Lebanon Daily News (Newspaper) - September 9, 1942, Lebanon, Pennsylvania PAGE TWO LEBANON DAILY NEWS LEBANON PA PUBLICATION OF FIRST EDITION OF NEWS GRAPHICALLY RETOLD SEPT 0 1042 John And Jim Smith Printed Initial Copies Of Daily News On Little Hand Press Seventy Years Ago Trace Develop ment Of Paper To Its Present Status It was nearly midnight ir a cool early full Two Journeymen printers struggled pa with a balky little hand in a second floor storeroom As the rickety old press finally turned week later than had originally been two printers eagerly scanned the first copy of the simple newspaper they had produced After years of planning and dreaming months of scrimping and Raving and weeks of work and they were at long last newspaper publishers andin their hands they held the first fruit of their labors Proud indeed were these men in that moment despite the fact that the future for such a venture was none too prom ising The following morning the paper made its initial appear ance on the uptown streets causing quite a stir among the inhabitants the town then boasted The date was September The two printers were John and Jm Smith brothers and comparative newcomers to the community The newspaper they founded was the Lebanon Daily News The News wag born on the second floor of the building Which still stands at 14 South Eighth Street just five doors north of its present home A rather primitive printing shop which had as n aids product a German weekly known aa Der and later became Der was then in operation in those quarters John Young proprietor of both the building and the German weekly permitted the Smith brothers to use his shop and its facilities to print their new paper It was necessary however for the founders of the News to have much of their type set in the shop of the established Lebanon weekly The inasmuch as the equipment in Youngs plant was insufficient for producing a daily newspaper and most of the new type they had ordered had not yet arrived The initial issue of the new a Dimple affair with five columns of type on each page and measured 12 by 19 inches The single copy price was The subscription list was anything but lengthy and Smiths probably printed and distributed only about five hundred copies as their first days press run Competition was keen There were nearly a dozen news papers in regular issue in the county then many of them en joying rather largo and loyal followings hi the borough of Lebanon alone were published the following papers Lebanon Advertiser weekly Lebanon Courier Lebanon Valley Standard weekly German weekly Der Arbiter English and German The Wahrer Democrat German Of these perhaps the Courier was the best established and it frowned reprovingly on the upstart daily Competition was made as embarrassing as possible and quite naturally the older periodicals held an influence that could not easily be undermined Newspaper reading at that time was not commonly accepted as part of a regular days routine and subscription lists were small Merchants did not then appreciate the true value of advertising and as a result income from this source was negligible Then too there were mechanical problems to overcome for the printing shops of the seventies were nothing like the great modern plants of today All type of course was set by hand and although the printers of tho period were adept at this it was a slow and laborious process to compose four pages every day The press they used was an antiquated jobber and its motive power was supplied by hand Amazing as it seems the Smiths managed io publish their Daily News even under highly unfavorable They had launched their business with a sive knowledge of all that it meant to venture upon such an enterprise in a small town and were thus mentally prepared for the long bitter struggle for existence they experienced In an effort to improve their sheet the partners enlarged the page size to by inches with thn issue of October 4 1872 A few months Monday January 5 the News became an evening having begun its career originally as a morning daily it has remained an evening periodical ever since Casting off its Zeitung moorings the News moved io 10 South Eighth Street what is now the building in the first week in April This location soon proved in adequate however as the new revolving press they had pur chased for their new shop made the walls tremble and so in the late summer of 1873 the Smiths moved again This time they located across the street at 13 South Eighth Street in the D R Witmeyer building Independent Standard Set Years Ago Tho immediately following the Civil War is from 1865 to 1880 was one of reconstruction not only in the world of politics but also in the world of journalism changes were being wrought in the mechanical reproduction of newspapers but the war reacted in an other way on the American press by putting the editorial in the background During the stirring days of 186065 readers began to care less for editorial opinions and more for actual As a result a distinctly