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NATURDAY OCTOBER 7, 1950

THE MICHIGAN DAILY.

PA"E FIX


PA~E FIVE

Daily

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(NE evening, 60 years ago this
fall, the first copies of a new
student newspaper, the U. of M.
Daily, rolled off the decrepit flat
bed press of the old Ann Arbor Ar-
gus, down on Main Street.
For the 19 young men who had
edited the first edition on a kit-
chen table and hawked it from
the street corners it was a proud
day, because they had officiated atI
the birth of the first daily news-
paper to appear on the University
campus.
This paper, with its single front
page story and column of an-
nouncements squeezed in between
the . advertisements, and bearing
an ambitious editorial proclaiming
that it was here to stay, was to
grow into The Michigan Daily of
today-a $100,000-a-year business
with a complete printing shop of
its own and the longest record of
continuous publication of any col-
lege paper.
WANTEIT TO EARN MONEY
The young men who were sell-
ing the papers that September
evening could hardly be expected
to have forseen this however. They
were a group of independents who
had founded a paper which they
hoped would earn them some mo-
ny' and provide them with a
sounding board for their opinions.
Many of them had been members
of the, staff of the Chronicle-Ar-
gonaut, a weekly which maintain-
eda policy of frank and outspoken
criticism of the faculty and Re-
gents of the University.
That year, however, the fra-
ternity men had pulled a coup in
the elections for the editorial
"board and scored a clean sweep.
The disgruntled independents then
ormed the Ie. of M. Independent
Association and went into the
newspaper publishing business for
+theminelves.
F HT, FOR EXISTENCE



of Student Publications-the pa-
per attracted larger staffs.
BUILDING FUND
The paper's name was changed
for good to The Michigan Daily,
and a savings fund was set up
which ultimately provided for the
construction of the present Stu-
dent Publications Building.
In 1907 The Daily became a five
column paper and the page depth
was increased to 18 inches. Then,
in 1911, the paper was expanded to
six columns and 19 inches.
* * *

In 1u12 The Daily gave its read-
ers wire news for the first timel
and featured its first big "spread"
on a presidential election when
Wilson was elected. The first ban-
ner headline also made its ap-
pearance in that year.
The Wolverine, a summer daily,
had been founded in 1910 by Lee A.
White. Although staffed mostly
by Daily personnel, it had no for-
mal connection with The DailyI
* * *

until 1922 when it became the
Summer Michigan Daily.:
Telegraph news service from the
New York Sun in 1915 again got
The Daily out of the local news
rut. National and international,
news began to get more space on
The .Daily's pages.
This was followed by a United
Press day and night wire in 1916
and Associated Press dispatches
began appearing in 1917.
Armistice Day, 1918, saw The
Daily publish four extras in order
* * #

to keep up with the rumors which
spread rapidly across a campus
which as yet knew nothing of ra-,
dio newscasts. The first woman
editor of The Daily was appointed
in 1917 as male members of they
editorial staff marched off to war
instead of the campus that fall.
BOARD INCORPORATES
The male editor who was to have
served in 1917 returned from the
war in 1919 to his position, to find
the University's governing board
incorporating itself as The Board
* * *

in Control of Student Publications.
By this time, The Daily had
long since moved from its job-
printing office to new quarters in
the building now occupied by The
Ann Arbor Press. The paper of-
fices filled three-quarters of the
building which was remodeled in
the 1920's_

The Daily and The Michiganen-
sian were invested. In 1932 there
was enough in the kitty to pay fo-
a new $150,000 publications build-
ing which has been the center of
University publications activities
ever since.
FACE LIFTED

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Lhc~ 1QGfl. With the purchasing of equip-
Under the skillful guidance of ment for the new building,
Prof. E. R. Sunderland of the law the type face of the paper receiv-
school, for .25 years chairman of ed a lifting. The hodge-podge of
The Board in Control of Student Roman and Cheltenham and any
Publications, the funds earned by other type face that happened to
* * * * * *
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New E , Stedy Groth:ZnFutur

