The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-10-22
WHY is THE HERALD?
CONTINUED from page q

tion of the Harlan Herald, which
the paper should have been called
On New Years night of this year
the owner of the Palace Hotel gave
a little dance, as he himself said,
in order that the poor farmers might
have a little fun and company for
once in their lonly lives. Give the
man his due, he did not wish to
make any money out of the enter
tainment himself. He just wanted
to return some of the many kindness
es he had received at the hands of
these said farmers. But what hap
pened? These farmers insisted on
staying all night and were so un-
mannerly as to pay for their rooms,
and occasionally they got thirsty
whilst they danced, and again they
were so rude to their host that they
paid for their drinks. Now when
closing time came these unruly
guests insisted that eighteen hours
was not long enough in which to
quench their burning thirst. There
fore, though against the law, the
bar of the Palace Hotel kept open,
which was not quite fair to the law
abiding saloon keepers VII . had paid
their license too. But what could
Wilkins do? He had to consider his
guests and their wishes we're para
mount to the law. True he could
have given them the refreshments,
and thus been without the pale of
the law, but his guests would not
stand for such hospitality. A min
ion of the law, not understanding
the true situation and being an Of
ficious sort of fellow any way, ac-
tually arrested the proprietor and a
still more unappreciative court, not
being able to see the matter as it
stood, was so dead to the laws of
hospitality that it fined him $100,
and that was more than the Palace
had made that night. l know this is
so, because Mr.. Wilkins himself told
me SO.
Now there was another man just
as stupid as the judge who imposed
the fine. He was the editor of the
Gazette Times, who actually thought
the judge was right to enforce the
law according to the oath he had
taken and he actually said so in his
paper.
From that moment his fate was
sealed his monopoly was to cease.
However, it took some little time to
get man who could be relied upon
to see these things in their true light.
The trouble is that the journalistic
profession as a whole is one which
attracts men of ideals, men of hon
or, men who are so foolish that they
even forget at times who buffers
their bread. In time man was
| found. This was one l.. X. Harlan,
who was then managing small pa
per in the city of lone. Harlan was
not too satisfied with the amount of
support that he was getting in lone.
True the local men of affairs had
put him on his feet and supported
him through the most trying time of
their commercial year, but it was
not enough, and now that Harlan
was getting a little Independent he
wanted more than the merchants
could give. The town was too small
for man of his ability, any way.
As he had recently done from Con-
don, so he now looked from lone for
another place in which to make a
little raise. In his journeys in
search of the "fall guy, he met j.
L. Wilkins, and Wilkins. who was no
fool in his reading of the chapter of
self-preservation, recognized in Har-
Ian the man for whom he searched
long and found at last. | said in my
preoration, it will be remembered,
that this class of man enteres
through the back door every once in
WullS. w llhluS was oCdlShiAS AoA
Harlan and Harlan was looking for
Wilkins, and when they met it did
not take long to decide that they
could be mutually helpful Harlan
was to put the Gazette-Times out of
business with the least possible de-
lay and Wilkins was to find the ad-
vertisers and to arrange the finan-
cling Of the infant until strong
enough to stand upon its own legs.
Harlan's part was easy. All he had
! to do was to smear little soft soap
over the simple farmer and hustle
around for news and advertisements.
He was there with the soft soap in
great style; in fact he put it on SO
thick that some of his subjects near
ly smothered and turned sick. As
one farmer put it to me, What is
the use of that man saying in his
paper that | am one Of the most pros
porous farmers in the Black Horse
when every man in the country
knows that | am heavy in debt?'
do you subscribe for the paper?'
asked him. NO." he replied, "but
The always sends it to me just the
same" And he is not likely to gel
that man to subscribe for a paper il
which he can place no more reliance