NEWWSERVER
BUILDING EDITION
SECTION ONE
PAGES 1T0 8
VOLUME XXVIII
LA GRANDE, OREGON, THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1930
NUMBER 266
INSTALLED IN NEW HOME
NEW
PRESS
FAST MODEL'
DUPLEX NOW
IN OPERATION
Observer's Latest Ad
dition to Equipment Mar
vel in Efficiency.
PUTS OUT 6,000
PAPERS AN HOUR
Replaces Old Press-. That
Formerly Served The
Observer Installed by
Factory Man
. l.a Grande and Union county
pruplo who will visit tho new home
uf The K veiling" Observer during
tho hist week will whow particular1
interest In tho new Duplex press
and marvel at Its speed and the
ease uf operation. - This pre.s. re
placing 'the old Duplex which has
ween over two decades of service,
most of this with Tho Observer, in
unquestionably the fastest and best
flatbed press manufactured at the
present time, and was secured by
Tho Observer In keeping with Its
policy uf securing tho best poHslhle
equipment in order to give its read
ers and advertisers the highest type
of service and efficiency.. 1 , .
Tho press, shipped here' from the
factory at Battle Creek, Mich.,
entiling through by -freight on tho
Union Tacifle. in seven days, and
weighing approximately 3 0,0 0 0
pounds, was installed by C. 1
Young, 1 factory representative In
charge of the Duplex mechanical
work on the Pacific coast 1 Mr.
Young started assembling tho jness
two weeks agQ. He has been with
the Duplex company for 30 years
and while in La (irande, expressed
tho opinion thut this city was ono
of tho most Interesting and pro
gressive he has been In, In propor
tion to its size.
The new Model K Duplex,1 dor
signed to print mid fold sin thous
and cluht-natre papers in' one hour's
run, is operated" by electric control, -
driven by a new lSi horse power
variable speed motor. The . press
arrived here about, three weeks
ago. the 10.000 pieces - coming
knocked down In separato'boxes.
As soon as tho progress of the
building allowed, Mr. Young Htnrt1
cd assembling tho press.
Tho new press Is guaranteed to
turn out li.Iiuo (tapers per hour, of
four, six or eight pages. In addi
tion, it will handle single and
double page hill. Because the
press. Is new and still somowhat
stiff. It has not been operated at
full speed, but It has already boon
run at n li.UUO ptiper per hour
speed, with highly satisfactory re
sults. This piVss, which stands on n
specially constructed foundation In
tho lower floor of Tho Observer
plant, is in an ideal location in
tho building, easily available to the
makeup department where 1he
separate pages are assembled and
locked up before tho pressman
places them in thulr proper posi
tions in tho press.
Tho press is so Installed, wit h
holts insulated with rubber hose
and washers. Hint practically every
bit of vibralion Is removed from
the building. This, perhaps, was
not absolutely necessary as the en
tire building Is thoroughly rein
forced in such a manner that a
presa would safely operate, but
tho Insulation provides the utmost
In ease and nulet when thp press
is In' operation.
Another feature of which the
publishers are rather proud. Is the
full electric control under which
tho press is operated, rusbhutton
stations, located in strategic points,
permit tho pressman to stop of jog
the press with utmost ease. In ad
dition the main station provides
starting and fast and slow running
controls, thus allowing a variable
speed.
The story of tho progress of the
printing industry with the Inven
tion of tho many marvelous and
complicated machines for the pro
duction of the modern newspaper
is undoubtedly n fascinating one.
Many years ago ull the type for a
paper was set by hand, this being
a slow and laborious process, and
requiring a large force when a daily
of any size was published.
Now all this Is done with ma
chinery in a fraction of the time.
Old presses were small, slow and
difficult to operate, but in com
parison, tho presses of today are
marvels of mechanical Ingenuity.
.Starting from n roll of paper weigh
ing hundreds of pounds, the paper
is carried through the press at high
speed', printing, cutting and folding
and turning out the complete paper
jiL ono operation.
