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Oregon Exchanges
For the Newspapermen of the State of Oregon
Letting in the Laity
(By Miriam Page.)
Frank Jenkins, editor of the Eugene Morning Register, is doing the unusual and therefore the interesting thing in his column headed "About Ourselves" appearing on the editorial page of the Register "from time to time as space warrants." In it he makes the most of the opportunity open to all editors to chat informally with his readers about his paper, its aims and ideals and the machinery used in producing it. He has the whole field of the daily newspaper from which to choose his subjects and they show a pleasing variety.
Mr. Jenkins began his series of "personal chats" with a discussion of the choice of a newspaper. He advises his readers to give this choice as careful consideration as the choice of a friend. "The newspaper comes to your home each day," he says. "It sits with you at your breakfast table, and talks to you and to your family. It influences to a measurable extent your own thoughts and opinions, and it influences perhaps more than you can ever know the thoughts of your children. Whether this influence is good or evil depends upon the quality and the personality of the newspaper."
Mr. Jenkins takes occasion to score those newspapers whose chief aim is the spreading of propaganda, who "doctor" their news for a definite effect. To guard against misinterpretation of his statements in this regard he says with the man to man frankness that characterizes the whole series, "This is not a boast, of course, that every news story that appears in the Register is strictly and literally true in every detail. Absolute accuracy in every detail is not humanly possible. Reporters cannot always get every fact at first hand, and the versions, even of eye-witnesses, often differ. If you don 't believe this, ask a dozen people to relate to you what a public speaker has said, and see how widely the different accounts will vary.
"The Register has no desire to be a propagandist. It has no axes to grind; its sole desire is to relate the news in such a way that the reader may get at the facts. It believes that the people buy a newspaper in order to find out what is going on, and not in order to have their opinions influenced. When you read a news story in the Register you may be sure that an honest effort has been made to give you the facts as they occurred. Do not get the idea that the Register has no opinions of its own. It has opinions in plenty, but it confines expression of them to the editorial page."
By the use of familiar examples Mr. Jenkins justifies the newspapers' practice of featuring the unusual rather than the usual, healthy, normal events of human life. "Even back-fence gossip," he says, "is concerned with the unusual doings of the neighbors."
The Associated Press forms the subject of another talk in which Mr. Jenkins explains the organized methods of foreign news gathering and dissemination.
In a following number he describes local news gathering, exploding one or two erroneous ideas that have grown up in the public mind. "There is a superstition, more or less current, that anyone who offers news to a reporter, especially personal news, will be looked upon with some contempt as 'seeking publicity.' Nothing could be further from the truth. The business of the reporter is to find news, and his best friend is the man who is able to give him accurate, reliable and printable information."
"About Ourselves" is of interest not only to the "laity" but to those of the profession as well who read the answers of a fellow journalist to the questions they themselves are often asked to face. Mr. Jenkins, by explaining the newspaper "game" in these readable little chats, almost entirely free from technical terms and newspaper slang, is clearing up the hazy points for his readers and in many cases is giving them an entirely new and modern conception of journalism.
"We are advertising and explaining and exploiting other businesses in every issue," he says, "why is it not equally important for a newspaper to work directly for a sympathetic and intelligent understanding of its purposes and methods! The Register is one of the large business enterprises of the upper Willamette valley. We want our readers to realize that we have good reasons for doing the things that we do. A newspaper is very easily misunderstood, and is frequently subjected to criticism and suspected of ulterior motives. We think that these little frank talks are useful to the paper and the public alike."
A Home-Made Perforator
The Editorial Association's Position
This letter is printed in Oregon Exchanges not with a view of continuing a controversy, but because it sets forth certain points of Oregon law that are not too clearly understood by the craft in general.
To the Editor of Oregon Exchanges:
In a letter appearing in your December issue Will J. Hayner, editor of the Sutherlin Sun, takes to task the State Editorial association, especially the legislative committees thereof. He criticizes the legislative committee for not repealing laws which exist only in Mr. Hayner's own imagination and criticizes the association for not proposing laws which it has already proposed and some of which have been enacted into law.
Mr. Hayner says that a paper like his cannot get the publication of teachers' notices because the law states that they must be published in the two papers of largest circulation in- the county. There is no such law and I doubt if there ever was such a law.
Mr. Hayner says: "The provision of the law which provides that all the county patronage shall go to the two papers of opposite political affiliations having the largest circulations is unfair." There is no law in this state providing that county patronage shall be given out as Mr. Hayner states. There is a law that says that the tax list and proceedings of the county court shall be published in the papers of largest circulation, but nothing is said of political affiliations.
Mr. Haynor says; "The provision of the law which provides that all other work which should be divided among the various printers of the county, or awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, are all turned over to the papers with the alleged largest circulation." Such may be the case in
Mr. Hayner's county, but there is no law making that condition compulsory. Mr. Hayner says: "* * * Publishers of the county dailies and big town weeklies got together at a meeting from which the small town publishers were excluded and entered into an agreement whereby print paper was to be purchased in carload lots and distributed * * * to those publishers who are in on the deal."
I personally know 'that Mr. Hayner had an opportunity to get in on the carlot paper deal. The only reason he couldn't get the paper was because he couldn't use the size of which the car was made up. It isn't the fault of the editorial association that Mr. Hayner runs a five-column paper. Besides, this paper deal was not handled by the association.
This so-called "deal" was open and above board and all the papers of the state received circulars urging them to get in. My paper did not get in on the deal, but it was not the fault of the association that I had contracted for paper ahead.
The particular article of diet upon which Mr. Hayner's "nanny" seems to dote is the tax list. He says that a law should be proposed giving each paper the publications for the land nearest his town. At first that seems a fair proposition, and such a provision was once included in a bill intro duced by the editorial association. It was found so impracticable that it was dropped. The only workable solution of this problem that I have seen is one that I proposed in one of my reports as a member of the legislative committee, which was to have the tax list issued in supplement form, the printing to be let to the lowest bidder, and distributed through one paper in each town having a newspaper.
Some of the ofiicial papers would oppose this, for it would decrease their receipts, and Where the list is now published in two papers in one town, the paper that would be let out would naturally be expected to oppose losing the business. I am sure Mr. Hayner would oppose having taken away from him any business he now has for the purpose of giving it to some other paper. This suggestion of mine was my own and not that of the association. It would be a rather delicate thing for the association to suggest taking business from one class of papers to give it to another.
In the first place, the State Editorial association, so far as I know, has never done anything for the big papers that it has not done for the small papers, except to hold for the big papers business that they already had, while the big papers have paid the expenses of the legislative committee that worked for both the big and little papers.
The law providing for the publication of the school budget is the result of activities of the editorial association.
The law providing that all school district, road district and irrigation district notices must be published in the paper nearest the property, was enacted at the instance of the editorial association.
Outside of these, lawyers may place legals in any paper in the county where the action is had.
A law enacted at the instance of the editorial association says that the legal rate "shall be 65 cents the folio of 250 ems." This is the authority whereby the small paper may charge as much as the big paper. Is this discrimination against the small paper!
The law which defines a legal paper and provides that no paper can publish legals until after having been established a year, is a particular protection to the small town newspaper, for it takes but a handful of type to start a newspaper in a small town, and to be deprived of legals for a year may be serious for competition, but in the big town the paper that can start at all can wait a year for legals.
