Sun-Journal from Lewiston, Maine • 56

pflwv 1 -7t: 1 1 1 w-vi VJV'-1: 'j- Tii 'KV-- 'V O-fOO-O Sv-V' i T--W J-f --TW d1 -1 7-' a' 'ws i -r I'-rvijJs? -CS 1 f't- VV i -j i- tffSfev- i TvV i'-v' i-rV-1 jV tkw A 1 Jurlfy JJM-: 1 v'V "A 4 4' v( Hv a great Metropolitan Octuple press It is built also in units and cart be enlarged on the unit-plan yIt will be controlled by the Cut- ler-Hammer system of electric control by Which it may be started from'any oneof over 50 stations on the press and by which the press may be run at any one of seventeen varying speeds from a motion so fine that it can hardly be seen to its fullest speed and variations between these speeds that give absolute control It is equipped also with all sorts of safety devices Its seventy-fifth Anniversary is to be signalized by the installation of the first Metropolitan Duplex Tubular Press in New England This press is the most elastic fastest and most perfect machine that we can find for our use It will print any combination of newspaper from a single page up to the limit of the press without duplication of plates and in advancing series of twos It will print 60000 16-page papers in an' hour or 30000 32-page-the capacity of is- iV 4 sC? 3 i- s' Ifc sisa and a aeustaui improvement it i machinery and equipment Tho gnat step wu whan an eigbt saga pepu was printed an Saturdays soma thing not thought possible at first But it wu a tremenduos favorite and is today an established institution In 1888 whan th meant adits came to Lewiston this Saturday eight page aa eight page weekly and to four page daily war tha produeta Th tour page daily wu sat by bud How the Lewiston Journal Has Grown from Modest Beginning in 1847 to Its Present Influence and Size Thru the Years It Has Stood and Fought for What It Thought Was Some Mention of the Workers Past and Present Who Have Put the Best Efforts of Their lives into Its Columns Hr 1 by Own -State" containing Maine news classified by counties as it is today the sixth page by correspondence and the immortal cattle how the seventh peg by agricultural articlu and advertisements the eighth page by local news the tearkete etc The Weekly was enlarged again In 1868 enu more in 1882 again In 1883 in a 1887 and once mom in 1899 The first Daily wu a little fellow of 20 columns the size of the sheet being 26-19 inches but them was not a dull line in it Continued To Grow The daily Journal wu enlarged in 1864 in 1866 in 1883 In 1877 the proprietors conceived the idea of uuing on Saturday evenings a double shut of the size of tho then Wukly Journal The first number was issued ou the first day of December and it wu the beginning of the present Saturday Journal Them ie almost as much difference between a political paper During the controversy over the Kansaa-Nebraska question it warmly espoused the free-soil and supported the republican party then organizing Prof William Baker principal of Lewiston Falls Academy and Nelson Dinglcy jr4 then senior in Dartmouth College end subsequently a law atudent in the office of Morrill dk Fessenden contributed the most of the political articles It was in 1850 that Mr Waldron purchased of Dr Garcelon his interest in the paper and ne was its sole editor end proprietor ffom that time till 1866 when Nelson Dingley jr bought half interest in the paper In the meantime (in 1856) the office of the Journal had been removed to a new brick building erected on lower Main Street by Mr Waldron and a eheaj power press on which was printei tlyB weekly edition of leu than 1000 up in tha two page sad minted at eleven o'clock about 2500 issues These were turned over on tha mend that wo inside pages pub--any time along about ftva to the -afternoon It wu folded on a machine folder that made more noise than a flying-machine today Tha Weekly went to presa Wednesday night It wu issued with ell of the throes familiar to country printing offices There wu bawling in tha composing room and tens excitement to the prees-room It wu printed on a Hu double cylinder press foom flat forms tour pagse at a time Some Early Equipment From 188ft we panad to tha Hot Turtle preu that printed a great blanket sheet from a web of taper This wu an innovation and proved successful after a fashion Tbs forms were tremendous to weight and tha pMsa wu slow but it wu and printed both aides of tha paper at once We had turn hand-power at 860 Impressions an horn hand-power by crank at foster speed a waterpower Ivor motor a steam electric power electricity tor Mi Chandler and plant and finally In 1888 wo had no light or power no general light or power: I'-' BENJAMIN TXTCOMB snd Thomas Wait in partnenhip issued the first newspaper ever issued in Maine on January 1st 178fi which is 138 years ago It was called the Falmouth