In the Duplex pres one finds a
new standard of excell?nce. It is
compact and highly efficient
which means that it is all built on
the floor where the pressman can
operate it conveniently and not be
compelled to climb all over It as
was necewiry Mith older types of
presses which were so clumsy as
to eause their own disuse.
The development of the business
of The Observer and its move into
the new home, huve created the
demand fur a printing press of
(Continued on ?ag FlvV.
The Associated
Press Wire News
Serves Observer
Paper, in Instant Touch
With all C o r n e r s of
World Features' Also
Supplied by A. P.- i .
Tho Hvenlng Observer, now in
its new homo and with now press
and other equipment, continues as
a member of the Associated Press,
the greatest news gathering and
distributing : organization In the
world.
With' automatic teletype ma
chines In its office, which print
about 18,000 words of news from
all cornors of the globe dally, The
Observer jfs in dJUect touch In
instant touch with - the happen
ings throughout the world and In
Its afternoon editions, serves its
renders -with a" galaxy of reports
of the duy's doings, ranging from
thv fluctuations of the Chicago
wheat market to the latest hap
penings In tho Chinese war. from
international sports events in Ku
ropo to explorations at the poles
or the-earth, and from Wail street
quotations to the latest marriages
in Hollywood.
- Carefully Divided
..The. .18. 000. words dally are so
divided that eachr particular de
partment may receive its quota of
news markets, sports, general
news, womenfs events, elections,
human interest events, etc. The
stories como into the offico over
a leased .wire from Portland and
Salom, tho Associated I'ress distri
buting centers in Oregon sending
to papers In every section of this'
state accurately typed and requir
ing a minimum of editing. All that
is necessary Is a brief perusal of
tho story, possibly a bit of cutting
to fit tho space, and the writing
of a headline- and the story goes
buck to the linrftypc machines ai.d
Is transformed into type ready to
bo proof-read und then go into the
forms for printing.
On January 1, 1030, when the
last check was conducted, tho As
sociated Jress which is a noii-profitublc.-
co-operative organiza
tion with each member paper con
tributing Its share of news und pny
lng,lts' In-oportion" of .expenses
tho .membership of The Associated
.Pri&tl showed an increase of 34 over
Jan. -1, m'9. Oh that day there
were 1,1'SO member papers as com
pared to l.'-MC a year ago.
Tho dully report of the Associat
ed Press Is now being transmitted
over 220,000 miles of operating cir
cuits throughout the United .Status,
Involving the employment of ap
proximately 500 telegraph opera-
Above is a picture of .the new high-speed Model K Duplex piess which is now in daily operation on the lower floor of The Evening Observer') new plant on Sixth street, near
the intersection of Washington, Elm and Sixth. This giant will print and fold 0,000 eight-page papers, turning them out ready for delivery, in one hour. The press was in
stalled in The Observer building about two weeks ago by a factory representative and thoroughly letted before placed into daily operation.
. --
pf" r r" a "T
ti - ...1. s&iiki
The Observer, (luring tho earlier years of Its life in Iji (ntiule, ci'iipieil tho above building, which
was located on the same slur Mhich the present homo oceupUs. Tho wooden building was ercetetl by
J-1 red It. Carrey mid (icorgc D7. Carrey, clitois au'l publislters uf (he -paper, who arc. pictured at the
left above. The others, left to right, ftillow: Ole Krlckson, ml man; Syl Iturge.jiow thyul; Kloy Masscc
(now Mrs. A. V. Nelson); Hay I'tter, now fiend; Kfctl Sheets, ad man, who tiled recently at Wallovtu;
O. K. Collin, circulation; A. Y. Nelson, news alitor; and Otto Didiou, linotype operator, now dead.
Tho window at the left was the news room, which was about 4 by u feet In ("inciislons. At. thai time
the ,stnct In front of the offkre was unpaved and slilcwalks wcrc.'of wood construction.
tors and the use of more than 2,500
automatic telegraph printing ma
chines. In tho New York, office,
alone, 70 telegraph circuits are .in
operation, linking up more than
half of the country.
