its friends for their generosity in assisting it in purchasing the material. Among the contributors is G. W. Vaughn, Esq., credited with $100. It will be remembered that the Advocate generously defended Mr. Vaughn against some strictures in the Advertiser-communicated—a few weeks ago. We congratulate the Advocate on the high appreciation of a friendly act by Mr. Vaughn. It is another proof of the great utility of the public press.
The Advocate, like other papers of that period, leaned too heavily on volunteer contributions for its news, and the weakness of its own reporting was reflected in the scarcity of high-grade material of the type its publishers so earnestly desired.
The Advocate was of four-page, six-column format, the columns 15 ems (2½ inches) wide. Several columns were devoted to religious and educational matter. Advertising rates were $5 for one square of ten lines or less, three insertions, and $1 a square for each additional insertion.
There are indications that Mr. Pearne was far from narrow-minded. Note this generous reference to the natives of Jamaica, where he spent some time as a missionary. (96).
A current but mistaken idea held by foreigners visiting Jamaica is that the Jamaicans are people of lax morals. .. . One-fifth of the whole population are married, or they have been married and are widowers and widows. Two-fifths of the whole population are born in wedlock. Surely such a people are virtuous and happy.
As noted briefly elsewhere in this volume, the Oregon Statesman, now of Salem, was the first newspaper published in Corvallis. The location of the state capital is the key to the peregrinations of Asahel Bush's paper from Oregon City to Salem to Corvallis to Salem. The paper was published in Corvallis for a few months in 1855, while the "heart of the valley" town was the Oregon state capital.
The first newspaper that really was a Corvallis and Benton county institution was the Occidental Messenger, started by J. C. Avery and often lightly referred to by contemporaries as Avery's Ox. Its publisher was one of the two founders of Corvallis and the father of Mrs. B. F. Irvine, wife of the well-known editor-publisher of the old Corvallis Times who for many years was editor of the Oregon Journal of Portland. The first number of the Occidental Messenger appeared in June 1857, seven years after the Oregonian was founded and two years after the Statesman had returned to Salem. L. P. Long Primer") Hall was the first editor, but he soon resigned and was succeeded by T. B. Odeneal. The Messenger was one of the
