George Stanley Turnbull

“ Plenty of verbal strength is shown, plenty of fire, but this is not the Harvey Scott of 1900. Here is the last paragraph of the editorial:
Upon this fiendish spirit of murder which has been sedulously propagated and inflamed by the disloyal men and the disloyal press of the North, there must be meted out the fullest retribution. Thousands on thousands have fallen as sacrifices to the truculent spirit of revenge and hate by which this conflict was begun; but of all these martyrs, the blood of none calls so loudly for vengeance, as that of the murdered Abraham Lincoln. Loyal men of the North! ”

“ The Examiner, with what it was able to save out of the fire, got out a typographically nondescript extra the next day, then lent its equipment to the harder-hit Rustler to get out its extra a day or two later. The Rustler's expression of gratitude was classic. "We cannot," said the Rustler, "express our gratitude here as we feel it. It is the kind of a favor that touches the soul deeper than words or ordinary favors. What ever we may do in the future, run a newspaper, ranch, or saw wood, this act will be cherished as the one pleasant memory of the Lakeview fire." ”

“ But what has happened, is that the improving work of the reporters, here and abroad, has made the news so interesting, has covered vital situations so well, that there is an aroused interest, a hunger for interpretation and for opinion—which some daring innovators want given in the news story itself but which conservative editors want retained on the editorial page, fearing to trust interpreters not to vitiate the facts themselves. Reporters have built up, in the last forty or fifty years, an ability to get and to handle detail that has made reading of their news a thrill. ”

“ There was a brilliant assemblage of the "fair sex" of Oregon; and although in the far west, yet from the gay display that night we are proud to state that the infant colony can boast of as pretty faces and handsome "figures" as the mother country. Dancing commenced at 8 o'clock, and it was pleasing to see the "tripping on the light fantastic toe" kept up with such spirit. The dresses of the ladies was a theme of universal admiration, combining neat ness, elegance, and ease. ”

“ We have always regarded a newspaper as a mirror in which all may look and see the events of the day as they pass, and as a journal in which are to be re corded for future reference the public acts and deeds of men ”

“ On his personal side, Scott throughout his career worked so hard, read so much, studied so deeply that he had little time for the lighter things of life. Even in his home, the thing that was singled out for comment by such men as Alfred Holman, his brilliant associate on the Oregonian for many years, and Charles H. Chapman was his extensive library. He cared nothing for sports. And yet there is every indication that his contacts with his fellows—business and professional men, reporters, printers —were smooth. Printers who worked for him never lost a feeling of admiration and personal loyalty. ”

“ It need not be assumed that the press as a whole has consistently been one grand, uplifting, enlightening, and educating influence on mankind. "The press," a human institution, is subject to all human weaknesses. It however, and has been through its history, the most effective instrument for promoting and protecting liberty and stimulating the general spread of political, economic, social, and cultural advance. Such, in the main, has been its record in Oregon from the beginning. ”

“ There is no country better adapted to produce a large overplus of the necessaries of life, than Oregon. There is no country more favorably situated for a ready and reliable market for everything the soil and climate will produce, than Oregon. Then why this everlasting cry of hard times? . . . there are too many speculators, gentlemen of leisure, and men who live by their wits among us . . . the anti-sweat society . . . disproportioned in number to the hard working honest labor and tiller of the soil. ”

“ Yellowness in journalism has not triumphed; the tempo has speeded up, pictorial journalism has come in, with the aid of processes undreamed of through the greater part of Mr. Piper's career. This, however, can be classed as bright, vivid, direct journalism, not necessarily "yellow."
In his years as editor of the Oregonian Mr. Piper became, like Mr. Scott, a real institution. With all his strength and studiousness he never lost the human touch. He liked to mix with his fellows. ”

“ How to get it and still crowd in the news, together with all the other encroachments on newspaper space, is an unsolved question. Condense, condense, condense, is the cry; but if a little condensation is good, more is not necessarily better. Overelimination of detail must mean reduced interest—which is not good for the paper. Anyhow, larger type sizes, more legible type faces are in use than in the early newspapers, and the result is easier read ing for a reader that's harder to hold than the pioneer for whom reading had less competition. ”

“ The best legislator is the most practical man—the man who, if he sees he cannot suppress or abolish the evils with which he has to deal, will abate or diminish them as far as he can. He is as far, too, from overstepping the bounds of prudence and judgment and defeating his object in that way, as he is from sitting down in a helpless despair, with a whine that nothing at all can be done. . . . Today it (the Oregonian) would insist more strongly if possible than ever before, on high license as a means of reducing the evils of the liquor traffic. ”

“ A bitter personal fight has been made against the Tribune because it printed the truth. It has fought anew the battle for the freedom of the press. It has been boycotted because its policy could not be controlled. Its editor has been thrown in jail, unjustly convicted and fined, slugged on the streets, and denied justice by two grand juries. . . But having established the justice of its cause, The Tribune, with charity for all, bears malice toward none.
The paper had 13 columns of advertising out of a total of 28 columns of space that day—a percentage which usually means a profitable paper. ”

