Racine Journal-Times, Fri Feb 24 1939
Publisher Tells Own Story of Newspaper Growth Through Years
Circulation Less Than Tenth of Present Figure When He Joined Staff in Spring of 1898

By F. R. Starbuck

Going back 40 years is not hard to visualize to one who has been in constant touch with one business. In fact, in some ways, it seems only yesterday that I entered regular employment in the then Racine Journal office in the spring of 1898 after being in California for three years working on my father’s fruit farm at San Jose.

One of my first introductions to daily routine was to watch the eight-page press turn out about 1,500 papers per issue (less than a tenth of the Journal-Times present city circulation alone). But there were three daily papers then, the Journal, the News and the Times.

I think we had seven person in the office force then, which included executives, two typesetting machines (we now have 12 and two additional type-making machines). One man did the stereotyping and ran the press (we now have seven or eight employed in this capacity). I do not think we had over 15 carriers (now over 150 with helpers); probably six to seven printers, where now there are 30 and more at times; no janitor, as a boy took care of the furnace (now there are three).

Two Reporters; Brief Wire.

There were two reporters, Dave Griswold and George Herzog (where now there are at least 12, including desk men). As to proof-readers, where three and four are now busy, the few proofs those days were left on a desk in the office until about 11:30, when several of us would take a couple or so each and send them back for correction at noon.

As to telegraph, where three leased wires with an aggregate of some 75,000 words a day come into this office, then an abbreviated report of around 1,200 to 1,500 words per day was handled, and most of the time hardly half of it found its way into the paper.

We had a few country correspondents compared to 40 to 50 now, and as a rule the letters didn’t get into the paper for nearly a week. When it came to soliciting and handling advertising copy there was “no such animal,” as Mr. Tostevin, the business manager, looked after some of it, and it was two or three years afterward, along in 1900 or 1901, before even one man did this outside work (now there are employed nine men and two women in this department).

There was only one regular run of what we now term large display space, and that wsas the store operated by Harnett & Campbell (afterward Harnetts, and before that Clark’s Bazaar Bargains). Along about this time, several years later, the late F. J. Osius ran a page ad for six consecutive issues which stood as a record for some years.

Late Papers Quite Often.

If the majority of people received their paper any time between 5:30 and 6 o’clock, and even later, there were no special complaints. I have seen many Fridays, the busy day, when the press would never start until 4:30 and 5 o’clock, which did mean protests then. Improved press facilities were installed in 1907 — a 16-page press — but even then, with the exchanging of copy involving three papers, late papers on busy days were the rule. Contrast that with the present. The new Journal-Times press is supposed to start around 3 to 3:05, and about 20,000 papers are run off in an hour. Of course this also includes some 3,000 mail circulation, and most of the carriers are not out of school until nearly 4 o’clock, but bundles sent out by truck are supposed to be ready for delivery at that time or shortly afterward.

Had More Than One Job.

With such a small personnel 40 years ago, and also running a job print plant in the same building, naturally everyone at time was engaged in several different activities. Personally I can remember going out on a little collection work after handling some copy, or on more than one occasion seeing if the furnace was well stoked; trying to keep job work going along after robbing that department of just about all of its two or three printers to help out in the ad department on busy days. Many a time when job work accumulated, some customer would have to wait until the last moment for programs, tickets, etc. One just hated to answer the telephone because it was so difficult to say which job would be turn out first.

An old Otto gas engine was one of the great perplexities of the day. Just so many times the electric spark wouldn’t catch, which meant turning a large wheel by hand until it did start.

The Rope Elevator.

An old style method was that of moving the elevator from the second floor to the basement by rope. All the type forms were made up on the second floor and went down to the basement. On several occasions I remember the rope broke and a hurry call was sent to the life saving station for one of the guards who knew how to splice. Twice I recall the type form going down with such a jolt that half of the made up page went on the floor. And then there was a late paper.

As I grow older I can see that each age brings its own trials and tribulations. It’s just one more argument as to which generation has the worst of it. You can take your own choice of whether you are worried because of late press, longer hours, poor equipment or the problems of today.

In 1899 a 10-hour day was the rule, and a little shorter one Saturdays. Vacations were practically not known. One never heard of businessmen’s outings, meetings of various groups of merchants, etc. There was one restaurant — that conducted by Lena Johnson, and if 10 or 12 people ate there at one time, it was considered a crowd.

Dances and Hacks.

Of course autos were not in evidence, and when a young man took his girls to a party, to save expense and divide the $3.00 charge, generally two couple occupied the so-called hack. I well remember on one occasion one young man who wanted to be termed a real sport, hired a carriage just for himself and girl. As a result he was just about ostracized.

The dances were generally held at Castle hall, Masonic hall and Guild hall. At one time, Evergreen hall, near Lakeside, was a popular place for summer dances, and the interurban car was used to get there. Of course no liquor was ever sold at these places, and on the very few occasion that young men slipped out to get a couple of drinks they were practically cut dead. A great deal of the time the young people walked home in the late hours, often from one extreme of the city to the other. The North Western railroad bridge was often used as a short cut. No one apparently ever seemed to think of a holdup or any of the tragic crimes that occur nowadays. I can even remember that occasionally at some card part, when it came to drawing lots to see who would be partners at pedro, or cinch as it was generally called, some of the young men would get the hostess to fix the cards so that they wouldn’t draw the name of some young lady who lived a mile or two away.

No Liquor Problem.

Even though the crowd averaged around 23 to 25 years, I don’t believe anyone knew what a highball or cocktail was. Not that we were any better or worse than others of our age, but most of the young people those days didn’t get much further than a glass of beer (which they probably purchased to have a good grab at the copious free lunch which seemed so good in its array of various sausages, cut meats, pickles, etc.)

