(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 350 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY ings Bank, National City Bank, Ohio State Bank & Trust Company, Peoples Savings & Banking Company, Permanent Savings & Loan Company, Security Savings Bank, Society Savings & Loan Company, South Akron Savings Association, Workers Savings & Loan. Hudson and Peninsula also have banking institutions. Brokerage Companies listed in the county are: Associated Brokers Organization, Inc., Central Brokerage & Finance Corporation, P. K. Groff & Company, Harris, Irby & Vose; Murfey, Blossom, Morris & Company, Otis & Company, Prince & Whitely, Chas J. True. The Financing Companies include the following : Akron Citizens System Company, The Akron Guaranteed Mortgage Company, Apex Finance Company, Associates Investment Company, Bankers Guarantee Title & Trust Company, C. I. T. Corporation, Central Acceptance Corporation, Citizens Finance Company, Commercial Credit Company, Edson & Company, Empire Finance Company, First Savings & Loan Company, General Tire Acceptance Corporation, Guaranteed Acceptance Corporation, Guardian Financing Corporation, The HerberichHall-Harter Company, National Acceptance Company, National Bond & Investment Company, Real Estate Mortgage Company, Royal Finance Company, Thomas Title & Mortgage Company, Workmen's Finance Company. First Mortgage The Bankers Guarantee Title & Trust Company, The Guarantee Title & Trust Company, Thomas Title & Mortgage Company. CHAPTER VII THE GROWTH OF COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS By Jack Moore, Secretary, Akron Merchants Association The question is frequently asked : "What is a Commercial Organization? What is it like, and what does it do ?" A question like this is not easily answered, especially to the satisfaction of the novice in commercial organization affairs. A brief answer to it, however, may be given by quoting from "American Chambers of Commerce," by Kenneth Sturges. Commercial organizations are defined as "Bodies of local business men engaged in improving trade conditions, urging legislation beneficial to commerce and the social welfare, and, most important, encouraging the growth and prosperity of their several communities." The author further states that in the United States the terms "Board of Trade," "Commercial Club" and "Chamber of Commerce" are synonymous. To these terms should be added "Board of Commerce," "Association of Commerce," "Business Men's Association" and "Commercial Association." The fairs and merchant guilds of medieval Europe are considered the actual prototypes of the modern commercial organization. Following the fairs of the twelfth century, came the merchant guilds which were developed during feudal times and which were the first private institutions formed to protect their members. With the disintegration of the guild system in the fifteenth century, Chambers of Commerce were evolved. The name was first applied to an association of merchants at Marseilles early in the fifteenth century, but which was not definitely organized until 1650. But the French Chambers, as has also been the case with associations in several European countries, were closely affiliated with the government. Of those Chambers organized and conducted entirely independent of government affiliations, one of the oldest in the world, and the oldest in America, is the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, founded in 1768 in New York City. The second oldest in America is the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1773. By 1801 Chambers had also been established at New Haven and Philadelphia. Among the British Chambers of Commerce organized about this time are the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, 1769 ; Dublin, 1783 ; Leeds, 1785 ; Manchester, 1794 ; and Belfast, 1796. It is obvious that Chambers of Commerce had their origin in the earliest period of commercial history. As commerce has come to be in a large measure the great motive power that controls the action, energy, and ambitions of the world, it is natural that commercial organizations should have become an important institution in business affairs throughout the world. - 351 - 352 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Value of organizations among those having a common interest became so apparent during the World war that the number of Chambers of Commerce and other commercial and trade organizations throughout the United States increased faster than ever before in a like period of time. Various economic interests and business groups organized because experience showed such action necessary, if the interests of that group or community were to be protected or improved. The impetus for forming associations during the war was also accelerated by the United States government. First, in trades where no association existed the government, in some instances, pointed out to some of the influential members of the industry the value of an organization for securing better cooperation of that trade with the military authorities. Referring to commercial organizations, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker said : "Commercial organizations would greatly assist the government in its work of organizing the country for self-defense if there were a militant organization in every city of the Union. Efforts to organize such a vigorous and representative commercial body is a patriotic effort which all good citizens should aid." The result was many new trade associations. The present-day commercial bodies are in general organized on one of three plans : First, the federal plan, like the London Chamber of Commerce, the membership of which is made up of different sections and trades represented by delegates in a central council which legislates for the whole Chamber. Second, the corporation plan which is adopted by most of the American commercial organizations because it facilitates prompt action. Under this members of the commercial organizations elect a board of managers or directors which acts for them in the same manner that directors of a corporation act for stockholders. Third, the town meeting plan, modeled after what is known as the New England town meeting, which was the most democratic form of government in the world. In this every citizen of the town had the right to attend the meeting, to which every officer and committee was obliged to report; nothing could be done, no improvement could be ordered, and no money voted without the affirmative action of the meeting. Modeled after this plan, a few commercial organizations have been formed. An example is the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York which was organized and is operated today substantially on the town meeting plan. So much for the history and set-up of commercial organizations. In this volume we are particularly interested in the development of commercial organizations of Akron and Summit County. We shall take up these various commercial organizations in the following pages. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Undoubtedly some first-class city boosting was done in those early days when Middlebury, Akron and Cascade City carried on a three-cornered rivalry for supremacy, and certainly on such stirring occasions as AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 353 the visit of John Quincy Adams or Horace Greeley, citizens' associations outdid themselves in welcoming the distinguished guests. But probably there was nothing known as a Board of Trade or Chamber of Commerce; in fact both these terms meant at that period something entirely distinct from civic enterprise. But about 1869 an Akron Board of Trade had actual existence, and carried on negotiations which resulted in the locating here of Dr. B. F. Goodrich and his rubber project. In the 1880s the old Akron Union Club, rather luxuriously located and equipped in the old Bartges home on East Market Street, at present, site of the post office, enjoyed a period of importance in local affairs—then went out of action. Several earnest but futile attempts were made to effect a permanent organization, and a prominent place in the civic life of the town was held for several years by the old Builders' Exchange, which held meetings in the old Elks' Club at 41 East Mill Street. It was a group of Builders' Exchange members, including such men as C. E. Sheldon, A. H. Noah, J. Edward Good and the late Col. J. C. Bloomfield who organized about 1904 the first Akron Chamber of Commerce, which attained a membership of about five hundred and was quite active, but finally became defunct. It was not until 1907 that a revival of interest on the part of some of this same group resulted in the forming, along carefully planned lines, of the organization which was incorporated in November, 1907, as the Akron Chamber of Commerce—the present organization—whose object and purposes, as set forth in the charter granted by the Secretary of State were to be "* * * by joint and concerted action to develop, foster and protect the commercial, manufacturing and civic interests, and to promote the general welfare of the City of Akron." The late Ohio C. Barber was made president and John J. Starr and Roy H. Nesbitt in turn acted as temporary secretary. Very soon the membership reached 750, and Vincent S. Stevens, then assistant secretary of the Detroit Board of Commerce, was employed as secretary of the local chamber, and has filled the position continuously up to the present time. In November, 1908, Byron W. Robinson was elected to succeed Mr. Barber, but died the following month. Charles B. Raymond was chosen to fill out his term and then was re-elected as full term president for 1909-10. The successive presidents have been as follows : Frank A. Seiberling, Sam F. Ziliox, J. Edward Good, Fred M. Harpham, George D. Bates, George W. Crouse, Crannell Morgan, Charles W. Seiberling, Elmer E. Workman, Bert A. Polsky, J. B. Huber, Fred W. Albrecht, Jerome Dauby, Charles Herberich, James G. Robertson and George H. Dunn. The membership now totals about 2,700. The Chamber of Commerce has always been active in efforts to advance the general welfare of the city and has taken a leading position in movements resulting in the following public improvements : New waterworks system; sewage disposal plant ; plans for railroad grade crossing elimination. City plan for Akron ; building code ; zoning ordinance. 354 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Parks for Akron ; improved roads for Summit County ; viaducts ; street widening; White Way lighting; municipal golf course. Municipal university ; Springfield Lake Sanatorium ; Akron Armory. Legislation for industrial reservoir in Tuscarawas River valley ; improvements to canal and portage lakes. Appropriation for new post office ; plans for new Union Depot. Expansion of city limits and water, sewer, paving and other public service systems. New industries for Akron ; campaign against bovine tuberculosis in Summit County. Legislation to provide for city airplane landing field and the commercial development of helium gas for airship use. Organization of County Farm Bureau, Charity Organization Society, Bureau of Municipal Research, and Better Akron Federation, were also assisted by the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce is organized into committees, bureaus and auxiliaries. The current year-book lists thirty-two committees whose studies and interests cover every phase of local life—social, civic, educational, industrial and commercial, and whose recommendations when approved by the Board of Directors, are submitted to city and county officials. The Bureau of Municipal Research, a department of the Chamber since 1923, assists various committees through study and research, and also cooperates with city and county official departments and with many social and educational agencies. The Transportation Department assists local shippers in solving their individual problems, and represents the community transportation interests before railroads and legislative and other bodies. The Industrial Bureau not only offers assistance to established industries but seeks to increase the diversity of Akron manufactures by locating additional industries in the city. The Foreign Trade Bureau is a branch office of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the United States Department of Commerce, and serves local exporters in their problems of marketing and shipping. Through membership in the Chamber of Commerce of the U. S. A., the International Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Chamber of Commerce and other state and national bodies, the Akron Chamber is enabled to represent the community's interests in discussions and movements of state-wide, national and world-wide scope. In addition to the Akron Chamber of Commerce Akron possesses seven sectional civic organizations known as the East Akron Board of Trade, South Akron Board of Trade, North Akron Board of Trade, Firestone Park Civic Association, Goodyear Heights Civic Association, Margaret Park Civic Association and the Spicertown Club. THE AKRON MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION The Akron Merchants' Association was organized in 1910, when a small group of merchants met for the purpose of developing business AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 355 friendship and acquaintance to create a better community spirit, develop a stronger interest in Akron's welfare, a better understanding of conditions and a greater support of all civic activities through organized cooperation and effort. From 1910 until March, 1922, the association progressed slowly. However, in January, 1922, I. H. Birnbaum, of the Wadsworth Company, was elected president. He foresaw great possibilities for the Akron Merchants' Association and immediately launched an extensive program. In March, 1922, the association employed Jack Moore as its first full-time secretary. The Board of Directors then decided to launch one activity at a time, and carry it to a successful completion before inaugurating others. After careful deliberation, they decided that one of the most important problems confronting local retailers was curtailing the many advertising and solicitation schemes then in vogue in Akron, which were costing local merchants thousands of dollars yearly, with little or no return. A group of advertising men was appointed to make a careful study of advertising media which produced results for retailers, and they reported, after much deliberation, that best results were secured only through daily and weekly newspapers, street cars, bill boards, posters, circular letters and souvenirs issued at their own expense and pertaining exclusively to their own business. All other forms of advertising were eliminated because a careful check-up showed that they produced little or no results. The local merchants decided to refer all solicitors for advertising and other solicitation schemes to the Akron Merchants' Association for its official indorsement before entering into any contracts, with the result that since March, 1923, the Advertising and Solicitations Committee has handled more than 3,000 investigations and has made an estimated saving of approximately $400,000 for association members. In August, 1922, the association inaugurated its statistical department, and each month it renders its individual members a barometer on local business conditions. It has been said that the statistical bulletins issued from the association give a more accurate barometer of business conditions than bank clearings, because the figures come directly from the books of Akron retailers. In the same year, 1922, the association developed a Retail Educational Department for the training of young salespeople who were just entering the retail field. The first instructor in these classes was Nina Clover, a graduate of Carnegie Tech. Pupils are permitted to go to school four mornings each week on merchants' time, and there they learn the theoretical side of retail selling, which they