Then came the Linn County Signal which its authors hoped would be a signal success. But its signals became tangled and it failed to kick over the goal of success. It kicked the bucket instead. T. G. Newman, the father of A. H. Newman of the Cedar Rapids Candy Company, purchased the remains. From them he made the office of the Daily Observer, with J. L. Enos as editor. From the Observer came the Cedar Rapids Republican. This was in 1870. In 1902 there was re-born the Cedar Rapids Times. The father Republican and the strong and lusty son Times are both in the full vigor of their powers, and this evolution of the two powerful dailies from the amoeba-like weakly Signal is the most conspicuous example of newspaper evolution and the survival of the fittest on record.
The present Cedar Rapids Times is not to be confounded with the Cedar Rapids Weekly Times which had such a long and prosperous growth under the management of Editor Hollis, and later of the good Doctor McClelland. The Weekly Times lived until the death of Doctor McClelland, and it was a power for good. Then came two gentlemen from Milwaukee who converted it into a daily. They had a great run as long as their cash and their credit held out. And they were good newspaper men, too. But they drew nearer and nearer the gateway to the great and yawning newspaper graveyard. There were many mourners in Cedar Rapids when the Times was buried. It had been purified before its death by its conspicuous work in a great tent revival conducted by an evangelist, M. B. Williams. This revival the other dailies refused even to mention. The Times had a great deal of broadcloth endorsement. But the eulogies proved to be its premature obituaries. Cash came slowly. Advertising was coy. With the fall of the leaves came the death of the Times. The Gazette bought up the household furnishings, the subscription lists and the good will. But the Times was buried, and the ghost of competition which had haunted the Gazette office was laid until the owners of the present Evening Times resurrected the name amid a riot of red ink during the strenuous municipal campaign of 1902.
STANDARD HAD A LONG LIFE
The Cedar Rapids Standard, like the Cedar Valley Times, had a long life. It was first established in Marion in 1868, as the Linn County Signal, by F. H. Williams. The following year it was removed to Cedar Rapids, and Thomas G. Newman became the owner. In 1872 the name was changed to the Linn County Liberal, and the office was moved back to Marion. In 1873 James T. Simpkins became editor. The following year the plant made a final trip to Cedar Rapids and was changed to the Standard. For a long time it flourished, having a number of owners and editors. Among them were Thomas G. Newman, C. E. Heath, A. H. Newman, D. H. Ogden, H. A. Cook, Frank L. Millar, and in June, 1880, Charles H. Playter, of the Des Moines Daily Leader, came to town and bought a half interest of Mr. Millar. The firm name became Millar & Playter. This partnership continued until the fall of 1885, when Mr. Playter bought out his partner and became the sole owner. In the fall of 1886 Mr. Playter sold the Standard to S. B. Ayers, who conducted it through the triumphal period of Iowa democracy, when Horace Boies sat in the gubernatorial chair. It was a strong democratic paper and had a large patronage in Linn county at that time. Later L. S. Saner became the editor. But the hard times came. Rightly or wrongly they were blamed on the democratic party. Republicanism triumphed; McKinley was elected. The Standard of the democratic party was trailed in the dust. It soon died and took its place in the Cedar Rapids journalistic graveyard.
The Marion Pilot was established in 1871 at Mt. Vernon, as the Linn County Pilot, and C. W. Kepler was editor. In 1874 the office was removed to Marion and the paper was owned by Beatty & Whittits. It continued under this management for several years and was one of the strong republican papers of the county. In 1884 it was purchased by the Rev. J. W. Chaffee and its name was changed to the Marion Pilot. He built up a good paper, putting it in the front rank of the weekly papers of the state. But with his passing from the editorial chair and the rapid rise of the daily press in Cedar Rapids and its rival county seat newspapers its power and prestige waned. In 1906 it yielded up the ghost and was assigned to an honored place among those that have passed on.
The Good Ones Which Remain
THE DAILY REPUBLICAN AND THE EVENING TIMES
As narrated above, the Daily Republican is the outgrowth of the daily Observer. In 1872 the Observer was transferred to the Republican Printing Company, and the name, which at first was the Cedar Rapids Republican, was changed to the Daily Republican, the present name of the paper.
A daily and weekly issue was published and the paper grew rapidly. For a time it was edited by William B. Leach. In 1877 it passed into the hands of the Republican Printing Company, who put in a great amount of capital and enlarged the office. There were many editors during this period. In March, 1881, the office was leased to J. R. Sage and D. G. Goodrich, with an option of sale within a year. During this period the paper was changed from an evening to a morning issue and an Associated Press franchise was secured, giving the paper full news service.
Before the lease had expired Messrs. Sage and Goodrich had exercised their right to purchase the plant. On March 1, 1882, it was transferred to J. R. Sage, Johnson Brigham, Fred Benzinger, and H. P. Keyes. This quartette reorganized the old Republican Printing Company, with J. R. Sage as president. Nearly two years later Mr. Sage transferred his interest to Mr. Brigham, and later on Messrs. Keyes and Benzinger transferred their interest to L. S. Merchant. Messrs. Brigham and Merchant conducted the paper, Mr. Merchant as business manager and Mr. Brigham as editor, until 1892, when Mr. Brigham sold his interest and went to Des Moines to start the first Iowa literary magazine, the Midland Monthly. Mr. Sage had previously gone to Des Moines to become the director of the Iowa weather and crop service.