New Journalism Books
It is forty-five years since Frederic Hudson, managing director of the New York Herald, published his "Journalism in the United States." The old book, thick and squat in its blue covers, is still to be found in many newspaper offices in Oregon, although libraries are already classifying it as rare. Hudson's work is a great mine of information, not unmixed with misinformation, about the beginnings of the Press in this country, and has served for a generation and a half as the ultimate source from which most newspapermen have drawn such facts and traditions as they have known of the antecedents of their profession.
James Melvin Lee, formerly editor of the humorous weekly "Judge" and now head of the department of journalism in New York university, has just completed several years of research and now publishes the first considerable contribution to knowledge of this field since the devoted labors of Frederic Hudson. Lee's history rather completely covers the same ground as Hudson's and will for all practical purposes replace the former work. It becomes for the time at least the classic work on the history of American journalism.
Professor Lee's services to his profession are not limited, however, to verifying, checking up, rearranging and extending down to the present decade Hudson's mass of interesting but disconnected facts and fancies, anecdotes and characterizations. With the exception of a series of articles on journalism by Will Irwin, published in a national magazine half a dozen years ago, the new history contains the first attempts at a serious study of the workings of the law of cause and effect in the field of journalism. Professor Lee has been conservative throughout his work; in the main he has contented himself, as did Hudson, with setting down the bare facts, but here and there throughout the book he has undertaken to point out the general tendencies of the times of which he is treating, and to analyze the causes of new types of journalism as they appear.
No work can rank as a true history unless it illustrates general principles; unless it makes clear why in the past one course of action has led to success and another to failure-—unless, in a word, while adorning its tale it points a lesson that can be applied to the present.
For history must convey the sense not only of succession but of evolution, and every part of the narrative must flow necessarily from what has already been related, and itself lead inevitably to what follows.
In what degree, then, is Lee's book a true history of American journalism? To a much greater extent than anything else that has been published. Far more than Hudson's. But the task of writing a comprehensive historical interpretation of American journalism still remains not fully completed. Professor Lee, however, besides making an excellent start toward a true history, has accomplished a valuable labor in verifying thousands of facts, and laying the basis for some future writer—perhaps for himself in a subsequent work.
Lee's history is especially strong in its research into the earliest beginnings of various manifestations of journalistic enterprise. It has chapters on the "Beginnings in the Colonies," "The First Dailies," "The Beginnings of the Penny Press" and many pages on the beginnings in the separate states and territories. Oregon journalism, for instance, is covered in a section that gives a full account of the founding of the Spectator and the Free Press at Oregon City in 1846 and 1848, the Daily Advertiser and Daily News at Portland _in 1859, the Oregon City Argus in 1855, the Western Star at Milwaukie in 1850, and the Weekly Oregonian in 1850. This is all that is noticed of the seventy years of journalism in Oregon except for a passing reference to Mr. H. L. Pittock as a leader in Western journalism at a later date.
Professor Lee abundantly deserves all the credit that is due to an able pioneer in a field that he found urgently in need of intelligent study. The writing profession, curiously enough, is the only profession that has no written annals. Lee's "History of American Journalism" is a reference work of serious value, that should be in every newspaperman's library. It is beautifully printed and substantially bound.
A book of unusual interest to newspapermen is "The Country Weekly," by Phil G. Bing, assistant professor of journalism in the University of Minnesota. The author evidently has had experience in the country news
paper field, or has been a careful observer of those men in that line of endeavor, for none other could be so familiar with the problems of the country publisher. Indeed he doesn't minimize the difficulties one is sure to encounter in the business, nor does he predict success unless there is a willingness to put every ounce of effort into the undertaking. But he gives some pointers that will tend to lessen the difficulties and make it easier for the country publisher to give his readers a better newspaper, at the same time enabling him to make his investment a paying one financially.
Too often, unfortunately, the country newspaper has not yielded the income to which the publisher is entitled, and it is to correct this condition that the author recommends the installation of an efficient cost finding system in every office. Publishers of the larger papers have practically all a cost-finding system, but Mr. Bing demonstrates that it is just as essential to the success of the smaller ofiices, even the "one-man shop."
He explains the Standard cost finding system in detail and makes a strong appeal to the country publisher to know his costs. "No paper,"he says, "which is not a prosperous, growing concern is likely to have the editorial prestige and constructive influence which are the chief ends of any newspaper."
Here, in a nutshell, quoting from the book, is the country editor's problem: "If he does not get out a good, live paper, he has difficulty in building up a circulation; if he has not a good circulation, he cannot get advertising to pay, and if he cannot get the advertising he cannot run a live paper because of the limitations of his income and the attention which must be given to the job oflice in the attempt to make it support the publishing business. The whole thing works in a vicious circle."
The first thing, then, is local news. "That is what makes the backbone of the country paper," says the author, and he puts it up to the newspaper man in pretty strong language. Listen to this: "The editor-publisher of a weekly paper should be decently honest. He has contracted with each of his subscribers, at the rate of $1.50 a year (certainly it ought not to be less than that) to furnish the local news. If he fails in the performance of this fundamental duty, no matter what the excellence of his editorials, no matter how entertaining his 'features,' no matter how beneficent his plans _for community betterment, he is a failure in his profession—and, what is worse, he is a fraud. Some people like editorials, some like entertainment, some like helpful and practical hints, but everybody wants local news." Professor Bing more than makes up for these rather harsh words, however, in his suggestions for gathering and writing the news.
Plans are outlined that make it easy to cover the local field. The author believes in systematizing every department, news gathering as well as any other, and presents an outline that could be used to advantage in any country office. The experienced newspaperman may complain that more space than seems necessary is devoted to the writing of the news. Not that the suggestions are at fault in any particular—the beginner will be greatly benefltted by reading them——but nearly every country newspaperman has a style all his own, which, though it may not measure up to Mr. Bing's standard, his readers wouldn't have changed for the world. The chapters on newswriting, personals, heads and various other branches are copiously illustrated with clippings from various country weeklies, most of them good, though there is a rather frequent occurence of samples that do not effectively illustrate the points under discussion.
The author lays particular stress on the value of country correspondence and tells how to get and hold correspondents. Farm news is always good reading for a rural community, and suggestions are given which if carried out will make the paper a necessity among the farmers.
Every phase of the country newspaper is handled, including editorial, make-up, headlines, circulation problems, advertising; and all subjects are treated in a thorough, practical manner.
"The Country Weekly" is the next best thing to a university course in country journalism, and every man in the business, whether he is a cub reporter or a man with a lifetime experience, will get some valuable pointers by reading it.
How to Conduct an Interview
This is the first of a series of articles illustrating methods of instruction followed by the University in the training of future journalists. Other phases of newspaper work will be treated in later numbers of Oregon Exchanges, if they prove of interest to the newspapermen of Oregon.
Preparation for an Interview.
1. Find out all you can about your "subject" before you speak to him. Ask somebody. Look him up in Who 's Who or wherever else he may be written up. Get into your mind accurately his exact offices or distinguishing features. Pronounce his name over to yourself several times until it comes to your lips easily and naturally.
2. Find out all you can about the matter on which you are to interview him. It is better to ask someone who knows than to depend upon scrap books or reference books, but where it is practicable, do both. Read a magazine article on the matter where one is obtainable.