coordinate with their practical training behind the retail counter. At the end of one year of successful study, graduates are given a certificate of graduation from the school of salesmanship by the local board of education. In November, 1923, an adjustment bureau was promoted for collection of delinquent accounts. Merchants believed by pooling all their accounts in one central office that they could secure more effective results in the 356 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY collection of their accounts. Edward Kohl was appointed as manager of this department, and after three and a half years of operation the association has demonstrated beyond doubt the feasibility of the idea of centralization in collections. The department is now doing a tremendous collection business. It has on its books in the neighborhood of $200,000 in delinquent accounts, and is rendering its membership a satisfactory service. In the same month of 1923 the Mutual Protective Company was organized for apprehension and prosecution of shoplifters, checkworkers, fraudulent charge account operators and other criminals operating in retail stores. P. J. Woll, a former superintendent of the Cleveland office of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, was selected as manager of this department. In the last three and a half years this department has apprehended approximately 2,000 criminals as classified above, and has returned in the neighborhood of $85,000 in stolen money and merchandise to participating stores, besides plugging up the tremendous leakage incurred through the operation of these criminals. In September, 1924, a cooperative window trimming department was established, whereby stores which did not employ full-time window display men, might get an efficient window trimming service at a nominal cost. R. M. Hollister, a well-known window display man of Cleveland, was placed in charge of this department, and it has developed into a valuable annex to association activities. This department is now carrying about eighteen window trimming contracts on its books. The Akron Merchants' Association is affiliated with the National Council of Retail Merchants, the Ohio State Council of Retail Merchants and six single line retail state organizations and works in harmony with 137 local retail organizations in Ohio. In addition to looking after the local problems of Akron retailers, the association is very active in state and national legislative problems affecting merchants, through its cooperation with state and national retail organizations. The Akron Merchants' Association also holds the reputation of taking a very active part in all civic enterprises. Every year since the inauguration of the Better Akron Federation, the association has held the record of surpassing its quota in the community fund. It has always been active in cooperating with the Summit County Agricultural Society in developing for this community one of the most successful county fairs in the State of Ohio. It has at all times cooperated with the Chamber of Commerce and other civic bodies working in the interest of Akron. Since March, 1922, the association has developed from one of the smallest to one of the largest and most active retail organizations in Ohio, and today has enrolled in its membership 176 of the leading retail stores of Akron. Organizations affiliated with the Akron Merchants' Association include : The Twenty-Four Karat Club of Jewelers, the Akron Retail Hardware Club, the Retail Clothiers' Board, the Akron Florists' Club, the Akron and Summit County Radio Dealers Association, the Furniture Dealers Association of Akron, and the Akron Shoe Dealers' Association. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 357 Presidents of the Akron Merchants' Association, beginning in 1910 and including 1927, have been : M. O'Neil, C. B. Harper, R. G. Yeager, M. S. Long, Mr. Oliver, Frank McCarthy, I. H. Birnbaum, J. L. Yeager, E. W. Chamberlin and H. 0. Polsky. Mr. Polsky, who now holds the office of president, has laid comprehensive plans for the extension of the association's activities, and soon these activities and their usefulness to the association members will be even further developed. THE AKRON REAL ESTATE BOARD The Akron Real Estate Board was incorporated in March, 1912. Incorporation papers state that the corporation was formed for promotion of social enjoyment and friendly interchange of views and sentiments with cultivation of agreeable business relations between those who may become members ; to advance the interest of the City of Akron and its citizens by fostering public improvements and enforcement of laws for the protection, welfare, and the convenience of real estate owners and leaseholders and generally to improve the City of Akron and the character of its streets and buildings ; to establish and maintain the calling of the real estate broker in a position of dignity and responsibility in the community by insisting on principles of honesty and fair dealing in their business of buying and selling, renting, caring for, and loaning money on real estate. Of the eighteen who signed the incorporation papers, the following are still members of the board : H. J. Steiner, D. W. Kaufman, Albert Myers, J. W. Failor, M. C. Heminger, Edward T. Keller, V. D. Emmons and Claude Traxler. In 1913 there were thirty-one active members. Now there are seventy-one active members besides several hundred associated and affiliated members. The following men have served as president: 1912, F. M. Cooke ; 1913, D. W. Kaufman ; 1914, E. D. Coates ; 1915, C. S. Jenkins ; 1916, E. E. Workman ; 1917, R. K. Crawford ; 1918, A. W. Burnett ; 1919, H. C. France ; 1920, L. R. Reif snider ; 1921, Claude K. Traxler; 1922, C. A. Strobel ; 1923, C. C. McNeil ; 1924, Oakley Spaght ; 1925, Homer J. Steiner ; 1926, A. R. Ritzman ; and 1927, 0. E. Bowdle. The board has only had three full time secretaries : Jack Moore, E. C. Jarvis, and the present secretary, Claude Traxler. The real estate business is on a higher plane today than ever before. The code of ethics based on the Golden Rule challenges the realtor to the very best that is in him and if the realtors observe the code of ethics which they pledge themselves to do, the public can be assured a square deal. If another realtor or the public should feel they have been wronged in any way by a realtor, the board has an arbitration committee, before which complaints can be placed. It has been found necessary in several cases to expel members for unethical dealing. The realtors have accomplished much in their fight for legislation beneficial to property owners and against legislation which would be harmful to them. One of the major objects of the State Association of Real Estate 358 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Boards is to urge upon the legislature the necessity of collecting revenue from other forms of property and thus relieve to some extent, home owners, farmers and other holders of real property, believing that the tax burden should be equalized. In 1923, the Akron Board and the Ohio Association fought the Taft Tax Law, caused its defeat and were the means of saving the property owners of Ohio over $15,000,000 in taxes or about $2 on each $1,000 of taxable property. Again in 1926, the realtors led another tax fight that saved thousands of dollars to the taxpayer. The National Conventions of the National Association of Real Estate Boards have proved the National Association to be the strongest civic business organization in the United States. A few realtors in one board can do little, but thirty or more local boards joined in a state association representing several thousand realtors and over 500 boards with more than 20,000 members joined into the National Association can accomplish much for the real estate interests and property owners, especially when the boards and members are working for the good of the real estate owners and the communities where they operate. Through the organization, service of inestimable value is rendered property owners and business men. The time has passed when the real estate profession can profitably be made a refuge for illiterate men and those who have failed in other lines of work. The men who do most in the real estate business are well educated. Many of the universities now offer, courses in real estate and many of the Y. M. C. A.'s have evening real estate classes. The time is fast approaching when anyone wishing to enter the real estate profession will be obliged to pass a satisfactory examination as to mental attainments, financial integrity and general fitness. Now that the real estate license law has gone into effect, it is hoped those who are unfit and dishonest will soon be weeded out of the business. THE BUILDERS' EXCHANGE A building trades organization existed in Akron as early as 1882, when John Crisp served as its president. From 1890 to 1891 various single line building trade organizations were set up in addition to the general body. It was in 1916 that the Builders' Exchange as we now know it in Akron, was organized as The Master Builders' Association. Its presidents have been : H. P. Moran, J. A. Haller, John Clemmer, Charles M. Cott, A. A. Hilkert, Claude Wall, John E. Woodruff, H. P. Cahill, I. B. Powell and William A. Boesche. It now includes 200 members representing practically every phase of building industry, including the following : Manufacturers of brick, tile, cement products, iron and steel materials ; dealers in all classes of building materials and lumber ; general, electrical, painting, plumbing, plastering and roofing contractors, financing and bonding institutions. The purpose of the Exchange as laid down in the constitution is to promote integrity and good faith, to inculcate just and equitable principles of dealing, to acquire and disseminate valuable business statistics and in- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 359 formation ; to protect and encourage the building interests in Akron ; and to enlarge the business views of those who may become members, to the end that membership in this association shall be a reasonable assurance of skill, honorable reputation and reliability. The board of directors is made up of representatives of eight trade associations, several of which have been organized for a quarter of a century, and in 1927 was constituted as follows : H. P. Cahill, Cahill Plumbing Co., president ; A. J. Becker, Ornamental Iron Co„ first vice president ; James Flower, Jr., Flower Mantel & Tile Co., second vice president ; Frank A. Owen, Owen Cement Products Co., treasurer ; Philip P. Gott, Builders' Exchange, secretary ; directors at large : L. C. Huguelet, Akron Mirror & Glass Co., and W. W. Sharp, Mill & Mine Supply Co.; directors : Frank Owen, Cement Products Association; A. P. Jahant, Electrical Association ; W. J. Porter, General Contractors' Association ; Frank Wise, Lumber Dealers' Association ; J. B. Gonder, Painters' Association ; Claude Wall, Plumbers' Association ; William Pfeifle, Sheet Metal & Roofers' Association ; A. R. Haley, Supply Dealers' Association. Mr. Gott retired as secretary in 1928. The Builders' Exchange has interested itself in many civic enterprises as well as the large number of activities directly connected with the construction industry. NOTE: You will note in reading the story of the Chamber of Commerce that a group of Builders' Exchange members were instrumental in organizing the Akron Chamber of Commerce in 1904. THE AKRON RETAIL CREDIT MEN'S ASSOCIATION On November 6, 1917, five men—one merchant, one reporting bureau man, two officers of other business houses, and one credit man—signed the Articles of Incorporation of the Akron Retail Credit Men's Association. The association was formed for the purpose of : (1) Bringing its membership into closer relationship for the interchange of ideas, methods and information and thereby have at their command a more powerful influence in matters of legislation and law enforcement. (2) To disseminate at regular and frequent intervals, literature bearing on retail credits. (3) To employ the information so obtained with regard to the establishment and maintenance of credit for the benefit and education of the public generally or any other persons who may be interested in such information. (4) To interest other persons than the members in literature and educational information relating to trade credits. The membership has grown several times larger than it was when this association sprang into existence, and each year has brought new and valued members to the membership, each addition having added strength to the association. From the small beginning of seventeen charter members, 360 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY the membership has long since passed the 100 mark. Quality and not quantity has always governed each year's increase to the roll, and each year since its inception the membership has been 100 per cent national in its affiliation with the Retail Credit Men's National Association. The weekly meeting has developed into a Credit Grantors Luncheon Club, and meets Tuesday of every week. The dissemination of credit information has developed into a weekly bulletin issued on Monday of every week to the entire membership, giving the information to all who have been unable to attend. From the information gained at the luncheon or through the bulletin, merchants have been saved the loss of several times the annual dues of their representatives, and many a junior credit man has been helped to promotion. Methods have changed but the need has not and as the years go by the wisdom of the men who incorporated the Akron Retail Credit Men's Association is proved again and again and will be as long as it is necessary to have merchandise sold on credit. Incorporators were : E. J. Hurcomb, the M. O'Neil Co. ; B. A. Polsky, the A. Polsky Co. ; Oscar Smith, the C. H. Yeager Co. ; Walter Flower, the Hardware & Supply Co. ; John T. Spellman, Merchants Mercantile Co. The association was incorporated November 22, 1917, and the charter members included : Claude M. Butler, F. F. McCarthy, I. H. Birnbaum, W. A. Romich, J. H. Wagoner, F. G. Snook, Sol M. Goldsmith, Oscar Smith, A. J. White, Dexter Crandall, W. F. Flower, E. L. Henry, Mary A. Hetzel, John T. Spellman, E. J. Hurcomb, Earl C. Findley, J. L. Hower. THE AKRON BETTER BUSINESS COMMISSION Articles of incorporation of the Akron Better Business Commission, Inc., were filed in the office of the Secretary of State on February 10, 1921. The purpose of this corporation, to quote these articles, is to "impartially promote and further fair competition in business, including the investigation and elimination of all unfair competition, and especially of exaggerated, misleading or fraudulent advertising, and the doing of all things necessary or incidental thereto." Incorporators of the Better Business Commission were George D. Bates, R. G. Yeager, Fred A. Mayfield, William E. Bryan, and Edward L. Howe. The Better Business Commission was closely affiliated with and a part of the Akron Advertising Club. George D. Bates was the first president, B. A. Polsky, vice president, E. L. Howe, treasurer, and Fred A. Mayfield, secretary. These men together with the following, comprised the first board of directors : R. G. Yeager, J. P. Vanston, Charles Hoover, Ross Walker, L. D. Freiberg, C. K. Traxler, F. B. Morgan, W. E. Bryan and M. B. Shumaker. John Garver was the first manager or commissioner of this office. The Better Business Commission started to function as of March 15, 1921. It was located and still remains in the same office, Room 710, Second National Building. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 361 The scope of activities of their office has automatically divided itself into two parts. That which is termed the Merchandise Work or Division has for its purpose raising of the standards of advertising and selling of merchandise or services. In this division is read all of the advertising appearing in local papers and other media. Any advertising claims which appear to be inaccurate are investigated by this office, and if investigation discloses the claims are in fact inaccurate, steps are taken to obtain the cooperation of the advertisers with a view toward eliminating the same or similar inaccuracies in the future. Only in extreme cases has this office ever resorted to prosecution as a means of obtaining cooperation from any advertiser. The Financial Division of this office has for its aim the protection of the purchasing power of this community against fraud in the sale of securities, merchandise, or services. This was a logical growth due to the fact that no swindle can be perpetrated on any appreciable scale unless advertising is employed. It is not possible to protect the value inherent in all advertising, that is, the confidence of the public in the printed word of business, unless one can curtail and expose swindlers who adopt the printed word or advertising as a means towards swindling the public. Any person who has been deluded, misled, or swindled by means of false advertising will not place the same confidence in any printed claim that he would have had he never had this unfortunate experience. Work of this office is not that of reformers or uplifters. The operations of a Better Business Commission have a distinct cash drawer value to any community in which it is located. A Better Business Commission functioning as a fact finding and fact disseminating organization is in a position to turn the money which ordinarily would go into the pockets of fakers, into channels of legitimate business. The Akron Better Business Commission, or any Better Business Commission, has no authority other than that given by public opinion. Its most effective weapon or means of obtaining the purpose for which we are organized, is by means of publicity. Until January 1, 1927, the Better Business Commission published confidential bulletins which were sent only to the members of the commission. These bulletins had a maximum circulation or distribution of about 175 copies. As of January 1, 1927, the commission issued a printed bulletin called "Facts." The initial authorized distribution of "Facts" was 2,000 copies. "Facts" was published and issued twice a month. Immediately after the appearance of the first issue of "Facts," one of the larger rubber companies asked that they be furnished with 1,000 copies of each issue. Due to this and other requests the commission is now publishing and distributing approximately 3,500 copies of each issue. Indications are that this figure will be increased soon. At various times during the life of the commission the following men have served on the Board of Directors : Jerome Dauby, Frank M. Cooke, Harry Shuter, F. C. Van Cleef, George H. Dunn, E. E. Workman, J. H. Vineberg, S. F. Ziliox, I. H. Birnbaum, C. A. Stillman, B. M. Robinson, 362 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY F. W. Albrecht, Harry Williams, J. H. Barry, E. W. Chamberlin, Harry Polsky, L. E. Herman, H. B. Stewart, and W. E. Wright. John N. Garver served as commissioner from March 15, 1921, to June 1, 1922, when he was succeeded by Phillip Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin served as commissioner until June 1st, 1923. Mr. Baldwin resigned and H. L. Baldensperger served as commissioner until June 1, 1925. When Mr. Baldensperger resigned on June 1, 1925, R. A. Burrell, who had served as assistant commissioner from April 1, 1925, until June 1, 1925, was appointed commissioner, which position he still holds. The Akron Better Business Commission is affiliated with the National Better Business Bureau and some forty other local Better Business Bureaus situated in the larger cities throughout this country. The Akron Better Business Commission is entirely financed and officered in Akron. Membership in the Akron Commission is by invitation and all applications to be effective must be approved by the Board of Directors. Presidents of the commission have been : George D. Bates, 1921 to 1923, inclusive ; George H. Dunn, 1924 to 1926, inclusive, and the present president, Harry Williams. Through the organization of the commercial bodies listed in this chapter, the business interests of Akron and Summit County have been better served. They are not selfish organizations, their object being to foster trade, correct abuses, render better service, and to protect and promote the commercial life of this city and county. HISTORY OF THE BARBERTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Faced with many community problems as the result of the rapid expansion of industries and population, business leaders of Barberton early in 1920 banded themselves together to work out these problems. Under the leadership of such men as W. A. Johnston, F. J. Weigand, H. A. Rudd, B. O. Etling, E. F. Crites, H. A. Galt and others the Barberton Chamber of Commerce was founded. After an intensive membership campaign the first election was held and W. A. Johnston selected as the organization's first president. After a year of effective service he was succeeded by F. J. Weigand. E. S. Weber was the organization's first secretary. Effectiveness of the Chamber of Commerce was demonstrated early in its existence. Shortly after the Chamber was established the business depression of 1920 and 1921 began to affect local business. Under the leadership of the new civic body the resources of the community were organized in such a fashion as to minimize its effect locally. An employment bureau was established and the influence of the Chamber made it possible for many heads of families to find at least temporary employment. The relief resources of the city were organized to care for cases of actual distress. The business depression left the organization weakened financially but strengthened in influence. H. W. Young served as the Chamber's third president. During his administration G. H. Sheppard succeeded to the AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 363 managership of the organization. M. S. Yoder succeeded to the presidency in 1923 and in October of that year William A. Mills was selected and still remains as secretary. C. R. Sadler served the organization as president for one year beginning in October, 1924. He was succeeded by Oliver D. Everhard. F. A. Terpe at present fills that position. The Chamber of Commerce is the central community organization. Its program is three fold : Civic, industrial and commercial. Unlike most cities there is a centralization of effort in this one organization. It functions as a merchants' association, manufacturers' association, better business commission, credit rating association and in addition in connection with the Barberton Community Fund, conducts a social service exchange. HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA FALLS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Realizing the need of a motivating force in Cuyahoga Falls, the fastest growing city in Ohio, leading business men and property owners began in the fall of 1926 to lay plans for the organization of a Chamber of Commerce. At the annual meeting of the Falls Civic Association, a committee of fifteen was appointed for the purpose of organizing a Chamber of Commerce. The first meeting was held at the city hall on November 24, 1926. The committee consisted of the following men : C. E. Motz, chairman, D. D. Burgan, secretary, A. E. Ranney, H. J. Wade, F. W. Orth, H. C. Piehl, L. M. Green, J. V. O'Connor, J. Bagley, George Elliott, W. H. Richardson, C. M. Tyler, and L. P. Bradrick. A number of meetings were held by the committee in November and December. After considerable discussion the committee determined to carry forward the plans for the organization of a Chamber of Commerce. The first step was to hold a membership campaign, which was started on January 5, 1927. The campaign was held under the direction of two captains, John Swan, and E. E. Bair, with a total of 196 members obtained. Later a meeting was held for the adoption of a constitution and election of officers. The following men were elected as directors : R. C. Durst, B. W. Bierce, Sol Levinson, W. H. Richardson, W. Schnabel, J. V. O'Connor, J. Bagley, L. Green, F. W. Orth, A. E. Ranney, P. C. Albertson, C. E. Motz, D. D. Burgan, George Elliott, and Max Read. At a meeting of the newly elected directors on March 21, a report of the by-laws and constitution, which was adopted by the Chamber of Commerce, was made by W. H. Richardson. At a meeting on March 28th the following men were elected as officers of the Chamber: C. E. Motz, president; W. H. Richardson, first vice president ; A. E. Ranney, second vice president, and D. D. Burgan, secretary-treasurer. A committee to negotiate for the employment of a secretary was appointed with Schnabel, chairman, L. Green, F. W. Orth, C. E. Motz, and D. D. Burgan on May 23, which resulted in the appointment of Russell Frey as executive secretary. 364 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY HISTORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF AKRON The Automobile Dealers Association of Akron, with manifold activities of a trade association, is the outgrowth of the Akron Exhibition Company, formed originally for the purpose of holding annual automobile shows. This initial aim is still carried out by the newer organization but its scope has been widened until it keeps its members informed on sales, local and national, legal technicalities, service problems and credit information. Athletic activities, such as bowling and baseball, are fostered and worth-while speakers on automotive subjects are brought to Akron once a month during the winter. One of the principal projects is a service managers' association for the improvement of automotive servicing and interchange of methods. This group also works with the Board of Education in conduct of an apprentice training school for mechanics. This is a three-year cooperative course open to boys of high school age, the graduates of which are given high school diplomas at the completion of their course. Practical experience is gained in dealers' shops. Officers of the association are : J. E. Burns, president ; J. A. Russell, vice president, A. L. Homeier, treasurer, with F. E. Richardson as the other director. Harry E. Bennett, former city editor of the Akron Times-Press, is secretary-manager. The writer is indebted to the following persons for their assistance in compiling this chapter on Commercial Organizations and Development: Almon B. Cannon, Claude Traxler, Phillip Gott, Mary Hetzel, R. A. Burrell. The Akron Automobile Association with a membership of close to 10,000 is affiliated with the Ohio State and American Automobile Associations. George H. Kile is president and manager of the Akron Club, which has its headquarters on South Broadway, near Exchange. The Akron Club was organized more than fifteen years ago by Andrew Auble, F. E. Whittemore, I. S. Meyers, John A. Brittain, Enoch T. Jones and others. CHAPTER VIII PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLISHERS Summit County now boasts two progressive daily newspapers. Both are operated in the evening field. Although the county has no morning publication the Cleveland Plain Dealer maintains branch editorial offices in Akron, and is widely circulated in the county. Also published in Akron and other cities of the county are several weekly, semi-weekly and monthly publications including the India, Rubber Review, a rubber trade magazine and two foreign language newspapers the Germania, (German) and the Hirlap, (Hungarian Journal) the Akron Topics, a monthly magazine, for Akron and the Wing foot Clan, a publication for Goodyear Tire & Rubber company employes are included in the group. Barberton, Kenmore and Cuyahoga Falls are represented by weekly newspapers. The Summit County Labor News is the official publication of Summit's organized labor groups. The Beacon Journal, a consolidation of the old Summit County Beacon and the Akron Journal and the Times-Press, a Scripps-Howard newspaper, formed by the merging of the Akron Evening and Sunday Times and the Akron Press, are the daily newspapers. The Beacon Journal does not publish a Sunday edition. The commanding place of printer's ink is no matter of modern discovery ; and even before the birth of Akron, the canal to which the town was to owe its origin, became the inspiration of the first newspaper within the present city. The proposed "ditch" was of vital interest to Middlebury. Lauren Dewey, journeyman printer of Ravenna, looking into the situation, saw opportunity. He proposed to establish a newspaper to be known as the Ohio Canal Advocate. He added the proviso that Middlebury citizens aid in financing the project, naively stating in his proposition inviting subscriptions, that sums contributed were to be repaid "whenever the editor shall consider himself able to do so." Thirty-six signatories to the proposition produced a potential capital of $204. A second hand Ramage press and types were purchased in Cleveland and brought overland by wagon. Whether there was delay in the payment of subscriptions, as has been known to happen in newspaper affairs, or whether the purchase and transportation of equipment required a greater time than anticipated, is not apparent, but the canal question was affirmatively and satisfactorily settled before its still unborn Advocate made its appearance ; with the consequence that, upon its arrival, the infant was christened the Portage Journal. The first number was issued Sept. 28, 1825. Eighteen twenty-five—about tavern firesides and bars and wherever - 365 - 366 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY men met the Monroe Doctrine was still discussed. John Quincy Adams was the recently inaugurated president. Times were generally good and people generally contented. But the change that was to make Andrew Jackson the next president was in the making. The masses and the new west were to exercise a weighty voice in matters political. Sensing this trend, it is quite probable that, as they discussed policies of the new paper, Ozias Bowen, lately arrived from Massachusetts, and Elijah Mason, who had succeeded to Dewey's enterprise, either disregarded it or were themselves of "aristocratic" tendencies. Their paper became nominally independent, actually anti-Jackson. This may or may not have contributed to the end which came, after a change or two of ownership, in 1829, the year following Jackson's election. The ante-mortem announcement appeared in January. The wintry wind sang a mournful requiem. Chill gusts swept down on candle-lighted Middlebury and played about the big chimney of the Chittenden Hotel where, about the fireplace, undoubtedly, some few of the villagers discussed the merits and demerits of the departed. Eighteen twenty-five—Richard Hoe, who was to give to the world a rotary press, operated by mechanical power, was still but a boy. Machine composition of type was still a half-century into the future. England had but a few years earlier ceased imposing a tax on advertisements. A few fonts of type, a stick, a bit of ink and paper and a Ramage or older press—presses were all of the screw type until Rust's Washington hand press appeared in 1829—were sufficient for the publication of a newspaper. Yet it would appear that the early journals were very good, it has been remarked—they so generally died young. Nor is an irreverent levity intended. The newspapers of the 1825-50 period and earlier were, as a rule, journalistic rather than commercial enterprises. Save in large cities the editor was his own business manager and often his own reporter, printer and pressman. He naturally wished to make his paper and his labor profitable but the lines he cultivated were not nearly so often aggressive business methods as they were the production of editorials. He thought less of what the people wanted than of what he believed they ought to have. But a great change was in the making—the decline of that class of semi-literary journals chiefly concerned with government, which were the outgrowth of