Gazette Wait was a stationer Titcomb was a jour- nalist-printer He was a graduate of Dummer Academy in Newbury Mass If we are not mistaken he later was a er at Brunswick Me and was the chaplain at the open- of the Constitutional Convention at Portland in 1820 He was a Baptist and lived to be 83 years old The Lewiston Falls Journal was started by William Waldron and Alonzo Garoelon Alonzo Garcelon was a busy Lewiston doctor and a politician by instinct He was a remarkable man in every way aa a doctor and as a man of determination and original thinking He became Governor of Maine Waldron was a printer a of newspapers He worked on the old Boston many of them as printer Some of them gCtting a notion of co-operating to start a newspaper in Boston for one could then' start a newspaper with a thousand pounds of type an old hand-press and a sense of started the Boston Herald in 1847 Waldron was one of them but as he did not long remain with the Herald but felt an itching to come to Lewiston and start a newspaper here he came here in early 1847 enlisted the interest of Dr Garcelon and they began to publish the Journal a facsimile of whidi in its first issue appears on our first page of this anniversary edition CoL Waldron was head of the mechanical department snd Dr Garcelon was nominally the editor altho Lane was the regularly employed editor and really made 'up the paper The size of the paper was 33x23 inches It was printed on a Washington hand-press in a room in a wooden building situated on Main street Lewiston where the Lower Maine Central railroad station now is The old hand-press is now in the possession of the Lewiston Journal The machinery for the printing of the fiist Journal was brought to Lewiston from Portland where it had arrived by boat from Boston It was hauled over to Lewiston by Col Garcelon father of Alonzo It made up one cartload and no more vIreitrwd in the filet of the offices 1 4-' 1 college eonfse and made a brief visit on my way to college "Rev James Drummond pastor of tho Congregational church wu contributing to the paper weekly articlu which attracted my attention and led to my introduction to both Mr Drummond and Mr Waldron when the letter invited me to writ something for the Journal from Dartmouth As from a boy I had written occaeionally for local -papers and bad so decided a taste for journalism that I had made up my mind to enter that basnets on arriving at manhood I accepted tho invitation and contributed several articlu to the paper to the spring and summer of 1864 the summer vacation of 1864 while at home I wrote articlu frequently tor the Journal which up-peared in its editorial columns and reported for tho paper the speeches mode at several political meetings in tho campaign of that year (whidi resulted to the election of Anson Morrill governor) when the Kansu outrages brought the anti-slavery question prominently before tl St country Previous to that campaign the Journal had been a neutral paper but at this time it took decided stand against the democratic party on toe slavery and temperance questions In the autumn I taught a high school at having absented myself from college tor this purpose the first term of the senior year and during this time I wrote needy all toe editorial articlu which appeared to the Journal XunMoent Wages the winter of 1864-6 I wu in the Journal office tor nearly thru months or -until the spring term opened at Dartmouth under an engagement wHH Mr Waldron to conduct (ho paper direct it to the smell list of subscribers and set type In spare hours tor which I received one dollar per day and boarded my-elf whieh wu then thought fair pay The paper wu then printed and published on tho third story of what wu then known the Garcelon Building on Lower Main Street At that time tha Weekly Journal was about half the sis of the present paper pad was printed a hand-preu at the rata of 860 copiu per hour on one side Outside of a column or two of editorial matter devoted in put to the zdvoescy of the republican party jut organised some brief paragraphs of State news and a column of local 'matter the paper wu filled with miscellaneous reading mitter and foreign and out-of-etete news v' returning to college In the spring end Bummer' of 1856 I contributed regularly to the Jounml and on my return home after my graduation In July I wrote still more for the paper and reported political meetings and conventions during toe campaign which ended disastrously to the republicans In the autumn at 1856 I began the study of law regarding ueh study a desirable equipment for journalistic work end during the yedr to which I purmed my legal studies I oow-tiaued to write the most of toe ed request of Mr Waldron in her 1866 I concluded to buy the Journal