REFRESHING by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 8, 1860

REFRESHING.

By Editor

THE following spirited communication will serve as a specimen of the refreshing jogs we sometimes receive amid the daily routine of Office duties:

"Uriah Smith, Sir; I received a line from you last night in which you demand of me $3 for a certain amount of the Herald. Now what I have to say is, I believe it takes two to make a bargain. I never asked for the paper, never knew why it was sent. I would not give you three dollars for all the papers you ever printed, or ever will.

Truly yours. W. H. HYDE.

West Somersett.

One good effect of the bill is apparent on the face of the above note, and that is that we now know that that individual no longer wants the paper, and consequently we shall not be throwing away money in that direction any longer. But if others had come up to what we should consider the demands of duty, this would have been avoided. Thus the friend who ordered the paper to the above-named individual, should not have dropped the matter there. If it was designed that the paper should be stopped after a certain time, unless the individual receiving it wished otherwise, a distinct request to that effect should have been made, then it would have been stopped. If it was designed to be continued, the sender should have looked after it and stopped it when no longer wanted. But it appears that this man did not even know who sent it. Second, it would have been well for Mr. H. himself to have just notified the publishers that he took no interest in the papers, though we suppose he was not, under the circumstances, bound to do so.

But there is a misapprehension in the note itself which we wish to correct. The writer says he received a line from us. This is a mistake. Let him look again at his bill and see if he finds the editor's name there. He will not find it. The Review is published by a publishing committee; its financial interests are in their charge; that committee employ us to take charge of the editorial department. Hence those who take exceptions to receiving a bill and wish to express their indignation, mistake the man altogether, in showering it upon the head of the editor.

Considering the frequent occurrence of cases like the above, we deem it necessary to adopt the following rules: 1. Those who order the paper for their friends on the half-price system, must accompany the order with advance pay for at least one volume. 2. The paper will be invariably stopped in such cases at the expiration of the subscription, unless heard from to the contrary.

We frequently have orders like this: "Send the paper to so and so, and if he does not pay, I will." In too many cases nothing more is heard from either party. Such orders as this might have answered in years past, when the paper was published on the free and easy basis of gratuitous circulation; but since we keep subscription accounts, and the business and cares attendant upon the Office have proportionately increased, it would be altogether too perplexing and complicated to open a separate account with all these individuals. Hence the necessity of a reform on this point. We think of no better plan to meet the difficulties of the case than the one herein proposed.