The Milwaukee Leader

Woman Makes Success With Her Newspaper

First Is Only Small Stockholder, but Saves Enough to Buy Whole Interest—Follows Business Principles.

BY MARIE DILLE.

The rank and file of successful newspaper women have won their places in public esteem through their ability to write for someone else. Olive B. Mackan does not belong to the rank and file. She owns and publishes her own paper. She solicits her own advertising, and, in fact, controls and operates every department with the exception of the mechanical room where the printing is done.

Olive Mackan began her journalistic career at the age of 15, when she was thrust on her own resources after a single year of high school training.

Her first position was in a print shop in Plain City, Ohio.

When in 1894 a stock company was formed and The Advocate was launched as a new venture, Miss Mackan was induced to accept a position as typesetter. A few years later the company of 25 members sold out to three stockholders, and Miss Mackan was made manager of the paper.

SAVES AND BUYS PAPER.

By dint of close saving she was able after a few years to buy a half interest. The paper had long been a losing proposition and she purchased her share at a small figure and leased the other half. This she also finally purchased.

When she first came into possession of The Advocate the subscription price was $1 a year, with hardly a dozen subscriptions paid in advance. It was a six-column sheet, with only the outside pages printed at The Advocate shop. It was located in one small room and the mechanical equipment was poor. There were but a few hundred subscribers.

The paper now has eight seven-column pages, all of which are printed at the office. It has the newest and most approved electrical mechanical department. It has moved into more commodious quarters, and practically every family in the town of 1,500 population takes the paper, paying an advance subscription of $1.50.

RAISES PRICE OF PAPER.

The advertising and business departments were difficulties. The only other paper in the town sold advertising at 5 cents an inch, or $5 a page. Miss Mackan charged 15 cents an inch. Sale bills that cost 75 cents a hundred on tagboard at the other office sold for $2.00 at that of Miss Mackan.

Moreover, she succeeded in getting $1.50 a year in advance for her paper, although the competitor sometimes quietly accepted 75 cents. She secured the same space rate from patent medicine and other foreign advertising as she did for that of local dealers.

In 1912 Miss Mackan purchased The Plain City Dealer, which had become a losing paper. The Advocate is now the only paper in the town of 1,500, with a generous rural subscription.

Miss Mackan attributes her success to the application of recognized business tactics. She gives the public the best in her power and charges what it is worth.

She knows every department thoroughly and keeps abreast of the times. In her quarter of a century career the weekly newspaper has brought her a comfortable income, a pretty home and even the luxury of a touring car.