One day early in his newspaper career he called in his business manager and asked him how much it would cost him to run the paper if he had no advertising and no paid subscribers. The manager disliked to contemplate such a situation but gave him the figures. Banks replied that he could easily handle that situation for an indefinite period.
Reverses came, and Banks was to discover that nothing loses faster than a losing newspaper. Soon the paper was on the financial rocks, and the worse the finances, the wider became Banks' field of enemies, real and imaginary. He backed a "good government league" to fight for civic reforms in Medford—which sounds reasonable enough, but Banks' zeal was fanatic and his personal contacts were violent. What he might have accomplished with better balance and a less violently emotional set, it is hard to say. But the net result of two years of his activities in Medford was a community divided sharply against itself and a very unhappy, dangerous atmosphere.
Finally his affairs fell into chaos. He lost his paper for debt. Crushed by his troubles and goaded by some of his enemies, he shot and killed (March 16, 1933) a peace officer who had come to arrest him in connection with a theft of some ballots in an election. He was convicted of second-degree murder at a trial held in Eugene and is now serving a life sentence in the state penitentiary.
Meanwhile a rational editor was achieving recognition for his steadfact work in striving to hold the community together. For a "campaign against unscrupulous politicians in Jackson County" the Pulitzer prize, a $500 gold medal, was awarded the Mail Tribune, edited by Robert W. Ruhl.
Reorganization of the Medford News after the Banks fiasco resulted in the purchase of the paper by Moore Hamilton, who is conducting a constructive Friday weekly from the plant which a few years ago was the center of community chaos.
Meanwhile Earl H. Fehl, politically minded, had taken over the Pacific Record-Herald, descendant of an old Jackson county newspaper, and was playing a game roughly parallel to that of Banks. Fehl, elected county judge, became involved in the ballot trouble and was sent to the state hospital at Salem. He was released later on condition that he stay away from the scene of his troubles, Jackson county. His wife conducted the paper for a time but finally gave it up.
An interesting Medford publication which ran along from 1909 to 1912 was the Saturday Review, published by M. E. Worrell. The paper expressed itself as devoted to society, real estate, markets, local markets, domestic science, women's clubs, higher life, books and magazines, music and the drama, the week's events. The paper sold for $1.50 a year and advertising at 25 cents an inch.
Medford newspapers have normally had strong staffs through the