3. Where the interview is of a general nature (not about a definite theme determined beforehand) make a little outline (in about four words) of the different fields in which you think the interview might be productive. Memorize This Outline, and do not end the interview until you have tried all the points you thought of.
First Part of Interview.
Second Phase of the Interview.
You have gotten your hint of the possible story from the first part of the interview. But it is only a hint. Your newspaper training will tell you what details you will have to have added before it becomes a readable and complete story. Ask questions cleverly calculated to give you this "feature" complete in all details. Do not forget to ask the all-important question "Why!" at every point. Make sure that you have exactly the "Who?" (including both names and identifications) "What?", "Where?", and When?" But use your "How?" and "Why?" questions most freely, because they will bring out the most interesting sides of the story. This part of the interview ends when you feel that you have the story complete with all the details and dramatic incidents necessary to you as a writer, in order to make the most of it in the telling.
Third Part of Interview.
The third and last part of the interview is a process of verification and of going over the ground again to make sure that nothing has been over looked. This (part of the interview is somewhat tedious to your subject, but you will usually be able to hold him to it by the argument: "So long as it is going to be printed you surely want to see that I do not get anything wrong." In this part of the interview use your notes openly, repeating your understanding of the story to your subject, asking "Is that correct!" and entering corrections and additions in your notes. Go over with special care every date and number and the spelling of all proper names. Run over in your mind all possibilities of further information from your subject in other fields besides the one which has just proved so productive. The last question of all should be the verification of the subject 's name and its spelling.
General Warning: It is usually ruinous to take up these different phases of the interview in any other order than that given above. To begin with the tedious and vexatious manner of the third part would put your subject out of humor and very likely spoil your story. To put off the activities listed as "preparation" until after the interview loses you the chance of asking your subject about the interesting things you may learn about him.
To begin with part two before you have given your subject the free range advised in part one will often give you the little story you started out to get instead of the very important different story the subject may mention when he is freely talking. The first part of the interview is generally awkward and diflicult if you have not preceded it with the work labeled "preparation".
Remember: There are three different attitudes you assume in the three different parts of the interview. You have three different purposes in mind and three different plans of action.
Remember, Remember, REMEMBER: Look your subject in the eye all the time, appear interested, BE INTERESTED, and call him frequently BY HIS NAME. Oregon Exchanges
Published by the School of Journalism University of Oregon
Demand Outruns Supply When the school of journalism
Free to
Oregon Newspapermen: to others. $1.00 per year
all
Issued monthly. Application for entry as second class matter made at the post office at Eugene. Oregon.
was established the fear was
felt
that the result might be the training of more young writers than the profession would be able to absorb. The outcome has been just the opposite. Even before the war it was apparent that there was a
place and welcome in the newspaper STAFF THIS ISSUE Editor.................... Adrienne Epping Assistant Editor.......... ..Bob McNary Managing Editor............................ .................... .. Emma Wootton Hall Exchange Editor......Gladys Wilkins Correspondence Editor........................ ................................Rosamund Shaw Circulation Manager....Miriam Page Contributions of articles
and items of
interest to editors. publishers and printers
of the state are welcomed.
ofiices of Oregon for all the young people on whom the school would set the stamp of its approval—in fact, positions opened readily even for a number of students whom the school could not unreservedly rec ommend. Now comes the war and_ the
school of journalism finds itself offering this apology to the many editors who hav wired and written for help and who have been dis appointed. We appreciate your in terest and your confidence. We shall be able to recommend a few,
a very few, students in June
A New Hall of Fame It is the purpose of Oregon Ex changes, beginning with this issue, to
print short biographical sketches of the
men who
have been
building
newspapers in Oregon. This column will be something new and of real value for purposes of reference. It will be these short personal sketches which will make our maga zine worth the keeping and filing for the future. Not very many years will pass before this column will be referred to in connection with the history of journalism in the state or Northwest. Thus we introduce with this num ber our hall of fame for newspaper men of our state, and we shall place in it men of the state who are at tempting to do something toward the advancement of journalism. We shall call it “Leaders of the Oregon'
Press.”
It is fitting that we should
begin with a sketch of A. E. Voor
hies,
editor
of the
Rogue
River
Courier of Grants Pass and pres ident of the State Editorial assoc iation.
10
of
this year.
The others——many of our best boys——are in France. The muster roll of a single company contains the names of nine. ——o
A Journalist ‘.9 History Up to the present time there has been but little written on the hist ory of journalism either in the Northwest or in the United States. Men have gathered together
mat
erial and have written books on the subject, but for some reason none of them seem to give just the type of writing that is most needed. There is a great opening for some
man who can take the history of the newspapers of the Northwest and write a short, snappy chronicle of events which can be used in the schools of journalism on this coast. A book of details is not wanted. What is needed more than anything else is a book giving the important events in the workings of the press, something giving the dates and the
places, together with the men who were instrumental in making the newspaper business what it is today. There
are
plenty
of
papers
in
Oregon alone which deserve a posi tion in the history
of journalism
and there are plenty of men in the state who should have mention made of their work. There is certainly a great field open to someone who can give a concise resume of the work which has been going on for the past ten and even twenty or thirty years.
Held Up by the Press
This issue of Oregon Exchanges was previously planned for a February number, but after sending out a hurry call for personals and getting everything ready for publication, the parts of our new Optimus cylinder press began to come in from the American Type Founders company at Portland, and they have cluttered up the hallways and the composing room in the basement of McClure hall, where the University printshop is situated, so badly
that week. Putting his torrid thoughts into writing, he asked Pro fessor McIntosh of the Oregon Agri cultural college faculty, to read the same before said gathering. The professor hiked up to Pend leton with the address carefully typed on yellow paper. On the morning of the day of the great reading, the Oregon Agricultural college man stepped into the wash room of the hotel to clean his hands
that all other press work was sus
and comb his hair and scrub his
pended and the force worked on assembling the new machine. The press has now been completely as sembled under the supervision of Robert C. Hall, instructor in print
teeth.
ing in the school of journalism, and
G. P. Kennedy, who was formerly with the American Type Foundry, but who will continue in the employ of the University as pressman. The shop will now be able to handle practically all the University work. The new press will print four seven-column newspaper pages, and has a speed of about 2,000 impressions an hour. It will be a great convenience to the Uni
versity as well as to the school of journalism. Although a fortnight late we hope that the news in Oregon Exchanges this month will not be too old to be of interest to the news papermen of Oregon and that readers will excuse the lateness of this issue and join with us in our rejoicing over our improved equipment.
How Ingalls Was Saved
C. E. Ingalls was the hero of the last State Editorial association ’s convention, according to David W. Hazen, but didn’t know it, and be sides he wasn’t there. Ingalls is the editorial page editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, and as he can write like a houseafire, he was asked to say some well chosen words at the meetin’. The editor spent much time getting together his words, phrases and clauses for the address, but at the last moment learned that he had to stay at home
While there he calmly laid Ingalls’ paper down and walked out of the wash room.
An hour or so later the city chief of police went into the washroom. He saw the yellow copy paper, looked at it and noted writing on same. He started down street reading the address and chuckling to himself Ingalls can write stuff that would make a cow laugh. Bruce Dennis happened along, saw the chief of police reading and laughing, so was much surprised.
