The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-04-14
At B, Uncle Bob Paine Completes 60 Years In the Newspaper Business
First NEA Head: Quit Law To
 Become Reporter
By PHIL SINNOTT (NEA Service Staff Correspondent

NNEA 0cEtlCc 0LdH COrFeSpOn0e0LD
 San Francisco, April 14-"What's all the fuss about?" busters Uncle Bob" Paine. T decided I wanted to go to work for E. w. Scripps. wrote him letter. He hired be as a re- porter-and I haven't missed a pay check since. Lots of other news papermen in the same boat"
 Robert Finlay Paine, however, has held his job little longer than the average newspaperman. On April 6, 60 years will have elapsed since he went to work as a reporter on the old Penny Press in Cleveland, O.
 Paine was young lawyer about the time the Penny Press started in 1879. But he decided that the aims and policies of the Penny Press were more to his liking than law.
 T had the waterfront beat-five miles of levees, river boats, and tough joints to cover every day." he says. "The day was 12 or 13 hours long, and there were no tele- phones, no trolleys nor taxis. No rewriteS either-you got around and got your story, and then you came in and wrote it."
 Bob liked this, but he felt it real promotion when he went to the city hall beat, where reporters rode around on fire engines and patrol wagons. His city hall service led to the editorship of the Press, where his vigorous leadership guided that paper upward for many years. He still is its editor emeritus.
 But the Cleveland Press editor ship was just one of his jobs. He helped in the founding of other E. w. Scripps newspapers. He bound together two or three small tele- graphic news services as the nucelus of what now is the United Press Associations. He was first president and general manager of NEA Service.
 Miss Ellen Scripps, sister of E. w., was on the Press staff. She turned in feature articles of varying length, with unusual sidelights on events of the time. After praising this material and its possibilities to Scripps, Bob was ordered to spend part of the editorial budget develop ing the idea for all the Scripps papers. And from this came NEA- worlds greatest newspaper feature service of which the Waterbury Democrat is an associate member.
 When fire and earthquake razed San Francisco in April, 1906, Paine was in Sacramento. He walked most of the way back and helped his boys in reopening the first news paper plant, using livery stable in Oakland.
 He set up various other Scripps enterprises, announced his retire. ment several times. But he's still on the job.
 He's 83 now. He maintains his office in the San Francisco News editorial quarters, where he's in con- tact with the staff and with world affairs. He contributes editorials and editorial page material to the News and other Scripps- Howard news papers.
 Six decades have shown Editor Paine vast change in newspapers mostly for the better, he says.
 "They are more diversified than in the old days. They provide in terest for the whole family"
 Bob sees steady procession of youngsters starting in the game, or just piring for chance to get started. Looking back to his wa terfront days in Cleveland = the burly battles without benefit of telephones, radio, planes-Bob feels pity for them.
 There's no fun in it now, com- pared to when I started-no thrill of riding a careening fire engine as its horses galloped, no pulling a rowboat if necessary. But guess to the newcomers it does seem as glamorous as ever"