be handy was replaced by upper
and lower case Bodoni type, fol-
lowing the styl'e set by the New
York Herald-Tribune.
During the years, the board in
,ontrol wisely left the control of
the news columns of the paper
n the hands of the student edi-
tors-adpractice which has been
followedawith successful results
to this day.
In the affluent days of the
1920's, Dailies with as many as
16 pages were not infrequent. To-
day, the Daily generally runs
six to eight pages. But withrthe
acquisition of a new $70,000 ro-
tary press, occasional 12-page pa-
pers will be possible. Today's Daily
runs more than 72,000 inches of
column advertising yearly and has
a staff of approximately 100 edi-
tors, reporters and business staff-
ers. Circulation this year is 6,500.
There is $125,000 worth of print-
ing equipment in the shop, which
for the last 20 years has been
supervised by competent, fast-
moving Ken Chatters. His staff
includes seven shop workers-two
of them students in addition to
janitorial and clerica' help. A full
carload of 'paper, more than 30
tones, can be stored at one time
in the building.
EARLY START
Daily editorial staffers generally
begin their apprenticeship on the
paper in the second semester of
their freshman year. when they
first become eligible for extra-
curricular activity. They learn the
mechanics of putting out a paper,
work once a week from 5 p.m. un-
til 2 d.m. press time with the night
editor and are assigned a beat
where they learn the rudiments
of news and feature coverage.
Business staffers follow a train-
ing program of their own which
includes ad soliciting and layout.
In a staffer's junior year appoint-
ments to paid editorial and busi-
ness positions are made and from
the group selected for junior posi-
tions, the board appoints the sen-
ior editors and business staffers.
Many successful journalists
have received their early training
on The Daily while at the Univer-
sity. The Daily lists many well-
known editors, reporters and cor-
respondents - one a Pulitzer
Prize winner-among its alumni.
Other Daily staffers have gone on
to make names for themselves in
the professions, business and poli-
tics.
BORN IN STRIFE
The Daily got its start in an
atmosphere of strife between af-
filiated and independent. At least
half a dozen weeklies and bi-
weeklies had preceded it.
The first student newspaper at
the University was founded in
1851 and under the logotype of
The Peninsular Phoenix and Ga-
zette was published three times
during the year. It did not live up
's f *

FIRST OFFICE WAS DINGY, CROWDED.

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= The oung;newspaper had tough
sledding for a time. The pace of
student life, ,while not sluggish,
had yet to gain its faster motion
Wbich came with a rapid expan-
sion of the student body around
the turn of the century.
President James Burrill Angell
oould take his early morning stroll
in comparative solitude on the
campus without meeting more
than a. few score of the 2,153 stu-
dents whose academic activities
he goaverned with a firm but ju.
diclous hand.
MaRIY issues of the Daily car-
'?Ied almbst -more advertising than
news copy on the front page, and
?requently there were blank spaces
lor which ads had not been sold
Epotting the inside pages.
After the spring recess of 1891,
the editors changed its publica-
tion time from the evening to the
morning, promising delivery by
noon. Finances began to pick up
aster that and the Daily has been
a morning paper ever since.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
ThO Yellow and the Blue had
$4 been written at the time of
e Daisy's inception, but school
g4it seemed to be lacking. In a
!!ret-year editoril, The Daily call-
ed for more students -to turn out
for football.
"Big men," wrote the editorial-
Istwho could make ideal players
CMY'would but try, slouch about
ucampus supremely indifferent
t 'the fact that their college has
athletic record to sustain and
a- record of past defeats to re-
tt'isve."
, Then as now, coeds were items
of interest and occasionally per-
plexed even the most concientious
reporter. Under a headline read-
ing "What the Aspiring Coeds are
.iTng," appeared the following re-
port:
"Last night, as our midnight
reporter was slowly sauntering
home, he was startled by seeing
eight or 10 young ladies heavily
laden with lunch baskets, leading
two young, freshmen coeds along
the street.
"Immediately h i s suspicions
were aroused, and this morning
upon further investigation, he
found that a new sorority had been
founded.
PRE-BREAKFAST DAILY
In 1896 a few editors of fra-
ternity membership were admitted
to the staff of the paper. With the
undertaking of delivery before
breakfast in 1900, The Daily made
an impressive innovation in, col-
lege journalism. Shortly after-
wards the column length was in-
creased from its original twelve
inches, making The Daily "the
largest college paper in the United
States."
In the spring of 1901, a com-
petitor to The Daily, to be called
the Varsity News, was under con-
sideration by other students. But
when it was discovered that the
town could not support two col-
lege papers, the two were merged

-Daily-Carlisle Marshall
PRESSMAN LAUREN KINSLEY, 25 YEARS WITH THE DAILY, WATCHES NEW $70,000 PRESS IN ACTION.

LATER CITY ROOM HAD BETTER LIGHTING.

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LARGE TURNOUT ATTENDED THE DAILY'S 50TH REUNION BANQUET IN 1940..

EDITORIAL OFFICE IN PUBLICATIONS BUILDING.

HEADED BOARD-Prof. E. R.
Sunderland of the law school
who headed the'Board in Con-
trol of Student Publications for
25 years. It was under his chair-
manship that the board turned
profits from The Daily and The
Michiganensian into a $150,000
publications building.
to its name, however, and after
the sixth issue, failed to rise from
the ashes of its melted-down type
and was heard no more.
A succession of other journals
and newspapers followed, but
campus politics and shaky fi-
nances sent them all to an early
grave with the exception of The
University Chronicle which rolled
merrily along for almost 15 years,
chiefly because of the virulence of
its columns. The Daily alone sur-
vived.
In their opening issue, the edi-
tors of The U. of M. Daily de-
dared that the publication of
their paper had settled for good
and all whether the daily paper
was a "go" or not. They wrote:
"ac M T iaiisaan W

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