“What ho!” said Dennis, merrily, just like that. “Why wax thee so joyous, friend!”
“Look at this darn fool thing,” replied the peacekeeper.
The former La Grande editor saw in an instant that it was one of the convention papers. The chief told him where he found the address,
and Bruce hurried up to the convention with it just as Professor McIntosh was called upon to read. Cut Rate Newspaper War in Oregon
By Fred C. Baker, Editor of the Tillamook Headlight.
Editor Oregon Exchanges:—I am willing to admit that my text does not sound good, and it looks decidedly bad in print but if it brings a few of the erring brothers to the mourners bench this article will not be wasted. Somehow it seems hard to deal with cut rate newspapermen, notwithstanding the successful effort of the State Editorial association in having the rate bill passed at the last session of the legislature. I thought that bill would put every newspaperman on his dignity and we would insist on cooperating with the other newspapers, making the rate for legal advertising all over the state five cents a line. They are not doing this, for cut rates woefully prevail in some counties. I will give but two illustrations:
Recently a Portland law firm called me up and asked me what my rate was for a certain legal advertisement. I wired back that all newspapers in Tillamook county charged five cents per line. The advertisement was sent to me as well as to newspapers in Albany and Toledo, for the advertisement had to be published in three counties. When the Portland attorneys received my bill, which was for $76.00, and the bills from the Linn and Lincoln county papers, my bill gave them a sort of duck-fit, for the other newspapers charged less than one half what I had charged. No doubt the Portland attorneys thought that I was robbing them, for that is what a McMinnville attorney wrote me when I charged him five cents a line for a legal advertisement saying that he could get the same advertisement published in Yamhill county for one third what I had charged.
Now I do not feel very guilty nor does my conscience prick me in the least because I am classed as a robber. But if all the newspapermen of Oregon would cooperate and adopt and stick with the legal rate I am sure I will not be accused of being a robber in the future.
Will you pardon me for making a contrast? Some few years ago the dairy industry of Tillamook county was all shot to pieces because of lack of cooperation. It was the cut rate system, kept alive by foxy speculators, who kept the price of cheese down to the minimum, and it is the cut rate newspapermen who not only rob themselves of a fair remuneration but other newspapermen who have to meet the cut rate system. For several years I advocated and preached cooperation among the dairymen of Tillamook county, and today the cooperative system among the dairymen of Tillamook county is one of the most successful and satisfactory farmer ’s organizations in Oregon. When the cut rate system was in vogue cheese sold for seven cents per pound but when the dairymen cooperated the price of cheese soon went to twenty cents per pound and is selling whole sale today at twenty five cents.
As long as Tillamook dairymen were fools enough to sell their cheese for seven cents per pound the cut rate sellers and buyers were always active and the dairymen did not receive what they were justly entitled to.
It is exactly the same with the cut rate newspaperman But there would not be any more cut rates if the newspapermen adopted the same cooperative system as the dairymen of this country.
Soldiers in France
Letters have been coming to Oregon Exchanges from all parts of the state expressing appreciation of the work the editors are attempting to do and encouraging us to go on with our little magazine. They all tell us it is read with interest by newspapermen all over the state. We have not made it a policy to print these letters, but here is one from "Somewhere in France" which we print because it shows that even in France we are accomplishing our purpose of telling Oregon newspapermen of other Oregon newspapermen.
Dear Editor Oregon Exchanges:——Kuck (former city editor of the Dallas Observer) and I received my copy of Oregon Exchanges yesterday and, believe me, it was a very welcome messenger from home. It was full to the brim with the "stuff" we wanted to hear.
"He is!", "That so?",——these were the interrogatives Kuck and I threw at each other yesterday. Please don't miss us with any issue.
Speaking for myself, and I believe for most of the fraternity now with the colors, I'm going back to Oregon and the newspaper game. So I want to link up the time I'm away from Oregon with the time I was, and will be again, there. Exchanges helps in that. Through the courtesy of D. H. Smith, circulation manager of the Journal, L company receives five copies of the Journal daily and I receive two. L company certainly appreciates the letters from home. I enjoyed the letters of the boys far from home.
I read Hazen's article in Exchanges on John F. Carroll with a mist in my eyes. Mr. Carroll was my good friend. At a critical time in my life I took his advice—and it was a man 's sincere wisdom given to a boy in whom he was interested. Mr. Carroll was a real newspaperman; he was clean, courteous, sympathetic, and a hard worker. He was a man of ideals.
This life is a wonderland for us. We ask no more than to be here. We will look back on these days as the greatest in our life.
Best to Dean Allen, Harry Crain and to all who would be glad to receive my message.
Leaders of the Oregon Press
NO. 1—A. E. VOORHIES
Twenty-seven years in the printing and newspaper business tells in a sentence the biography of A. E. Voorhies, president of the Oregon State Editorial association, and for more than twenty years publisher of the Rogue River Courier at Grants Pass. Yet within those twenty-seven years are crowded many experiences.
A year or so after graduation from the high school at Greenville, Mich., Mr. Voorhies entered the oflice of the Greenville Independent, at the end of six months being placed on the pay roll at $2 per week, and at the end of a year being paid $4 per week with no prospect of advancement.
Mr. Voorhies landed in Portland in the fall of 1891, and remained there during the period of financial depression, working in job ofiices whenever work could be secured and at other times doing any honorable job which would supply the one, two or three daily meals. Finally he went to work on the Portland Sun, a cooperative paper, with regular work but irregular pay. When this venture went on the rocks and everyone connected with the paper was broke, Mr. Voorhies secured a position with the Oregon Observer, at Grants Pass, as job printer, pressman, make-up man, reporter, solicitor, etc. When it became necessary to cut the force he was again broke, but had a wife, a bicycle and plenty of nerve (the latter absolutely necessary in the newspaper business).
Mr. Voorhies planned a trip to the metropolis by wheel, that being the only means of travel within his means, but before the day set for starting had arrived he was advised by a few business men, who offered to sign notes for the amount of the first payment, to buy the Courier. It took nerve to buy on so scant a capital, and nerve to continue business on a narrow margin. Starting with a capital of $0 and continuing year after year until a daily paper is launched and continued at high cost for seven or eight years, is a series of experiences which put wrinkles in the face and gray hairs in the crown, but these experiences are hallowed with lasting friendships as well as punctuated by such events as whiskey ring boycotts, libel suits, rival newspapers, and long hours of hard work.
During his twenty-three years of residence in Grants Pass, Mr. Voorhies has been connected with all the activities of the city, including the organization in 1899 of a company of national guard, which he served in various capacities and was commissioned captain before the company was finally disbanded in the reorganization of the national guard.
Mr. Voorhies is a firm believer in the school of journalism and its value to the newspaper fraternity, as well as to the students. He says there is no place in this generation for the hit and miss methods heretofore employed in conducting the newspaper business and that hereafter journalism will be recognized as a real profession and newspapers will be conducted by trained business men who have high ideals to live up to.
All Over Oregon
Paul Feeley, formerly automobile editor and later copy reader on the Oregonian has become automobile editor of the Los Angeles Express.
C. A. Lawton, a fraternal writer of much ability, is now publishing the Senator in Astoria for the Knights of Pythias order. The local lodge issues a monthly publication called the “Golden Spur.” Its news is primarily for its members.
