with Mrs. Kate P. Hebard, daughter of Mr. Pittock, as president of the company. The paper is still jointly owned by the Henry L. Pittock and Harvey W. Scott estates.
Accession of Palmer Hoyt to the position of publisher draws attention to probably the most phenomenal rise of a young man in the history of Oregon journalism. Palmer Hoyt, a native of Illinois, interrupted his college course at McMinnville (now Linfield) to go to war, becoming a deep-voiced sergeant major overseas. Returning to America he entered the University of Oregon, taking a degree in the School of Journalism there in 1923. In college his flair had been for sports and for writing short-stories, of which he has published more than 50. Perhaps the most effective way to show how Palmer Hoyt has advanced will be just to give the chronological story as it is shown in the Who's Who in Oregon: 1923, graduated from University of Oregon; 1923-26, telegraph editor East Oregonian, Pendleton; 1926-29, copy editor and reporter Oregonian; 1929-31, drama editor Oregonian; 1931-33, executive news editor Oregonian; 1933-38, managing editor Oregonian; 1938-39, manager Oregonian; 1939-, publisher (in charge of the whole organization). In 1939 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Linfield College.
It is no secret that just before Palmer Hoyt was made executive news editor he had been doing so well with his short-story work that he contemplated resigning from the Oregonian copy-desk position to give fiction his undivided attention. The prospect of heading the news organization held him on the paper.
Right behind Mr. Hoyt has come another young man with a similar urge for short-story writing. Arden X. Pangborn, leaving the University of Oregon, where he had been editor of the Emerald, in 1929, after a short spell of reporting, became city editor, succeeding the veteran John L. Travis. As Hoyt became managing editor he moved up to be executive news editor, taking his present position of managing editor when his immediate superior went on to be manager. "Pang" still bangs out mysteries and detective stories in odd moments.
The Oregonian's great break with its old tradition came under the direction of Guy T. Viskniskki, an old Hearst executive, who was called in to the paper as efficiency expert in 1934. Several changes in personnel, in the mechanical appearance, and in news arrangement and display followed. Which were good and which otherwise is a matter of individual judgment. The net result of various changes was an added popularization of the paper with a somewhat reduced devotion on the part of some old-timers, lovers of the old conservative ways.
Many Outstanding Men
On the Journal Mr. Irvine's human touch through the years has been the outstanding characteristic of his writing on a wide range of