early, purely political sheets, and the birth and rise of great news-disseminating publications, such as the elder Bennett sponsored in the New York Herald. In Akron the great changes in newspapers and newspaper publishing went on as elsewhere. Following the Portage Journal there was no paper in this field until the incorporation of Akron as a village in 1836. Madison H. White, in that year, established the Akron Post. The measure of its life was eight months. Constant Bryan (father of Major F. C. Bryan) followed with the Akron Journal, which lived six months. The panic of 1837 had come on and in few places was it more severely felt than in Akron ; but in August of that year, Horace K. Smith and Gideon AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 367 G. Galloway started the American Balance. Hiram Bowen, nephew of Ozias Bowen of the earlier Portage Journal, acquired Galloway's interest a few months later. Through varying vicissitudes, involving temporary suspension and other difficulties, this paper ultimately became the present day Beacon Journal. It would seem almost more than a coincidence of chance that in Lane's most valuable "Fifty Years and Over of Akron and Summit County" the chapter on newspapers is immediately followed by that entitled "Akron's Burial Places." For many Akron ventures on journalistic seas were soon submerged. Others topped the waves gallantly for a considerable period; but changing political and economic conditions, stove worthy hulls and lack of capital and faulty business methods dragged yet others to the bottom. S. A. Lane, painter, printer, editor, sheriff, historian, did much to give the Summit Beacon which, founded by Hiram Bowen in 1839, succeeded the American Balance, a place of some security. More local news was his formula. This was in Civil war times. At about this period the first power press was used in Akron and was probably incident to the Beacon's growth to a circulation of 2,500. Meanwhile, in 1842, Horace Canfield (1803-1853) had started the American Democrat. Akron had become a county seat. There was now to be had official printing—the salvation of many a struggling journal, the sole excuse for some ; and legitimately so in either case. Benjamin Franklin received more money for such work than for "Poor Richard." Mr. Canfield was a thorough printer of the Franklin school. He founded the Ohio Review in Cuyahoga Falls in 1833. His other ventures included, besides the American Democrat, the Akron Free Democrat, 1849, edited by Sidney Edgerton. A son, Horace G. Canfield, (1831-1920) spent a long lifetime in the printing business in Akron, founding among other ventures, the Akron Daily Argus (1874). This paper was afterward published by Elder John F. Rowe and again by Carson Lake, who later became a widely known writer. Under one name and another, the original Canfield's Democratic paper appeared and disappeared a number of times. As The Standard, H. P. Abel, proprietor, a small daily was attempted in 1855. Failure of the project buried both this and the weekly which mothered it ; but this was the first daily paper in Akron, and most probably the first on the Western Reserve, outside of Cleveland. In 1867 J. C. Loveland started the Akron City Times, a Democratic weekly. The Civil war was recently over. Northern Republican journals and stump speakers were very prone to "wave the bloody shirt." Newspapers were bitterly partisan. Editorial indiscretions caused Mr. Loveland to retire, but the City Times went on. In the course of changes in the proprietor and editorship appear such well known names as S. L. and Don Everett, Richard H. and Clarence Knight, Edwin Myers, W. B. Tanneyhill, O. D. Capron, M. J. Gilbo, J. M. H. Frederick, Melville Wright, and Fred G. Frease. 368 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY J. L. Patterson and William E. Young (afterward mayor) then about to finish college at Ann Arbor, acquired an interest in the City Times early in 1892 and planned to launch somewhat later a Democratic daily. At about the same time William B. and Russell T. Dobson, who had been publishing a newspaper in Bowling Green, Ohio, proposed to put a daily in the Akron field. William T. Sawyer, young lawyer and chairman of the democratic county committee, was interested. Colonel Conger became responsible for the Akron Daily and Sunday Republican. This paper succeeded the Sunday Gazette and Daily Telegram._ The former was founded in 1878 by Paul E. Werner and Carl F. Kolbe, the latter being better remembered as a professorial pillar of Buchtel College and the father of a future president of Akron University. Fred C. and Isaac Jennings Bryan were subsequent owners of the Gazette. Frank S. Pixley, later famous and rich as author of the libretto of "The Prince of Pilsen," bought and consolidated the Gazette with the City Times, with which business he was identified. Shortly afterward the Times office started the Daily Telegram. The Conger interests named their acquisitions the Sunday Republican and the Daily Republican, respectively. Ed. S. Wright was editor. So, for nearly two years Akron had two dailies of like political faith. The Beacon had never been a considerable money-maker. The Republican made less. Dr. W. S. Chase was a reporter for and later city editor of the Republican at some such figure. Willis W. Thornton was drawing six or eight dollars a week from the Beacon when told that the paper would have to do without him and that, all things considered, he might better find another pursuit in life. Among other reporters of the time were Ben F. Clark, Karl Kendig, A. W. Maynes, and L. W. Strayer. Charles Nelan, afterward a famous cartoonist, was at this time making sketches which he offered the Akron newspapers gratis. Wages in mechanical and business departments of the papers were on a par with general rates but were certainly not high. All type was set by hand—twenty-five or thirty cents per thousand ems. A fast compositor could set a thousand an hour, but must "throw in" on his own time. A first-class pressman was paid about $15 per week. A bookkeeper could be had for eight. Cub-reporter-office-boys, a combination of rare possibilities for all parties, and of whom the writer was one, (on. the Canton Repository) were a drug on the market at three dollars a week. These were among the last days of that picturesque figure, the tramp printer. The linotype was his "Don't park here." Usually he alighted from a freight train. He went directly to the composing room of the nearest newspaper. Sometimes there was extra work for him. More usually he produced a stick from his hip pocket and sat up at the case of a regular compositor who was willing to take a few hours or a day off. The office later cashed the tramp's "string"—proofs of type he had set, pasted in a continuous strip for measuring. W. B. Baldwin, late editor of the Beacon and Republican, now (1897) started the Akron Sunday World. Later James A. Braden and then AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 369 Thomas C. Raynolds published this paper, Raynolds changing the name to the Star. It endured for about three years. The ill health of Mr. Raynolds had much to do with its suspension. Long a forceful figure in Akron's civic life and in Ohio newspaper circles, Mr. Raynolds died February 1, 1915, at his home in this city. For a number of years paralysis had rendered him practically helpless, but his mental vigor was unimpaired. A surviving son is Will Raynolds, city editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL By Howard Wolf Eighty-nine years of age, in 1928, and one of the most substantial and progressive newspapers in the United States, the Akron Beacon Journal represents the survival of the fittest in a journalistic competition that left wrecked newspaper plants stranded all along the highway of Summit County history. The Beacon Journal's close to nine decades of continuous publication dates to the issuance of the first number of the Summit Beacon on Monday, April 15, 1839. As a daily the newspaper's history stretches back in uninterrupted succession through the fifty-eight years that have elapsed since the Daily Beacon was first cried on the streets of Akron on December 6, 1869. Pulsing through the circulation of today's journalistic giant is the printer's ink that was the lifeblood of the Summit Beacon, Weekly Beacon, Akron Daily Beacon and Akron Journal. These papers were the actual' parents of today's Beacon Journal. EARLIER ANCESTORS There are earlier ancestors though, the American Balance, founded August 19, 1837, and Samuel Alanson Lane's Akron Buzzard, hatched from the shell of the defunct Akron Journal on September 7, 1837. The Balance and the Buzzard might well be regarded as this newspaper's grandparents. Akron gave birth to its first newspaper shortly after the town's incorporation in March, 1836. Prior to that time citizens of the village that was to be Akron depended upon the journals of Hudson, Ravenna and Cuyahoga Falls for their information concerning events going on next door and half way across the world. The Akron act of incorporation was passed March 12 and on the 23rd of the same month Madison H. White, a printer from Medina, issued the first number of the Akron Post. It was a five-column democratic weekly that threshed about on a bed of financial pain until November 15 of the same year when it breathed its last. WHIG STRONGHOLD Constant Bryan, rising young lawyer and democratic politician who later became a judge, bought up the corpse and on December 1, still of 13-VOL. 1 370 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY the same year, brought the paper to life again under the name of the Akron Journal. It never had a chance. The policy was democratic, as had been the case with its predecessor and Akron was a whig stronghold. Almost as soon as the Journal had been set in motion Akron's whigs were busy plotting a counterblast to the insidious democratic influence. Before its first number could be issued, however, the Journal expired. Last issue of Constant Bryan's sheet came out on June 15, 1837, and first issue of the American Balance on August 19 of the same year. Horace K. Smith, Akron business man, and Gideon C. Galloway, Northampton printer, were the founders of the whig organ. PRESS WITH A PAST The printing press on which their journal was issued was a battered veteran purchased from the Ohio Observer of Hudson. It was a press with a past. Hudson had the second newspaper in Summit County. Middlebury, now East Akron, had the first—the Portage Journal established in 1825. Hudson's sheet was the Observer and Telegraph, an 1830 revival of a short-lived religious and literary gazette that had been founded in Cleveland three years earlier as the Western Intelligencer. In 1832 the name was changed to the Ohio Observer and in December, 1834, Rev. A. P. Clarke appeared upon the scene as editor. The Observer was a crusading sheet, anti-slavery, anti-liquor and anti all of the pleasant sins. FEMALES RESOLVE A worthy Hudson burgher, becoming involved in scandal at this time, learned through the medium of the village grapevine telegraph that the local Female Moral Reform Society had passed a series of horrified resolutions concerning his case. These resolutions were to appear complete in the columns of the Observer, he was informed. He called on the editor but could get no information. From other sources he learned, however, that text of the resolutions was already upon the press. Borrowing a heavy sledge from the village blacksmith he invaded the Observer office and laid about him so manfully that he not only knocked the entire form into pi but smashed the heavy iron bed plate of the press as well. ENTER HIRAM BOWEN Printing presses were not easily obtainable in those days and accordingly the paper without a press was moved to Cleveland and consolidated with the Cleveland Journal. The wrecked press was later bought by Smith & Galloway and after AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 371 undergoing extensive repairs ground out the first issues of Akron's American Balance. In February, 1833, Hiram Bowen, who was later to found the Summit Beacon, purchased the Galloway interest in the paper. Smith and Bowen gave unlimited credit for both advertising and subscriptions and as a result of this method of business procedure the American Balance was tipped in the wrong direction. Publication ceased on August 9, 1838. Akron was not to be without its newspaper, however, for the Akron Buzzard was already in full flight when the Balance was laid in its grave. BUZZARD FLIES The Buzzard first flapped its wings on September 7, 1837. Samuel Alanson Lane, one of the greatest figures in the city's history, was editor and sole owner. A sign painter by trade, he had picked up a smattering of the printing art on the travels that preceded his arrival in Akron. Akron was then a town strenuous in wrongdoing, overrun by crooks, counterfeiters and sharpers of all varieties. Taverns and inns of the village were headquarters for gamblers, confidence men and ex-steamboat gamblers, far wandering from their old haunts along the Mississippi River. Diamonds on his fingers and in his neckband, a Derringer in his pocket and displaying on the street corners a costume that included a ruffled shirt, plug hat and kid gloves, the typical "sharper" of the period resembled nothing so much as the conventional 100 per cent black-hearted villain of the melodramatic stage. DISTILLERIES FLOURISH Ham-fisted battlers from the canal boat crews, blast furnace workers and rough and tumble pioneers comprised a goodly portion of the town's 700 or 800 inhabitants. Free-for-alls were a daily feature of the life and whisky consumption flourished. Distilleries had been long established even at that early date, and a tavern without a barroom was an undreamed of thing. Even the leading merchants of the town kept kegs of whisky on their counters at all times as an added attraction for customers. Lane was a reformer, then as always, and he conceived the idea that a newspaper would be of great help to authorities in ridding the hard-boiled little town of its unrighteous residents. LANE CUTS LOOSE Lane went to Judge Bryan and obtained permission to use press and type of the defunct Akron Journal. Armed only with type stick and determination he pounced upon the loafers, "blacklegs" and crooks of Akron. Those were the days when the word "flay" could really be applied to editorial fulminations. 372 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Using the pen name of Jedediah Brownhead, Esq., and indulging in a style that can best be compared to those later and greater journalists, "Artemas Ward" and "Josh Billings" the young Connecticut Yankee had at the wrongdoers of Akron. With full knowledge of what was extremely likely to happen he laid himself open to all varieties of assault and battery, ranging from simple rotten-eggings and threats to wreck the office to attempts on his life. ALWAYS IN TROUBLE He was rawhided by a woman after denouncing her husband for his brutalities towards her. He ran afoul of Jim Brown, king of the Cuyahoga Valley counterfeiters, who hired a ruffian to give him a drubbing. In an encounter with a negro pugilist named John Kelley he received a merciless beating. This last affair drew from the militant editor only this spirited editorial statement : "Go to it, blacklegs, rummies and sympathizers—we would quietly submit to a good sound thrashing every day for a month to come, if for each one we could rid the community of the baneful influence of twenty or thirty individuals whom we could mention." BOWEN ONCE MORE With his mission performed he discontinued his paper and transferred the subscription list to Hiram Bowen. The Buzzard was the only one of the early Akron newspapers that was not compelled to cease publication by reason of financial difficulties. It was self-sustaining from the day of its founding to the day the subscription list was turned over to Bowen. Outfitted with the ancient Ohio Observer press, in possession of the Buzzard's subscription list and backed by pledges of support from Akron businessmen and whig leaders, Bowen issued the first number of the Summit Beacon on April 15, 1839. Volume 1, No. 1, of the Summit Beacon is missing from the files in this newspaper's possession but Volume 1, No. 2, and all succeeding issues are in the bound files in the vault of the Beacon Journal's new building. KEEPS SCISSORS BUSY Page one of the second number is entirely devoted to short stories, humorous skits and articles borrowed from other papers. Those in this issue are credited to the Illinois Backwoodsman, New York Express, Troy Whig and Augusta (Ga.) Mirror. More reprinted miscellanies, an editorial sounding praises of the state of Ohio, a review of the April number of the Hesperian, midwest literary magazine and several contributed letters and poems fill up page two. At the paper's masthead dangles the slogan, "For President Henry Clay of Kentucky." Clipped items from other papers, a list of marriages of the week in Summit County and three columns. of advertising make up page three. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 373 EDITOR TO PAINTER One of the display advertisements was inserted by S. A. Lane and announces his metamorphosis from editor into carriage painter. It is captioned "How Are The Mighty Fallen" and opens in characteristic Lane vein. It begins : "S. A. Lane (notoriously of Buzzard memory) having Swart-wouted from the editorial sanctum (followed by the execrations of the whole world) offers his services to an indignant community and vicinity as a painter. He will daub in the most superdanglous style, any kind of carriages from stage coaches up to paddy wheelbarrows." Among other things Lane announces, "House painting in all its intricacies, from slab shanties down to flouring mills and meeting houses executed in the greatest agony abominable." He closes by announcing, "His shop is at present in the loft of a barn (not exactly in a garret) on the west side of Howard st., just north of the brick Tavern house, where his genius will continue to bust out until he gets into a new shop which he contemplates building." AKRON SELECT SCHOOL The Ohio Canal advertises its packets connecting with steam freight boats on Lake Erie and Francis Dexter announces removal of the Akron Select School to the schoolroom formerly occupied by Mr. S. L. Sawtell, over B. W. Stephens' store. The accomplished Mr. Dexter taught philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, algebra and the Greek and Latin languages, we gather from the notice. Bookseller J. A. Beebe offers for sale such literary gems as "The Gift for 1839," by Miss Leslie, "Christian Keepsake," 1839, "Religious Souvenir," 1839, by Mrs. Sigourney, "The Violet for 1839," by Miss Leslie, "Young Lady's Friend," "Flora's Interpreter," "Lady's Wreath," the "Magnolia" and "Oriental Annual." Two reprinted stories and four columns of similar advertisments fill out page four. Succeeding issues run along in much the same vein until September 9, when a business directory blossoms forth on page one. Thereafter it is an established feature, absorbing more and more of the front page space. SUPPORTS HENRY CLAY Prior to his fatal experiment with the Balance, Bowen had been a printer's devil in the office of his uncle, Judge Ozias Bowen, publisher of the first Middlebury paper before referred to. He was embarking on his Summit Beacon venture, accordingly, with experience as printer, publisher and editor already behind him. Besides whooping it up for Henry Clay he threw his support towards creation of a new county to be called Summit, agitation for which was then at its height. On December 24, 1839, the Henry Clay colors were struck and the 374 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY slogan "For President William Henry Harrison, For Vice President, John Tyler" hung from the masthead. "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" had won the nominations and like a loyal whig paper the Beacon started in to ballyhoo for them instead of mourning over the ruined hopes of Henry Clay. PRODUCE WANTED In the next issue another slogan in large type is added to the head of the editorial column but it is not concerned with politics. The announcement is "Wanted on subscriptions for the Summit Beacon, all kinds of country produce." Editor Bowen had been encountering lean days, it is apparent. Perhaps he was even driven to risking a few dollars on the Virginia State Lottery advertised in the same number of the paper. Disappointed in his ambitions for Henry Clay, ye editor shortly afterward had a chance to shout "Victory" in connection with his other policy battle. On March 1, 1840, announcement of the act of the state legislature creating the County of Summit was gloatingly made through the Summit Beacon's columns. Thereafter the Summit Beacon continued in the even tenor of its way without any departure more radical than the changing of the day of publication from Monday to Tuesday, and again from Tuesday to Wednesday, until May, 1844, when Bowen sold out to Richard S. Elkins, formerly of the Ohio Star, Ravenna. MINISTER TO ECUADOR Meanwhile S. A. Lane was at it again. The lure of the print shop had proved too strong for him and on March 15, 1844, he revived the Buzzard as the Cascade Roarer and devoted it almost exclusively to furthering the cause of temperance. His associate in this venture was William T. Coggeshall, afterwards United States minister to Ecuador. Lane sold out his interest in the Roarer on July 21, 1846. The Summit Beacon was plugging right along under the direction of Laurin Dewey, founder of that defunct Portage Journal of Middlebury that was the first paper to be published within the limits of the present County of Summit. Bowen had continued as editor for sometime after selling out to Elkins but was replaced by Dewey in April, 1845. The latter, a brother-in-law of Elkins, acquired a half interest in the paper at the same time. PRESS DESTROYED The Beacon office was then located in a frame building on the west side of Howard Street. On June 9, 1848, an entire row of these Howard Street structures was burned out. Chief loss was the press, which was totally destroyed. It was the same press that had once been smashed by the irate Hudson citizen against whom resolutions were directed by the Female Moral Reform Society. Shortly after the fire the establishment was sold to John Teesdale, AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 375 former editor of the Ohio State Journal at Columbus. Dewey moved West and Elkins went into partnership with Joseph A. Beebe in the book and drug business. The paper prospered. Teesdale, Beebe and Elkins consolidated as a book, drug and printing firm and in 1855 the Beacon became the organ of the newly organized republican party. Teesdale sold his interest to Beebe and Elkins in 1856 and went to the West. He was succeeded as editor by James Carpenter. The latter's accession to the common pleas bench the same year left the place again vacant. STATE SENATOR NAMED Asahel Hooker Lewis, of Ravenna, former state senator, was selected for the position and with Elkins as associate editor the policies of the paper were directed by him for some four years. The Beacon office was still at its original location near Howard and Market streets, although now in a new brick building, where on the night of December 29, 1856, it was again visited by fire. The total loss from this fire was around $35,000. Beebe and Elkins' damage amounting to $15,000. The presses, type and even the subscription books were consumed in this blaze. The fire was of incendiary origin. Two farmer boys had opened up a small grocery in one of the blocks in the section and with stock worth not more than $200 carried insurance to the amount of $1,000. Beebe and Elkins next moved into the Gothic block, a three-story brick structure on the east side of Howard Street, where the Kratz music store now stands. The book and drug store occupied the first floor, the Beacon office was on the second and the job printing department on the third. The post office was Beebe and Elkins' first floor neighbor and insurance offices were located in the space on the second and third floors not used by the Beacon. LANE COMES BACK In January, 1861, Samuel A. Lane retired from office as sheriff and succeeded Lewis as editor. The latter was appointed probate judge of Summit County the same year and later moved to St. Louis, where he joined the editorial staff of the St. Louis Democrat. The new editor was the same Samuel A. Lane who had published the Akron Buzzard and the Cascade Roarer and he left the mark of his personality on the Beacon. He had abandoned Yankee dialect as a medium of expressing his opinions in print and he was mellowed somewhat and no longer traveled miles out of his way to hunt down "blacklegs" and involve himself in physical altercations as he had done in his younger and fierier days. He conducted the paper vigorously and fearlessly however, and by printing more local news than had ever been used in any Akron paper before increased the Beacon's circulation from 1,300 to 2,500 in the first two years of his management. Lane credited much of this increase to the 376 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY space he devoted to the doings of Summit County's "boys in blue" during the Civil war. FIRST REPORTER ARRIVES In January, 1865, Lane and Horace Canfield each bought a third interest from Beebe and Elkins and two years later Albertis Paine and Denis Long bought the remaining third. Paine and Long were proprietors of a weekly, the Summit County Journal, which they had founded at the close of the war in 1865 with Judge James Carpenter as editor. On purchasing a third interest in the Beacon they discontinued their paper and transferred its subscription list to the older paper. In the winter of 1868 Thomas Craighead Raynolds, so long prominently identified with the Beacon, first entered the paper's service. Raynolds had just graduated from Michigan University and he started on the Beacon as its first reporter. The year 1869 found Akron a city of 10,000 and a ripe field for a daily newspaper. Lane, Canfield & Company stepped out and met the requirement. The first Akron Daily Beacon came out December 6, 1869, bearing the name of Lane as editor and Raynolds as assistant editor. SON SELLS PAPER Arthur M. Lane, son of the editor and now a resident of Schenectady, N. Y., was given the first copies to sell. "I sold the first copies to business men on Howard Street," be recalls. "I well remember rushing from the office front door startling the people on the street with my newsboy cry of 'Akron Daily Beacon'." Robert L. Collet was the first purchaser, according to the younger Lane's recollection. The daily proved to be an immediate success and in December, 1871, The Beacon Publishing Company was organized with a capital of $25,000, Lane and Long retaining their respective one-third and one-sixth interests and Canfield and Paine retiring. The remainder of the stock was subscribed by Akron business men. Raynolds became editor-in-chief and Wilson M. Day associate editor, Lane taking over the duties of business manager. Then came the fire of April 27, 1872, which totally destroyed the entire building, plant and contents. BUILDING REPLACED Machinery, type, stationery, books, paper and files were all consumed. the loss to the Beacon Company being over $20,000. Temporary quarters were established in Cutter and Howe's Block, type and material were ordered by express and publication was resumed, the presses of the opposition being used for printing the paper. Just two months after this conflagration the Beacon suffered from fire loss again. This time the blaze was next door but paper and job de- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 377 partment equipment in the Beacon office were destroyed when the flames spread to the roof of the building it occupied. Both fires were believed to be of incendiary origin but no arrests were ever made. The building at 118 Howard Street was replaced and the Beacon, after reestablishing itself there went into business on a larger scale than ever. The setback occasioned by the fires combined with the panic of 1873 came close to proving disastrous. However, the company remained nominally solvent but in 1875 so serious was its financial situation that it was deemed advisable to transfer the property to any responsible person who would assume the liabilities. BUY ENTIRE PROPERTY Thomas Raynolds, with two others, seized the opportunity and bought out the entire property. The local papers had no suburban editions in those days and the weekly. Beacon was continued principally for the benefit of the farmers. Type used in the daily was held over and the paper was made up of stories that had already appeared in this medium with the exceptions of country correspondence and boiler plate. Originally only one edition of the daily had been issued but another edition was finally added, one coming on the streets at 1 o'clock and the other delivered to the homes at 4 o'clock. The daily had four pages and only on rare occasions was a picture carried. Saturday was an exception, however. Two sections of four pages each were issued on that day, one being like the ordinary daily and the other composed mainly of boiler plate, cuts and stories by the score. Outside of this special Saturday section boiler plate found no place in the daily. The weekly was always of eight or twelve pages. The old-fashioned one cylinder press was finally replaced late in the Howard Street days with a two-cylinder. By 1887 Raynolds had bought out the other investors and was in complete control and it was in this year that the plant and offices were removed to a new five-story building erected exclusively for the Beacon's use at the northeast corner of Mill and Main and facing on the former street. The property is now known as the Central Office Building. AGAIN CHANGES HANDS In May, 1888, the Akron Publishing Company was organized with J. M. H. Frederick as president and M. J. Gilbo as secretary and treasurer. This company bought the Akron City Times from Edwin Myers and Frank Pixley and the Sunday Gazette from the Times Printing Company, and the next year started the publication of a daily, the Telegram, in addition. The Gazette was changed to the Sunday Telegram and late in 1889 both daily and Sunday Telegrams were sold to the newly-organized Republican Printing Company, of which Kenyon B. Conger was president. The names of both daily and Sunday papers were changed to the Republican and in 1891 a consolidation was effected with the Beacon. The 378 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY consolidated company was capitalized at $100,000 under the name of the Akron Printing & Publishing Company. Besides publishing the Summit County Beacon, weekly, the Akron Beacon and Republican daily, and the Sunday Republican, the new concern acquired the American Farm News, a popular Ohio farm monthly. Officers of the new corporation were : George W. Crouse, president ; K. B. Conger, vice president ; Ira M. Miller, secretary, and T. C. Raynolds, business manager. Col. A. L. Conger was also associated in the company. The daily paper had a circulation of 3,500 in 1891, the weekly and Sunday papers were flourishing, the farm monthly's circulation had mounted to the 100,000 mark, and the company was the leading job printing and blank book concern in town. FIVE STORY BUILDING The entire five story Beacon Block at Mill and Main streets was devoted to its activities. The basement of the building housed the engine and boiler room and the power presses. The first floor was occupied by the general offices and counting room and the Beacon store. Stationery, waste baskets and novels were on sale here and around election time campaign badges, flags, bunting, handkerchiefs and parade suits were also stocked. On the second floor were two offices rented to outside tenants, the remainder of the space being used by the newspaper for storage purposes. Job printing headquarters