. .Millions of Words
News items from 1.850 different
cities, comprising 17,323 Items, with
a total of 2,5C2V715 words, were as
sembled and transmitted to mem
bers during one week wtyon u count
was made. ."While no one member
received this vast amount of news
it all flowed through tho regular-
channels to members as their news
needs required. The amount of
news handled dally .exceeds 300. r
000 words. 'Tabular market reports,
representing each day nearly 15
columns of newspaper space, were
not included in the survey. .
Brazil, Venezuela, ' Nicaragua.
Ciuatemale and tho Dutch Island
of Curacao were added during tho
last year to the last of Latin-American
countries with which the As
sociated I'ress exchanges ncwii. A
special service of American news
was Inaugurated to Spain, where it
: The Observer's New High-Speed Model E Duplex Press Now Operating
THE OBSERVER BUILDING
is supplied to 1 5 member papers
in Madrid and Barcelona. Through
out the world service, touching
every important city on the globe,
news connections woro strength
ened. l-Vaiuiv Service Added
A new addition during the last
year was the 'feature service, con
sisting of cartouns, comic strips and
panels and special feature articles
Jo he run daily. Tho Observer at
present is presenting the following
Associated I'ress features lo Its
readers HCorchy Smith, the Boy
Aviator: Oluria; Modest Maidens;
Villago J-ilfo, all comics; cartoons
on national events; special ft aturcs
including, 'Talks '.With lurents,;'
"Dally Menus." "Health Hints,"
' Kport Slants,' stylo stories, nuto
mobllo news, science news, and a
wide variety of general news stories
not carried on tho Associated I'ress
wlro and largely of educational In
terest, human interest, etc., de
signed to reach every class of read
er. The feature srvice also supplies
The Observer with dally news mats,
IN 1907
sent from Han c'runeisco and New
York, including It-lephoto and air
mail service when tho valuo of tho
pictures warrant the utmost In
speed. Recently Tho Observer
printed pictures of a major news
event that took place In tho east
within 18 hours after it oecured
tho pictures being flashed to San
Francisco by telepholo, then air
mailed to Portland, and then com
ing to ha Orandu via train to ar
rive hero as quickly almost as the
pictures wcro printed In metropoll
talu centers throughout tho, nation.
This news picture service Is gen
eral, touching upon practically
every phase. of news or curiosities
that wjll he of .Interest to American1
newspaper renders. Through this
same service it in possible for The
Observer to keep on hand pictures
of practically every person of prom
Incnco In the world, and this "mor
gue" as it Is called in newspaper
offices, is being built up dally.
Hundreds of matrices, ready for
instant casting, aro filed In The
f Continued on Pago Kour)
RECALL EVENTS OF
EARLY DAY IN THE
OBSERVER OFFICE
Kdltor'n Note Tho following
very interesting article docs not
attempt to follow The Observer's
history through tt earlier years
but deals largely with outstanding
ocoureiii-es,' men and women who
helped shaH Its destiny during the
period between 1005 and J1H5, most
of which time Tho Observer was
housed in u wooden building on
(he slto occupied by the present
plant.
Kver .since. Oultonhurg ce-dls-
covcred tho old Chineso invention
of sotting movable typo together
to convey thought by 'tho printed
page, thoro has been a fascination
and an appeal to tho masses In and
around newspaper officeH. It is
proverbial that onco printer's ink'
gets hold of a human, tho nffec
tion lasts. Tho past 30 years havo
been rich and interesting In,Ia
Grande newspaper history, lore and
human Interest. :
In tho early dnya of ThoOb
server whenever tho company purso
permitted and tho spasmodic com
petition demanded It, there would
bo a society editor. The financial
part of tho emoluments woro
meagro but tho social prestige
that was. the real pay. The prestige
amounted to something. Fr that
reason women prominent in tho
social affairs of that day wero moat
often Invited to tho society doslt
a dcak moro Imaginary than real
and was moro apt to bo a smooth
board laid ucrosH ono's.knee. Ono
such whose items had zip and real
ly metropolitan in consception and
selection of fashionable vorbiage
was Mrs. F. K. Moore, wifo of a
popular professional man, since
dead. Her homo now Is variously
California points and Purls. When
sho first look over tho job hIio had
as her houso guest Felice .Thymic, u
petilo Kansas City lass, who later
achieved world-wido famo in mu
sic, by soundly whipping ono Oscar
llummcrstuin and Lhls broko her
rise to world grand opera. Fellco
could hrcczo Into tho hack shop
and pack off a half dozen fluUnr
lug hearts whenever she took a no
tion. . Tho Mooro homo-was -built
In - tho Mrcinnto"- outskirts- where
tho W. C. Perkins home now stands.