Heath Youell, one of the copy desk men on the morning edition of the Oregon Journal, has gone to California, where his mother has recently acquired some land. His place is taken by C. P. Cummings, a young newspaperman recently here from Philadelphia and nephew of deputy district attorney, Sam Pierce of Portland.
P. A. Chandler, original owner of the Desehutes Valley Tribune, has again acquired possession of that publication and has given up his work with the Madras Pioneer, with which he was recently connected. M. C. Athey, who edited the weekly until the latter part of December, sold out his interest and has gone to Prineville, where he is working on the Ochoco irrigation project.
E. E. Brodie, publisher of the Morning Enterprise, Oregon City, has seen his boasted organization shot full of holes since the outbreak of the war, and for several months he has been forced to come down town every night and sit in on the desk until after midnight. He works more hours than any man in his shop, and it appears to agree with him. For recreation he nurses the interests of the Commercial club, of which he is secretary.
The Independent Monitor has recently installed an Intertype, and Editor Ecker now threatens to convert the Monitor into a semi-weekly, to be known as the Polk County Post.
Lee D. Drake, advertising manager and part owner of the East Oregonian, is the captain of the Umatilla county Home Guards, an organization now equipped with rifles and subject to duty under the orders of the governor or sheriff.
While her husband Lieutenant Harold J. Warner is in the army, Mrs. Warner, telegraph and social editor of the East Oregonian, is continuing her duties on the paper. Mrs. Warner was formerly Miss Edna Zimmerman.
Major George White, formerly Sunday editor of the Oregonian and later adjutant general of the state, has reached France with a contingent of field artillery. L. H. Gregory of the Oregonian has just received a letter from him telling of the trip made by the 66th Artillery brigade.
A new man in the Morrow county newspaper field is L. W. Charles, who has taken over the Ione Independent. Mr. Charles formerly published the Scio News and worked for a time in Albany printing houses. “Charlie” is a valuable addition to the Morrow county printing fraternity and is giving Ione the best paper they have yet had. In the recent fire, which destroyed half of Ione’s business district, the blaze worked up to the walls of the Independent office and then went the other way. Mr. Charles firmly believes this was the act of Providence and only proves more firmly that God always looks after his own.
Mignon Allen, a former student of the University of Oregon, is doing society for the Astoria Evening Budget and takes special assignments when they are given her.
The East Oregonian makes the claim of being the largest paper in eastern Oregon in circulation and advertising and the only eastern Oregon paper carrying an A. B. C. circulation statement showing the previous day’s press run.
James D. Olsen, at one time employed in the circulation department of the Oregon Journal, but more recently connected with a Los Angeles newspaper returned recently and joined the editorial staff of the Journal and now has the city hall beat, so long held by Claude Bristol, who has been taking the training for the ordnance corps at the University of Oregon and is now stationed at Benicia, California.
A War Savings Society has been organized by the Journal employes, each one of whom is now pledged to save for war purposes during the duration of the war and to invest in Thrift Stamps and War Saving Stamps. Macdonald Potts of the business office is president of the society, and Harold Hunt of the copy desk, formerly at the University, is secretary. Bishop Walter T. Sumner addressed the employes at the organization meeting.
Since its editor and owner has been placed in Class 1, under the selective draft act, and will be one of the first persons called from Lake county when the next draft call is issued, publication of the Fort Rock Times was discontinued with the issue of January 31, 1918.
The Times has been published continuously at Fort Rock since June 12, 1913, being started by R. N. Buchwalter, of Paisley, who within a few months from that date sold it to its present owner, J. William A. Busch.
Helen F. Driver, a graduate of the University school of journalism, who is on the staff of the Tacoma News-Ledger, has recently been as signed to the feature section. Miss Driver was formerly on the society desk.
Harlan Hoffman, who has done reportorial work for the Capital Journal and the Oregon Statesman at Salem, is now an apprentice in the Statesman composing room. He entered Willamette university in September and finds it necessary to curtail his college schedule because of his present night job.
I. J. Kern, one of the pioneer newspapermen of Clatsop county, and for the past twenty-five years, associate editor of the Astoria Evening Budget, has purchased a home for himself and wife on the crest of the hill where he can get a good look at the broad expanse of the Columbia river every morning before going to work. He also owns an automobile. Some newspapermen cannot help spending their money they make it so fast.
The plant, business and good will of the Union Oregon Scout, which has been in the field for many years, has been sold to the Eastern Oregon Republican, the owner and editor of which is G. A. Scibird. The deal will give Mr. Scibird a lucrative newspaper field and enable him to publish a paper that will represent Union in a most creditable manner. Mr. Scibird is a veteran in the news paper business and will give his patrons a good live paper. We con gratulate him on his improved position, knowing that he will make good in every department.
Floyd Maxwell, who was at the helm of the Scout, in announcing the transaction stated that he would soon enlist in some branch of the United States army and would enter the ordnance class of the University.
The Creswell Chronicle has suspended publication and George H. Baxter, its former editor, will make the welkin ring down in the Gardiner country.
Rex Vincent, who was serving an apprenticeship with the Cottage Grove Sentinel, is now with the Roseburg Review, his family having taken up their residence at Roseburg.
J. R. Hinman, former publisher of the Astoria Columbian, a weekly newspaper, is now in the engineer’s service somewhere in France. The paper suspended publication a few months after its founder left.
Bert Bates, cartoonist and reporter of the Roseburg Evening News, owned by B. W. Bates and himself, is on his way to France in a hospital corps. Charles Stanton is in the Coast Artillery, formerly 4th company, from this city. The Evening News staff now consists of B. W. Bates, editor and owner, Dee Mathews, R. M. Wood and Miss Madge Miller.
Clifford Harrison, for several years marine man on the Oregon Journal, but more recently sporting editor of the Seattle Times, was united in marriage, Monday, March 4, with Miss Harriet Hewlett Marshall, Michigan, formerly Portland. The wedding took place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Travis. Mr. Travis was formerly news editor of the Journal and is now managing editor of the Times.
Newspapermen of Oregon evidently think that as long as they say who shall fill public offices they might as well select themselves for candidates. Among those already out, or about to come out, are G. J. Taylor, editor of the Molalla Pioneer, and Elbert Bede, editor of the Cottage Grove Sentinel. The former will be a candidate for the house and the latter has his eyes on the senate.
Emil Schwab, formerly connected with the public service corporation in Astoria, is now with the Astoria Budget circulation department.
Henry N. Fowler, recently associate editor of the Bend Bulletin, is now stationed at the base hospital at Vancouver Barracks, where he is in charge of the pneumonia ward. In his spare time he is reporting for the Post Skirmisher.
E. E. Southard, editor of the Polk County Observer at Dallas, and Sheriff John W. Orr, of that county, had a personal encounter on the streets of Dallas, and Southard went down under a left to the shoulder and a right hook behind the ear delivered by the sheriff. Differences as to the patronage of the sheriff’s office are said to have been the cause of the trouble.
Telling a good story is a long suit with Sam Pattison, editor of the Heppner Herald, and he usually has a good one apropos to the occasion. Recently he called on Editor Crawford of the Gazette Times and found the latter engaged in the laborious task of lifting a double form from the press to the stone. With the remark that Craw ford was some man, he spilled the following:
“Reminds me of a little fellow I used to know in Indiana who did his farm work with a pair of oxen. This fellow wouldn’t tip the scales at more than ninety pounds but he felt just as big as if he weighed as much as you, Crawford.