establishment whioh had beau traasfered in the summer to the third story of new brick build ing nearly opposite tha old location and to go into tha newspaper business with Mr Waldron under tha firm name of Waldroh A Dingley Mr hiking charge of the printing and myself tho editorial work ate The first number of the Journal unto tha new management was issued Sept 20 1866 I became connected with tha Journal its circulation was about 800 or 900 almost entirely to the towns 1 composing tha county at Androscoggin which had been organized lees than a year and a half The paper was printed on a cheap cylinder press turned by an improvement on tha old hand'-press at tho remarkable speed of 600 to 700 impressions per hour Recalls James Blaine- Blaine had removed to Maine from Pennsylvania ten months before end had become editor and co-proprietor of the- Keimebecjour-naL I had formed an acquaintance with Mm tho previous winter which in view of toe fact that wo won engaged in tha same business grew into an intimacy and friendship which hu continued during toe thirty years since Col John Adams wu editor of tha Tortiand Argue Elwell esq of the Port ami Transcript Geo Drisko of the Machiu Union Nutt of the Eastpert Sentinel Aliert Moore of toe Anson Advocate Wm Ruit at the Belfast Ago and Edwin Sprmgus of th Rockland Free positions which they have maintained with credit to themselves and honor to the paper fraternity during this period covering nearly the average life of a man AMea Sprague of the Keimebec Journal wma then associated with his brother Edwin and A Burr of the Bangor Whig wu then connected! with the Bangor Jeffersonian So far I now remember every other gentleman who wu connected with newspaper in Maine when I became editor and co-proprietor of the Journal to 1866 hu passed away or hu retired from too business that time none of (ho news-papers to Maine gave much space to state or local news Tha miscellaneous reading the editorials generally political tha column og two of foreign and congressional news tha election reportoof conventions and polities! meetings soma of too am Important State news and aeolumnof local matters won aR that any weekly paper requited' Telegraphic news wu sparingly pnblUhed by the dailies No paper to the State regarded State and local am important cpoughjte adopt srstemaUc measure to gather it As a rule the article published were lengthy and th paragraphs oft the first things! Ad to the time which I could spars from my actits duties in Fremont campaign during th autumn of 185ft wu to taka medauraa to' increase and eyatemiza the Stats sad only ono in tha building nq linotype-composition place and leaving out editorials and out-of-State matter when space wu needed for-the former February 1867 published a nnall daily sheet containing a full report at tho proceedings hi the trial of George' Knight of Friend tor murder reported by myeelf This bad a large circulation and- entailed a large amount of work in an office illy prepared for such an enterprise September 1857 at toe solicitation of Mr Waldron I purchased the other half of the Journal establishment and beqaiha not only sole proprietor and editor but also foremen book-keeper and reporter Probably I averaged twelve and on publication days fourteen boon of woric a day on the paper for th first five years after I became connected with it Soon after bepoming sole proprietor I enlarged and otherwise improved the the increase in circulation having justified tMe step "Between 1856 and 1861 the circulation of tho Wukly Journal considerably more than quadrupled its subscription list reached out into moat of the counties of the State and its system of working the home field and gathering end arranging by counties the news of tho State at length began to-be adopted by other State papers Then CZme The Daily 20th the Saturday after the news of tile fell of Sumter reached i commenced the publication of the Daily Evening Journal As the idea of publishing a daily edition waa not entertained until tide first aet of war mad it evident that a moody struggle had been entered upon I had littla time to make the necessary arrangements for issuing daily edition The first paper was a vary small sheet largely Gel 9 Journal Martin 8 an 9 18)4 filled with wav news by tolagrdph and mail but it was enlarged from time to time sa lts increasing circ-lxtion justified My brother Frank Dingley who graduated from Bowdrin College In 1861 at began work on toe Journal and two years later beeeme associated with me in the ownership and management of th paper and we ham continued to bnslnesa togetter since that time constant excitement and physical and mental strain during the four yean of dvfl war wen frit liTa greeter' degree If possible by pubHahera of