The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-05
J. c. shafer, Newest Magnate Of NeWspaperdom.

In the newspaper world, consolida.- ton and combination seem to be s'the order of the day. to revive that good old phrase of the country correspon- dent Among he great daily mag mates of the twentieth century WiI- liam Randolph Hearst. owner of nine daily newspapers in cities from the At lantic to the Pacific, and six American and two English magazines, stands as the classic example on this side of the blue and briny ocean, while Lord Northc1iffe occupies a similar position in British Jourpalism. Frank A. Nun sey's publications the Scripps string of newspapers and various other groups are monuments to the journal istic ambitions of their founders. Tn Canada Sir Hugh Graham, who start ed his career as off1c boy of the Mon trea1 DaiaIy Telegraph at the age of fifteens became general manager at seventeen, half owner of the Montreal Star at nineteen and sole owner at twenty-one, has lately manifested a. similar inclination for the accumula.- ton of newspaper properties.
 One of the latest additions to the list of newspaper nagnates is John Charles Shaffer. owner Of the Shafrer group of daily journals in the central west. MT. Shaffer lacked the journal istic precocity of Sir Hugh Graham and he was long engaged in other ac-
 
 paper field.
 MT. Shaffer was born in Baltimore sixty-one years ago today June 5. 1858, and was educated in the public schools of the Marynad metropolis He early entered upon a. business ca reer, and at twenty-five organized and became the controlling head of the firm of John c. Shafrer & Company, commission merchants Chicago was then just recovering from the mem orabIe fire which had reduced a large part of the city to debris and ashes, and MT. Shaffer was one of that army of young men who, taking '.I will'' their motto, helped to rear the great Chicag of today.
 When the electric street railway be gan to take the place of the old horse and cable lines, MT Shamer climbed aboard on the ground hoor- In 1868 he assumed the presidency of the street railway company of Richmond, Ind. and in the following year he or ganized a syndicate and secured con troI of all the street railways of In- dianapolis. Later he became interested in traction lines in Chicago and other cities, and built up a large and nutri- tious fortune.
 MT. Shaffer's connection with the Fourth Estate began in 1901, when he became president and publisher of the Chicago Evening Post He was so SuCCSSSIul W1Ln Cn1S property I41kaC Predetermined to extend his newspa- per interests. The Indianapolis Star, the Terre Haute Star. and the M11ncie' Star, which he purchased, made him the dominant figure in Hoosier jour nalism The Louisville Herald was his next acquisition All Of these pub Hcatfons thr1ved under the Shaffer management
 The latest additions to the Shafrer group are the Rocky Mountain News, of Denver, and the Denver Times. The former was purchased by MT. ShafHer from former United States Senator Thomas M Patterson, who had owned the News for twenty years. MT. Shaf- fer's entrance into Colorado journal ism has been marked by a first class ''rookus," as the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. in which the RockefelIers own a large interest, became peevish at the style in which the News and Times treated the affair at Ludlow, and brought suit for libel against MT. Shaffer and his papers, asking the neat little sum of $6oOsoOO a sa1ve for l it's wounded feelings. The Rocky Mountain News has asked the press to ''watch this case closely" declaring it is "a fight for the freedom of the press against special interests