“Well one day the little fellow was down by the barn with his yoke of oxen, when Buck, the long horned one, became incensed at something and pinned his horns, one on either side of the little fellow and just simply ‘nailed’ him to the barn wall. But the little farmer was equal to the occasion. Grabbing the ox, a horn in each hand, he yelled ‘Buck, d-- you, let go, don’t you know there is a man a hold of you!” Rex H. Lampman, formerly of the Oregonian local staff is now editor of the North Dakota Leader, a week ly oflicial organ of the Non-Partisan league in North Dakota.
W. S. Fisher, part owner of the
Roseburg Review, has just completed
I ——o
Under the caption, “The Journal Man Abroad” Fred Lockley, who has gone to France in the capacity of a Y. M. C. A. secretary, is contributing a series of interesting articles on his impressions, although he declares it is of no use to chronicle the most interesting things be cause it overworks the censor.
--O--
J. H. Connell, one of the comparatively new members of the staff of the Oregon Journal, was married December 26 to Miss Helen Hilby of Bellingham. The wedding took place in Tacoma, where the bride formerly attended Aquinas Academy. Mr. Connell has been connected with newspapers in Bellingham, Astoria and Olympia.
--0--
Miss Iley Nunn Cage, for several a course in ordnance stores at the University of Oregon, preparatory to active service. He is a University of Oregon graduate. 0
Ernest Peterson, formerly connec ted with the circulation department and school reporter for the Oregon Journal, recently took a regular po sition on the staff and is covering police. He was married early in February to Miss Mildred Oppen lander, daughter of Mr. and Mrs Frederick Oppenlander. o C. Jerrold Owen, former court re porter of the Oregonian, and as such known as “the most gentleman ly reporter who ever covered the court house beat,” has been pro moted to First Lieutenant of Infan try at American Lake. Mr. Owen was commissioned Second Lieuten ant at the first Presidio training
camp.
at Macon, Georgia. Lieutenant Davis is stationed at Camp Wheeler. 0 Leon B. Rowland of the Spokes
0 Morrow county newspapers have contributed to the country’s fight ing forces. Walter Cochran, former editor of the Ione Independent, and Robert Hopkins, linotype operator on the Heppner Gazette-Times, have enlisted in the navy. From last reports both young men are now doing well, having passed through the apprentice stage and are now able seamen. -to H. E. Thomas, city editor of the
man - Review
Oregonian,
months on the reportorial staff of
the Oregon Journal, doing hotels and regular assignments, left the middle
of January for Nashville, where on January 21 she was united in mar riage with Lieutenant Harold M. Davis at the home of her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Henry in Belmeade Park. Mrs. Davis is now
staff
took
a
posi
tion in the editorial department of
recently
sustained
a
1. Mr. Rowland is a newspaperman of more than average capability.
slight fracture of his right arm near the elbow while playing volley ball. The injury went unattended for about ten days on the theory that
For some years he was
the pain was a touch of rheumatism
the Timberman at Portland, March
with
the
Yakima Daily Republic. At the outbreak of the European war he went to New York where he was connected with a news bureau.
In
the hope of benefitting his wife’s health he returned west. Mrs. Row land died several months ago. In Spokane Mr. Rowland has been con ducting a class in journalism at one
(if the high schools of that city. 8
or writer’s cramp or some similar ailment.
An X-ray however finally
sent him to his house for a week’s rest. The injury was a peculiar one; a corner of the bone snapped 05 when the muscles were strained and torn from the bone. After his return
to the ofiice Mr. Thomas wrote with his arm in a sling as the injury was on the right member. Frank R. White, well known newspaperman and irrigation expert, recently of Klamath Falls, is a recent addition to the copy desk of the Oregon Journal. 0 Edgar E. Piper, son of E. B. Piper, editor of the Oregonian, has arrived in France. He is First Lieutenant, attached to the head quarters company with special duties
in the finance department. Lieu tenant Piper is a fluent French
Ernest Bertz, the Journal’s hum orist ofiice boy, is now time keeper
in a logging camp. Lester Wilson is the new ofiice boy. ___0___ Mr. Dellinger, the proprietor of the Astorian has recently installed a new press of the web perfecting type. It prints and folds the papers all in one operation. All the daily newspapers in Astoria use the per
——-o W. C. Black, has sold the Advance, at Oakland, to its previous owner D. E. Vernon. Mr. Black is now
fecting type of presses now. 0 Guy Downs, make-up man in the Oregonian composing room, is trying his hand at editing copy. Mr. Downs fills in on the copy desk on Sunday nights. He is looking to
city editor on the Review in Rose
wards the time when he will be the
burg. Claude Riddle, owner of the Tribune, has been a reporter on the Review for several months, but ex
editor of a country publication. Mr. Downs is also a member of the Portland Press club. 0 Harold Weeks, formerly Reed College reporter for the Oregonian has been promoted to first lieu
speaker.
pects to go to his own paper this spring.
-*0 Charles H. Jones, managing editor of the Oregon Teachers’ Monthly, has been confined at his home by illness for several months and shows little improvement. The editorial work on the Teachers’ Monthly is being done by Professor E. D. Ressler of Oregon Agricultural col
tenant in the aviation section United States signal corps, and is ordered to New York preparatory to going
abroad. Roscoe Fawcett, formerly sporting editor of the Oregonian, first lieutenant of aviation, is now in New York commanding a squad
lege, Miss Cornelia Marvin, state librarian, and by members of the
ron of 150
state department of education.
- 0
The Astoria Evening Budget
——o George F. Stoney, for the last five years copy reader on the Oregonian,
is
flying light with four of its men doing duty in the training camps
somewhere in the Northwest, while one is in the aviation branch at San Antonio, Texas. Ed C. Lapping, the genie who held down the reporters desk on the
Budget, is now doing yeomans ser vice in the Lone Star state. He writes semi-occasionally to the boys at home. He said that Mark Twain was right when he said that if he owned hell and Texas he would sell
Texas and live in hell.
Ed simply
men
preparatory
to
sailing.
has enlisted in the Canadian army,
forestry regiment, and is now at Halifax awaiting orders to sail. Mr. Stoney who is past 45 years old
enlisted when a letter from his home in Ireland announced that the war had taken a toll of more than 200
members of his family. Mr. Stoney is an American citizen, but he was beyond the age for acceptance in the American forces. He was ac cepted as 45 years old, but his friends
are
quite
certain
he
is
gave a graphic illustration of the
slightly older. He the hospital only
condition
He
having undergone an operation, but
thought that Oregon was not so bad after all, even if it did rain 117
he passed a surprisingly satisfac tory examination physically and mentally. 19
of
the
weather.
inches each calendar year.
has been out of a few months, Rolfe Whitnall, formerly with the Oregon Statesman, is now advertising manager of the Ellensburg (Washington) Record.
Arthur N. Jones, formerly telegraph editor of the Oregon Statesman and who later held a similar position with the Medford Sun, is now on the copy desk of the Oregonian.
Leon B. Rowland, of the Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, and formerly-of the North Yakima Republic at North Yakima, Washington, has accepted a berth with the Timberman of Portland and took up his duties March 1.
