Columbus Democrat

The rights of Editors and publishers of papers have been too long neglected. "Justice will never be done unless they assert their rights & enforce the most rigid rules, which in the end will be found alike salutary to the public and beneficial to those engaged in the press. Publishers of papers have been so long imposed upon by the community at large, that they are considered to some extent a degraded class of beings, when in fact there is no vocation in life so honorable, deserving of so high consideration, productive of so much good for a class that exerts so powerful an influence. It is known to be proverbial for the debtors to newspaper publishers to consider their demands as the last to be paid—debts to which there is attached no moral obligation, and which they can refuse to pay with justice and honor: hence it is incumbent upon the conductors of the press to assert their own rights, and resolve, severally and jointly, to bring all patrons of newspapers under the same obligations that attach to other contracts, or always remain in poverty and want, with thousands due them from the most solvent men in the country.

We call upon all editors and publishers of papers who approve of the following rules to endorse them by their signatures—place them at the head of their papers, and strictly adhere to them,

1. No subscription received without payment in advance.

2. No subscription received for less than six months.

3. Advance payment will be required from all transient advertisers.

4. To announce no man for any office, either State or County, without the advance payment of ten dollars.

5. Political circulars charged as advertisements and payment required in advance.

6. All advertisements of a personal altercation will be charged double, and payment required in advance.

7. Election tickets will not be printed without order, nor delivered to any person without payment in advance.

8. All subscribers, without respect to persons, who are delinquents, on the first of October, will be stricken from our list and their accounts put in suit.

The above rules, we the undersigned, pledge ourselves to abide by.

JAMES A. STEVENS, Editor of the Yazoo Whig.

S. H. B. BLACK, Editor of the Natchez Courier.

BESANCON & HALIDAY, Publishers of the Mississippi Free Trader.

JAMES HAGAN, Editor and Proprietor of the Vicksburg Sentinel.

WM. M. SMYTH, Editor of the Grand Gulf Advertiser.

SAMUEL CURTIS, Proprietor of the Southern Argus.

THOMAS BROWN, Editor of the Rodney Telegraph.

J. M. DUFFIELD, Editor of the Grand Gulf Whig.

WM. B. TEBO, Editor of the Fayette Advertiser.

A. B. & S. L. CORWINE, Editors and proprietors of the Yazoo Banner.

ARCH. S. CLARKE, Publisher Port Gibson Correspondent.

C. A. FOLSOM, Editor of the Southern Sentinel.

WORTHINGTON & CHAPMAN, Editors and Proprietors of the Columbus Democrat.

June 1839.