Incidents and Anecdotes of Early Days and History of Business in the City and County of Fond Du Lac From Early Times to the Present, Personal Reminiscences, Remarkable Events, Election Results, Military History, Etc.

              254 BUSINESS HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC
Stanchfield, uncle of our present S. B. Stanchfield. But its light went out again after a year or two, as did that of the Union, all of which was in the interest of Smead's Democratic Press. But the old Journal could not rest in peace, and was revived by Tim Strong, Jr., one of the best educated men Fond du Lac ever had. It drifted into the hands of James Russell and thence to Edward Beeson again. In his old age Mr. Beeson sold it to Jake Bloom and last of all it was absorbed by the Reporter, where it still rests. With many, indeed most of these changes, Mr. Glaze had much to do, editorially and mechanically, but the difficulties encountered were far less than those of the early days. The Fond du Lac Commonwealth, resulting from the consolidation of the Western Freeman and Fountain City Herald, in the hands of J. A. Smith, in 1854, the Saturday Reporter started in 1862 by J. J. Beeson, son of Edward Beeson, and the Ripon Common¬ wealth, founded upon the ruins of the Prairie City Record in 1864, by A. T. Glaze, all successful newspapers of today, each in their infancy had their clothing adjusted by Mr. Glaze.
The job printers really had more difficulties than the newspaper printers. The latter, when they had the forms once adjusted, had only to distribute the used type and make up with that newly set, lock the forms and go to press, but the job printer was constantly encounter¬ ing something new, and being short of type he had often to cut lines of wood type, use home made- borders, patch rules, cut rules with a file, and leads with a knife, use a piece of plank to distribute the ink on the rollers, make a paper cutter of a shoe knife and coarse stone and many similar things in all parts of the work, and though a very good printer, he may be horrified to find a hideous job, the result of his best efforts. All these troubles might come every day, but the newspaper man faced them but weekly. Yet how many of the printers of today would care to face either task. But fifty years ago it had to be done in Fond du Lac or not have a newspaper or print¬ ing office at all. It is not needful to face these troubles now, no matter how near the printer may go to the pioneer border. Conditions are different. Material is more plentiful, easier obtained, in greater variety and cheaper. The printer of the long ago was expected to be competent for every part of the work, today they are mostly press¬ men, machine men, make-up men, and general utility men. Type setting is mostly done on machines, except headings and display, and it is daily becoming more general. Editors in the old times wrote up everything that came his way, no matter on what subject. Now they are divided into general, local, news, society, sporting, financial, etc. The old time fellow was expected to be up in all these. This is writ¬ ten, not to criticise present methods but to show the difference be¬ tween old times and the present. Under conditions as they now exist, old methods would doubtless be impractical.
After having served as County Treasurer, Gen. John Potter said that the humiliation of getting the nomination, the expense of the election and annoyance of giving the bonds, was too. much to ask of an honest man.