Glen Wimberly, part of
J. C. DeBall has resigned a position
with
Douglas county newspaper world, as
Mrs. S. M.
Pardee editor of the Tribune at Riddle resigned her position March
1, to remove to the family farm near Riddle. Mrs. P rdee was the founder of the Echo 0 Canyonville, which afterward was consolidated with the Tribune. For many years she worked and lived in Grants Pass,
then bearing her maiden name of Harriet Scoville. 0 Henry M. Hanzen, who for nearly six years has been Salem cor respondent for the Evening Tele gram,
became
a
member
Herald
ioi?
Timothy M. Malone, former dis trict circulation manager for the Oregonian, is among the Portland
recruits who have been selected to attend the ordnance training school
at the University of Oregon which opened Monday of last week. oi
John H. Cradlebaugh, telegraph editor of the Daily Capital Journal of Salem and dean of Oregon desk men, has sufiiciently recovered from
owner
the Roseburg Review, is in charge of the Liberty Loan ofiice in Port land, under direction of campaign manager R. E. Smith, former editor of the Tax Liberator, published in Eugene. Mr. Smith and Mr. Wimberly have their families with them in Portland. 0 Scarcity of help is felt in the well as on the farms.
Albany
sition with the Capital Journal of Salem.
the
which he has held for nine months. He has accepted a reportorial po
of
the
city staff of the Telegram on March 1. He will write state poli tics. Mr. Hanzen’s place in Salem has been taken by Stephen A. Stone
who has been with the Statesman for two and a half years. Mr. Stone does not resign his position with the Statesman in taking the Telegram correspondence. 20
a recent serious illness to be back at his work. In addition to his desk work, Mr. Cradlebaugh has been state house reporter for the Journal for some time, and during his illness, Will T. Kirk, Salem correspondent for the Oregon Daily Journal,
has
furnished
the
Salem
stories. 0
N. R. Moore, city editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times has gone to New York where he will await passage abroad
to
commence
his
work with the Y. M. C. A. He has no idea to what branch of the work he will be assigned, and it will make no difference, for he says he is perfectly willing to do any thing from cleaning cuspidors to conducting prayer meetings. He hopes however to have time to do
a little writing for the good of the cause and the benefit of the folks back home and has taken a type writer with him and several reams of paper.
In as much as it may be
a month before he lands on the other side, it will probably be March before his letters from abroad will appear. Mrs. Moore who was to accompany him changed her mind as she didn’t like the looks of the long trip back. While he is over there he expects to call on George Five and find out who really started this war, anyhow. Elmer Lloyd Terrill, of Oregon
Miss Muriel Grant, former city
City, has gone to Medford to become
editor of the Polk County Observer at Dallas, has resigned to accept a
night editor of the Sun. He was formerly employed on the Morning Enterprise, and later with the Port land Telegram. 0 Since the war, girl reporters are in evidence. Miss Madge Fulton, niece of the late Senator Fulton, is doing regular duty as a cub reporter on the Astorian. Mrs. W. N. Mes erve carries a note book for the same paper and furnishes copy regu __oi M. J. Brown, editor of the Courier at Corvallis, has sold his interest
position in the advertising depart ment of the Salem Statesman. -—-—o August Nikula, formerly manager of the Western Publishing Co., a Finnish organization issuing the daily Toveri (Comrade) is now man aging a mercantile business in As toria, having resigned his newspaper work a few weeks ago. He has been succeeded by A. J. Parthan as man ager of the Toveri. 0 Frank Hochfeld, librarian of the Oregonian, is in the hospital having
to
larly.
Frost.
been sent there for the removal of
Mr. Brown will continue as editor till late this spring. He has not yet made up his mind what to do but
his tonsils. Mr. Hochfeld was for merly in the Oregon Coast Artillery
hopes to get connection as a cor respondent somewhere.
reasons. It is thought the operation will materially improve his health. H. J. Campbell, assistant news edi tor, recently underwent a similar operation and is now in fine fettle. -—o J. V. Reid, new attache of the
his
partner,
E.
A.
M-Z0‘-—M.
J. Spencer Crawford, foreman of the Heppner Gazette-Times oflice, recently underwent an operation in Portland for the removal of a growth on his left foot. The opera tion was very successful and Mr. Crawford has returned to his work
in the back office. 0 Oregon Exchanges recently lost one of its staff members—Miss Emma Wootton of Astoria.
She has
returned to us however in the guise of Mrs. Elmer Hall and we are more than glad to welcome her back and wish her all possible hap piness. Mrs. Hall is managing editor of this issue and will edit next month ’s number of Oregon Ex changes. o Editor Arthur R. Crawford of the Heppner Gazette-Times recently re turned with his family from Cal
ifornia. A new addition to the family arrived in Berkeley on No vember 11, and the young lady has come up north where she may thrive in Oregon sunshine. While
in the South, Mr. Crawford worked on the editorial staff of the San Francisco Daily News.
and
was
discharged
for
physical
Postal Telegraph company handling
the special wire in the Oregonian office “came through” the other night for a place in the local hall of fame. The Oregonian received a late message calling for a war map. American troops had taken hold on the western front and had met the enemy in battle. No other paper had thus far printed a map showing the exact location of the American troops. The Oregonian artists had all left for the night and P. R. Kelty, night editor, was a study in eloquent but disgusted silence. Mr. Reid jumped into the breach. He opened the cartoonist ’s desk, and in about five minutes turned out a well proportioned map of the entire sector showing loca
tions of the American boys. Then someone discovered that Reid is an artist of no little ability. He is handling
the
Postal
wire
since
Frank Deparcq left to become all night chief at the central ofiice of the Postal in Portland. Mr. Reid is formerly of Ray, Arizona. 21 Charles W. Myers, formerly of the local and copy reading staff of the Oregonian, is now editor of the Soldiers News Letter.
George Rouse of Spokane is occupying a temporary place on the staff of the Oregon Journal and is doing hotels and general assignments.
The Polk County Observer has
changed from a semi-weekly to a
weekly, dropping the Tuesday issue
and appearing only on Friday now.
0___
W. A. Pettit, former city editor
of the Roseburg Review, is now copy
editor on the Oregonian.
Miss Kath
high
leen Coates, one of Mr. Pettit’s discoveries in the local schools, is now attending Reed college. ___,;,i The Heppner Gazette-Times has the distinction at the present time of being an all home print, all in the family affair. All job printing and newspaper publishing is done by members of the Crawford family,
school senior, has taken the late night shift on the copy-running
and contrary to the usual custom of country weeklies, all of them are
o A. N. Jones, formerly of the Sun at Medford, and prior to that time with the Statesman at Salem is a new man in the Oregonian oflice, being on the copy desk under P. R. Kelty, night editor. o__ Cecil
St Helen, a Lincoln
staff of the Oregonian.
St Helen is
“drawing
down”
wages.
The
a senior who has aspirations for the
Gazette-Times planned to move into
newspaper field.
its new home sometime in March.
0 Sam Wilderman, editor of the Hustler, the [publication put out by the newsboys who handle the Ore gonian night street edition, is filling in on the copy running staff of the
Oregonian. Mr. Wilderman is a senior at Washington high school and is a member of the staff of the
——o W. J. (Bill) Cuddy is compiling some of the rejected paragraphs he has written for the Oregonian edit far
have
never seen the light of day.
orial
pagc,
which
thus
Mr.
