newspapering

THE END OF THE OTHER NEWSPAPER

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Another thing we lost in the fire (and quake): Real journalism.

The 1906 disaster usually gets credit for pushing Santa Rosa to grow out of its frontier ways to become a 20th century city, but it also destroyed a future that just might have been remarkable.

In the months before the quake, Santa Rosa appeared ready to allow William H. Willcox, a world-class architect who had recently settled here, a free hand in reshaping the town. As described earlier, a funding drive was almost complete to build his auditorium, which would have been large enough to draw state conventions or even national events. Willcox also wanted to develop the Santa Rosa Creek area into a water park that would have become the centerpiece of the town. Both plans were abandoned in the wake of the disaster. Willcox was a prolific architect who liked to design on a grand scale; doubtless many other projects would have followed, and Santa Rosa could have become something of a jewel.

The other great loss to the town’s future was the departure of W.B. Reynolds. Only 18 months had passed since Reynolds and business partner W. H. James took control of the Santa Rosa Republican, and in that short time they had transformed it completely. What once was Santa Rosa’s often-chaotic “other paper” had become a smart evening journal in step with other Bay Area newspapers of the day.

Editor of the competing Press Democrat Ernest L. Finley bashed them regularly, both for honest mistakes and for having big city ideas about newspapering, such as adding a women’s section that he sneeringly called “Sussiety news” (although a few months later the PD introduced its own “Dorothy Anne” column that was far more gossipy). The Republican paper also had enthusiasm for the new art of muckraking, and kept readers abreast of the latest investigations into San Francisco’s corrupt political boss Abe Reuf, even offering its own top-notch analysis of the scandals. Reynolds also cast scrutiny on local politics, and that’s where Finley unleashed open contempt upon Reynolds and the Republican; thou shall not question our mayor or other good-old-boy city officials.

After months of sniping, Reynolds and Finley directly faced off during the lead-up to the city elections that were held just a couple of weeks before the earthquake. The Republican had earlier alluded to graft and law-breaking by officials, but a long editorial manifesto (transcribed below) charged city leaders of being in cahoots with a “scheming coterie of gentlemen who manage to protect their private interests by the conduct of the city government through the present administration.” The Press Democrat fired back in scattershot editorial page comments intended to ridicule the charges (“Oh, chestnuts!”) or rephrase them into something easily refuted. And, along the way, the PD editor tossed out another of his classic Finleyisms which makes no sense whatsoever today, accusing the Republican editor of “talking coconut talk.”

Most of the Democratic party incumbents were reelected, but battle lines were drawn; there can be little doubt that Reynolds’ Santa Rosa Republican would follow the lead of the San Francisco papers and call for Grand Jury hearings on the town’s political elite for graft and corruption.

And then the earthquake struck. A week later, a nondescript notice appeared in the jointly published Democrat-Republican: “The Santa Rosa Republican will in future be published and edited by Allen B. Lemmon.” As noted earlier, Lemmon had only leased the paper to Reynolds and James, having published and edited it himself from 1887-1904. But Lemmon, a progressive in the vein of Teddy Roosevelt, was really more of a printer than journalist, and the paper retook its old stance as something like the loyal opposition to the conservative Press Democrat. The promising future for the Santa Rosa Republican quickly faded.

What happened to W.B. Reynolds is unknown. Before coming here he had a position at the Oakland Enquirer, but I’ve not been able to find his trail after he departed, much less a reason why he left. With the only watchdog over powerful special interests gone, however, there was no one around to ask the questions that needed asking as Santa Rosa launched a century of unprecedented growth.

 

sources
 

Will the [Press] Democrat Answer? (Letter to the Republican)

Editor Republican: There are a few laboring men in Santa Rosa who would thank you for looking into a graft in the Street Department. We want to know why it is that the Mayor allows the employment on our streets of so many outside people who don’t have families to support. A Santa Rosa laboring man is entitled to the first chance at earning the bond money spent on the streets, but unless he hangs around a certain cigar stand on Main street is turned down for others who will. We men with families to support can not afford to lose our evenings at the card tables, but a stranger can come along and get employment under the Street Superintendent if he will show up at that store once in a while and risk a few dollars at cards. Now is this a fair deal? It is a mean sort of graft, and I can tell you right now that some of us who are posted are going to vote to stop such business if we can. [signed] DEMOCRAT.

