The Pacific Monthly/Volume 9/Prominent Newspapers of the Pacific Coast, Part 2

Prominent Newspapers of the Pacific Coast

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The Tacoma Ledger

H. Grafton

iN the present status of The Tacoma Ledger there is no indication of the times of stress through which it has passed. Issued first when Tacoma was a village in the woods, it has grown with the growth of the city, at intervals, indeed, having kept in advance of this growth. It has partaken of the vicissitudes that have marked the history of Tacoma, and now, in the day of prosperity, is the visible token of the new and permanent order.

Today the Ledger is in all respects a modern journal. It has, of course, the Associated Press reports, but its news strength lies largely in the corps of state correspondents. In point of makeup and in mechanical detail it is willing to stand comparison with any daily published anywhere in a place of population equal to that of Tacoma. The editorial page of the Ledger is one of its strong features, and the cartoon work of E. S. Reynolds has made a decided hit. Mr. Reynolds is a young man who displays a remarkable ability. Some of his work has been reproduced by such publications as the Review of Reviews and the Literary Digest. The Daily Ledger consists of 10 to 16 pages, while the Sunday Ledger is never less than 32 pages. The Weekly embraces 12 pages, containing in condensed form the best of the Daily. J. N. Bradley is the news editor. He is one of the veterans of journalism, a man with the instinctive knowledge of news values, and an experience covering many years. In executive ability it would be difficult to find his superior. S. W. Wall is the city editor. He, too, is a writer whose training has been in the broadest fields. The staff of the Ledger is not subject to many changes, and not a man upon it has been with the paper less than two years.

Perhaps the history of this institution may not be devoid of interest. In 1880 R. F. Radebaugh brought to the town the plant for a weekly. It was unloaded at the wharf, and there it had to remain, for the consignee had not the money to pay for the cartage, or for setting up the press. He appealed to the only banker in Tacoma, and secured the funds. Thus was born the Tacoma Ledger. Radebaugh was a writer with a pen that could sting. He made enemies, but the paper gained in influence. In 1883 the Ledger became a daily, and followed along a tolerably even path until the "boom days" of memory not wholly blessed. During these days it made money so fast that the proprietor hardly knew what to do with it. He invested in everything. Street car lines, realty and manufacturing were among the enterprises that engaged the attention and the cash of the proprietor. The Ledger itself was neglected, no betterments being furnished. It was regarded as a mine that could never cease to produce. Mr. Radebaugh saw his mistake, and in 1892 sold the paper to Nelson Bennett, then one of the wealthy men of this region, and it became his personal organ. Clinton Snowden, who had been managing editor of the Chicago Times, was placed in charge. But the struggle for a while was hopeless. Not only were the symptoms of financial collapse evident and depressing, but one of the first difficulties with which Mr. Snowden had to contend was a strike, the result of which was the establishing of a rival sheet. For many months the strike and the rivalry continued, and when at last the Ledger won out, the owner had all the newspaper ardor taken out of him.

The Ledger, in July, 1889, passed to C. M. Shultz, a newspaper man who had been identified with publications at St. Joseph, St. Paul and Chicago. In the morning field it was without a competitor, but it was feeling the presence of the Evening News, which had been acquired by S. A. Perkins. Mr. Perkins had been without newspaper training, but was a shrewd business man. He built the News into an influential and profitable concern, and in the end

S. A. PERKINS,
Proprietor and Manager, The Tacoma Ledger.

secured an interest in the Ledger. This was the beginning of his complete domination of the morning paper. Today he owns it absolutely, retaining the News as well, and having added to his holdings the Everett Daily Herald and the Olympia Daily Recorder. He is also proprietor of the Tacoma Engraving Company, which does all the art work for these several publications, as well as a general business of magnitude. In a certain sense the Ledger is a one-man paper, for the personality of the proprietor permeates every department, and Mr. Perkins has shown a desire to hire competent assistants. While these do the actual work, they do it with the knowledge that their duty is to carry out the ideas of the head of the concern, and this they are content to do. There was a period during which the Ledger was not deemed valuable, when it had no especial standing, when its news facilities were meagre and its editorial without force. This was because, under some of its ownerships, it had been used to forward individual interests. It was not for the advancement of the community, and politically it was without weight. Mr. Perkins saw the opportunity, and took it. Three years ago, when he came into complete control of the Ledger, he was taking what others deemed a precarious chance. The outcome has been his vindication. Perhaps it has been in part through the editorial department that the paper has acquired a standing that is unquestioned. It is frank and fearless, and

when it makes a mistake is not above acknowledging the fact.

FAC SIMILE, FRONT PAGE, THE TACOMA LEDGER

It is more widely quoted than any other daily on the Pacific Coast, for it has something: to say, and the faculty of saying it. The editorial writer treats topics connected with the news of the day, and indulges in few abstruse theses. His work is for the most part not for the scholarly few, but for the plain multitude. The Ledger believes in dealing with the practical things. It endeavors to maintain a high moral tone, and to advocate always that which is best for the family, the community and society. By constancy in this course it has caused itself to be respected.

During the course of the Ledger up to the present there have been on its staff many men of note, who have sought other and wider spheres of influence, but the local sphere has greatly widened, and there is not the old temptation to go to different scenes. To prepare copy for a paper on the old basis was a different thing from the preparation of copy now. There is a battery of nine Mergenthaler machines, a $25,000 Hoe perfecting press, and the other appurtenances of a first-class office. The paper now reaches a considerable proportion of the public, and there is a feeling on the part of the writers that their work is not being wasted. Each is inspired by a confidence that Tacoma is destined to be the great city of the Sound, and that the Ledger necessarily will be the great paper.

The Ledger is so strongly intrenched that attempts at entering into competition have been farcical, and in this respect there is no reason to anticipate a change. It covers the ground so completely that from a news standpoint there is no reason for additions. From the editorial standpoint there is similar lack of ground for complaint, while mechanically and artistically the Ledger keeps apace with the most advanced of its class. In a business way it can boast of having carried in a single regular edition, during December, 1902, more columns of paid advertising than were published in any other daily in the State of Washington or the neighboring States of Oregon, Idaho and Montana during the same month.

The Ledger is working toward an ideal. In politics it is Republican; in conduct, aggressive. It believes in the Northwest. This is its essential spirit. It has an abiding faith in the country that has sustained it, and rejoices that it has acquired a strength that enables it to repay the debt.

From a financial standpoint the Ledger ranks high. The owner, Mr. S. A. Perkins, is, without doubt, the richest publisher in the Northwest. Bradstreet gives him a personal rating of $500,000.00 to $1,000,000.00.

The Tacoma Ledger now enjoys an average daily circulation of 12,000 copies. The average Sunday circulation has reached the 15,500 mark, while of the weekly edition 8,500 copies are printed every Thursday.

1. Editor's Note:—This is the second in the "Prominent Newspaper Series." The first, "The Oregonian," appeared in the April number. Others will be treated in turn, providing a history of our great journalistic enterprises.