Publication of our first newspaper evidently was not a very momentous affair. The writer freely admits that he suffered with a good deal of “stage fright.” But it was a novel and interesting experience - one that helped me to go on from there with the determination to succeed, no matter how difficult the task. One important thing that I learned from my first newspaper experience was that politics are a flimsy thing to bank on in operating a newspaper, and that it seldom brought in much cash.

I took the first opportunity offered to dispose of my interests in this first venture and sold, realizing all I had invested with a modest profit.

Leaving Tekamah and Burt County, and accompanied, of course, by my good wife, we moved to South Sioux City (then known as Covington) where my wife’s folks had previously moved. Making our home temporarily from this vantage point, the writer launched his successful effort to secure work in a real city print shop in Sioux City.

Making our application to join the Typographical Union, we were, through the influence of good friends, soon able to get a “sit” on the Sioux City Daily Tribune. We became one of the from 14 to 16 compositors who “set” the type by hand for the Daily Tribune, as well as doing a lot of type setting for the Sioux City Printing Company, which furnished printed sheets known as “Ready Prints” for numerous country weeklies.

In setting this type, printers were on what was known as a piece basis. That is, they set the type by the thousand Ems, and the more Ems one set in a day the longer his “string” was and this regulated his pay for the day. Hence, the swiftest compositors drew the biggest Saturday night check. There was a minimum on the amount the printer must set to get by, but this did not bother this writer, as his fingers were more nimble and his sight more acute than in our later years.

The most difficulty the novice had to contend with was capitalization of the right words and following the Office Style, which varied in different offices.