– Santa Rosa Republican, March 20, 1906

DOES SANTA ROSA WANT TO BE RUN BY A BANKERS’ TRUST?

Here are the facts:

John P. Overton, nominee for Mayor and President of Savings Bank.

W. D. Reynolds, Councilman and Vice President of Santa Rosa Bank.

L. W. Burris, nominee for Councilman and Cashier of Santa Rosa Bank.

The bankers trust in New York has the country by the throat.

—-

THE STRANGE SOLICITUDE OF THE MORNING PAPER FOR THE REPUBLICANS WELFARE AND THE REASONS THEREFOR.

—-

It will take the erroneous Republican a long time to recover from the injury it has worked itself during the present campaign. – Press Democrat.

Now wouldn’t that make you smile?

Our dearly beloved morning contemporary reveals an astonishing solicitude for the welfare of the Republican. Thanks, awfully, but we really do not need any commiseration. It is really good of the morning paper to point out to us the error of our way and express regret that we should have strayed from the straight and narrow path of the rules of newspaper conduct established for Sonoma county by the deeply interested morning paper.

But really, we fail to see the why and where of the injury of which our contemporary so regretfully speaks.

Is it a crime for a Republican newspaper to support the nominees of the Republican ticket?

Is it a crime for a Republican newspaper to have nerve enough to criticize the official actions and public utterances of a Democratic candidate for the mayorality?

Or possibly, does the terrible injury the Republican has done itself consist in its having made a legitimate fight against the nominees supported by the Democrat, which exhibits such unusual alarm for the future welfare of its competitor?

Perhaps the Democrat would have us understand that we have made an unwarranted expose of the facts in connection with its mayorality candidate’s attitude on the subject of enforcing the state law in regard to polluting public water courses.

Then again, it way be newspaper treason to have referred to the history of the electric railway’s trouble in getting a franchise in Santa Rosa.

If this be not the occasion for the Democrat’s solicitude possibly the Republican should have shut up and said nothing about the public complaints at the non-development of the city water works.

Of course the Republican humbly apologizes to the Democrat for having offered the slightest objection to the Democratic ticket and to the re-election of Mayor Overton, but we really thought that there were a few people in Santa Rosa who believed a change might be advisable.

If we remember right nine-tenths of the recent Republican city convention “turned down” hard the so-called Overton program which included the slating for councilmen of men who never could be elected by a vote of the people in a contest between nominees.

It doubtless would have pleased those 80 delegates and the people they represented if the Republican had, like some people have, sold itself out to the Democratic cause and permitted the Republican nominees to scramble along any old way, not caring a rap whether they won or not so long as Mr. Overton was elected.

In the conduct of its editorial policy during the present campaign the Republican is conscious of having tread on some Democratic corns, for there has been considerable squealing going on in Democratic quarters about this paper’s terrible unfairness(?) in laying bare some of the things for which the present city administration is to be criticized. The Republican has studiously avoided “mud slinging” or personal abuse, either of the Democratic candidates or of that Democratic newspaper oracle which sets itself up as a censor of newspaper privileges in Sonoma county. In addition the Republican convention’s nominees are at least, just as capable of serving the people of Santa Rosa as are the Democratic nominees, and perhaps able to do so without permitting their private interests to interfere with their public duties.

If these things will work an irreparable injury to the Republican’s welfare we are thoroughly content to take our medicine. A candidate for public office expects to be criticized and if Mr. Overton accepted the Democratic nomination expecting that this paper would wear a gag during the campaign he made the mistake of his life.

No, thank you, Mr. Press-Democrat, we are doing Republican politics in support of Republican nominees and we enjoy the American citizen’s ancient and inalienable right to criticize public officials.

Incidentally, we notice, Mr. Press-Democrat that you to not ask anybody for the privilege to criticize Congressman McKinlay, against whom you appear to have a personal grudge.

