Born To Be a Newspaper Man

by Martin J. McGowan Jr.

Memorable Incidents at Appleton

Two incidents stand out among my experiences at running the Appleton Press. One came from an unexpected source. The other was a local matter.

One day a fellow came to my office, gave me his name and said he was from Benson. He said he had an advertisement he wanted published. Always eager to run ads, the life blood of the paper, I said we would be happy to oblige him, particularly from an outside source.

His ad turned out to be a long manuscript. At first glance I said the article would likely need a full page. He said that was no concern. He wanted it published no matter what the cost.

I began to read what he had written and I discovered it was a diatribe against the Blessed Virgin Mary. I thought it was sacrilegious. Noting he was from Benson, I asked why he didn't publish the article there. He said it was rejected by my uncle, Joe McGowan, publisher of the Swift County Monitor and Swift County News, twin weeklies. I said to myself I could see why it was rejected.

I told the fellow I was inclined to reject his article but I would take it up with my father, who was the publisher of the Press. I told him I would let him know the decision.

When I presented my father with the manuscript on the Blessed Virgin Mary I told him I was inclined to reject it and that his brother, Joe, had also done that. To my surprise Dad said, "Who are we to deny him the right to air his views, even though they are unpopular?"

I didn't know the motives of the man in wanting to publish his opinions. We were under no obligation to publish the article and we had the right to refuse publication if we felt it was unsuitable. So I deferred to the publisher and we ran the article. Then the lid blew off.

We heard indirectly that there was a furor all over the Catholic diocese. Apparently, the Catholic archbishop heard about it, but we heard nothing from any clerical authorities, not even our local pastor. However, some of our Protestant friends in Appleton said they were disappointed the article was run.

The only time I had any direct reaction came one Sunday when I was driving to Minneapolis and stopped off in Danvers for Mass on the way. I don't know if this was an accident or it was planned, but the pastor took the occasion in his sermon to chastise us for running the article. I don't know if he knew I was in the church or was just looking for a sermon topic that day. Anyway, a shirt tail relative in the church looked over at me and gave me a wink. He knew I was the subject of that sermon.

Before long the issue died down and nothing more happened. But it lingered long in memory as an issue of a free press and the right to publish.

The other issue related to a news story I published. The businessmen of Appleton held monthly meetings of an organization simply called the Appleton Association. The meetings were held on a Monday for supper at the Masonic hall. Various church ladies took turns serving the meal. After the meal promotional items were discussed like a Chamber of Commerce would do.

On this particular occasion the need for a public rest room came up for discussion. In those days Saturday nights in small towns were the biggest business day of the week. The farmers came to town, the stores stayed open until at least 9 p. m. There was grocery shopping, haircuts and much socializing. The main street of Appleton was filled with cars. Now that street is like a ghost town on a Saturday night.

The idea was that if these farm people came to town it often made for a long day. As a convenience for these people who supported the town it was suggested at the Association meeting that a public rest room be provided.

The leading opponent of this proposal was A. T. Forsberg, a leading merchant of Appleton. He ran the Leader Department Store, a general merchandise store with clothing, shoes, yard goods and groceries. He had one son in charge of the groceries, another in charge of shoes and a third son in charge of the yard goods and sewing articles.

At the meeting where the rest room was discussed Mr. Forsberg got up and said this was a bad idea. He said he was fearful that the farm women would come to town, leave their children in the rest room and go off to the taverns. In the news story about the meeting I quoted Mr. Forsberg to that effect.

We had the practice at the Press to clip several copies of the ad run by local merchants and drop them at the store the morning after the paper came out. These clippings were posted in the store as additional promotion of their advertised material.

Mr. Forsberg had his office on a mezzanine level overlooking the store. When I came in with the clippings I could see he was loaded for bear. He quickly unloaded on me. He claimed he never said any such things. It would reflect badly on his customers, particularly the women. It would ruin his business, he claimed.

I replied that I had merely reported what he said and I knew everyone at the meeting heard him say it. I double checked with the secretary of the Association and, while he did not deny Mr. Forsberg said it, he implied that I should not have put it in the paper. Mr. Forsberg was inclined to fire off statements and regret them later.

My feeling in such matters is that the truth is its own defense. If he said it, he said it. If he didn't want to be quoted at a public meeting he shouldn't say it. It was not my job to censor his remarks.

As a result, Mr. Forsberg went to Madison, had some circulars printed there and had them distributed by mail to a wide area in which he denied making any such remarks. He pulled his ad in the Press that following week. But finally he cooled off and had his regular ad back in The Press the following week.

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