Another society editor whoso
gracious smile wus an offico force
stlnuilfint was tho lato Mrs. J, J.
Carr. When ,n Grande wont dry
11 ad or the first local option tost,
Mrs. Curp worked at her doslt all
night und tho next day, receiving
and passing out tho "terrible news"
that even Perry had gone dry.
Another mission sho volunteered
h :
to undertake during that ovont wan
to bring delicious lunches from her
own cupboard for tho woary news
staff. Ono such lunch basket "was
heuvy with two bottles of Burgun
dy which sho had commandeered
from her husbnnd's wine cellar and
which sho intended for the whole
staff front and back: History fo
lates that tho Burgundy never
reached tho back shop for the
simple reason Fred Currey and
A. AV. Nelson saw it first. They
had then served 65 continuous
hours without a table meal and
had 12 yet to do. Tho stories that
day wero snappy.
.
Another woman Who attained
famo In local news writing was
Hdna Morrison Dudley now living
in Portland. Kdna was a hound
for news nono moro so but her
rot urn to tho offico was a daily
signal for trouble. It is said of hor
that shov would persistently tulk on
trivial subjects in tho most rush
ing hours of tho day much to tho
distraction of follow newshounds.
Ink wells and mild cussings had
no effect. Sho could write, she
would talk, and did both admirab
ly at tho samo time. "When the
sheet was out, her chattor would
ho entertalnmont of the best sort.
Tho first girl, probably, to break
In on a. regular news beat on Tho
Observer was Olivo Massee, now
Irs. tieorgo Huntington Currey.
Less than a month aftor hor arrival
on tho job an alarming Monday
morning found tho rcportorlnl staff
marooned behind a Kamola waah
out and tho boss himself gono fish
ing. Hho gathered up two days
news, wrote an editorial or. two,
waited on the customers, read tho
proofs, directed the make-up, was
out on time with a nowsy edition,
und tho next day was a full-fledged
reporter and hus boon ever slnco.
'
. Kxcept Tor tho Populist campaign
In tho DOs, no effort mado by Tho
Observer created such a struggle us
tho locul option fight. Tho cam-
iuiinn and tho election itself was
a terrible strain on tho force. To
begin -wltli George If, Curroy was
tho concoivor and en?inoor;of tho
movomcnt. Jin directed tho news
propaganda nd tho stories woro
dry as tinder and cuoh story opened
a soparulo wound somewhere in
town. His staff promulgated dry
ness whether they liked it or not.
When tho conflict became so tor
rid that neighbors passed without
speaking and Tho Observer stuff
(Continued on Pago1 Three)
FIRST DAILY
OBSERVER ON
PRESSIN'97
Newspaper Now in its
Thirty-Second Year
Many Changes Made.
-
"VOLUME 1, NO. 1" -
VERY INTERESTING
Started Out With Four-
page, Six-columm Morn
ing Edition r- Re-print
Several Items. ;
Tho dally Observer, now In Us ;
thirty-second year of existence, was
of a different complexion when It
camo Into existence on tho first day
of Docembor, 1897.
Now an evening- now&paper, then ;
It was a morning dully.
In tho flies of The Observer to-
day among tho most- interesting
of tho entire lot is one containing
Volume 1, numbers 1 to - 76, in
clusive tho first 76 issues of tho
daily Observer to bo published in
La Grande.
