USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 10
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The present generation need to be informed of the fact that there was once a "feature" of the weekly press called the Carrier's Address,-a production written presumably by the carrier, but in fact by some local "poet," 2 the ad- dress printed on a separate sheet, and left by the boy, on New Year's Day, at the homes of the local subscribers, with the expectation that every subscriber would in return present the carrier with a five or ten-cent piece-or more. The Star "Carrier Boy's Address" dated January 11, 1850, was a genuine "boost" for Fort Des Moines concluding with these words-words doubtless embodying more truth than poetry :
"Now just before I close my song, I'll give our town a 'push along' And sure it stands to all confest, The greatest place in all the West. Altho' no lofty temples rise, To pierce the blue and vaulted skies; Altho' no gilded domes reflect The noonday rays-yet I expect That when the mills of Van and Dean 3 Begin to puff, sights will be seen. With frolic Fun the town is rife, We've all the luxuries of life, Liquors to drink, Girls to marry- Lots of babies and one to carry"!
Barlow Granger's "Editorial Adieu," January 15, '52, lets the reader into some of the joys and sorrows of editing and publishing "a seven-column paper in a five-column town."
First. the joys-a keen recollection of the public's "kind indulgencies" and of its "just appreciation of the many difficulties" which the editor had en- countered. He says: "Notwithstanding the frequent freezings up of our press and types causing delays in the issue, and our own editorial neglect, caused by the many difficulties that surrounded us, subscribers have continued to 'take the paper ;'-nay more, they have cheered us on with their kind words and gen-
2 J. H. Posegate attributes this address to Dr. Dewey. See "Reminiscences," etc., in another chapter.
3 Proprietors of a saw-mill then in process of erection on the south side of the Raccoon.
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erous sympathies." For his "hard labor and pecuniary loss," the editor feels fully compensated in the assurance that the Star has a "permanent foundation," and will go on "prospering and to prosper !" He has no apology for his democ- racy. From his earliest youth he has been a Democrat, and is sure that upon the supremacy of his party "depends the future happiness and prosperity of our mighty Republic." He has aimed to make the Star "a hebdomadal of pleasure and profit, and feels he has in a measure succeeded."
The new management pledge the Star to radical democracy. While they regard democratic principles as "changeless and immutable," the new editor believes "that they are progressive in their character and effect." Some of the refinements of modern politics are suggested by this clever play upon words : "A Democrat who falters or goes back is half a Whig. A Whig who gets ahead of his party is more than half a Democrat."
On the 28th of November, 1850, Mr. Johnson's name is dropped from the Star, and that of Curtis Bates, stands alone as editor and publisher.+ Mr. Bates begins his editorial career with an apology. Honored with an appointment as a delegate to the railroad convention to be held in Iowa City, December 5, he will necessarily be absent several weeks, during which time the paper will be edited by his worthy foreman, M. L. Morris, "who will do everything up about right." Any scantiness of editorial will .only last until the editor gets to "the city, and has time to write and forward by mail."
The new editor waxes eloquent over the then much talked-of dissolution of the Union : "What! the union dissolve? As well might you expect to see the stupenduous Appenines crumble away, that have towered for ages in the im- maculate ether, and around which the pure sunlight of heaven has played for- ever! Not until the last spark shall have died away upon liberty's altar; not until the dark clouds of ignorance and superstition shall lower around our hori- zon and the blazing fagots of fanaticism and insane violence kindled to flash and glare on our country-will that great CHARTER that was signed with patriot prayers and patriot tears, be blotted by discord and torn by disunion." Then, dismounting from his Pegasus, the editor admits that "a few more flourishing speeches, a little more quarreling, a few more conventions, and the people will finally think that there is some danger for the perpetuity of our institutions !"
As the campaign of 1850 progressed, the amenities were exchanged between the Star and the Gazette in such phrases as "wanton and unprecedented calumnies and falsehoods," "base insinuations," etc. The Star was the "loco-foco organ." and the Gazette, the mouthpiece of "Whiggery."
In its issue of December 15, 1850, the Star accuses the Gazette of plagiarism from the Burlington Hawkeye and insists that the plagiarism embodied a false- hood which the Gazette editor published knowingly, thus doubling his culpa- bility.