was on the third floor, book bindery on the fourth and newspaper editorial and composing rooms on the fifth. The year 1897 witnessed revolutionary changes in the paper. The Akron Journal, founded a few years earlier by Charles H. Wright, was absorbed, the new paper taking the name of the Akron Beacon Journal, the job printing and bookbinding departments of the business were disposed of, all other activities outside of the actual publication of the paper were discontinued and for the first time in its career the proprietors of the paper devoted themselves exclusively to the business of issuing a newspaper. The paper now had no use for the immense building which the firm had been occupying and accordingly the Beacon Journal offices were moved to the first floor of the building located on the southwest corner of Main and Market where the United Building now stands. William B. Baldwin, an Akronite who had received his newspaper training as a Beacon reporter had been editor of that paper at the time of the consolidation and he continued in that capacity for many years afterwards, finally resigning when appointed postmaster. Baldwin is now publisher and editor of the Medina Gazette. R. T. Dobson acquired an interest in the paper shortly after the amalgamation and in time came to completely control the company. Other changes were numerous. The monthly magazine, the Sunday paper and the Weekly Beacon were discontinued and the daily paper gained steadily in circulation and power. Dobson disposed of his holdings to T. J. Kirk- 380 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY patrick, of Springfield, Ohio, who came to Akron and assumed personal charge of the paper. Kirkpatrick was accompanied by C. L. Knight, who assumed the position of business manager. Meanwhile the Beacon Journal had moved from Main and Market to Castle Hall on East Market Street and from there to its own building at Main and Quarry. In 1907 Major Kirkpatrick disposed of his interests to C. L. Knight and returned to Springfield. LEADING ORGAN Following the departure of Baldwin in 1909 H. P. Boynton, Frank Spaulding, A. C. Pound and Hugh Allen served successively as managing editors under C. L. Knight. In 1910 John H. Barry, present business manager of the Beacon Journal, entered the newspaper's employ. In 1911 the paper, completely established as the city's news and advertising organ, moved to the building at East Market and Broadway which it vacated only last month. After many vicissitudes the Beacon Journal had come into a permanent proprietorship. Under C. L. Knight as publisher, John S. Knight as managing editor, John H. Barry as business manager and H. S. Seymour as circulation manager, circulation of the newspaper increased until it passed the 62,000 mark, by far the largest circulation ever attained by a local publication. FIRST IN OHIO Among the six-day newspapers of Ohio it is first from the standpoint of business carried and in entire United States it stands sixth. Only two of Ohio's seven-day newspapers exceed the volume of paid advertising carried by this six-day newspaper. The unexcelled wire service of the Associated Press, International News Service and Consolidated Press supply the news of the world and the paper has the largest local staff of expert journalists ever carried by an Akron newspaper. It is unquestioned in its dominance of the Akron trading district which includes in addition to Akron such progressive cities and towns as Barberton, Kenmore, Cuyahoga Falls, Kent, Ravenna, Medina, Wadsworth, Wooster, Doylestown, Orrville, Hartville and Alliance. THE AKRON TIMES-PRESS By H. C. Atkinson Three years ago a newspaper consolidation was effected in Akron. It has made history. The institution which grew out of that merger, The Times-Press, is known throughout the newspaper world as one of the most successful properties ever developed through a consolidation. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 381 But six months were required to prove the wisdom of the move, to demonstrate that Akron eagerly welcomed this new institution. The merger was announced March 17, 1925. By October 1 of the same year, circulation of The Times-Press had grown so rapidly that it exceeded by 30 per cent the total of the two properties when they were consolidated, granting an extremely conservative figure as representing "duplicating circulation." Record gains have been registered since. In the government statement released this October 1, The Times-Press revealed a circulation increase of better than 21 per cent in the year ended that date, one of the most phenomenal achievements of any established newspaper in the nation. Equally interesting is that, with one exception, each of the past twenty-one months has shown a gain over the previous month, indicating the steadily rising favor with which Akron regards the paper. There have been no premiums to artificially stimulate the circulation growth. The management has placed the product before its readers solely on its merits as a newspaper. L. E. Judd, who for five years had been editor of the Press, directed the merging of the two properties. L. E. Herman came to Akron as business manager of The Times-Press from the Memphis, Tenn. Press-Scimitar. Due to the remarkable achievement in Akron these two men have since been called to other cities to consult on similar consolidations. Notable work was done by Judd in the combining of four newspaper properties in Denver, when the Scripps-Howard group entered that field one year ago. The real beginning of the Akron Press dates back to 1890, while the first ancestor of The Akron Evening Times was established January 20, 1867. This early publication was the Akron City Times, a weekly, with J. C. Loveland of Clyde as the editor. Political motives were back of the founding and Loveland was capable of forceful and eloquent editorials on behalf of the democratic party and Pits principles. Unfortunately for Loveland, political opponents discovered he had been an equally ardent republican in Clyde. His writings at Clyde were printed in the opposition paper for comparison with Akron utterances. A successor was quickly brought onto the scene. This was George C. Crain. The publication changed from one group of owners to another, until finally in 1885 there was formed The Times Publishing Company, with 0. 0. Capron and Edwin Myers as leading figures in the concern. Captain W. B. Tanneyhill was employed as editor. He was succeeded by Frank S. Pixley, who later became famous as author of "The Prince of Pilsen." Pixley wrote the production while working here, and after usual 382 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY difficulties in getting the show produced finally got it on Broadway. Its success was achieved almost overnight. J. L. Patterson was next in the line of owners, acquiring the paper in 1891. The next event to affect the destiny of the publication occurred in 1892, when William B. and Russell T. Dobson formed The Akron Democrat Company in evidence of their belief that a daily of democratic faith would be a successful venture. A merger of the two democratic publications soon was effected, which continued to publish the Akron City Times, weekly, and the Akron Daily Democrat. The personnel of the publishing organization was : Thomas F. Walsh, president ; Louis B. Wilhelm, vice president ; William B. Dobson, manager; Russell Dobson, secretary ; William T. Sawyer, treasurer. George F. Kratz and Edward H. De La Court also were members of the board. Next change in ownership occurred in 1896, when two employes, Edward Harter and Fred Gayer, bought the property. Through the twenty years ensuing the name underwent slight changes, first to the Akron Daily Times, then the Akron Times-Democrat and finally the Akron Times. Ross F. Walker and W. Kee Maxwell, from Peoria, Ill., bought the newspaper in 1916, again altering the name, this time to the Akron Evening Times. Founding of the Akron Press must be attributed to the work of Willis W. Thornton of Merriman Road, retired Scripps-Howard executive, A. I. Findlay, now the editor of The Iron Age, and W. S. Chase, at present a prominent Akron physician. The Press had its real beginning when Findlay, then a book merchant, responded to an advertisement in the Cleveland Press for a correspondent in Akron. This was in 1890. As a result of his work the Cleveland paper, then known as the Penny Press, gained 3,500 subscribers in Akron and vicinity between 1890 and 1893. Thornton, who was soliciting advertising on the Press at Cleveland then was sent back to Akron to obtain advertising here for an Akron edition. The special edition started with what is known as a "front page makeover" ; that is, the first page was given over to Akron news, the rest of the paper remaining as it appeared in Cleveland. Then Chase became the new representative. An Akron bureau was established at the Chase and Chandler book store. Soon the volume of advertising and news forced the Akron service to two pages, then to four, and finally to an entirely separate Akron paper, printed in Cleveland and distributed here. The name of the Akron Press appeared in 1898. In 1907 work was started on an Akron building at 71 South High Street. The structure was occupied the next year. 384 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY The Press, or as it is now known, the Times-Press, is the only one of nearly 100 papers and publishing ventures started in Akron in the city's life span of slightly better than a century which has not once changed ownership. When the consolidation was effected, the Times-Press renewed its pledge to Akron to be : "Independent and non-partisan, but not neutral in local, state and national politics." It added : the paper "will be everlastingly watchful and aggressive in interests of the people." The following "Greetings and A Pledge" met readers of the merged papers, which sentiment continues to be a guiding beacon for the organization and those who have a part in its functions. It read : "The personnel to whom the physical properties and the soul of the paper are entrusted have no outside political or financial connections or ambitions that might deter in the discharge of their trust. "The path is clear and well-defined. "We pledge to you a career of conscientious, fearless service to the best interests of Greater Akron, its people and its diversified industries." The Times-Press has been particularly successful in advocacy of projects to develope a Greater Akron. For ten years the Press carried on an editorial campaign, urging a program for elimination of grade crossings. Such a program, involving $6,000,000, is now under way. Two years ago the Times-Press conducted an intensive campaign for development of a super thoroughfare system in Akron. This resulted in the formation, a year ago, of the Akron City Plan Committee, which started with the greatest show of a united support of any project in recent years. The twenty-five year major improvement program, now under development, is a result of this work. Years ago the Press, and since the merger, the Times-Press, has been advocating a speeding up of the new post office and new Union Station plans. Both these seem well on the way toward realization. A factor which has gone far to win respect and admiration of Akronites has been a consistent policy of non-partisan political viewpoints. Adhering to this policy at a time when nearly every newspaper of the nation accepted as a matter of course an affiliation with one or the other of the major parties. The Press preferred to support the man or the issue it believed right, in preference to the party. The last ten years have seen a tremendous swing in this direction, even the great party organs now professing "an independent viewpoint." It was the pioneering of this type of newspaper which has developed the independent thinker, and the independent voter. A discerning public now demands uncolored news, and is capable of making its own decisions. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 385 An outstanding feature in the Times-Press and the Sunday Times has been the cartoons of Paton Edwards, who joined the staff more than seven years ago. Akronites have laughed with Edwards when he wants them to laugh—and have been moved by his more serious work. The Times-Press is served in the state, national and international news field by the United Press, greatest world-wide news service. The United Press serves 1,100 clients in thirty-eight countries, the daily report being printed in seventeen different languages. United Press is owned by Scripps-Howard interests. The Times-Press also is served in Ohio by its own bureau with offices in the more important cities, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and Youngstown. An extensive Washington Bureau is maintained for service to Times-Press readers. Under the editorship of L. E. Judd, the Times-Press has developed as strong a local staff as is to be found in any city of Akron's size in the country. H. M. Van Doren, who came to the Times-Press eight years ago shortly after leaving the University of Illinois, is managing editor. Russell Henderson, Akron newspaper man for the past twelve years, is news editor. Harry W. August, city editor, came to the Press seven years ago after attending Ohio State University and having experience at Portsmouth, Ashtabula and Athens. L. E. Herman, business manager before coming to Akron was business manager of two other Scripps-Howard newspapers, the Memphis Press and the Dallas Dispatch. He also had been advertising manager of the Oklahoma News, of the Scripps-Howard group. Other newspaper experience carried him to Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. When the merger was effected, Frank Morrison, who for five years had been advertising manager of the Times, was made advertising manager of the consolidated properties. Prior to his connection with the Times, Morrison had been with the Peoria, Ill., Transcript. He was succeeded in 1928 by George Missig. V. P. Willett, circulation manager, worked on the Des Moines News while attending college, then went to the Memphis Press. He came to Akron with Herman. Akron's German paper, the Columbia, formerly the Germania, was founded in 1868 by H. Gentz. Paul E. Werner, who had come from Germany in 1867, and whose name was to become prominent in Akron's publishing history, purchased and became editor of the paper in 1874. Later the Germania Publishing Company was organized and Louis Seybold, Hans Otto Beck, Gustav Sigel, Carl Schoenduve, Julius Kroffke and other well known names appear in its history. The Columbia Printing Company, the present publishers, acquired the property in 1912. The paper is a tri-weekly. Robert L. Soergel, editor, and A. C. Schuster, manager, sold their interest to Paul E. Werner in 1928. 