Your political trick to trap the Republicans at the recent convention and would compel a distribution of offices that would leave unmolested the scheming coterie of gentlemen who manage to protect their private interests by the conduct of the city government through the present administration, didn’t work out.

And what is more, realizing that this precious outfit of schemers is in danger of losing its hold on affairs a week from tomorrow, it is quite the proper caper for you to prate about “Progress being the watchword,” as if none but your own candidates are interested in the progress of Santa Rosa!

Mr. Overton interested in the progress of Santa Rosa when he favors the continuation of foul-smelling conditions in the creek and has private business interests which would not be able longer to break the state law if that creek were beautified and made a pleasure resort for the entire community?

Mr. Overton interested in the progress of Santa Rosa when his administration accomplished absolutely nothing toward the development of municipal watter supply?

Mr. Overton interested in the progress of Santa Rosa, we ask, when his administration keeps nearly half of the city’s bond money tied up so that certain banks may have the use of that money and earn interest to the disadvantage of the public.

Mr. Overton interested in Santa Rosa’s progress when, to satisfy certain city officials who are interested in a concern that supplies crushed rock, his administration delays through a whole winter the improving of our streets, some of which are positively disgraceful?

Mr. Overton interested in the progress of Santa Rosa when he permits a certain city official to employ outside labor in preference to local labor,

Save the mark!

We repeat again, that we may not be misunderstood, that the Republican platform meant just what it said when it protested against the election to office of men whose private interests conflicted with the public welfare.

Doubtless this bald statement of the situation adds materially, in the estimation of the morning paper, to the Republican’s record for recklessness and absurdity, but we cannot help it if the Democrat doesn’t forgive us. Unfortunately we are not in business for the health and comfort of the Democrat and mean to say and do what seems right and proper from a Republican standpoint.

In conclusion a thought suggests itself: Can it be possible that the morning paper’s remarkable alarm for the welfare of the Republican in the estimation of the community is due to a hope that the Republican, for the next ten days, will be good and let up in its criticism of the present city administration? We feel so flattered that even by inference the Democrat should accord the Republican any weight at all in the community that instead of being induced to quit we are actually encouraged to keep up our end of the campaign for we may be able yet to contribute in some small way to the election of one or two of the nominees who are so unfortunate as to be on a ticket that does not enjoy the powerful support of the Democrat.

– Santa Rosa Republican, March 26, 1906

THE REPUBLICAN’S APOLOGY

For the unprecedented course it has pursued during the campaign now drawing to a close–a course characterized throughout by wilful misrepresentations, absurd statements having no foundation, ridiculous charges, that it has been utterly unable to sustain–the Republican now offers the following apology:

Is it a crime for a Republican newspaper to support the nominees of the Republican ticket?

Of course it is not a crime for a political newspaper to support its party nominees, provided it can do so in a legitimate way; but during the present campaign the Republican has not done this. It has put in all its time making silly charges that everybody knows to be untrue, and then when they have been fully refuted–why, just beginning at the start and making them all over again, and with never a fact or figure to back them up, and without even the slightest attempt to controvert the positive proof of their perfidy. Oh, no; the Republican’s “support” of its municipal ticket has not been a crime. It has only been a farce. And it is so regarded by the general public.

—-

The Evening Republican’s policy in the present city campaign: “To hell with the progress and welfare of this town: what we want is to win out.”

—-

Mr. Overton interested in the progress of Santa Rosa when his administration accomplished absolutely nothing toward the development of municipal watter supply? – Republican

Oh, chestnuts!

Don’t you know that everybody in town is thoroughly acquainted with the fact that the present administration has sunk three wells to connect with the present tunnel, let the contract for another to go to bedrock, visited several other cities and investigated the system and plants in operation there, laid four or five miles of new mains, installed something like a thousand meters to suppress unnecessary waste, and in addition to all this let the contract for pumping the water by modern methods, as the result of which, in addition to supplying the city with twenty more street lights than it has a present, the sum of $67,100 will be saved to the taxpayers within the next five years?

