Part 21 (2/2)

STANDARD HAD A LONG LIFE

The _Cedar Rapids Standard_, like the _Cedar Valley Times_, had a long life. It was first established in Marion in 1868, as the _Linn County Signal_, by F. H. Williams. The following year it was removed to Cedar Rapids, and Thomas G. Newman became the owner. In 1872 the name was changed to the _Linn County Liberal_, and the office was moved back to Marion. In 1873 James T. Simpkins became editor. The following year the plant made a final trip to Cedar Rapids and was changed to the _Standard_. For a long time it flourished, having a number of owners and editors. Among them were Thomas G. Newman, C. E. Heath, A. H.

Newman, D. H. Ogden, H. A. Cook, Frank L. Millar, and in June, 1880, Charles H. Playter, of the Des Moines _Daily Leader_, came to town and bought a half interest of Mr. Millar. The firm name became Millar & Playter. This partners.h.i.+p continued until the fall of 1885, when Mr.

Playter bought out his partner and became the sole owner. In the fall of 1886 Mr. Playter sold the _Standard_ to S. B. Ayers, who conducted it through the triumphal period of Iowa democracy, when Horace Boies sat in the gubernatorial chair. It was a strong democratic paper and had a large patronage in Linn county at that time. Later L. S. Saner became the editor. But the hard times came. Rightly or wrongly they were blamed on the democratic party. Republicanism triumphed; McKinley was elected. The _Standard_ of the democratic party was trailed in the dust. It soon died and took its place in the Cedar Rapids journalistic graveyard.

The _Marion Pilot_ was established in 1871 at Mt. Vernon, as the _Linn County Pilot_, and C. W. Kepler was editor. In 1874 the office was removed to Marion and the paper was owned by Beatty & Whitt.i.ts. It continued under this management for several years and was one of the strong republican papers of the county. In 1884 it was purchased by the Rev. J. W. Chaffee and its name was changed to the _Marion Pilot_. He built up a good paper, putting it in the front rank of the weekly papers of the state. But with his pa.s.sing from the editorial chair and the rapid rise of the daily press in Cedar Rapids and its rival county seat newspapers its power and prestige waned. In 1906 it yielded up the ghost and was a.s.signed to an honored place among those that have pa.s.sed on.

_The Good Ones Which Remain_

THE DAILY REPUBLICAN AND THE EVENING TIMES

As narrated above, the _Daily Republican_ is the outgrowth of the daily _Observer_. In 1872 the _Observer_ was transferred to the Republican Printing Company, and the name, which at first was the _Cedar Rapids Republican_, was changed to the _Daily Republican_, the present name of the paper.

A daily and weekly issue was published and the paper grew rapidly. For a time it was edited by William B. Leach. In 1877 it pa.s.sed into the hands of the Republican Printing Company, who put in a great amount of capital and enlarged the office. There were many editors during this period. In March, 1881, the office was leased to J. R. Sage and D. G.

Goodrich, with an option of sale within a year. During this period the paper was changed from an evening to a morning issue and an a.s.sociated Press franchise was secured, giving the paper full news service.

Before the lease had expired Messrs. Sage and Goodrich had exercised their right to purchase the plant. On March 1, 1882, it was transferred to J. R. Sage, Johnson Brigham, Fred Benzinger, and H. P. Keyes. This quartette reorganized the old Republican Printing Company, with J. R.

Sage as president. Nearly two years later Mr. Sage transferred his interest to Mr. Brigham, and later on Messrs. Keyes and Benzinger transferred their interest to L. S. Merchant. Messrs. Brigham and Merchant conducted the paper, Mr. Merchant as business manager and Mr.

Brigham as editor, until 1892, when Mr. Brigham sold his interest and went to Des Moines to start the first Iowa literary magazine, the _Midland Monthly_. Mr. Sage had previously gone to Des Moines to become the director of the Iowa weather and crop service.

Mr. Brigham's interest was purchased by Luther A. Brewer, who had been a.s.sistant business manager, W. R. Boyd, who had done some editorial work for the paper while living at home in Cedar county, and by L. S.

Merchant. The paper was at the beginning of what seemed to be an uninterrupted period of owners.h.i.+p and prosperity when death suddenly claimed Mr. Merchant in 1894. Mrs. Merchant retained her husband's interest and the paper went on as before and waged a fight against free silver in the campaign of 1896 which made it nationally prominent. Mr.