386 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY In 1846 the Tee-Total Mechanic, devoted to temperance, labor and a 10-hour day was published in Akron. This was Akron's earliest "labor" journal. It was later removed to Cleveland. In after years, when organized labor had brought about the establishment of the Central Labor Union, composed of representatives of all "locals" of the city, the establishment of a journal to be largely in control of that body was undertaken. The paper, a weekly, first appeared in 1904, under the name of the People. Representatives of the Typographical Union, which, it is believed, was the first union organized in Akron, were in immediate charge but stock of the company was owned by the central body, various locals and individuals. J. L. Cooper was an early and perhaps the first, manager. Monte Beckwith was in charge of the paper for a number of years. In 1920 the name was changed to the Akron Herald and Harry Gilletly, of the Motion Picture Operators, took charge. The paper was suspended in 1922. In 1923 Herman Kuebler began publication of the Summit County Labor News. Phillip H. Curtis later acquired the property. The paper is the official organ of the Central Labor Union. Miss Teddy Sawyer is now the editor. Most if not all the larger Akron churches have their individual weekly or monthly church papers. Serving the entire Akron deanery of the Cleveland Catholic diocese is the Akron Catholic Record, weekly, established in 1919. It carries news of the church in all the diocese but chiefly of Summit and Portage counties. Louis G. Wey is editor-in-chief. Publisher, The Catholic Press Union, Inc. Akron Topics, literary and social weekly, was founded as the Woman's Forum in 1923 by the Woman's Forum Company with Mrs. Grace Akers Curtiss in active charge. In 1924 Mrs. Ann Webb Karnaghan acquired control and changed the name of the paper as above. Francis Seiberling and W. W. McIntosh are publishers. Akron's considerable Hungarian population supports the Akroni Magyar Hirlap—the Akron Hungarian Journal, edited with the slogan, "Magyar in language, American in Spirit." This weekly was established in 1911 and is the organ of the various Hungarian societies, including the Magyar Home on East Thornton Street. Arpad Tarnoczy, editor and publisher, is a graduate of the University of Budapest. William Hassenteufel, advertising manager, has been for twenty-five years in similar work in Akron. Among general and particular periodicals published in Akron and which attained prominence in their time was the Ohio Educational Monthly which, under its earlier name, Ohio Journal of Education, was the organ of the Ohio State School Commissioner, an office long since abolished. In later years Dr. Samuel Findley, for many years superintendent of Akron's public schools, became owner and publisher. The magazine was America's oldest educational paper. The property was sold to 0. T. Corson, Ohio School Commissioner, in 1905, and removed to Columbus. The American Farm News, a monthly, at 25 cents a year, was started in Akron in 1888 by Aultman, Miller & Company and attained a large AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 387 circulation. The paper was merged with the American Farmer and removed to Springfield, Ohio, in 1892. One of Akron's oldest activities in the publishing field is represented by the work of The Burch Directory Company. In 1868 the first directory of the city was published. In the same year N. H. Burch established the directory business on a permanent basis. The Burch Directory Company was organized in 1890. Upon the death of Mr. Burch, in 1897, D. W. Bowman assumed control of the business. The Burch directory was first to introduce "wife's name" and the householders' street directory in directory publishing. This company produces the directories of Akron and nearly all cities in Northeastern Ohio, excepting Cleveland. Akron's prominence in rubber induced Theodore E. Smith, an eastern publisher, to bring to this city the publication of the India Rubber Review, founded in 1901. The Review soon grew to a position of recognized authority. In 1920, Edward S. Babcox, for many years in advertising and sales capacities in the rubber business, organized the India Rubber Review Company. The new owners enlarged the journal and in both size and contents it occupies a leading place in the class publication field. Edward S. Babcox is president and editor, R. C. Busbey, managing editor. The Art Appreciation Publishing Company of Akron occupies an interesting field in the publication of art works, chiefly reproductions of great paintings, which become aids to teachers and students in studies leading to a knowledge of art. Park E. Sumner is president and John C. Chapin treasurer of this organization. Historical mention of The Saalfield Publishing Company, one of the largest publishing institutions of its kind, properly begins with reference to the Werner Printing & Lithographing Company, established by Paul E. Werner in 1$75. The complete plant installed by the latter organization marked the first work in lithography in Akron, also the first electrotype foundry and considerable wood-engraving business. This $500,000 corporation was a distinct addition to Akron's industries. In 1892 The R. S. Peale Book Publishing Company, of Chicago, was consolidated with the Werner Company, the combined companies being capitalized at $3,500,000. P. E. Werner was president and treasurer ; George C. Berry, Jr., assistant treasurer, and Charles B. Denaple, superintendent. A very large business was carried on but serious financial difficulties arose in the panic of 1893 and subsequent depression. In 1899 the book publishing department was taken over by Arthur J. Saalfield, manager of that division, and continued thereafter by the company bearing his name. As makers of books for children, the Saalfield Company is most widely known, although its extensive production includes Bibles and many miscellaneous works. After the death of Mr. Saalfield in 1919, a son of Albert G. Saalfield succeeded to the management. E. R. Adam is vice president and treasurer, Arthur J. Saalfield, secretary, and Harry L. Knapp, assistant secretary of the present company. Following receivership in the hands of R. P. Marvin in 1894, The Werner Printing & Lithographing Company was reorganized as The Werner 388 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Company. This company failed in 1909. Charles Paine, of Cleveland, was made receiver. In 1910 Paul E. Werner and associates bought the business and The New Werner Company was organized. In 1914 the lithographing division was sold to Edward P. Werner and Howard H. Wright, who had been long identified with the organization. They organized the Akron Lithographing Company. The name, The New Werner Company, was changed to The Superior Printing Company, by which the business is continued. J. A. Russell is president and general manager; E. L. Brooks, vice president ; H. Stover, secretary and treasurer. Soon after the organization of The Superior Printing Company, Paul E. Werner removed to Kansas City, Kas., where he organized The Rubber Manufacturing Corporation, of which he is president and general manager. He returned to Akron in 1927. Looking back to the sale of the job printing division of the old Beacon and Republican, in 1896, is found the inception of the Commercial Printing Company. Sam F. Ziliox, Fred A. Lane (son of S. A. Lane), and John P. Brennan, all foremen of different departments of the works, improved the opportunity to launch out for themselves, and a business destined to become one of the largest in its field, was started under the above name in modest quarters in North Main Street. In later years Ziliox took over the Brennan interest. Physical assets of the Akron Printing Company which failed in 1905, was reorganized as The Akron Printing & Paper Company and again failed in 1906, were purchased by The Commercial Company the latter year. In 1916 The Commercial Printing Company and The Akron Lithographing Company were combined as The Commercial Printing & Lithographing Company. The extensive plant on West Exchange St., built in 1911, was enlarged to accommodate this accession. Later an art department was added. Frank P. Allen, now in similar work in Louisville, Ky., was long prominently identified with the Commercial company. John P. Brennan, one of the founders of the original company, later established the business now known as the Brennan Loose Leaf Company. W. H. Saulsbury, Willis E. Young, H. W. O'Brien and A. T. Lewis of the Ben Franklin Printing Company, were all Commercial men, at one time. Present Commercial officers are : Sam F. Ziliox, president; Marvin M. Dice, treasurer and assistant manager ; Harry E. Votaw, secretary, and Edward P. Werner, superintendent. From very early times Akron has known no dearth of printing houses. There are now fifty job printing establishments in the city, the smallest of them being far larger in point of capacity 'and equipment than the entire plant of a local newspaper at the date of Akron's beginning, and for many years thereafter. Keeping pace with Akron's growth in graphic arts, engraving has been carried on continuously since the establishment of the original Werner Company in 1875. The present Akron Engraving Company is the outgrowth of the Case Engraving Company, established 1895. W. S. Stilwell and Neal Otteran took over the business as the S. & 0. Engraving .Company. Charles F. Ley, E. S. Kintz and James W. Meeker were after- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 389 ward prominent in the organization. Mr. Kintz won more than local distinction with his birdseye drawings. In recent years the corporate name has been the Akron Engraving Company. 0. W. Smith is president; H. A. Parker, vice president ; E. E. Krumeich, secretary and treasurer; C. G. Rohrich, general manager. The Portage Engraving Company is devoted chiefly to newspaper line plates. The production of advertising material for Akron rubber companies and for other manufacturers here and elsewhere has contributed largely to the growth of the general printing business of the city. The quality of Akron workmanship is above the average. Similarly, Akron newspapers have advanced with the city's growth. Akron training in newspaper work has been favorably recognized by many leading journals. Mention of some of the Akron-made reporters who have come to high places in newspaper work, in addition to names earlier introduced, would include Robert M. Collins, war correspondent and London representative of the Associated Press ; Elmer E. Paine, for a long time Washington representative of the Associated Press ; Louis W. Strayer (deceased) Washington correspondent of the Pittsburgh Post; Ed. S. Wright (deceased), Washington correspondent of the Scripps League ; Arthur C. Johnston, now editor of the Columbus Dispatch; Wm. T. Martin, now editor of the Pittsburgh Post; Carl D. Sheppard (now an Akron lawyer, Washington political writer and secretary to Hon. Charles Evan Hughes ; Roy Ritchie (deceased), editor of the Seattle Star; Arthur Ritchie, New York representative of the News Enterprise Association. It was another Akron-trained newspaper man, Charles A. Marvin (deceased), who as a special writer on the Cleveland Press, unearthed the Cassie Chadwick story which, with its numerous sequels, will be long remembered as one of the most extraordinary in Ohio newspaper annals. Following leads of the story to New York, Marvin scored repeated beats on the army of eastern reporters assigned to the case, and important New York developments he wired to his paper were wired back to the metropolitan press by its Ohio representatives and printed in New York a day later. The Kenmore Herald, the Barberton Herald and the Barberton News and the Cuyahoga Falls Reporter are weekly publications. CHAPTER IX THE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION The past decade has witnessed the abandonment of the last of those small one-room structures that, for so many years, served as the home of education for Summit County youth. These have given way to the large and well-equipped modern buildings of Akron, Kenmore, Barberton and Cuyahoga Falls and equally fine homes for the youth of the centralized schools of the various townships. As an educational institution the "Little Old Red School House" has disappeared. However one may still find in some sections of the county the buildings that once served as cradles of education. March 12, 1836, there was passed by the General Assembly at Columbus, "An Act to incorporate the town of Akron in the county of Portage." There were, at that time, eleven school buildings in the township, two of which were in Akron, the oldest being a one-story frame building in the woods at the northeast corner of what is now Buchtel ay. (then Middlebury) and Broadway. This was afterward replaced by a one-story stone building, still standing, which served for a long time as a place for holding public meetings, religious, political, and literary. The other schoolhouse was on South High Street near where the Pythian Temple now stands. The schools were conducted like country schools. Teachers were paid from public money as far as it would go, the rest being raised by a pro rata assessment on pupils attending. There were private schools, some elementary, others more advanced. A local paper contained the following announcement : "On Jan. 3, 1838, a select school will be opened at the corner of Middlebury and High Sts., under the superintendence of Miss M. E. Hubble, of New York, where pupils will receive instruction in all branches usually taught in our eastern female seminaries. Tuition per quarter, $3 to $5, according to studies pursued." Private schools were generally short-lived. In 1846 there were 690 pupils in Akron between four and sixteen years of age, but many did not attend any school. State funds were inadequate to pay teachers' salaries, because the revenue arising from public lands donated by Congress were insufficient. The treasury of a school district sometimes contained not more than ten dollars for an entire year. Utter lack of system prevailed in the schools. Akron was no exception, the same conditions prevailing throughout Ohio. It was because of this state of affairs that Rev. Isaac Jennings, pastor of the Congregational Church, on his own initiative, set himself to work - 390 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 391 to reorganize the schools of Akron. There were many ready to cooperate, for there was less illiteracy in the Western Reserve than in some sections of the state. In this community were a number who had received training in eastern colleges. May 16, 1846, a public meeting of Akron citizens was held, "to take into consideration our present educational provisions and the improvement, if any, which can be made therein." Mr. Jennings was made chairman of a committee appointed to work out a plan to be presented to the Legislature.