History of Oregon Newspapers/Specialized Press
SPECIALIZED PRESS
TRADE and class publications in Portland number 49, and the number published in Oregon outside of Portland is only a fraction of that total.
Of the 49, only 7 had been started in 1900 or before, and 12 before 1910. Others, of course, had been started from time to time before 1900, but not very many, and the 7 indicated in the list here given are all that have survived, so far as the various directories have been able to learn.
A wide range of interest is covered by the trade and class journals, as may be seen from the titles, here given, with the date of founding and the present editor or publisher:
Angora Journal, 1911, A. C. Gage (deceased 1937); Artisan, 1894; Automotive News, 1919, James H. Cassell; Better Fruit, 1906, E. H. Shepard and E. A. France; City Club Bulletin, 1920, C. Herald Campbell; Columbia River Courier, 1919 (Methodist Women's Foreign Mission); Commerce, 1915, Chamber of Commerce (weekly); Commercial Review, 1890, Leon S. Jackson, mgr.; Crow's Lumber Digest, 1931, C. C. Crow; Daily Journal of Commerce, 1906, H. G. Haugsten; Daily Record Abstract, 1927, William H. Caplan; Hardware World, 1904, Hdw. World Corp. (monthly); Marine Guide, 1920, A. W. Howan and A. C. Albrecht, daily except Sunday; Masonic Analyst, 1923, Elbert Bede (monthly); North Pacific Banker, 1902, Lydell Baker (monthly); Northwest Insurance News, 1911, Louis Sondheim (monthly); Northwest Journal of Dentistry, 1912, H. C. Browne (monthly); Oregon Apartments and Hotels, 1930, Sam O. Plunkett (monthly); Oregon Churchman, 1880, Episcopalian Diocese (monthly); Oregon Clubwoman, 1913; Freda G. Mowrey (monthly); Oregon Educational Journal, 1926, OSTA, E. F. Carleton (monthly); Oregon Endeavor Bulletin, 1915, Ore. C. E. Union (bi-monthly); Oregon Farmer, 1891, Cowles Pub. Co. W. H. Cowles, Edwin A. Smith, editor (bi-m.); Oregon Grange Bulletin, 1914, Ray W. Gill, C. H. Bailey (2 a month); Oregon Historical Quarterly, 1900, R. C. Clark; Oregon Home Counselor, 1932, Chester A. Lyon (monthly); Oregon Labor Press, 1900, Oregon Labor Press Publ. Co. (weekly), Arthur Brock; Oregon Legionnaire, 1919, Pac. Legion Inc., editor, Jerry Owen; Oregon Merchants Magazine, 1902, G. J. McPherson (monthly); Oregon Motorist, 1920, O. S. M. A., Vinton H. Hall (monthly except March, September, November); Oregon Parent-Teacher, 1922, Met. Pub. Co.; Pacific Drug Review, 1888, Pacific Drug Review, Inc., F. C. Felter (monthly); Pacific Echo, 1907, N. O. W., Minnie Hiner (monthly); Pacific Odd Fellow, 1892, A. J. Lenon (monthly); Pacific Retail Lumberman, 1934, (monthly, affiliated with Timberman), G. F. Cornwall, ed., Ben Buisman, m.e.); Portland Realtor, 1920, Portland Realty Bd., Lawrence W. Borne, ed. (weekly, Th.); Reed College Quest, 1911, weekly by students; Scribe, 1903, David E. Cohen (weekly); Shopping News, 1924, H. Marcus (weekly, Fri.); Spotlight, 1914, Adv. Club of Portland (weekly); The Timberman, 1899, (monthly); Trade Lanes, 1932, Shipping News, Inc. (weekly, Fri.); Travelers Bulletin, 1921, Robert J. Black (monthly); Track News (suc. Auto News), 1924, G. M. Fox (monthly); Western Commercial Truck Review, Allied Truck Owners, Inc., Ralph J. Staehli, ed. (monthly); Western Journal of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1929, Ed. G. C. Schauffler, M.D. (monthly); White Ribbon Review, 1905, Conger Co. for State W. C. T. U., Mrs. Necia Buck, editor (monthly ex. July, Aug., Nov.); Winged M., 1915, Multnomah A. A. C., Webster A. Jones (weekly, Fri.)