—-

The fact of the matter is that the present administration has gone about the work of solving local water problem[s] in a more systematic and thorough manner than has ever before been attempted. The matter has been studied carefully from every conceivable standpoint, eminent engineers from a distance have been called into consultation, and in short, many months of arduous work accomplished which in the event of turning affairs over to new hands will all have to be done over again.

—-

The sage guardian of the interests of the Republican party in this vicinity alleges that a certain city official “employs outside labor in preference to local labor.” If we understand the situation correctly, the official probably referred to here is Inspector M. H. Damon of the Sewer Farm. He has had the hiring of most of the men employed in the construction of the new sewers. Mr. Damon is a Republican, and not a Democrat.

But why can’t the Republican find out some of these things for itself?

—-

There has been no delay in the matter of improving the streets under the terms of the bond issue, except those occasioned by the weather and a desire to properly protect the interests of the taxpayers. When crushed rock was advertised for outside firms offered to furnish it, but the price was too high. A local firm then offered to put up a plant and supply the material needed at a much cheaper figure than could be bought for elsewhere, and the offer was accepted. The plant is now about completed and as a result of the plan adopted by the administration the rock will not only be procured at a fair figure, but the money for its hauling will all be paid out to local workmen and teamsters. And in addition better rock will be used than could have been procured in any other way.

—-

“We are doing Republican politics.” –Evening Apologizer. Talking coconut talk you mean.

– Press Democrat, March 27, 1906

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THE NEWSPAPER FEUD OF 1905

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Press Democrat editor Ernest L. Finley got along with almost everybody in Santa Rosa, with a couple of notable exceptions: One was James Wyatt Oates, whom he went out of his way to describe in his reminiscences as a disagreeable bully. His other nemesis was whoever sat in the editor’s chair at the rival newspaper.

Finley’s previous foe at the Santa Rosa Republican was Allen B. Lemmon, whose tenure as editor and publisher ended shortly after the 1904 elections, following weeks of the two editors lobbing insults at the other political party, its candidates, and even personally at the other editor. Taking control of the Republican were a pair of out-of-towners who had worked at papers in Sacramento and Oakland. They quickly made an impressive debut with a little muckraking series on the poor conditions of Santa Rosa schools (complete with photographs!) and added a chatty “society” column. Perhaps impressed with the newcomer’s initiative and a little cowed by their journalistic acumen, the Press Democrat no longer mentioned the other paper at all. That truce lasted all of four months.

In mid-March 1905, Finley aggressively went on the attack with a parody claiming to be an advertisement from the Republican. “This excellent household journal,” began the fake ad that appeared in the Press Democrat, “having just passed under control of people from the big town, who never saw a pumpkin in their lives, will henceforth be devoted to the pleasant, though arduous task, of teaching metropolitan ways to hayseeds, and introducing city culture to the backwoods.” With no disclaimer whatsoever, the PD parody, which ran about 800 words, tried to ridicule the competing paper for its “Sussiety news,” making a few minor errors, and running a contest. It comes across as something that was probably side-splitting funny when read loudly to comrades at a saloon, but now just seems snarky.

The Republican responded the next day by reprinting the Press Democrat’s entire parody with an added light-hearted preface. Their article (transcribed below) had one of the best-est headlines ever: “IS THE PEE-DEE SMOKING ‘HOP'”?

The Republican staff apparently thought Finley was playfully engaged in bonhomie jousting. They were wrong. The Press Democrat ran yet another parody ad March 21, but this one had fewer yucks and more sneering. Finley pressed his accusation that the Republican editor was both elitist and ignorant: “While the people here have been poling hogs and mulching turkeys and grafting onions, we have been acquiring information upon all things of importance to the people of rural communities. Since our arrival here, and our assumption of the editorial helm of the Republican, we have been disseminating this wisdom without stint.”