new type of journalism was being created Fast disappearing from the scene were such colorful personalities as Greeley Bennett Dana Raymond and their contemporaries Emphasis was gradually being placed on a straight reporting of facts Jess on bitter personal quarrels and biased viewpoints growing out of party affiliations and even outright en The evolution of independent journalism has ever been slow but it made a most appreciable advance dur ing the Period of Reconstruction That the Smith brothers founders of the NEWS envisioned this trend and subscribed to its principles was evidenced in the firs I editorial published in their initial issue defining the platform of their paper in this It will be an independent journal meaning neutral of course It will advocate the principles of no political party ring or clique We hold in common with all men our own personal Opinion on all questions moral social and political we shall exercise those principles and discharge our duty as citizens in accordance with our convictions in a private manner but we shall not al low our political opinions to find expression in these columns Down through the years and through the successive changes of ownership this has been the fundamental editorial concept of the Lebanon Daily News the code of action to which it has ever adhered for three score vears and ten papers were again brought into association under the same roof although retaining their original identity and having no physical or financial connection The two papers remained thus housed until the German weekly suspended publication early in the present century Reinhard and Sharp continued the publication of the News m connection with a job printing establishment for nearly twenty years during which period the paper continued to grow and prosper On Monday May 9 fifty yearn ago this past sold thuir right title and interest in the paper to A B Schropp Joseph H Light and Jacob G Schropp who became owners and publishers tinder the firm name of Schropp Light ami Schropp Mr Light was a printer and a prolific and forceful writer He had made two ventures of his own in the local newspaper field in 1882 and 1867 but without success Jacob Schropp the youngest member of the firm had learned his trade as a printer with the Smith brothers during their curly struggles A B Schropp had been an employe of the Gorman weekly paper for some time previously The trio had worked together fcr u time on that periodical and there became acquainted With their united energies and combined business experience progress was made from the moment they assumed owner ship of the Daily News although not without the difficulties summon to most business ventures Less than ten years of the now management had passed into history when Joseph Light passed away on April 26 His interest in the paper was disposed of by the adminis of his estate lo the surviving partners On April 2 1911 Jacob Schropp the younger of the two proprietors was claimed by death and with the adjudication of his estate his interests were taken over by his son John K R Schropp and A B Schropp On tho seventh day of December 1911 John K Toner then governor of Pennsylvania signed the document granting a charter to tho Lebanon News Publishing Company and the Ito business was first capitalized at A B Schropp was elected president of the firm ami John K R Schropp was made i me secretary Harry J Schropp an uncle of the latter was for LEBANON DAILY NEWS BORN IN Troublesome Times Witnessed Birth Of This Paper The decade In which the Leb anon Dully was born was ono unparalleled In times of peace for unreal violence rattled and cannon roared as Insurrection spurred on by revolution clamoring Com terrorized tho North while newly freed slaves goaded by mercenary carpetbaggers bat tled with their former for In the South The worst enemies of the Republic the spoilsman and the demagogue rising to new heights became su premo over our party form of gov It wast a period of depression with hunger In the hovel hard ship n the mansion and bank In public morality Politics The President of the United States In 1872 waa General Ulys ses S Grant 1 hern of the North In the War Hot ween tho States which hud but seven years before Hound out Ills first fouryear term in thu WhiteHouse Grant had been by tho Re publican Convention In Philadel phia In June for a second term Tho Democrats In na tional convention in Baltimore in July named Horace Grocley rol editor of the New York Tri hunc a former Republican as candidate Thus was the stage set for one of presidential cam in this nations history The Grant administration was charged with malfeasance in ot using he presidency to Inter fere with tyrannical arrogance in tho political affairs of states and accepting bribes and stimulating the demoralization of our political life by Uls conspicuous blocking necessary reform move ments keeping alive the passions und resentments of the late Civil War and using them to their own advantage smiling upon corrup tion