One of Oregon's distinctive publications, with few if any parallels in the United States, is the weekly Oregon Voter, founded in 1915 by C. C. Chapman, who had done big-time newspaper work in Buffalo and Chicago. One of the stories Mr. Chapman worked on in Buffalo was the assassination of President McKinley in September 1901. The Voter undertakes to give the people of Oregon intelligent statistical and background material on their public affairs and on financial matters such as bonds and securities. Mr. Chapman's quick grasp of the essentials of any matter connected with the government of the state or its constituent municipalities and his clear, keen, fearless interpretation of what he sees are appreciated by Oregon newspaper men as a distinct contribution to the journalism of the state.
Henry M. Hanzen, experienced political reporter and one of the advisers of Julius L. Meier before and during his governorship, is publishing the Portland Bulletin, a weekly newspaper established in 1925 by C. W. Jerome, of which he took charge after his retirement from an important place in Governor Meier's cabinet.
Everybody's Business is a semi-monthly journal of comment and criticism conducted by Kelley Loe since 1935. One of Mr. Loe's contributors is Richard L. Neuberger, probably the most active and successful young writer of non-fiction on the Pacific Coast. His book Our Promised Land, a description of the Northwest with relation to the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams, has been well received.
Founded in 1907 by Hugh Hume and held on a high plane of literary merit, the Portland Spectator, covering society, sports, and comment, was carried along by Alvin C. Gage, an old-time newspaper editor who also conducted the Angora Journal, until his death in 1937, when Elbert Bede, for 25 years editor of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and recognized as one of the best-informed and keenest commentators on political matters among the editors of Oregon, was called to the editorship. The next year Mr. Bede exchanged places with Mr. Bartley, exchanging his interest in the Spectator for the Masonic Analyst. Under the new ownership the Spectator has been made a monthly publication. Under the changes the Spectator has retained much of its original flavor, though reflecting widely different personalities in the several editors. All have been assisted by Miss Beatrice M. Locke, University of Oregon graduate (Mrs. Cicero Hawkins), who is managing editor. Mr. Hume's active daily newspaper work brought him into association in Chicago with such journalistic geniuses as Finley Peter Dunne, Eugene Field, E. D. Cowen.
Besides the German-language press, discussed elsewhere, foreign-language newspapers in Portland include the Columbia Record, Italian, founded in 1930; La Stella, 1922, also an Italian weekly; the Oregon News, Japanese daily, which has been running since 1904, and the Svenska Posten, Swedish weekly, running since 1908.
The Timberman, Pacific Coast lumber magazine, now finishing its 40th volume, in Portland, was started in the state of Washington and moved to Portland after the first issue. Vol. 1, No. 1, November 1899, was printed by George M. Cornwall, young Scotsman who had come to Oregon a few years before, in the office of the Cathlamet Gazette, which Mr. Cornwall was publishing at the time. He then moved the magazine to Portland, where it has been published ever since. The format has been greatly changed; at the beginning it was a four-column twenty-page publication; it is now an oversized magazine. The original name, Columbia River and Oregon Timberman, was changed to the Oregon Timberman after a year or two. Then the Oregon was taken off, leaving the name as it is.
David Davis, formerly of the St. Helens Mist and other newspapers, has been associated with Mr. Cornwall since June 15, 1903. He now an associate editor. Managing editor under the editor-publisher George F. Cornwall.
Neighborhood newspapers published in Portland total 14, according to lists in the various directories. The following list is taken from the 1937 directory of the Oregon Publisher, with the date of founding and the name of the editor or publisher:
East Side Post, 1933, Jack Still; The Enterprise, 1933, Henry M. Hanzen (weekly, Fri.) Hollywood Tribune, 1934, John Matthews, ed. (weekly, Fri.) Peninsula Herald, 1933, M. A. Libby (weekly, Fri.) Peninsula-St. Johns News, 1920, John D. Rice and Murtin E. Lee (weekly, Fri.) Progressive Enterprise, 1935, M. C. Athley (weekly); Public Ledger, 1924, H. C. Browne (weekly, Fri.); Rose City Herald, 1922, L. S. Stiner (weekly); St. Johns Reviews, 1904, H. L. Ray and R. L. Irish (weekly, Fri.) Sellwood Bee, 1906, C. M. Thompson (weekly, Fri.) Southeast Index, 1928, Huber Phillips (weekly, Fri.); Sunnyside Gazette, 1915, C. W. Lee and Ellen C. Lee (weekly, Fri.); Visitor-Booster, 1917, L. A. Jensen (weekly, Th.).