On the IOth of January, 1850, Rev. Thompson Bird officiated at the mar- riage of Isaac J. Cole and Hannah C. Dean, both of Polk county, and the Star informs the public that "the printer was kindly remembered," and, in return, said printers wished them "the realization of all their brightest hopes." But the affair was not so lightly dismissed. A five-stanza poem on the happy event was "communicated" by some anonymous poet of the period, of which the fol- lowing is the initial stanza:
"The bridal hour, what thoughts arise To fill the lover's mind ; For now within his bosom lies, Sadness and mirth combined.
4 Mr. F. M. Posegate, in his youth an employe in the office of the store, a half century, afterwards referred to George Bates as the ideal man of his youth.
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The groom looks on his affianced bride, Emotions fill his breast, Of ardent thought ; as by his side A lovely form is placed."
The original poem closes with the pious wish that the wedded pair may "live happy, free from strife, and be both good and wise," and that "they may enjoy the Savior's love, to all eternity."
The difficulties with which our publisher in the early Fifties contended, and the seriousness of the transportation question from the standpoint of the Fort Des Moines merchants of the period, are illustrated in an apologetic item of January 25, 1851, in which the reader is informed that the failure to get out the Star last week was because the necessary print paper lay at Bonaparte, with other freight past due at Fort Des Moines.
In his issue of February 20, '51, the editor now announced as Curtis Bates, reads the Democrats the suggestive lesson of the Gazette's enforced suspension, frankly saying: "The Star having suffered everything but death from the same disease very naturally sympathizes with the Gazette in its afflictions." He hopes his paper has passed the turning point ; but urges its Democratic readers to "pay." Without patrons and pay the Star must cease. "If any one doubts this," he refers the doubter to "the dying declarations of the Gazette, and such declara- tions are always received as good evidence in courts of justice."
The advent of W. W. Williamson as "temporary editor of the Iowa State Journal was the signal for an editorial war between Bates and Williamson be- side which the "divisive strife" deplored by "Uncle Dick" Clarkson, nearly a half century later, was mimicry of war! In the Star of March 20, '51, "this 'wiseacre' was accused of 'chicanery,' and a host of other offences, and was threateningly advised to emigrate west to some point where rail timber is scarce." "Veritas" comes to the support of the Star with a communication in which Williamson is tenderly referred to as a vanquished coward deserving of the castigation he has received. "Hystrix" uses his cudgel also, berating the "Phoenix of the defunct Gazette," "the Decemviri who managed the concern" and its temporary editor, who would "exist-ass-like-by snuffing up the north wind."
About this time the Star readers are informed of the inability of its law- yer-editor to write editorials and at the same time try cases in court. In one of his frequent editorial apologies, Mr. Bates frankly expresses his thankful- ness for a good excuse, inasmuch as he is "as scarce of something to write about" as he is "of time to write it in."
Following the valedictory of the temporary editor of the Journal, the Star of August 21, '51, congratulated that paper's readers on their release !
A' wedding notice appears September II, followed by the words "Minus- the cake !"
The next change in the management of the Star occurred September 4, 1851, when Dr. A. Y. Hull, associated himself with Judge Bates. In his "bow edi- torial" Dr. Hull confesses to misgivings as to his ability, but promises to write "so as to be understood," relying on the "clemency of a lenient public." When his quill fails, he will rely upon "a mammoth pair of scissors." He promises that the Star shall be "no less Democratic than heretofore."
The Star, conservative in matters relating to local taxation, in its issue of October 16, '51, is sobered by public responsibility following the incorporation of the town, and gravely cautions its ,readers that inasmuch as Fort Des Moines is "now incorporated, and must bear the burthens which it [incorporation] will necessarily impose," the taxpayers ought to have "as much of the quid pro quo as possible," and suggests as a starter the grading of the streets. This pessi- mistic utterance was followed by a two-weeks' vacation for the Star. On No- vember 13, the editor lamely apologizes for the lapse, attributing it to "circum-
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stances beyond our control," and assuring his patrons that for the future he will "guard against similar contingencies."
Chill November, a year later, brings from the editor a pathetic appeal for wood in payment for arrearages in subscriptions; and to make the appeal more pathetic the paper comes to its readers reduced to half its regular size.