and graft In the various de ot government wanton ly disregarding tho laws of the for selfish purposes usurping powers not granted by the Consti and proving beyond a doubt to lie deplorably unequal to tho task of running this country in an honest and efficient man such scathing Indictments as this truthful ns they supporters of Grant that tho Democrats such tho countered were slandering our great coun try far Its Importance was one of the fow achievements of the Grant administration that of re ducing taxes and tho nubile debt By recalling how tho Republican Party suppressed n re bellion emancipated four millions of Ihry helped keep the hatreds o tho war hut as sured themselves somo votes in November In nn effort to split Iho vote Republicans spon sored time treasurer of the company several rump conventions their vast spoils machine so Their Democrats On A c a 11 c a D e m n c r a t B and v i i 11 c Ji i m uu jji a HO The publication had by this time become a leading one Charles OConnor in the community Its circulation was counted in the thousands know and advertising lineage continued to increase Mechanical dif s P u e d h had all been ironed out with but one exception The though hP nominal organizer was press on which the paper was printed was outmoded and it a Democrat became a daily headache to see that the evergrowing news to note a paper was published on time Then too the number of papers n f 11 t f it could limited nomination of OConnor hy the To overcome this last remaining obstacle to the continued i growth of the News the corporation decided on a bold step minority i On 17 their national debut With an additional printer or two and other mechanical On Friday October 17 1913 the paper was first printed on tarrying among the advertisement of this very firm In its initial Issue With the of 1874 some thought might be as bad as the Panic of 1837 They proved to he worse Bankruptcies increased with each passing month reaching their peak In but even then no one at tempted io foretell the end of the depression Itn effects were observable in the Labor unionism had matured virtually overnight Immediately following the Civil War As a re sult organized labor counted members by late but the setting in of the disheartened tha rank and file and union membership rapidly during the en suing five years dropping nearly ninety percent hy 1878 This was first upsurge of organized labor to assume national tions Invention Despite the political and econ upheavals of tha turbulent Seventies the nation progressed The Golden Ago of Invention was just around the corner though few foresaw the amazing developments that lay ahead One that did probably WHS a young man who announced his duplex telegraph in making it pos sible to send two messages over the wire at Iha same time His namo was Thomas A min many more years had passed his genius war destined to give the world the lamp the the motion pic ture In 72 Alexander Graham Bel was dreaming ot speech transmission by wire which dream was realized three years loi WE SALUTE THESE FORMER NEWS EMPLOYES NOW IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY c daredevils had ascended into the skies In balloons by this time there were none who thought beyond this accomplishment to tising lineage grew apace Having nurtured the Lebanon News through its ho early months and having seen it gain a somewhat substant inl muU icd t hv 1A and so PO paper jn I of after their venture as publishers of a daily news i another In tnet i example of tl that dav for firms foresight in all things for it from papers in Canton Ohio a Prohibition sheet in before Volstead had ever been heard Paul and N V John the younger of the two brothers died at the age of 08 in in 1908 the surviving member of the team settled in to spend his remaining years and although there is no definite record it is that h loo passed on hiring his residence there On February 16 than wr years after the paper had been started the News was taken over by Dan M Sharp and his Joseph under the firm name of Reinhard and Sharp On the above date there appeared n new masthead on the front page and to this day it has served as a trademark of the paper Several years later Frank F Hauck who had in the mean time purchased the Yolks bought the Wagner prop erty at the corner of South Eighth Street nnd Walton Alley moved it with his establishment Reinhard and Sharp of the same building so that the two news rty yi A morning begun on February sorbed by the News in the Smiths had The Lebanon Times fit tins 1ST elect on civ Inn him new press installed in was u good mi but of the ballot in li i I i t f li p r i n nnd broken in n n twentyfour days his Ht the polls Economic Life In America was enjoying n period of prosperity hut the which hit did a boy at play with his yearold brother imagine the revolution the two of them would cause some 31 years later when they invented the first flying ma chine thus making their names Wilbur and Orville familiar to tho whole world as they were to