Chapter X: Pleased and Encouraged

Subscriptions to “The Coalville News” were coming in at a good rate. The first week seventy-three people had come up to the office and paid a dollar for a year’s subscription and Harry had enrolled their names in his subscription ledger. This second week was turning out well also, from the same standpoint, and up to Friday evening he had received sixty-seven new subscriptions. On Saturday ten more people subscribed. This was a total of one hundred and fifty.

That was very encouraging for only two weeks, Harry believed, but it was not enough yet for the purpose he had in view, viz., having “The Coalville News” entered in the post-office, so that he could send it to the subscribers through the mails at second-class rates, which is one cent per pound. He wanted to secure three hundred subscribers before making application at the post-office for this privilege, and to this end he put an advertisement in the next week’s issue of the paper, telling the people that he wanted to secure three hundred subscribers as soon as possible, so he could send the paper to them through the mails; and that he hoped they would respond liberally. He stated that he had already received one hundred and fifty subscriptions, but that that was only half enough. He told them that he hoped to secure the other one hundred and fifty subscriptions within the next week or ten days.

This advertisement, in reading notice or editorial form, had good results, and during the ensuing week Harry received one hundred and fourteen subscriptions, which enabled him to print another reading notice complimenting the people for responding so liberally.

“I only need thirty-six more subscriptions,” he wrote and printed in the next issue, “and then I will enter ‘The Coalville News’ in the post-office, get the benefit of second-class rates and send the paper to the subscribers through the mails. Thanks for subscribing so liberally, and I hope to receive the thirty-six subscriptions this week, and don’t doubt that I will do so. Again, thanks.”

The subscriptions came in to the number of forty-six the next week, and Harry now had three hundred and ten names of bona fide subscribers enrolled in his subscription ledger. He was well pleased, and going around to the post-office, had “The Coalville News” entered for transmission through the mails at second-class rates. When they had finished printing the paper the next Friday afternoon, instead of having Tommy and his three boy confreres distribute the papers to the houses, he told them to take them to the post-office instead. He had written the names of the subscribers on the papers.

“Go in at the back-door, Tommy,” he said. “They will show you where to put the papers.”

“All right,” Tommy replied, and then he and the other three boys took the papers to the post-office.

There was an editorial, or reading notice, in this issue, stating that the number of subscriptions Harry had desired had been received, and that the subscribers would receive the paper through the post-office, that issue and continually thereafter; and he thanked them sincerely for their patronage, adding that he would try to make “The Coalville News” always as interesting and newsy as was possible, so that they would be glad they subscribed.

In addition to the subscriptions to the paper, Harry had quite a lot of job-printing to do, and when the first of August came he had a great many bills for advertising and job-printing to collect from the merchants of Coalville. The first issue of the paper had been printed June 14, but it was only a little over two weeks till July 1st, so Harry had decided to wait till August 1st before beginning to collect from the merchants. He had been so busy the first two weeks that he did not have time to attend to that end of the publishing business, although it is most important. But the money that had come in from subscriptions the first two weeks made it unnecessary to collect for the advertising and job-printing the 1st of July, so he could wait till August 1st with safety.

The paper’s advertising columns had been filled all the time during the six weeks with display advertising. Harry had also secured after the first issue, quite a lot of pay locals, which, scattered around among the local news items, were good advertising. Harry had printed some statements for his own use, in addition to printing jobs for the merchants.

After all the bills were made out, both for the job-printing he had done for the merchants, and for advertising, Harry figured up the total which was quite pleasing to him. He found that he had had patronage from the business men of Coalville to the amounts as follows:

Display advertising, six issues,
June 14 to July 26, inclusive $78.80

Pay locals, five issues, June 21
to July 26, inclusive 16.40

Job printing, June 14 to July
26, inclusive 52.20
-------
Total $147.40

These were the receipts for six weeks, instead of for only a month, and the earnings of the printing office, per week, had been not quite twenty-five dollars. This was nearly one hundred dollars per month, however, from these two sources, advertising and job printing, and Harry felt that his paper would pay quite well, even better than he had expected. Of course he had received an additional three hundred and ten dollars from subscriptions which, added to the receipts from advertising and job-printing, amounted to $457.40. But from now on, there would be an interval of a year before his subscriptions would be renewed. During that period, therefore, he would have to depend on advertising and job-printing as his source of income.

Harry printed on the blank upper portion of his statements, the following:

THE COALVILLE NEWS
A Non-Political Home Newspaper.
Job-Printing a Specialty.

The bills having been made out, Harry went around to the business houses to make his collections. He had no trouble. The merchants paid the bills without hesitation, and at the end of about two hours Harry returned to the printing office with one hundred and forty-seven dollars and forty cents in his pocket. He had already opened a checking account in the Citizens’ Bank, with the money received on subscriptions, and he now filled in a deposit slip of the Citizens’ Bank--he had printed them a lot a few days before--to the amount of one hundred and forty-seven dollars, placed it and the money between the leaves of his bank-book and went back downstairs and to the bank to deposit the amount. It was entered in the bank-book by the cashier, after which Harry returned to the printing-office feeling quite well pleased.

“I’ve done pretty well so far, Tommy,” he said. “I guess ‘The Coalville News’ is going to be a success.”

“I’m glad of that,” said Tommy.

Harry had taken time, the first of July, to send a draft to both the business houses in Denver that furnished him his paper, for the newspaper and for job-printing purposes. He had also taken up the first one of the thirteen-dollar mortgage notes, one of which he was to pay the first of each month, with six per cent interest added, until the entire twelve were paid.

Now, however, as a result of having received the $310 on subscriptions, and as a result of having just collected $147.40 for advertising and job-printing, Harry decided to pay off the other eleven mortgage-notes at once. It would be off his mind and would save him several dollars in interest that he would have to pay if he paid the notes only one at a time, once per month. Money saved is money earned, and while this saving in interest would not be very much, it would be something.

The type foundry firm had sent the twelve mortgage-notes to the Citizens’ Bank for collection en seriatum, and Harry had paid the first one there and knew the other eleven were on file, so he went to the bank and told the cashier to figure up how much interest would be due on the other eleven mortgage-notes, figuring the interest to September 1st. The man did so and told Harry how much interest it would be. Then Harry told him to add it to the one hundred and forty-three dollars that the notes totaled, and he would take them all up at once.

The cashier did as Harry said, and then Harry made out a check for the amount, and the cashier handed him the eleven mortgage-notes, after having stamped the word, “Paid,” on each with a rubber-stamp. He bought a draft to the amount that he owed each of the paper houses for the month of July, then returned to the office and placed the mortgage-notes in the drawer of his desk. Then he wrote letters to the paper house firms and enclosed the drafts, and also wrote a letter to the type foundry firm, telling them that he had succeeded better than he had expected, that he had taken up the other eleven notes at the bank, and thanked them for their kindness in having sold him his printing outfit on such reasonable terms.

On second thought, he went back to the bank and bought a draft for twenty dollars, which was the cost of a second-hand paper cutter he had seen at the type foundry when purchasing his outfit; and enclosed the draft in the letter with instructions to send him the paper cutter. Then he went down and mailed the letter. He had already mailed the letters to the paper houses when he went to the bank the second time.

After six weeks of paper-publishing and job-printing experience Harry now found himself in good condition financially and his paper and printing business practically an assured success. Quite naturally he felt pleased and encouraged.