
difference between _fame_ and _notoriety_, and just as much difference
between a _famous newspaper_ and a _notorious one_.

Just as a manufacturer is always eager to install his choicest stocks in
a store which has earned the respect of the community, just so a
retailer should be anxious to insert his name in a newspaper which has
_earned the respect of its readers_. The manufacturer feels that he will
receive a square deal from a store which has age to its credit. He can
expect as much from a newspaper which is a credit to its age!

The newspaper which outlives the rest does so because it was _best
fitted to_--it had to _earn_ the confidence of its readers--and _keep
it_. It had to be a _better_ newspaper than any other and _better_
newspapers go to the homes of _better_ buyers. Every bit of its
circulation has the element of _quality and staying power_. And it is
the _respectable_, _home-loving_ element of every community--not the
touts and the gamblers--toward which the merchant must look for his
business _vertebrae_--he cannot find buyers unless he uses the
_newspaper_ that enters their homes. And when _he does_ enter their
homes he must not confuse the sheet that comes in the back gate with the
newspaper that is delivered at the front door.

The Horse that Drew the Load

A moving van came roll