Returning to his "sanctum," after several weeks absence, the lawyer-editor mounts his "old rickety tripod," and patiently waits for "an idea." Waiting in vain, he exclaims, "What shall we do?" He invokes "the Sacred Nine," asking them to vouchsafe their "silvery song," and this is all the inspiration vouchsafed :
"We know we are a poet, And all will surely know it; Our machine it grinds to[o] fast by far, To supply the columns of the Star."
The editor soon gets down to prose. In his issue of January 17, '52, he admits the "poor appearance of his paper," but attributes it to the fact that one of his boys "was absent on a visit to his friends," and his foreman "was also several days absent, fixing up the preliminaries in order to join himself to a better half."
April 29, Dr. Hull announced his intention to return to the farm-fifteen miles distant, where he hoped to raise sufficient to supply his family with food.
From April 8 to June 17, 1852, the Star frequently slumbered. On the 17th of June, Dr. Hull stepped down and out, having accepted the Democratic nomi- nation for State Senator, and Judge Bates's name again appears as editor.
Vexatious as these suspensions were, the editor says, "to us it is a serious loss, by impairing confidence of the public in the stability of the paper." He expresses a determination to "keep the paper agoing," as long as he was "able to work and think," the stories circulated by his "loco-foco friends to the contrary notwithstanding." Experience had severely taught him how hard it was to publish a paper so far from its base of supplies, especially with "a long list of delinquent subscribers to drag along;" but having undertaken it, he didn't intend "to give in as long as flesh and sinew hold out," "buoying ourself with the hope that ultimately we may be rewarded with at least a support for ourself and family."
The approaching Fourth of July, 1852, awakens the enthusiasm of the editor of June 16. He waxes eloquent :
"Let modest shouts from uncontrolled lips make the welkin ring, as in the days of old, with the huzzas of Heaven-born freedom !"
On June 24, the editor, Curtis Bates, says the very delicate state of his health for the last two or three months is the apology offered for the want of editorial attention to the Star. Incidentally he wonders if delinquent subscribers "realize that the Star must have paper and ink and the editor and printers food and raiment."
On the 22d of July, the editor had no foreman, but had "three devils, and the way they develop things in the office is a caution to newspaper publishers." Then, again, he adds: "The weather is getting its temper up to such a heat as to melt our rollers and they run down."
But there were other foes of the Star besides extremes of heat and cold, lack of transportation facilities, the interference of courts, conventions and legislatures with the editor's duties. On January 13, 1853, that paper presents a bran-new apology! Sometime past, he says, "we have been compelled to issue a half sheet, as we have not till now been able to repair the injuries which some rascal committed last Fall. We are now in the field once more, ready to receive friends by day and rascals by night."
In the same issue the editor announces the defeat of the first Capital-removal bill in the Senate, but adds: "Fort Des Moines still remains in the centre of
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the State ; still retains the trade of, the rich and beautiful country around about, [is] still on the banks of the Des Moines, the improvement of which promises to be splendidly completed," etc.
Between February 3 and April 28, '53, no paper was issued from the Star office. The paper ordered weeks ago, said the editor in a miserably poor half- sheet issue, had not come yet; he had been expecting it for nearly a month. "But," added he, with stoical philosophy, "disappointments will sometimes come in spite of us."
In a pardonably ungracious mood the editor, in the same issue scolds his fellow-citizens for being "cool as a frosty morning, apparently resting in fancied security upon the supposition that the natural advantages of Fort Des Moines are such as to attract every railroad hither."
The summer of 1853 found the editor feeling actually optimistic! On the 4th of June, he exclaims, "What may not Fort Des Moines become !" In his mind's eye he sees the future commercial importance of Fort Des Moines, "the head of navigation," with six boats then plying the river, carrying the trade of Fort Des Moines and St. Louis, three of the boats at the time "at our levee," and with certain "prospect of railroad connection with the East at no distant day."
In a badly printed half-sheet, issued December I, the editor apologizes for the appearance of the paper in a pitifully facetious fashion. He refers to the sore and crippled hands of his men so crippled that they were "unable to work a part of the time since our last issue and consequently we have been without hands. Next week we expect to do better as the crippled hands are able to work again; unless some new misfortune makes its appear- ance. We expect another hand before another week, and 'then and O then' if things don't go a little better in publishing the 'Star' somebody will see 'Stars' if our subscribers don't."