ifolly papers than by any other portion at our population 1 It wu emphatically ajeear-ing time tor newspaper men- It necessitated also a complete change jn the system at newspaper publication to Maine well elsewhere The telegraphic nevte became atones the most important factor in the daily newspaper and tha expenses of nswspaper offices suddenly in-ereased enormously but this increase wu offset by the growth ef 1 SO V'I Yean of Steady Growthih Favori And in Circulation From 1861 to 190ft When the Lewiston' Journal built its present building which includes not only the newspaper office but large and valuable property in the heart ef Lewiston occupied in part by many tenants it had s-ateady-growth to favor and tabirenlation it hu ft: 4- 1 had bun procured Messrs Dingley and Waldron did not continue their partnership very long In September 1857 the former became sole proprietor: Under his control the paper assumed a more decided political tone On the 20th of April 61 the Evening Journal made its first ap- peararee One year later the was removed to tho block on Street built it has been 1863 Nr- Frank Dingley who had done nun or lew work on the paper since his graduation from Bowdoin in 1861 became an equal partner in the buninm "Wheii in 1867 the Weekly Journal first appeared with the name of Nelson Dingley jr at its head it hu improved very much since the lut time we looked at it There is a column of local news weekly appearing under the head of end a news report of the sentencing" of George Knight by Chief Juttice Tenney Goddard county attorney A year later the State newi items under the heed of have Increased to two columns a week In the first issues the local and state news combined did not exceed half 's column weekly An Enlargement In 1860 the Journal was enlarged to eight eohrams These are newnr tiinea and the big display head! over their appuranee Them is a three- the longer news articles first made their appuranee Them is a S- the old hand-press 63 years ago and the modern newspaper The first Saturday Journal contained about one-twelfth much reading matter that of today and wu about one-quarter its sue Few of the special features which seem to be so highly appreciated by our readers now had been introduced then In 1899 the greatedf departure of all wu made and the Megasine Section wu added to the Weekly and Saturday issues Mr Dingley Tells Of the Earlier History Way back in 1887 an unusually interesting and valuable interview with the late Nelson Dingley wu published in the Lewiston Journal In this vital and enlightening today when it fell from Congressman lips 86 yum be tells of bis first connection wfyh tiie then Lewiston Falls Journal a small village weekly at his part in directing its editorial and business policy of its gradual evolution into a daily of state-wide in-' fiuence Them ie mention also of several great events in thou early days ana of tho pioneers in then much restricted field of journalism Hem then exactly Congressman Dingley told it 'is tho story of the Lewiston Journal from 1864 to 1861 Altho the interview stated printed in 1887 Congressman Dingley maku no detailed mention of events in thou last 26 years A Journal reporter said to Congressman Dingley bbtor he left for Washington wish you would give the large circle who mad the Lewiston Journal regularly -moat of whom hue become Modem within the lut fifteen or twenty years some account of the circumstances attending your first connection with the paper and the general character of journalism in Maine at that replied Mr D- you think it will he of -interest tothe journal readers I will recall some of the cheumstancu which you de sire wu in- the spring of' 1854 whom I wu a junior in' Darmouth college that I first uw a copy of the then Falls a small village weekly of 00 dr 800 circulation conducted by tin late is: I' I typing no web presses ne halftones no pictures of any kind no street sake by bays no attempt to Mil the papers except by carrier and ar office sales The office force eon-ted of A Pidgin end on assistant Tho editorial form consisted of Frank Dingley editor Harry Andrews managing editor Lyman Abbott agricultural editor Florence Farrar aadataat managing editor and Maine news editor A Staples dtp editor and aria reporter ko that be could very easily own office Mias Stanley news' editor this being th aum total of Cditon Then won so importers? sf such exeept a large tore ef country and town correspondents who worked and aent to news to exchange tor tha paper TheN were ha V' corrtepondtnta at that time By degress tho Lewiston iDaily '-'V'' Journal inereaaed lta staa to eighftV vr then to any number ef papa up to sixteen If engaged an advertising solicitor aud bom papers on streets It -relied largely