Brewer in the meantime had built up a very large job printing and book binding department.

In 1898 the entire plant was sold to H. G. McMillan, of Rock Rapids, at that time United States district attorney, and Cyrenus Cole, who had for many years been a.s.sociate editor of the _Iowa State Register_. Mr.

Boyd became postmaster at Cedar Rapids, but Mr. Brewer remained with the paper as its business manager for some time. An evening edition, the _Evening Times_, was started in 1902, and made a rapid growth. It now has the largest circulation of any daily paper in Cedar Rapids.

In 1907 Mr. Brewer left the business and opened up a big book-making plant of his own known as The Torch Press. In July of the same year however, The Torch Press bought out the interest of Mr. McMillan and the _Daily Republican_ and the _Evening Times_ have since been owned and published by Messrs. Brewer and Cole. The substantial building on Second avenue which had been erected during the regime of Messrs.

Brigham and Merchant proved far too small and the property was sold. A large and modern newspaper and book-making building, four stories high, was erected at the corner of Fourth avenue and Third street, the present home of the _Daily Republican_, the _Evening Times_, The Torch Press Printery and Bindery, and The Torch Press Book-shop, which latter is managed by William Harvey Miner and is the biggest and most largely patronized book shop west of Chicago.

THE EVENING GAZETTE

There is not a great deal of ”history” concerning the Cedar Rapids _Evening Gazette_, which has been one of the conspicuous successes among Iowa daily newspapers since it was started in 1883. On June 10 of that year, the daily _Gazette_ was founded by Messrs. Otis and Post. A weekly issue of the paper was started at the same time. In March, 1884, the Gazette Company was organized, and in July of that year the entire stock was purchased by Messrs. Fred W. Faulkes and Clarence L. Miller.

The paper has had the same owners.h.i.+p ever since that time. The late editor Faulkes was a pungent and versatile writer, and under his editorial management the _Gazette_ rapidly rose to a commanding position in the Iowa newspaper field. It began as a republican newspaper. But after the memorable Frank D. Jackson campaign in 1893 Editor Faulkes became estranged from Governor Jackson and some of the other leaders of the republican party. Thereafter he was inclined to espouse the cause of democracy and the _Gazette_ came to be regarded as the democratic newspaper of Linn county. Still later it grew more independent, in matters of politics.

Since the death of Fred Faulkes the _Gazette_ has been published under the supervision of its business manager Clarence L. Miller. Like the other dailies of the city it has abandoned the weekly field.

THE SAt.u.r.dAY RECORD

The _Sat.u.r.day Record_ is the outgrowth of a little amateur paper started away back in 1879 by Ralph Van Vechten, at present vice-president of the Continental and Commercial National Bank of Chicago. He was then a student with a taste for printer's ink and he started a little literary paper, known as the _Stylus_. Soon after that he was joined by Arthur J. Huss, and the two of them ran the _Stylus_.

In the spring of 1882 Mr. Van Vechten went into his uncle's bank. The paper pa.s.sed into the hands of A. J. Mallahan, and after a little time was temporarily discontinued. But Mr. Huss gained new courage and perhaps new capital. September 10, 1882, he started the _Cedar Rapids People_. It continued as a seven column folio until March, 1884, when it was bought by Fred Benzinger and R. Baer and its name changed to the _Sat.u.r.day Evening Chat_. July 1, 1887, Fred Benzinger bought out Mr.

Baer's interest and ran the paper for a number of years until he went to Chicago, where for a time he was one of the prominent figures on the old Chicago _Times-Herald_. Then the paper was acquired by B. R.

Hatmaker, forever famous because of the sobriquet for Cedar Rapids which flashed into his mind one dreamful day--”The Parlor City.”

In 1889 Ernest A. Sherman came to this city and was city editor of the morning _Republican_ for a while. In February. 1891, he started _Town Topics_. He ran it until late in the spring of that year and then he consolidated with Hatmaker's _Sat.u.r.day Record_. He became the editor, and Hatmaker was business manager until 1892 when Mr. Sherman bought the whole business. Since that time the _Record_ has been a permanent feature in Cedar Rapids, the largest and neatest of the weeklies, being printed in quarto form on book paper with many ill.u.s.trations and spicy comment on ”mentionable matters” of Cedar Rapids, with all the local news well edited.

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