Things went better apparently, for in the next number of the incomplete file, that of January 19, 1854, was the announcement of a complete change in the management of the Star. At the head of the Democratic State ticket, "for Governor," stood the name of the Star editor, Curtis Bates, of Polk county; at the head of the editorial page was the name of D. O. Finch as editor, and on the first page, appeared the firm name of S. W. Hill and Company, publishers.5
In his farewell editorial, Judge Bates refers feelingly to "the difficulties of carrying on a newspaper in a country as new and sparsely settled as this was when he became connected with the Star. Until within the last year," he adds, "the receipts of the Printing Office fell far short of the necessary ex- penditures, and the deficit had to be made up as far as possible in some other way, and for this purpose I devoted considerable of my time to the practice of law, and still, with all of the ready means which I could raise, it was all I could do to keep the paper alive."
He commends to the public "D. O. Finch, Esq., as editor, who has had some experience in that business, and who will gracefully fill the editorial chair and wield a ready and vigorous pen and in political matter always on the democratic style."
Mr. Finch, in a brief salutatory, says he has "consented to act as the editor of the Star for a time," and assures his readers in Fort Des Moines that he will continue "in the advocacy of sound democratic principles," and that "the pros- perity of our growing town and thriving country will not be forgotten in the excitement of politics."
Mr. Finch continued to edit the Star until its suspension, August 17, 1854,
5 The nomination of Bates for governor was celebrated at the Stutsman tavern after- wards the Demoine House, corner of First and Walnut. Speeches were made by Casady, McHenry. Finch and other leading Democrats, in recognition of the high compliment paid their distinguished townsman.
ISAAC COOPER Pioneer Builder and Contractor
JOHN P. SAYLOR Pioneer Farmer and Government Contractor
E. J. INGERSOLL Pioneer Insurance Man. Organizer and First President of the Hawkeye Fire Insurance Company
PETER NEWCOMER Pioneer of 1843
JOSIAH M. THRIFT Tailor for the Dragoons of Fort Des Moines and prominent citizen of the town after the departure of the troops
R. W. SYPHER Pioneer Merchant
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imparting to its editorial page an attractive individuality and an increase in strength and force.
We next find, in May, 1854, the names of Messrs. Hill & Company and Mr. Finch attached to the Fort Des Moines Argus-though without break in the serial number of the Star. In June the old name is resumed, but with Messrs. Hill & O'Grady as the paper's publishers. No editorial reference is made to these changes.
The last issue of the Star, included in the file from which these notes are taken,-that of August 17, 1854,-announced editorially and with turned column- rules, the death of Thomas P. O'Grady, for a short time one of the paper's pro- prietors. O'Grady had bought into the Star in April, but was prevented by illness from entering on his new career until the following June, when he re- moved from Keokuk to Fort Des Moines.
The Fort Des Moines Gazette.
The first number of the Fort Des Moines Gazette6 was issued January 14, 1850, with Lampson P. Sherman,7 editor and proprietor, the printing office lo- cated "at the Point." The paper was well printed, in long primer and brevier type, with seven wide columns to the page. The effort of "getting out" the first number was so exhausting that in the issue of January 18, the editor says : "To enable us to 'put our house in order,' and make a fair start, no paper was issued from this office last week."
The Gazette was a whig paper in politics, the growing whig sentiment in the community and county seeming to warrant its publication. But an examina- tion of the fifty-one numbers which rounded out its career reveals the fact that, important as the party organ was then regarded, the editor did not lose sight of the fact that a newspaper is primarily a news paper. Every number contains a carefully prepared epitome of world, congressional, state and local news and a good selection of general literature. To all this was added what in its editor's judgment was just enough editorial comment to straighten out the political quirks of the Star and to lead the theretofore unshepherded whigs in the way that they should go.
A passing glance at the advertising in this number will reveal to the experi- enced eye the fact that the bulk of it is non-paying, as for example, nearly a column of "set matter" given up to the prospectus of The Columbian, about to be issued in Cincinnati; a half-column, to the perennial Living Age; and abundant space to the Louisville Journal (edited by George D. Prentice) ; the Cincinnati Gazette; the Congressional Globe, the Home Journal, of George P. Morris and N. P. Willis ; The Cultivator, by Luther F. Tucker ; Graham's Maga- zine; Peterson's Magazine; Hunt's Merchant's Magazine; The New York Tribune, by Greeley & McElrath; Holden's Dollar Monthly (afterwards Bal- lou's), and the Fort Des Moines Gazette.