Cuddy is paragrapher for the Ore
gonian, as well as being editor of the Weekly
Oregonian.
However,
Lens, the Washington high school publication of which Eugene Kelty, son of P. R. Kelty, night editor of the Oregonian, is editor. ———o C. M. Cogswell, who has been cir culation manager of the Oregon
for a special compilation he will fix up for his friends in the business.
Statesman for several years, has resigned to enlist in the aviation service of the army. He is stationed
Addison Bennett, special writer for the Oregonian, reached his sev
at Vancouver barracks. His desk in the Statesman oflice has been taken by Miss Nellie F. Stowell. Clair Blodgett, Statesman mailer, has resigned to enter the service and is
some of his “stuff” is too hot to pass the viligant R. G. Callvert, assistant managing editor, and Mr. Cuddy is preserving some of these
0
enty-first
birthday
the
other
day.
He is still “going strong” and dis likes writing “straight” news stories as much as he ever did in the early
days when his unique handling of
with the hospital corps at Vancouver.
stories put him in
His place has been taken by George
Turn him loose on a feature assign ment and he is in the seventh heaven of delight. “The work is just as interesting today as it was
Anderegg
Other men who have en
listed from the Statesman oifice are: Richard O. Hansen, reporter, 162nd
United
States
Infantry,
France;
Paul Hendricks, son of R. J. Hen-of
dricks, 162nd Infantry, France; and Sam Tyler, linotype operator, with the engineers at Vancouver.
22
the
limelight.
35 years ago” he says in explanation his persistent vigor. On his birthday the stafl“ presented an um
brella to the veteran and dean of Portland newspaper men. From Bend comes this word of a new feature:
“The Bend Bulletin has put in a new department that might be of timely interest to some other small town publishers in the state. It is now running daily what has been christened “The War Exchange”, consisting of a column of material either clipped from war cook books and conservation menus or contrib uted by readers.
“The general idea is to embody in it suggestions helpful in carrying out the new food regulations. On such a paper there is a considerable quantity of material sent in that is hard to find a place for as ordinary news. It must be printed in order to keep subscribers who are interested in that sort of stuff and yet it’s a nuisance to the fellow who writes the heads.
“The exchange has solved the problem. If the Red Cross desires to have the latest instructions for knitting Kitchener heels in print, that is where they can find it. Some rancher up in the woods has suggestions about stewing goose eggs and and guinea pigs; it is stuck in there. Even the Presbyterian minister in vented a formula for war bread made with potatoes, and the Bulletin is looking forward to publishing that.
“The whole thing is crackerjack stuff for space filler and that is what is certainly needed in this town on dull days, when the wire is slack on big features and nobody is considerate enough to commit suicide or scrap over the city budget.
“The idea of putting the column in as a regular feature came in the request of several ranchers’ wives
on far off homesteads for the United States Food Administration cook books, which are hard to get in isolated districts. These receipts are printed direct from the book. It is only a matter of a few minutes to slap a few bits of copy on the hook for the Exchange and mark off a section of the recipes. A schedule of meatless and wheatless days tops the column each time, and Red Cross meeting days, according to departments will be put in. Names of contributors to the soldiers’ tobacco fund also go there.”
Gordon J. Taylor, editor of the Molalla Pioneer, has announced his candidacy for representative from Clackamas county. Mr. Taylor is well known throughout the Northwest as a lecturer. He is Molalla’s livest wire.
The Morning Astorian is displaying a service flag showing that seven of its employes are somewhere in Uncle Sammy’s care wearing the olive drab. Of the staff Hugh McCullough and Leland Gilbert are in training at Vancouver. Strange faces are at their desks, but the paper comes out as usual.
T. P. Berry of Los Angeles, for many years identified with California papers, and a part of the time with the Hearst publications has joined the copy editing staff of the Oregonian. He is handling the telegraph news.
C. H. Williams, general assignment man and financial reporter of the Oregonian, has been away from his desk for a month. He has been in that aggravated state of being too ill to work and to well to be sick.
Miss Jeanette Wiggins, general assignment reporter on the Oregonian, accompanied by Mrs. Gertrude Corbett, society editor of the Oregonian, visited Camp Lewis, American lake, recently for the purpose of getting acquainted with the various organizations and their work in the environs of the camp. Miss Wiggins covers much of the news of the war unit auxiliaries in Portland and the correspondence news from soldiers at the front. Mrs. Corbett gathered data for a feature story on the hostess house at Camp Lewis, while chaperoning Miss Wiggins.
Bruce Dennis, former owner and editor of the La Grande Observer, has returned to the old stand.
In the issue of February 23 the following editorial appears, with which Mr. Dennis opens his return engagement:
The La Grande Observer has
changed ownership and Mr. O. C.
Leiter and his assistants are no
longer in any way connected with
the business. Mr. Leiter had business in another part of the state
which claimed his attention and decided to sever his connection with
the newspaper business in Eastern
Oregon.
All stock in the La Grande Even ing Observer company has been purchased by the undersigned and henceforth he will be in charge of the plant and the business.
Believing that no introduction is necessary; believing further that our long residence in La Grande has caused the opinion in every citizen's mind to already have been formed—whether it be for or against; and assuring every citizen of Union and Wallowa counties that our high opinion of the greatness of Eastern Oregon has never been altered or changed in any way whatsoever, we sincerely and affectionately ask that the presiding officer at the Eastern Oregon Good Fellowship banquet please make room at the table for another plate in order that we may sip and break bread with you; in order that we may hear the stories of progress and good cheer -— if sadness and grief be cast upon us at this time when our boys are fighting for us all, may we in our small but sincere way share that grief.
We will not attempt at this time to outline any business plans or policies, for the readers of the Observer for the past ten years could probably outline such policies and plans better than we can. Suffice it to say, the Observer shall not lose any of its brilliancy and the business principles of the office that we formerly used will again be re-enacted. Appreciation for the smallest classified ad as well as the double page announcement will be manifest, and we say to the Observer’s large family of readers “treat us in the same old way” and we will in turn render you the best service that we know how to give.
Very sincerely,
BRUCE DENNIS.
Willard Shaver, an Oregon alumnus of ’14, and a former journalism student, has spent seven weeks recently in recovering from a serious wound in the leg, the nature of which is not disclosed “for military reasons.” Shaver is now with company F, 18th Railway Engineers, in France.
Part of a letter received by his mother in Portland follows:
“Today after almost seven weeks of ‘bed riding’ I graduated to a wheel chair. I sat up, wheeled a round, and read in it for several hours, two this morning and an equal time this afternoon. Of course I cannot manage the change from bed to chair alone as my leg still reposes in a splint, but when I viewed my bed from a different angle this morning. I felt as though released from solitary confinement. “I may now use the chair as frequently as I feel able, which I think will be pretty often. I hope to have my leg freed of the splint in a few days. It will be some time yet before I can leave the hospital, and a still longer time before the stiffness will disappear.
“I am feeling extremely well otherwise, eat and sleep well and spend most of the days reading.”
Frank Bartholomew, formerly assistant sporting editor of the Oregonian, has gone to Vancouver B. C. to become sporting editor of the Province there. After leaving the Oregonian several weeks ago Mr. Bartholomew worked for a time on the Albany Herald and on the Courier at Oregon City.