ing down the street the other day with a big
spirited Percheron in the center and two wretched nags on either side.
The Percheron was _doing all the work_, and it seemed that he would have
got along far better in single harness, than he managed with his
inferior mates _retarding_ his speed.

The advertiser who selects a group of newspapers usually harnesses two
_lame_ propositions to every _pulling_ newspaper on his list, and just
as the van driver probably dealt out an _equal_ portion of feed to each
of his animals, just so many a merchant is paying practically the same
rate to a _weak_ daily, that he is allowing the _sturdy profitable
sheet_.

Unfortunately the accepted custom of inserting the _same_ advertisement
in _every_ paper acts to the distinct disadvantage of the _meritorious_
medium. The advertiser charges the sum total of his _expense_ against
the sum total of his _returns_, and thereby does _himself and the best
puller an injustice_, by crediting the less productive sheets with
results that they have _not_ earned.

It's the _pulling power_ of the newspaper as well as the horse that
proves its value, and if advertisers were as level headed as they should
be, they would take the trouble to put every daily in which they
advertise _on trial_ for at least a month and advertise a different
department or article in each, carefully tabulating the returns. If this
were done, fifty per cent of the advertising now carried in weaker
newspapers would be withdrawn and the patronage of the stronger sheets
would _advance_ in that proportion.

_There are newspapers in many a city that are, single handed, able to
build up businesses._ Their circulation is solid muscle and sinew--_all
pull_. It isn't the number of copies _printed_ but the number of copies
that reach the hands of buyers--it isn't the number of _readers_ but the
number of readers with _money_ to spend--it isn't the _bulk_ of a
circulation but the amount of the circulation which is _available_ to
the advertiser--it isn't _fat_ but _brawn_--that tell in the long run.

There are certain earmarks that indicate these strengths and weaknesses.
They are as plain to the observing eye as the signs of the woods are
significant to the trapper. The _news_ columns tell you what you can
expect out of the _advertising_ columns. A newspaper _always finds_ the
class of readers to which it is _edited_. When its mental tone is _low_
and its moral tone is _careless_ depend up