In the Gazette's prospectus, the publisher announces that while the paper will be "a Newspaper in every sense of the word," "in politics it will be de- cidedly whig," its editor having "been reared in a school which knows of no
6 The only file of the Gazette known to have survived the perennial peril to old news- papers-that of house-cleaning-is that now jointly owned by Miss Minnie Sherman and Mr. John Sherman, surviving daughter and son of the editor and proprietor of the paper. The first number of the Gazette was evidently not bound in with the rest. All the other numbers of the initial, and only, volume are fairly well preserved. The author is under many obligations to the surviving son and daughter for opportunity to study this valuable first-hand contribution to the History of Des Moines and Polk County as well.
7 Mr. Sherman was a brother of General and Senator Sherman, and a half-brother of Hoyt Sherman, who had preceded him to Fort Des Moines. He was a practical printer, and had for several years been foreman of the Cincinnati Gazette.
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compromise." But, adds the editor, he "wishes it perfectly understood that under his control the paper shall never become the vehicle of private abuse and personal slander." Farther on he frankly states that "he has by the investment of his entire capital identified himself with the citizens of the Des Moines Valley," and "he will never prove recreant to their interests, or be backward when they can receive advantage from his efforts,"-a pledge bravely kept to the end of Mr. Sherman's career as editor and publisher.
That picturesque advertising is not altogether a Twentieth Century accom- plishment is shown by the "ad" of Messrs. Lyon & Allen. These clever ad- vertisers announce that they purpose to supply everything that can be called for, "from a silk dress to a goose yoke." They "always keep a good fire," their "clerks are attentive and polite," and they invite both "Town and Country" to call. They conclude with a pathetic appeal to their debtors to call and settle. Unlike the chameleon, they "cannot live upon air." They find language "in- adequate to the stern necessity that rules" them. Their "emotions upon this occasion are solemn." In short, they insist upon "a general settlement."
The "poetry" in this number extends even to the advertising! Messrs. Lyon & Allen embody in their ad. six stanzas, most of them ending with:
"And just a little more."
They advertise, along with jeans and satinets, "augurs that will bore;" and along with ginger, buttons, nails and flax; fancy sacks "that button down be- fore." The last stanza is quite poetical :
"By wind and tide our bark was tost Upon the Des Moines shore ; We mean to sell our GOODS AT COST, . And just a TRIFLE MORE !! "
But there were others who, like Silas Wegg, dropt into poetry on occasion with a mercenary intent. Listen to this :
The White frost,
Glittering, hung upon the pendant grass,
Reflecting brightly back the slanting rays 'till all the broad prairie in mirror'd beauty Glistened, Far in the distance, dragging slow, Like a wounded snake, its length along, With pontrous strength, on slow revolving wheels,
Its snowy canvass shining in the sun, Is seen a mighty train of-four ox teams Loaded to the guards with a most rich freight, Of Dry Goods and Groceries, and Queensware, for E. WISE & CO."
In The Gazette of May 24, the editor vents his sorrow that he is not able to issue a paper next week, "scarcity of teams this spring preventing us from ob- taining our supply of paper from the river in time."
The Gazette's issue of July 19, 1850, appears with "turned rules" in mourn- ing for the death of the whig president, Zachary Taylor. Its editor says : "There never has been a president who has manifested more wisdom and mode- ration in the conduct of the affairs of the nation than General Taylor, and now that there is nothing to be feared from praising him, we trust those who dif- fered with him in sentiment will not refuse to award him some little virtue."
The issue of August 2, on the eve of election is largely devoted to editorials and contributed articles correcting the campaign lies of the democrats !
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The way of the young whig editor was steadily growing harder and more uphill. September 13, "the sickness of the editor" serves as "an excuse for the lack of editorials."
Then follows a hiatus extending from September 20 to October 18, which the editor explains as follows: "Sickness of our hands and a disappointment in the receipt of paper has interrupted the issue of the Gazette the last three weeks."
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