Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/302

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242
Flora Belle Ludington

of December 11, 1850, says, "The paper comes out flat footed Democratic. It said 'in politics we are Democratic and shall be governed by the principles of Jeffersonian Democracy, advocating measures not men'." In the campaign of 1851 it entered into the conflict while the Statesman held back. The correspondence of McLoughlin, Wyeth and Thurston, published in the spring of 1851, is of lasting historical interest. In June, 1851, the plant was moved to Portland and on the 5th the paper came out under the name of the Oregon Weekly Times.


MONMOUTH

Christian Messenger. First issued October, 1870, under the auspices of the Christian Church. Ran until about 1887.


OREGON CITY

Argus. Republican paper started April 21, 1855, by W. L. Adams, using the plant of the Spectator. This was the first distinctly Republican paper issued in Oregon. Adams was a militant Campbellite preacher who mercilessly caricatured the leading Democrats of the day, among them, Asahel Bush of the Statesman, John Orvis Waterman of the Oregon Weekly Times, and General Joseph Lane. His ruthless sarcasm, his uncompromising dogmatism and his ability to coin cutting descriptive adjectives made him a power in Oregon politics. The Argus came out especially strong in its advocacy of temperance. This journal was referred to as the "Air-Goose" by "Ass-of-Hell" Bush of the Statesman. In 1859 David W. Craig became proprietor, though Adams was retained as editor until 1863 when he was appointed collector of customs as a reward for his diligent advocacy of Lincoln, who had carried Oregon by a small majority. The Argus consolidated with the Eugene State Republican in May, 1863, and these two journals finally passed into the hands of the owners of the Statesman, A. Bush and J. W. Nesmith. It was continued under the name of the States-