* On Nov. 21, 1846, an adjourned meeting was held at Mechanics Hall, and a report was submitted. It provided for incorporating the whole town into one school district, for grading the schools into primary, and secondary, and later a high school, for free admission to all schools, for support of all by general taxation, and for the election of a school board having full supervision of school matters. A committee was appointed consisting of Rufus P. Spalding, Henry W. King, Harvey B. Spelman and Lucius V. Bierce to secure the necessary legislation. A wonderful group of men who, in later years, in public life, still further showed the stuff they were made of ! The report was adopted by the Legislature, and embodied 'in "An Act for the support and better regulation of common schools in the town of Akron," and was passed Feb. 8, 1847. On Feb. 14, 1848, an amendment was adopted by the Legislature, providing that every incorporated town or city in this State shall have the provisions of the act called the "Akron Plan for the support and better regulation of the common schools in the town of Akron." Mr. Jennings is justly called "the father and founder of Akron schools" and of the "Akron Plan for free graded schools" because it was largely his conception and was matured by his untiring efforts. Akron should feel proud of the distinction of being the birthplace of this educational system. The new plan was promptly inaugurated in Akron and met with the approval of most citizens, but there were many who were strongly opposed to paying for the education of other people's children. To overcome this objection made throughout the state, school levies were so low that they bordered on parsimony, and school-boards were greatly hampered in consequence. The work of the first year in Akron was largely that of organization. Two schoolhouses were built at a cost of $370 each and a lot bounded by Summit, Mill, and Prospect streets was purchased at a cost of $2137. On this lot was a dwelling which, for $613, was fitted up for a grammar school. For many years thereafter this corner was the site of Akron's foremost school. The school lot rose high above the street, practically on a level with the Prospect Street approach to the Mill Street viaduct. It was leveled for freight house uses. M. D. Leggett was the first superintendent of Akron schools and principal of this early building, at a salary of $500. His two assistants received $200 and $150 respectively, and primary teachers $3.50 a week. Mr. Leggett was forced to withdraw the second year because of lack of 392 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY compensation. In 1853 a two-story brick building was erected on the, lot at a cost of nearly $10,000, and was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, Oct. 13, 1853. It was named Jennings School. It contained two large rooms, with a recitation room attached to each. Mr. Samuel F. Cooper was put in charge and was assisted by Mrs. Cooper and Miss Voris. The entire payroll for that year was $2,777.42, including that of the superintendent. In the following year J. Park Alexander was put in charge of the grammar school at the munificent salary of $35 a month. The school report of April, 1857, contained the following concerning the qualifications of teachers : "The Board as a general rule have determined to employ no teachers in the Akron schools but those of ripe age, ample experience, successful tact, a fine education, and an ample fund of general knowledge. Besides these, the teacher must have great goodness and kindness of heart, indomitable perseverance, good common sense, and last, but not least, the qualities, in a measure, of a successful military general." Certainly the Board was very modest in the list of required graces for such salaries ! In the first ten years of Akron schools, superintendence was nominal, as the time of the five superintendents employed within that period was used in teaching, with an occasional hurried visit to schools outside their own. The evils were apparent. In the eleventh annual report the Board declared : "The lowest wages' principle is not the best economy, and such compensation should be paid as will secure the best skill and economy." In 1860, Mr. Israel P. Hole was engaged at a salary of $900, which was finally increased to $1500. Great progress was made. The average attendance for all the schools was given as 91 per cent in the report for 1866, while that of 1864 was only 78 per cent. In 1867-68 two wings were added to the high school building, each with two large rooms and a room adjoining. The report of 1864 mentions the first graduation from the high school. Miss Pamela Goodwin was the pupil who had that honor. In 1868 Mr. Hole resigned, declining reelection. With the beginning of 1868 a new era opened in the history of Akron schools. Samuel Findley, a teacher with progressive ideas and ripe experience, was secured as superintendent at a salary of $2500. Mrs. N. A. Stone, a teacher of state wide reputation, became principal of the high school, and Miss E. A. Herdman, a teacher equally efficient, principal of the A grammar school. The course of study was thoroughly revised, conforming more with modern ideas, and was reduced in time from four years to three. Vocal music was added, being taught from 1872 to 1921 by Mr. N. L. Glover, a grand service of forty-nine years. His death accurred Sept. 1923. Promotions were made semi-annually, instead of annually. Graduations from the high school also occurred semi-annually. The school day was shortened from six hours to five. Two literary societies were organized in 1868, the Academic for boys and the Philomathian for girls. In' later years Miss Isabel Baird had charge of the former and Mrs. Eliza- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 393 beth Thompson of the latter, both of whom are held in grateful remembrance. Mrs. N. A. Stone resigned from the high school after a service of five years, and was succeeded in 1878 by Miss Maria Parsons, who resigned after seven years for a period of rest and travel. Wilbur V. Rood then became principal of the high school and served for eighteen years, when he was overcome by sudden illness and answered the final summons. In 1874 Miss Herdman resigned as principal of the A grammar school and died soon after. She was succeeded by Miss Josephine Newberry, a strong and faithful teacher. When Dr. Findley became superintendent there were eleven primary schools, housed in eleven one-room buildings. Most of these were replaced by larger buildings accommodating grammar and primary grades. Two hundred eighty-nine pupils were graduated from the high school, as against fifteen in the previous administration. The attendance in the high school in six years, ending Jan. 25, 1875, had increased 234 per cent and in other grades 50 per cent. After fifteen years of continuous service, Supt. Findley declined a reelection. He was a born educator and gave his life to educational work. Akron owes much to him for the high rank of her schools. His death occurred in 1908. Prof. Elias Fraunfelter, who since 1874, had held the position of Prof. of Mathematics at Buchtel College, was the successor of Supt. Findley. No radical changes were introduced at first. A new high school building facing Union Park was erected, the entire cost being about $135,000. It was occupied September, 1886. It contained twelve schoolrooms, an assembly room, society rooms, offices, etc. Three new grade schools, Grace, Leggett and Bryan, were built. The course of study in the high school was restored to four years in response to the requirements of the Ohio College Association and Akron was then placed on the accredited list for admission to college. Cooking and sewing were introduced for girls in grade schools and wood-craft for boys, but were given up after a time. Student teachers were employed, one for each building, to act in case of sickness of the regular teacher. The free text book plan was introduced, all pupils below the high school being included, at first, and, the plan proving successful, it was extended to include high school pupils. Supplementary reading matter was furnished to all grades from the primary through the high school to stimulate a love for good reading and to enrich the pupils' knowledge. A truant officer was appointed as the result of a state law requiring compulsory attendance. A normal training course of two years was established at Perkins School and included practice teaching under a critic teacher. After serving fourteen years as an energetic and faithful superintendent, Mr. Fraunfelter was forced to retire because of failing health. His death occurred in 1898. R. S. Thomas was called from the superintendency of Warren, 0., 394 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY schools to succeed Prof. Fraunfelter, and held the position three years. Night schools were established for the benefit of some high school pupils and foreigners. In some buildings pupils between the ages of five and six years were admitted, and this gradually grew, in time, to the establishment of kindergartens. Mr. H. V. Hotchkiss became superintendent on the resignation of Mr. Thomas, and did progressive and efficient work for twenty years. The free school book and supply system was operated to an extent not duplicated by any other city. At a time of unprecedented growth in Akron, when houses were lacking, when people were crowding in daily, looking for work, and forced to live in tents, a seat was found in the schools for every child of school age. Great care was exercised about the physical condition of the children, medical inspection was introduced, seats adjusted to the size of the child were used in the newer buildings, and athletic and physical training was carried out under plans developed by a competent director. Open-window rooms for under-developed and undernourished children were opened first at Bowen School and later at Mason and other schools. A special school for deaf children was also opened. In music, instrumental lessons were given to those who wanted them; orchestra work was introduced ; glee clubs were developed and encouraged. In art, practical work was developed from poster work in the lower grades through house planning, interior decoration, metal and leather work in high schools. The development of the schools at this time is shown by the following: In 1900—one high school; 11 elementary schools ; 150 teachers ; 5000 children. In 1920—four high schools ; 26 elementary schools ; 800 teachers ; 33,000 children. Carroll R. Reed was elected Superintendent of Schools in 1920, served a three year term and was reelected for five more years in 1923. Mr. Reed resigned before his contract expired and was succeeded in the school year of 1926 by Mr. George E. McCord, of Springfield, Ohio. Mr. McCord was given a three year contract and following the expiration of this the Board of Education, in 1928, entered into a five year contract with Mr. Thomas W. Gosling, who came to Akron from Madison, Wis. "I'm a great believer in giving children the opportunity to develop all of their powers," Gosling declared, recently. "You know," he continued, "every child has more latent talent and ability than either he or his parents or teacher realize. Thru a guidance program we try to discover this ability and lead the child into fields of training where it will most readily and effectively find expression. "With such a course of procedure," he went on to explain, "we not only teach the child how to make a living but also help him to enjoy the higher things of life." The cultivation of individuality is one of the most important and most AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 395 neglected phases of public school education today, according to Mr. Gosling. "Sometimes you walk into a school room and find a very efficient, compelling teacher," he explained. "Everything is quiet and orderly. The teacher is domineering and is said to possess wonderful discipline. That may be but that is not the kind of a school room I like to enter," he went on earnestly. "I'd rather find a little disorder and more individual activity. I like to see the children moving about and all engaging in some kind of activity, giving vent to their individual feelings. Too often this is stunted. They are afraid to be themselves. They are snubbed and squelched where they shouldn't be. "The modern school of today shouldn't be a sausage machine grinding out perfect little links of sausage each exactly resembling the other. "The cultivation of individuality, however, cannot be accomplished over night. It has to come gradually as the result of slow, patient growth brought about by capable teachers who really love their work and the children. "No child can hope to succeed and make a business success out of his life if he has been snubbed and held in during his early years in the school room. He becomes timid and lacks self confidence. He needs sunlight, the spiritual sunlight shed by a capable teacher." Mr. Gosling, himself, was born on a farm on the outskirts of Cincinnati. WENT TO YALE He moved to the city with his parents at an early age. When it was time to go to college he selected Yale as his alma mater. "I've often been asked why I went to Yale," he stated. "I really didn't know but I got to analyzing the thing the other day and decided it was the result of an influence that was started when I was just a tiny chap. "We had a history of America and in it at the bottom of a lefthand page was a small picture of New Haven, Conn., and Yale College. I loved that picture and used to ponder over it. I think my desire to go to Yale was born then. "Of course, other influences entered my life later on that strengthened my decision. For instance, one of my high school teachers was a Yale man. "That is the reason that I think that the apparently little insignificant factors that enter into a child's life are in reality so important. We don't realize what an influence every word, every gesture and every thing we do has on the young folk with whom we come in contact." Mr. Gosling also received his M. A. degree at Yale. Later he received his Ph. D. degree in English and Romance languages at Cincinnati University. He also took further postgraduate work in education. 396 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY His first teaching position was in Cincinnati. He was later made head of the English Department in a high school there. He then became principal of the 27th district school and then organized and was principal of the Lafayette Bloom Junior High School at Cincinnati. From there he went to Madison, Wis.. where for three years he held the position of state supervisor of high schools in the state department of public instruction. He next accepted the position of superintendency of the schools of Madison, where he remained seven years. Present schools and members of the teaching staffs of Akron, Barberton, Kenmore and Cuyahoga Falls follow : AKRON Allen School Angeline Barrick Elizabeth Corbett Ruth Cowgill Ermal S. Dunn Doris Evans Blanche Gillmer Dorothy Hunsicker Helen M. Keck Belle MacDonald Mary Somerfeldt Hinda L. Wise Edna Wolfe Bowen School Irene Abendshine Bertha Anderson Dorothy Dettling Adene W. Eldrick Virginia Flanigan C. M. Henry Edna Jones Margaret Kick Mary B. Lackey Julia C. Martin Mary E. McCormick Augusta McKelvey Angela Ritch Ruth Scherbarth Louise Scheuerman Helen Shugert Gertrude Whitehead Bryan School Ruth Amrine Ruth M. Camehl Nellie Fayerweather Mary Fitzgerald Frances M. Gibbs Marguerite Goodno Dora F. Griffin Harriet S. Hipkins Elizabeth Johnston Esther Koontz Ann Louise Konicek Josephine Litzinger Helen MacLennan Burnice G. Moore Bessie Pyers Mabel M. Riedinger Frances Schricker Mabel H. Schwem Agnes Schwendeman Mary E. Shepard Elizabeth Strohl Ruth Warne 398 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Crosby School Evangeline Andrews Jennie Cardarelli Edna English Mary Fackler Julia Fitzpatrick Hildegarde Hoehne Lena Harnish Marie Virginia Moon Jessie A. Muir Minnie M. Patton Lena L. Payne Sevilla Pfeister Florence Points Mary E. Spore Dorothy Thompson Jessie Tillotson Anna N. Valsing Elsie Webster Margaret I. Wilson Crouse School Mary A. Reynolds Clara Barker Marcella Billman Dorothy Boesche Dora Braverman Helen Brown Mattie V. Conklin Roy Daily Elizabeth Fletcher Mareta Frost Thelma Robbins Lillis Rumbaugh Margaret Sanford Ruth S. Lewis Ruth Shank Irene M. Griffiths Ruth L. Haefele Gladys A. Hoffman L. Edith Loeb Hazel MacLennan Emma C. McDonnell Alice Mullikin Lenora O'Day Lula Peery Rhea Pfaff Beryl Spafford Gladys Tenny Mary O. Winkle Fay Samuel Audrey Knapp Findley School Margaret Bartshe Irene Brubaker Sue E. Copenhaver Carrie L. Davies Harriet Dressler Lucy Ekelberry Louise C. Fargo Marian E. Forsyth Carrie L. Green Frances Grosvenor Leone M. Horning Florence E. Hill Dorothy Hollinger Ruth Kilburn Lucile Larson Gertrude McBee Fannie McQuie Velma M. Pomeroy Nellie B. Post Nellie Snyder Ethel M. Starr Kathryn L. Stump Lois P. Thompson Rose Wachter Maurine Walston Kathryn C. White Lucille Whitmore Carl Swanson AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 399 Firestone Park School Blanche E. Bolinger Belle B. Brewer Florence M. Danforth Berchal Ervin Anna Fitzgerald Anna Gilgen Luella Graham Weltha M. Herbig Katherine L. Keach Mary E. Ladley Thelma Lambert Katherine McGuire Marguerite Millar Pearl Miller Harriet J. Parker Mary E. Redinger Anne S. Sarbey Elnora Sewell Elizabeth Stearns Emma Stockman Adelaide B. Suloff Margaret E. Vaughan Mary L. Vaughan Nettie Wise Alice Woods Louise J. Wright Forest Hill School Vera C. Barber Alice V. Blair Elizabeth Farlin Olive Graves Wava V. Gray Adeline Jordan Helen McSwords Reed Elizabeth Peters F. Marain Roush Forrest R. Schaeffer Beatrice E. Singer Mamie Veon Mary Ellen Wilson Ada Chinn Joye Esch Fraunfelter School May Bartlett Katherine Beckwith Frances C. Epler Florence G. Finney Frank D. Grant Emma C. Hallinan Helen M. Harpham Aldon W. Heartz Mary Herbert Alta Hoopengarner Mary E. Kline Marion B. McFadden Jessie Peoples Lulu Reeves Rebecca Rumsey Hazel Scholes Mildred Curry Margaret E. Watkins Dorothy Bath Glover School Dorothy Burge Edna P. Campbell Emma B. Cannon Carrie E. Carrick Mildred Curry Alvira Farr Jessie McKinnon Bertha L. Maier Adrienne Manville Jeanette Medvin Jeanette Mendelson Ferne A. Miller