June 19, 1863, American Citizen (Canton, Mississippi)
One object we had in view in our recent trip to Alabama and Georgia, was to procure a sufficient supply of printing paper to enable us to enlarge The Citizen to a respectable size, and place the continuance of its publication beyond all contingencies, except those incident to the war, and “accidents by flood and field.”
Having written to the leading mills in the country, and our money and orders being invariably returned with the informative, “We cannot supply you–have many orders ahead of yours that we cannot fill,” we concluded to see what virtue there might be in personal effort–determined to “reconnoiter the situation,” “storm the works,” and endeavor to bring off “supplies” by the force of argument, “moral suasion,” sense, and blarney, superadded to money, which was once a sufficient motive power to “make the mare go” and even run the paper mill.
By persistent effort, a determination not to be turned away empty if there was any virtue in eloquent pleading, and a promise to canvass our county for rags when we reached home, we succeeded in purchasing from a mill a small supply of paper, for which we paid eighty cents per pound–eight cents having been the price before the war.
The difficulties in the way of transportation are as great as those of obtaining paper. We succeeded in getting our paper as far as Mobile, where we were compelled to leave it, the Express agents declaring it was impossible to ship it through, as there were at least five car loads of freight already awaiting transportation.
Thus our readers will perceive the almost insurmountable obstacles in the way of publishing a newspaper in these war times.