BUSINESS
Saturday, September 7, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
Starting a frontier newspaper required great optimism
Editor’s Note
In 2018, EO Media Group
published an historical book
by author William F. Will-
ingham, “Grit and Ink: An
Oregon Family’s Adventures
in Newspapering, 1908-
2018” (http://books.eomedi-
agroup.com/grit-ink/) Since
its publication, the fami-
ly-owned media company
that owns and operates the
East Oregonian has dou-
bled in size, having recently
acquired newspapers in La
Grande, Baker City, Bend
and Redmond. The following
story is excerpted from this
book and is part two of a
seven-part weekly series.
EO Media Group
The choice of George Pendle-
ton as the namesake for the new
town was unsurprising, given
the politics he represented and
the background of the communi-
ty’s early settlers. Most had emi-
grated from the South or border
states in the decade following
the Civil War. Senator Pendle-
ton, during the Civil War, was
aligned with the peace faction of
the Democratic Party and served
as the vice-presidential candidate
with General George McClellan
when he ran against Lincoln for
EOMG Photo
A copy of the East Oregonian from 1910.
the presidency in 1864.
In 1865, Pendleton voted in
Congress against the 13th Amend-
ment, which outlawed slavery.
This dramatic event would later
be immortalized in Steven Spiel-
berg’s movie, “Lincoln.” Senator
Pendleton later earned fame as
the father of the modern federal
Civil Service Reform Act of 1883,
which ended the “Spoils Sys-
tem” when selecting government
employees.
On the western frontier after
the Civil War, having a newspa-
per was a way of proclaiming that
a town was real and here to stay.
Along with schools and churches,
a newspaper provided an import-
ant measure of civilization and
order. A newspaper also served as
a potential unifying element and
a sense of identity as it attempted
to speak for the community. As
one observer of the western scene
noted, “just as every community
in the land must ... have a railroad
of its very own, so did every ham-
let and crossroad in the West pant
... for its own newspaper.”
Starting a newspaper in a fron-
tier setting required great opti-
mism. Success depended on the
growth of the new country. Such
a gamble was questionable during
the national economic hard times
that dominated much of the 1870s.
With farm prices stubbornly low
and transportation costs high,
most Oregon farmers could ill
afford a newspaper, even if it typ-
ically — like the EO — only cost
$4.00 or less a year. Moreover, all
too often newspapers folded with-
out warning, leaving subscribers
and advertisers no refund.
To
provide
some sense of
Mathew
Bull’s
determination to
succeed in the
newspaper busi-
ness in Pendle-
ton, he secured Mathew P. Bull
the backing of
four highly regarded local resi-
dents to guarantee subscribers
against loss. J. H. Turner, a law-
yer; A. Jacobson, a saloonkeeper;
Lot Livermore and I. C. Disoway,
merchants, provided the necessary
assurance against financial harm.
Small town newspaper pro-
prietors of that era spoke to
their readers more directly, even
bluntly, than a twenty-first cen-
tury publisher would. As was typ-
ical of that era, Bull operated on
a financial shoestring. Bull fre-
quently printed appeals for pay-
ment of past due amounts. From
time to time, Bull would remind
his readers why they should sup-
port their local newspaper.
Treasury unveils plan to privatize Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
current system leaves tax-
payers exposed to potential
bailouts again. Some law-
makers, both Republicans
and Democrats, agree with
that view.
Senior Treasury officials
told reporters Thursday that
the government’s far-reach-
ing power in this area means
the Federal Housing Finance
Agency can determine who
gets a home mortgage, the
price and terms of the loan,
how it is made, and then ser-
viced and what happens if a
borrower defaults.
By MARCY GORDON
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Trump administration has
unveiled its plan for end-
ing government control of
Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, the two giant mort-
gage finance companies that
nearly collapsed in the finan-
cial crisis 11 years ago and
were bailed out at a total cost
to taxpayers of $187 billion.
