The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-07-29

| times higher than he had ever paid be-
fore. Louis saks had a quarter of a
page at an increase of 80 times pei
inch what he had paid the old State
Herald for advertising He went up in
the air when mentioned the rate tic
him, and said he thought 1 wanted him
Ito buy the damn paper on the first
day." But he was good enough sport
to go into legitimate newspaper adver-
Using, and he has been advertising even
since, spending seven or eight times as
The result is shown in his business to-
day over what it was then,
Caheen, j. D. Collins, John w. ONei1l
Drennen & Co., Hirsch. M. We'll & Bro.
Burger Dry Goods Co.. and other mer-
chants who are doing big business to-
day, were in that issue. Not one OF
them paid less than from ten to thirty
times per inch more than they had paid
before.
Years before, when Frank O'Brien and
w. P. Pinckard owned this paper, it had
been called The Age-Herald. They had
consolidated the old Iron Age and the
Herald. Later when O'Brien and Pinck-
ard and the coterie of others failed,
there was another morning paper in this
town known as the Daily State. These
two newspapers were combined and
called the State-Herald, which rapidly
degenerated into a financial corpse. A
large majority of the stock of this news
paper I acquired When 1 began to print
it. it was made The Age-Herald.
II X
The first night was a strenuous one
There was an old foreman of the COM
posing room, Clancy by name. of Scotch
descent, who made up the paper in the
Vi oCl G0Py Cdlllo up anu was sci Ill type.
London story might be on the first
column of the first page, next to which
was a local police court story, then a
Bessemer story, and then some society
news, followed by a Washington dis
patch describing the Inauguration of a
prae or ha oSeiy 80 =,
foreign minister.
When I went into the composing room
and instructed him that telegraphic
news should go on the front page; addi-
tional telegraphic news on, the second
page; state news on the third; editorials
and comment on the fourth; local news
on the fifth; society on the sixth; sports
and markets on the seventh and addi-
tional local and general news on the
eighth. he looked me over with an ex-
preston of disgust and said: 1.-THE ed
itors place is in the editorial rooms If
you don't like the way I make up this
paper, you had better make it up your
self"
Thanks very much" said. "If you
will kindly take a seat on that stool
in front of the type case. will do it."
well. I resign right here and now,'
he said.
Resignation accepted" 1 replied.
Then. having set type for year in
my younger days on the Augusta
Chronicle, I proceeded to make up the
forms in my own way and in a way
that the average reader Of newspaper
would know where to look for the class
of news he desires to read. Within half
an hour he walked up to the makeup
resignation and go to work. I laughingly
responded that designations once ac-
cepted could never be withdrawn, and
I have carried out that rule to this
day.
The other printers, who, by the way,
hadn't been paid in full for several
weeks by the old organization, quickly
volunteered on the makeup and we is
sued a real good live 16-page newspa-
per the next morning. 1t was in two
sections, it is true, of eight pages EACH
and these had to be run off on the
press separately and folded together by
hand. But it was real good newspaper.
and it has been improving every oay
since.
In the first editorial there were such
paragraphs as these:
Primarily 1t will be newspaper.
and it will be as bright and enterprise
ing as brains, money and hard work
can make 1t. 'Ss
1t will be democratic and indepen-
dent; as independent as it is demo-
cratic; as democratic as it is indie
pendent 49,"
At this time, however, it is unneces-
lift WITH THE 7