themselves Literature nnd the Theater In hut slightly hotter than 10 per cent of tho nearly six thousand newspapers being pub in this country were dallies The weekly periodical was ac everywhere as pretty much n an institution and practically the entire literate population were regular readers ot one or another ot tho several leading weeklies of the tiny Foremost of these probably were Harpers Frank Leslies Illustrated News and The in ad dition ta these nationally known journals each community any supported n number of week ly papers ot Its own Lebanon for example hud a dozen such organs many published in Ger man when tha News made its bow as Iho countys first daily Thore were several outstanding monthly publications that en joyed a national circulation of considerable size In that day Most popular ot these wore Galaxy and Coders Ladys The outstanding author oE tho period was ilark Twain One ot his most famous hooks originally published in and he made a triumphant European tour the same year The theater was Introducing the star system nt about this time and the great names of the day Joseph Jefferson and Anderson r T had formed his traveling tent cir cus in and the following year he introduced a second ring and transportation by rail instead Snorts Cricket was in high public favor in hut it was soon to be displaced hy football Although the first intercollegiate game had been played three years earlier between Princeton sod Rutgers the real birth the sport dates from the was popular though not the national pastime it ii to day and the professional game was but three years old Pugilism was a favorite if somewhat disreputable sport among the fans of the period It was the of hare knuckle Ing and matches that lasted well beyond the accepted limit of the present day The ot rules for the Urn time In IS i 2 wore not lo b adopted for Wl Jem Mace 0110 of the last of tho was con tho worlds champion ot Mint day We find too the follow item in the first issue nt the vs Edwards won by former in rounds minutes Lebanon Daily Times which by Charles M was ab decided In e n is favor bit y was ab ribio whn hit and the full of tho paper ed became Lebanon snul us way riu nl s In linn t when Now Vork in nne its general of expansum tho News ob fi applied for membership in the K rentes I news or increase iP of them all the Associated Press in I Ill of 1C elected v A P thn I 4 J Ul Marly In Mi ft A i nip News began to receive its full wire ser nn n Of State national and world news on October 1 of the number of inor In mon is the only one of the four kins sports of the seventies that has since Ic lu 72 Now Vork nK nnd wore the three wore The was the most popular r of the at In Din larger rifles nnd i r same voar jc Into midst and dont with this an unprecedented In loriprors the Today seventy years after the News humble hirth it stands as the tone survivor of a score of period i mo cats once in existence here It has come a long way since that I The first September day in 1872 when John and Jim Smith printed its j f lf and on the morrow will begin its c ol uninterrupted publication slept a variety uniting Intn a pit s foot Hiph a from to 3 on rats were Irt into tbp pit and tho Harold Browr Harold Brown son of Mr and Mrs George Brown 425 Canal Street members ot Signal George Private George son of Mrs Annie E 211 Weld man Street inducted May 1012 now stationed at Camp Lee Va Richard Bentz First Class Richard A on of Mrs Elizabeth Tem plin 1122 Old Street graduate L H S class of 37 stationed at Norfolk Va in this unusual sport was the kill ing of 100 rats in 11 minutes it was in deed a si range world Into which the News damp from Its dilapi dated was born H wag a world In which the form of was under going ltd ncid lest with political And economic chaos abroad In the land It a world with a set of social values and a of life far different from those of the present day It was a world of weekly bare knuckle prize circus the du plex male fares a Inton comprised of but 37 stains carriage trans a Germany under His ami rigar store Indians tho score and ten yours thai have since that ora In which the News first w of dny the American undergone n of startling But this nation has continued to snd prosper nnd nnd the r News has gone for Treman A Shutter Seaman Second Class Treman A Shutter grandson ot and Sirs Harry Weaver 28 North Eighth Street enlisted December 1941 now stationed at Boston Mass Carl J Witmeyer Corp Curl J Witmeyer son of Mr Mrs John A 2 in East Main Street now stationed with U S Corps Camp Tenn Paul Reed Sgt Paul Reed U S Army Air Corps ion of Mr and Mrs Pau Reed 223 South Street en May 1542 now at Daniel Field Ga bunking n ward in with thf nation thr j p in ac fo njr wars of the past went years MIO ih S h the morrow its in K rtn thc jnh Tie year of uninterrupted best time over established by a dog publication Gordon Shutter Private Gordon Shutter of Rex mont son nf Mrs Beatrice Dunk cry Maryland graduate class of 38 now stationed with Engineer Corps Fort Va
