Midland Passages

As time passed in Stanton, I began to realize the viability of the business was not what it had been painted to me by the Cornwells and Bette’s father, E.L. Vogeltanz. We were barely producing enough income to pay salaries and other expenses.

Many factors entered in to my failure with the paper. I had no practical experience and my education was on the news side, not advertising. Journalism school at that time did not even have a department to study advertising. We had to take a course in the business school that concentrated on national campaigns with magazines. It was completely worthless in a community newspaper situation.

Although I did not admit it at the time, in looking back it appears the decline started right after the loss of our baby in 1957. Depression set in for me, and I suspect also for Janice, so enthusiasm for work waned.

The Cornwells had gone to a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah and had expected their share of profits from the Stanton operation to help finance their new newspaper. Mr. Vogeltanz, an attorney at Ord, Nebraska, tried to handle things at home for his children but he was totally inept.

As an example, he complained that I was “farming out” job work instead of doing it in house. We did not have the equipment or the manpower to do the jobs I sent out so it was a matter of sharing the profit with another shop or turn down the contract. He also criticized me for not fighting the tax assessment mentioned earlier.

After we moved to Auburn, I received a scathing letter from Vogeltanz outlining a dozen or so alleged misdeeds in my conduct of the business. I took them one by one and answered them fully, at least to my satisfaction. His accusations were unfounded and I now realize he must have been trying to justify his inadequacies as an attorney by shifting the blame of the business failure to me.

The contract I signed when taking over the paper attempted to make the deal a partnership when in fact it was not. If it had been, I would have been liable for part of the loss shown by the books as we left. As it was, I demanded and received the $400 generated earlier as my 25 per cent.

The mid-50s were draught years and small communities relied heavily on income from farmers. There was no money for new equipment and barely enough for maintenance of what we had. Fifteen to 20 years later offset printing and computers replaced linotypes and changed the face of the newspaper business completely. Central printing plants replaced the need for high priced printing presses in your own shop.

By 1959 it was apparent things were not going to improve and I began looking for other avenues of employment. The Cornwells also needed cash and were willing to put the Register on the market.

A job as advertising manager at the twin weekly Auburn Newspapers in Auburn, Nebraska, was offered to me and I took it. A buyer was found for the paper in Stanton and we made the move in October of 1959.

The couple who bought the Register struggled like we did for a while but eventually converted to offset, controlled their expenses and remained in Stanton for a number of years.