The New North West

STAND BY YOUR NEWSPAPERS.
The Butte Inter Mountain, in these days when inconsiderate business men are withdrawing their support from the newspapers, has this to say:
"Now is the time for the people of Butte to stand by the local press, which is doing everything in its power to aid in the protection of their vital interests and which furnishes the only medium through which those interests can be presented to the world. The business men of Butte in particular should support the newspapers. In a case like this it is poor economy to starve the soldiers who are defending the garrison."
The Helena Independent of July 2, in commenting upon the above, says:
"Very sound and wholesome advice. This is a time, above all other times, when the business men of Montana need a strong and sturdy press to maintain their rights before the world. They cannot afford to cripple it and impair its influence by giving it half-hearted support or no support at all.
"There isn't a newspaper in Montana that is not in advance of its community - a better newspaper than, as a business proposition it can afford to be.
"It may be said that every newspaper should be a business proposition, but this is not true. In a new country the newspaper to be anything at all must be ahead of the country - a clear and ringing voice crying in the wilderness and leading the way for the founders of empires.
The newspapers of Montana are its pioneers, its pathfinders, its upbuilders. In times of prosperity and abundance they carry to the world the tidings that bring more wealth and immigration to our borders; in times of depression they throw light on the clouds and bring cheer to the hearts of their readers; in times of doubt and trouble they are the staunch and loyal defenders of their state and its every interest.
"If every newspaper in Montana were to suspend publication today, and all of them might, so far as getting any return on the money invested in them is concerned, the people in every community would start them anew by popular subscription and keep them alive at public expense. A town without a newspaper might as well be blotted from the map.
"The newspapers of Montana are not mendicants, they are not objects of charity. They give to their respective communities tenfold more than they receive. They are willing to continue in so doing. All they ask, in times like these, is that their constituencies will consider these things."