tor rev- 'which want into vi and JiSndet of Main an wu an institution of merit and of renown This passed away when OO the telephone the trolley and 'th zO-c motor ear undo thp Daily mora lm-portent and the Weekly leas so riOO In 1900 the Lewiston' Journal built new building and established its O'-new Hoc 28-pap newspaper press With all of the attachments It put stereotyping and half-tone1 Ita 7: half-tone wufirst in Maine' and ah T-most first to New England This newspaper was-runnlng half-toaea 1 A Is a yellow torn and' patched copy tho first Falls Journal" the baby from which grew the big Journal which is spread before our readers today And there is an much difference between the Journal in its 1 swaddling elothes and the paper in fta present aetata as there ie between infapey and manhood The Intent Journal P'' This old Journal is a'folio sheet of jL dr columns The first -page has one departmcnt devoted to S'1' Poetry" an Tale" writ-i 'V ten ae donbt by Dr Lane) and iS '''thn usual supply of -miscellany On I rV-T the second page ie found a salutatory "and aa enthusiastic article entitled Position and Destiny of If nine predictions in which here been VN justified in kietbry From the start 'y-the Journal has always hoisted high -the Hag of its own State Another v-wpo em eome eorrenoudenee and little general nd loreigd uews HU the remainder the eeeond page -One finds ea the third page thi wuarters of a column report of the praceediags of the Maine Leg-v islature the Goeeruor'S message toiled dawn to half column three er four msrriagen and deaths and lowing characteristic paragraph is found: shall not cease to mke war with intemperance while we an able to strike a blow for the public good and yet we shall carry on the contest in oar own way by no means seeking to brand si with an iron our fellow-men whore views do not coincide with The Journal pursued an even tenor for seven or eight years An examination of the files shows that the first copy is a good sample of all the net It contains many spirited articles on the growth of the town the need of improvements etc and certain articles not quite so spirited for instance a labored editorial over a column long headed Character of the Ancient Atheniapa" The number of articles of this aort Indicates that somebody tht editorial staff cultivated asaiduoual acquaintance with the dud na and their 'languages From article giving more modern information one learns that Lewiston then ranked the eecohd town in Lincoln county an to the product of wheat After the Journal hu had a few existence there appears curious advertisement anaoudng that 60 American girls are wasted thru columns of advertisements to work in the cotton mills ef Lowell thxee-eolumn report of the sensational proceedings of the Charleston convention There arc fourteen columns of advertisnauts Lively political articles ate numerous Bat tor a column headed and Belighnu' on the outside the Journal of I860 might be taken for a modern paper The paper of today do not label the morale of their tales It wu in 1867 that the Weekly was enlarged to the quarto torn but it had only fin columns to the page Its make-up and general appuranee was very muck like that of the recent itorial articles for th 'Journal and local Mirt" gaining space for toil fay carefully coudsrlng all foreign and out-of-State nawi I began to seek news eonespqndsiits in tht towns where toe Journal circulated 1 made the local news a specialty and adopted the rule since atrictly pro peroua and suecesafuL With thla' change tho Journal-added lta Mag-asine Beetioa which hu alnea bSea maintained a part of ita Saturday Tha work an tha Journal ge ve special attention to the political campaign of 1868 which resulted hi th election of Hannibal Hamlin aa governor and the defeat cf Fremont' had purposed going West to commence the business which I de- urgent signed to follow bat at the urg Weekly Tht first page was occn-pted by a leaded paragraphed Aa Week:" the seeead page by Home and gaaaral news items the third page by puzzles short articlu for children and advertisemmts the fourth page by editorials and news the fifth page Capt William Waldron My father had removed to Auburn or Corner' it wu' then called in the preceding autumn from WaL do jeounty I had been teaching school in Waldo county during the winter wu my custom during my my Maa la 1866 the Journal wan enlarged to seven columns III Elmt Politics Ia jtfd the Journal fta became After two thru issues the advertisements dwindle to two eoluwns fourth page Ja devoted to agri-i culture poetry and stories lbs yalutetgry editorial thcfol- he red to to toe Journal1 Haver bad Thera wu coutanl increase la osmteoea ramu Omt giving laeaLend Stole newt the first to- -A v1: -'sf 'r-k teV 1.