Becoming A Progressive Paper
During the 1890s the paper's circulation began to catch up to its main rival, the Madison Democrat, due largely to the 1894 arrival of Yale-educated Amos P. Wilder (father of playwright Thornton Wilder). Earning $30 a week as editor-in-chief, he later purchased a major interest in the paper. Wilder began to transform the State Journal into a more civic-minded newspaper, focusing on local problems but falling short of embarking on a crusade. Originally a supporter of Governor Robert M. La Follette Sr. in 1900 and 1902, Wilder converted the paper's editorials to an anti-La Follette position for the price of $1,800, paid by a committee of seven Republican stalwarts fighting against La Follette's successful re-election in 1904. In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Wilder U.S. consul to Hong Kong.
In Wilder's absence he put his business manager August Roden in charge, a typesetter who had come up through the ranks as reporter and later associate editor. Roden adopted the aggressive brand of muckraking journalism common to periodicals at the start of the 20th century. His greatest triumph began in 1907 with his crusade against the high rates and poor quality of Madison Gas & Electric's service. Following an almost daily barage of damaging stories about the private utility, the State Journal hired an attorney to lodge a formal complaint with the state commission in charge of regulating gas and electric companies. In 1910 the paper succeeded in getting the state to force a reduction in MG&E's rates by nearly ten percent, setting a precedent that led to other rate roll-backs. Roden also oversaw the move of the State Journal in 1909 from a three-story limestone building at 119 East Washington Ave. to a new fireproof brick building located on South Carroll St., directly across the street from the paper's hated rival, the Madison Democrat.
In 1911 Richard Lloyd Jones, an associate editor at the muckraking magazine Collier's, became interested in buying the paper from Wilder. U.S. Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. encouraged this purchase to such a degree that he arranged for wealthy supporters of the progressive cause to lend Jones $85,000 of the $100,000 necessary to make the deal. Jones hired former State Journal reporter William T. Evjue as his managing editor. Jones ramped up the paper's already liberal views with hard-hitting, provocative editorials that attacked big business and brooked no compromise. Soon the State Journal was the leading progressive daily in Wisconsin. The paper made its first two endorsements of a Democrat for U.S. president (Woodrow Wilson, in 1912 and 1916), endorsing only two other Democrats for that office in its history. Under Jones the State Journal also became a steady advocate for Prohibition.
By 1913 the paper's circulation had increased but the paper was on the verge of bankruptcy. Jones called back Evjue from his honeymoon to take on the job of business manager. Within ten days he'd reduced a payroll of $2,200 a week to $1,300 by cutting staff. The paper also sought loans from wealthy progressives. New readers and advertisers were added with the help of a beefed up Sunday edition that included color comics, a pink sports section and a magazine supplement. Eventually circulation doubled.
Read more about this topic: Wisconsin State Journal, History
Famous quotes containing the words progressive and/or paper:
“A radical is one of whom people say “He goes too far.” A conservative, on the other hand, is one who “doesn’t go far enough.” Then there is the reactionary, “one who doesn’t go at all.” All these terms are more or less objectionable, wherefore we have coined the term “progressive.” I should say that a progressive is one who insists upon recognizing new facts as they present themselves—one who adjusts legislation to these new facts.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)