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Show 1 J The Rural Press tfpr- jc There are some 15,500 newspapers and periodicals Published in this country. The greatest proportion of j hem are small-town weeklies, dailies and semi-week-1 1 ies, and magazines whose principal appeal is to the ) I ural dweller. j I : 'i tie importance, the influence, and the worth of i hese publications can hardly be exaggerated. They are 1 1 ,s the San Francisco Argonaut has written, "the chief j nfluence in the thought habits of our rural population 1 1 if fifty-four million." And the character of their com- nent, both in news and editorial departments," well re- ci ays those who peruse them. 11 As a result, the recent contest held by the magazine i, Country Home" to pick the best country newspaper a l. orrespondent in the United States, was of much more t! , nportance and interest than contests usually are. The 'a ' dinner, a woman, lives in a Missouri town which has i' 'i population of twenty-seven, .and is fifteen miles from tV'ie nearest railroad. For forty-four years she has been d; ! )cal corespondent for a rural paper in her county. f' i j Urban editors, on reading excerpts from her cor- ( bspondence, have been amazed by its quality. It does ypt deal with crimes and misdemeanors. Instead it tells j' f the crops, of the trials, tribulations and achievements iit farm people who rarely make the metropolitan r1. deadlines, but who, happily, are more numerous and r ij.ore vital to the nation than our gangsters, our political poli-tical and business renegades, and our ex-show-girls y.vorcees. ai j Most interesting of all, this woman's correspondence, correspon-dence, fine as it is, is not greatly different from that t' jj: other rural correspondents. Winners of lesser prizes v;i the contest show the same qualities the same corn-pi'1 corn-pi'1 and of clear and vivid English. The country newspa-ffi.r, newspa-ffi.r, little known as it is to the city dweller, is one of t.e finest, most permanent, and most deservedly suc-;Jssful suc-;Jssful influences in our American life. Last, but not t;nast, it is the outstanding guardian of the nation in . holding our Constitution and American ideals. |