. Vivo Ownerships
Slnco that day in December, hack
In '07, the paper has been under
five ownerships. It was founded by :
Coorge and Pred Currey, aftor they
hud . issued an Eastern Oregon
Weekly Observer for a year and a
few weeks, and it romalned under-
their management until purchased
by Bruco Dennis. Ho published it
for awhllo, then sold it to Clark
Lelter and J. D. Meyers, who later
sold It hack to Mr. Dennis. Then
a few' years ago Mr. Dennis sold
It to K. B. Appleby, and tho present -Observer
Publishing company was
organized, . ,
. Four Six -Column Pages .
But to get back to the famous
old "Volume 1, No. 1," . , ,
. t was printed in four pages, on
paper 14 by 21 Inches, and con-,
stated of ,slx tcolumns of typo on .
each page, 13 ems In width; Tho
presofit paper, consists of eight
columns, 13 cms in width..
Tho old flies, yellowed with age,
tolls much of interestboth to tho
youngor generation and to tho older
generation. - .
Tho first column on tho-front
pngo of that first edition was inado
up partly of "Professional Curds,"
and among them wore those of Wil
liams & Co., real estate; Ueorgo B.
Curroy, -attorney-at-law; 3.. li.
Corpe, M. D.; O. W. BIggors, AI.
IX; Thomas R. Monk, M. D.; It. J.
Lincoln, denllHt; Finn & lvanhoo,
attorneys. Underneath the profes
sional cards was an advertisement
by tho Anderson & Fitzgerald bar
ber shop, who advertised, ' "Any
thing In tho tonsoriul lino," Moll
tor's Drug store followed; with this
messago: 4'01v your seed wheat a
doso of - medicine. Blue Vitriol
Chrystal, 6 lbs, for $1." Underneath
this and nt tho foot of tho column
was an advertisement , by CI. W.
Harris, watchmaker and jewclor.
(tononU News
Tho next culumn consisted of .
Kcuorat ue ins oi news, wmi uhh
heading: "Tho Pacific CoaHt . .
Tho Latest Happenings of Interest
Boiled Down . . .Measles Among
IndianH . . . Tho Columbia Rlvor
at Colllo Not to be Opened for
Somo Time Yet . . . Oregon Tobac
co." One item told of tho growing of
tobacco lu Polk!toUnty tho previous
year. Another said that 00 por cunt
of tho lumber mills in Washington
have, or will close down for the
winter. A third said the govern
ment has ordered the salo of old
PNrt Oolville In Wisconsin on Fob.
Oth. A fourth said: "Tho resldenco
of property belonging to Ben
Snipes, will bo sold at public salo
in Ynklma county, Washington In a
few daj-rt. Mr. Hnlpes was for a long
time the 'cattle king1 of Kastern
Oregon and Washington." A fifth,
said that measles were terrorizing
mothers among the Indians on tho
umaiuia renui viiuti.
Column Nrt. 3 on the front paga
In 1H!)7 started with news of a
"fearful storm" In the Phllliplnes,
Oct. 6, with heavy casualties. Two
nther Hems, one from Australia
and one from Portland, completed
that column. i ,
Hawaii Problem ' " '
News of a government deficit of
?8,r72,10y,'a letter from Mrs. J.-C.
Smith from Nicaragua written to
her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. ltur
ris, of the Cove, nnd three other
items filled tho next column. Ono
from Washington wild Senator
Lodgo says: "The first business of
(he Senate would bo to confirm tho
annexation of Hawaii."
Another advertisement, two col
umns In width, occupied the upper
right hand corner of the front page,
paid for by the old New York store.
jNuuomu njews events compicuiu
tho layout.
Over on pugo two. In the same '
position the New York storo oc
cupied on page one, was an ad
vert Iscment by tho Chicago store.
A bit of metropolitan rivalry in tho
good old days.
Other advertisements on that
pugo were uy w . a. iHessner, gro
cer; the Ltu, uranuo National uaiiK
(directors were J. M. Berry, Jay
Brooks, C. It. Goodnought . J. M.
A,-.
1 (Continued on Pago Two)