EDITORIAL TROUBLES by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 29, 1856

EDITORIAL TROUBLES.

By Editor

An exchange says, that all men have their troubles of some sort—and if editors do not have more than any other class, they have a bountiful share—some of which, as they add to no one's comfort, or convenience, or estate, and grow out of thoughtlessness or inattention, might as well be removed. Every subscriber ought to observe these rules, whether he can see the use of them or not:

1. When you write to an editor, on your own business, always inclose a postage-stamp. It is as much as you can expect of him, to give you his time, ink, paper and service, without levying a tax of three cents extra on him for the privilege of neglecting his own business to attend to yours. You may think three cents is a small matter, and so it is. But if he has 6000 subscribers, and each one writes to him in violation of this rule once a year, it amounts to $180.

2. When you write to an editor inclosing money to pay your dues, or when you first subscribe for his paper, write your name very distinctly. It would be well to put it down in full, to make every letter separate, or print it with the pen. If your account is not correct, and your paper does not come, or is missent, don't get angry and be so foolish as to discontinue your support, for in nine cases out of ten you may be sure it is your own fault.

3. Always give the name of the Post Office, and always the name of the State where you want your paper sent. If you say "send it to Lexington," the editor does not know whether you mean Lexington, Ky., or Lexington, Mass., or some other place. A man writes, "change my paper from Jefferson to Washington." Well, there are more than one hundred places in the United States with each of those names, and the editor is entirely non-plussed.

4. If you are a new subscriber, say so. The editor cannot ascertain whether you are an old or a new subscriber without looking over a list of several thousand names.

5. If your object is to change your Post Office, be very careful to give the name of the Office and State you wish to change FROM, as well as the one you wish to change TO. Strange to say, this is perhaps the most important rule of all. Editors have no alphabetical list of subscribers' names. They are arranged according to your Post Offices and places, and if you do not say where your Post Office is now, he cannot find your name and account without reviewing his whole list, unless it may happen to be plainly enough printed on the outside of your letter to be read, or unless he may happen to remember where some of your name live. And then there may be two or more of the same name on his list, and your letter may have been post-marked at an office where you have dropped it while away from home.