“ No man of clearer vision, in a peculiar crisis, or more resolute to meet the demands of an occasion, has ever appeared in our affairs. His second election was one of the fortunate incidents of the history of the United States. . . .In all its history the act of no statesman has been more completely vindicated by results, and by the recognition of his countrymen, than that of Grover Cleveland in ridding the country of the financial fallacies that at tended the silver fiat money propaganda.
The movement after the war to pay its cost with greenbacks was fought by the Oregonian. ”

“ But every man wakens now and then from the lethargy of the soul which we call 'routine'; the 'crowded hour of glorious life' comes flaming; for most of us it passes with no record but regret; the lyric poet makes it eternal in his song. ”

“ After all, what one most desires home news, and the matter of local news, the Sun will be thorough and comprehensive.
. . . Its expressions will always be found fearless in the cause of good government, national, state, and municipal.
. . . The expensive details of the publication of paper of this size are reduced to minimum of cost by reason of its cooperative character. Every person, from the editorial force down to the newsboy who will deliver to the readers, enlisted in the cause and its success. . . With antagonism to none, and hearty good wishes to all, the Sun has been issue started. ”

“ We want the assistance and hearty cooperation of every citizen, irrespective of party affiliation. . . . We have an abiding faith in this little city, and we are here to stay. While we cannot please all, we will aim to do what is just and right between man and man.
A prospectus carried in another column declared the paper to be "fearless, free, and independent," resembling Bob Johnson's "independent, fearless, and free" on the Corvallis Times two years before.
Moorhead gave the people a good home-town weekly, and appreciation was expressed by a steady increase in advertising. ”

“ There are many things that are trivial, some foolish, but all of them in some degree reflect the peculiarities of the times in which we live. Hereafter, when historians commence the history of a community, they will immediately hunt up the old musty files of the local newspaper, and then the Local Items will be looked upon as a mirror of the time in which they were written. ”

“ Launching his daily, Austin made Alonzo Leland editor. Leland declared himself in the first issue as follows:
We do not always expect to be brilliant and abounding in thought which will awaken the best energy of our readers.—But we promise to treat all questions discussed with candor and fairness, and to strive to be equal in interest to the temperature of the public mind.
In time Austin became more devoted to his violin than to the paper, and with Leland lacking the "stuff" provided by such editors as Simeon Francis and other fore-runners of Harvey Scott, the Times died in 1864. ”

“ Let every man who can cultivate an acre of land, stay away from the gold mines and do so; he will then make more money with less labor, than ninety-nine out of a hundred who go to the mines. Those who cultivate the earth can count with a reasonable certainty upon a harvest proportionate to the amount of labor performed. . .
Secure your claim—clear, plough, plant, and cultivate the soil, and you are sure of making your "pile" in a short time. What more do you want? Remember that at least about twenty thousand persons are now about starting over land for Oregon. ”

“ There is not a single sensational tabloid in Oregon, and with an occasional short—lived exception in Portland, there has not been.
Pictorial journalism—under which the Oregonian, formerly almost solid type, is now nearly one-fourth picture, has made a rather more rapid advance than other aspects of the changing newspaper. It makes for rapid reading, gives a better idea of some stories than verbal description can give, makes the paper more decorative, not to say more artistic. ”

“ THE story of Oregon journalism properly told would be an index of the story of Oregon. To the limit of their resources in money and talent the Oregon papers, from the beginning, have reflected the community. They have themselves participated in the weakness as well as the strength of the community as it found itself through the various stages of Oregon history.
Pioneer Oregon was a political Oregon; men were politically minded. The United States itself was young when Oregon was settled, and many of the old-timers could speak from personal observation of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. ”

“ If the people of Oregon would put forth the same efforts and adopt the same methods to become a producing people that they do in the eastern states, we should hear no more complaint of "hard times" except from the lips of universal grumblers. If the farmers would plow and reap, sow and thresh, and sell the products of their farms at the market prices, be the same more or less, this complaint of hard times would seldom be heard. ”

“ Resolved, that the press association present to the honor able the legislative assembly of this state, now in session, that in our opinion it is advisable that efficient legislation shall be had that shall define the responsibilities of public journalists and offer a check to undue license and that spirit of defamation sometimes prevalent and which is always to be deplored as an injury to social progress as well as to individual rights. We desire the press should be held sharply responsible for any undue transgression against private rights and the sacred ties of family. ”

“ After a red-hot heading like that one would expect some fire works pretty early in the story, but here is the way it started.
On a hot day the Tombs Prison is not a relief to the eye. The fiery sun glaring on the granite walls reflects the heat, and it strikes the faces of the passers-by with ten-fold effect. To get into the Tombs you must apply at the entrance in Franklin street. Mark Finley, the keeper, is one of the best fellows in the world, and when a reporter calls he unbends himself and takes the visitor all around to see the sights. The lion of the Tombs just now is Edward S. Stokes. ”