Probably the greatest form of diversion was the lake trip to Milwaukee. Those who didn’t go crowded the docks at night to see who did make the trip. On several occasions, with a rough lake, seasickness prevailed and the immune ones walked around eating sandwiches or talking about luscious pork and beans. The Chicago trip was like going to Europe, and several businessmen of Racine used to go down regularly, to buy vegetables, sleeping on the deck or chairs, to save berth expense.

The Dance Programs.

Speaking of dances, the printed programs given each one before the first number contained nothing but waltzes and two steps, and unlike today where the dance numbers are longer and fewer in number, with the young mean so many times with their partner of the evening, it was supposed to be bad form for the one bringing his young lady to the dance to take more than the first, after supper and final dance, with possibly a fourth one out of 23 to 25 dances called the first extra.

Now some of these incidents, or call them reminiscences if preferred, may sound rather trite, as there are plenty of older people the city who can remember equally well or talk more interestingly, but a topic has been assigned to me, hence the going back to the so-called “Gay Nineties.”

Six Months’ Collections.

But referring again to the newspaper field, there were still several of the larger stores that settled up only once or twice a year. This meant, with the small volume of business those days, that after July 1 and Jan. 1, we collected some fairly large amounts for those days. To my chagrin, on several occasions, I would find that after my first call to collect, the proprietor had left on a business trip, hence a procrastinating wait. Those were the days when occasionally we issued checks on Saturday, figuring that Sunday’s or Monday’s mail would bring enough to cover the overdraft.

And speaking of Sunday mail, the lineup at the postoffice on Sabbath morning, between 9 and 10 o’clock, was quite large. We just thought something was wrong if we couldn’t look over the mail. So when the custom was abolished, for some time it was a matter of anxiety to see how we could get along.

As to long hours that stores kept open, some of the largest kept their same clerks on duty several nights a week. Barber shops stayed open until 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning to accommodate the late trade, because those who shaved themselves were comparatively few. Clothing and butcher shops were open Sunday morning.

Typewriters and Marriages.

Speaking of typewriters, how many of our readers can remember the old Yost machine with a double keyboard? I remember my father took two of them to California in 1912 and was able to have them kept in shape until he died in 1929. It was a great convenience to him in writing, as being blind he could use the capitals and lower case letters as desired.

How well I remember the marriage writeups of 40 years ago. It was a common practice to publish a full list of present and the donors, and a frequent statement was made that “the groom was attired in the conventional black.”

Sold Journal in Chicago.

What excitement prevailed in Racine in April, 1898, with the break out of the Spanish American war! The year was certainly a hectic one with Company F leaving for Jacksonville in April Then on May 1 occurred Dewey’s great victory at Manila bay, with the news that a Racine boy, Richard Covert, had been wounded in action. But it was on July 4 the same year that the Journal’s force spent an exciting day. The stereotypers on all the Chicago papers went on a strike, with outside papers pouring in to tell of the destruction of Cervera’s squadron by Admirals Sampson and Schley, where they had been bottled up in in Santiago harbor. Mr. Tostevin and myself conceived what was thought to be a brilliant idea of printing about 4,000 four page papers with the Associated Press report of that battle and expressing them to Chicago, going down by train ourselves and selling them on the street corners. Well, we each grabbed a bundle on arrival and started to yell our paper. We sold about $25 worth and disposed of the rest to newsboys for a few dollars more. We didn’t make any money but had a real day of it. Those were the days you could sell thousands of copies of a good extra, but radio has stopped that.

Bicyclists at Night.

A pretty sight in 1898 was College avenue at night when the bicycle craze was at its height; the entire thoroughfare being the latest one to be paved and, in fact one of the very few in Racine with any paving at all, was crowded. There were a couple of tandems in the city, and were their riders cocky? In fact, I rented one on several occasions, having the temerity to invite a girl to help on the pedaling for a spin several miles out of the city. The only time I wished a man was along was when we came to the hills where it seemed I had to do most of the work. A Racine-made wheel with a supposedly improved style of wooden spokes made its appearance, but from my one experience replacing the broken ones, it didn’t seem to be any success; in fact, the whole framework also was of wood.

Celebrated Stage Stars.

Those were the days when it was the height of a young man’s ambition to spend $3 to take his best girl for a performance at the Racine theater and sit in the parquet circle, where they could be observed at the ends by most of the audience. And about that time and afterwards some real starts appeared in Racine, like Nat Goodwin, Sol Smith Russell, Janaushek, William Lackaye and others. The last balcony was often described as a very dirty place after a performance as just so many tobacco chewers added their bit to the filth and aroma; so in that respect at least we have improved. Probably Flint, the hypnotist, a perfect giant of a man, weighing 300 pounds, drew the largest audience in a week’s performance. How the Racine victims (supposedly under his spell) cavorted around the stage and even down into the aisles! Those were also the days of the real minstrel shows — Primrose and Thatcher, Dockstaders and others. But some shows were unlucky, being booked on a blizzardy night. I have known good attractions to be presented with an audience of less than a dozen. With the prevalence of women smoking cigarets, compared with public opinion 40 years ago, one can well imagine the talk that occurred when a well-known actress in the play “The Fringe of Society,” reclined on a davenport smoking a cigarette.

Some things do not even change in 40 years. For instance, the price of coffee in the average drug store or restaurant is still five cents. And there were places where a good piece of pie could be obtained for five cents. As for room and board, five dollars ensured a nice room and meals in a private family, but those days are gone forever.