The administration’s plan
calls for returning Fannie
and Freddie to private own-
ership and reducing risk to
taxpayers. That while pre-
serving homebuyers’ access
to 30-year, fixed-rate mort-
gages, a pillar of hous-
ing finance. The Treasury
Department published the
plan Thursday and submit-
ted it to President Donald
Trump, who called for it in
March.
While not prominently
in the public eye, the two
companies perform a criti-
cal role in the housing mar-
ket. Together they guarantee
roughly half of the $10 tril-
lion U.S. home loan market.
Fannie and Freddie, oper-
ating under so-called gov-
ernment conservatorships,
have become profitable
again in the years since the
2008 rescue and have repaid
their bailouts in full to the
Treasury.
The administration ini-
tially looked to Congress
for legislation to overhaul
the housing finance system
and return the companies
to private shareholders. But
Congress hasn’t acted, and
now officials say they will
take administrative action
for the core change, end-
ing the Fannie and Freddie
conservatorships.
The new plan would
make the companies pri-
vately owned yet govern-
ment “sponsored” compa-
nies again. Their profits
would no longer go to the
Treasury but would be used
to build up their capital bases
as a cushion against possible
future losses.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
The Trump administration has unveiled its plan for ending government control of Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac.
in 2008, they were private
companies but still enjoyed
an implicit guarantee that
the government would step
in and rescue them if they
failed. That’s what hap-
pened after the collapse of
the housing market and the
wave of mortgage defaults.
The companies don’t
make home loans. They buy
them from banks and other
lenders, and bundle them
into securities, guarantee
them against default and sell
them to investors. Because
the companies are under
government control, inves-
tors are eager to snap up the
“safe” securities.
Administration officials
say the government should
have only a limited role in
housing finance, and that the
There are nitty-gritty
details of housing finance
in the plan, but the central
change is ending the con-
servatorships. Officials hav-
en’t given a timeline for the
administrative action.
Mark Calabria, the direc-
tor of the FHFA, indicated
recently that it wouldn’t be
any time soon, and likely
after 2020. Some conditions
will have to be met for the
ARE THERE
CONCERNS
WITH THE NEW
APPROACH?
Some
critics
have
expressed concern that the
new capital requirements for
the companies could cause
them to increase their fees
for guaranteeing mortgages,
potentially raising borrow-
ing costs for homebuyers.
Sen. Sherrod Brown of
Ohio, the senior Democrat
on the Senate Banking Com-
mittee, called the new plan
“another industry giveaway
that would destabilize the
economy ... and limit access
to mortgages for working
people across the country.”
“President Trump’s hous-
ing plan will make mort-
gages more expensive and
harder to get,” Brown said in
a statement.
I got screened.
Now, I’m talking about it.
Screening can prevent colorectal cancer
or catch the #2 cancer killer early when
it’s highly treatable. Most people get
screened because they’re encouraged
by someone they know and trust. So
if you’ve been screened, please talk
about your experience. And encourage
others to get screened too.
WHAT ARE FANNIE
MAE AND FREDDIE
MAC AND WHAT DO
THEY DO?
Before the Great Depres-
sion of the 1930s, financing
for mortgages was mainly
provided by life insur-
ance companies, banks and
thrifts, with little govern-
ment support. Fannie was
created in 1938 to buy loans
issued by the Federal Hous-
ing Administration. Freddie
was established in 1989.
They are called govern-
ment-sponsored enterprises.
Before they were taken over
WHY DOES
THE TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION
WANT TO END
GOVERNMENT
CONTROL?
WHAT IS THE
ADMINISTRATION
PROPOSING?
companies to be “ready to
exit,” he said. They include
ensuring the companies
have sufficient capital to
operate, and to continue on
their own in the event of a
severe economic downturn.
COLORECTAL CANCER
The cancer you can prevent.
TheCancerYouCanPrevent.org
Karen King
Pendleton, Oregon
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded campaign