This second parody from the Press Democrat also ventured deeper into the confusing hall of mirrors by mostly pretending to be the Republican criticizing the Press Democrat: “…bearing in mind our self-appointed task of moulding local journalism and local conditions generally into a more metropolitan form, we continued to scan the morning paper daily, and held up a mirror to its short-comings in a way that, although it may have been painful, was nevertheless for the best interests of the public. It is an actual fact that since taking charge of the Republican we have paid more attention to the way the Press Democrat is conducted than to the course of our own journal. We expect no pay for this. The approval of our own conscience is sufficient reward until such time as the people of Santa Rosa and Sonoma county awaken to our merits and accord to us the credit justly due.”

Both parodies reveal much about Finley’s deep wellspring of resentment against outsiders, but it was the second offering that showed how thin-skinned he was. Contrary to the parody’s theme, the new management at the Republican hadn’t been criticizing the PD; in the month prior, no editorial mention of the Press Democrat can be found at all. The Republican had invited the attack, however, for having the temerity to point out an error made by Finley.

Without wandering too deeply into the weeds here, a Press Democrat reporter had asked Luther Burbank whether a sour grape could be bred (really, a grape with high levels of tartaric acid). The nurseryman said yes, it was possible. On March 17, an article in the PD with the headline, “Grapes to Yield Nothing But Acid,” quoted Burbank as saying that a grape could be created “that will yield tartaric acid altogether.” The reporter had either misquoted Burbank or the remark had been mangled in rewrite by editor Finley. That same evening, the Republican ran a short article with a clarification from Burbank: sure, over time a grape could be developed that had more acid, he said, but it could never be a little blob of just acid, as implied by the Press Democrat. The Republican headline read, “Mr. Burbank is Chagrined” that such misinformation had been attributed to him.

Caught in an error – and one misrepresenting a scientific statement by the venerated Luther Burbank, no less – the Press Democrat reacted quickly. But not to correct the mistake; instead, Finley changed the subject into whether Burbank was “chagrined” or not.

That same night, a PD reporter (certainly Finley himself) was knocking on Burbank’s door. The newspaper was told, “There is certainly no reason why I should have been chagrined by anything that has ever appeared in the Press Democrat in connection with my work …I also sincerely hope that you will not allow the matter to swerve in the least the warm friendship that has always existed between us.” The love fest continued with Burbank saying that he and his Secretary had also complimented the Press Democrat’s record of accuracy. The headline: “Mr. Burbank was not ‘Chagrined.'”

The Republican followed up the next day with yet another visit to Burbank for clarification and comment on the not-chagrined kerfuffle. This is now the fourth time that a journalist has pestered him about the theoretical possibility of sour grapes – is there any wonder why the poor man tried to keep away visitors?

The first PD parody appeared in the next issue, and the feud was on. From then until the earthquake a year later, rarely a day went by without one or both papers taking an editorial page potshot at the other. Finley excelled at coming up with little mottos that were probably cute and apt at the time, but today seem bizarre, or maybe like coded spy messages: “The Evening Fakir is at it again,” “Our friend down the street bleeds easily these days,” and my favorite, “Although the Republican spars for wind, it has to ‘acknowledge the corn.'”

IS THE PEE-DEE SMOKING “HOP”
While Under Some Influence, the Scribe “Hands It” to The Republican.
The “Sussiety” Writer is Really Pained — Nay, More, Thinks the Pee-Dee is “Vewy Rude, Dontcherknow!”

“The principal trouble
With some people is that
They go through life
Imagining that all the other
People are fools.”
– The Great Pee-Dee.

Whether the Press-Democrat scribe has been indulging in tartaric acid, gall or wormwood is not easy to determine. That something has upset his stomach seems, however, quite certain — witness the following from the Sunday morning issue of that paper. The Republican re-prints it for the edification of its readers:

THE DAILY REPUBLICAN.

This excellent household journal, having just passed under control of people from the big town, who never saw a pumpkin in their lives, will henceforth be devoted to the pleasant, though arduous task, of teaching metropolitan ways to hayseeds, and introducing city culture to the backwoods.

First Aid to the Foolish.

In the brief space of two months, this enterprising journal has introduced the codlin moth for the benefit of the fruit growers of Sonoma county, has discovered the quacking drake and the loss of blood without hemorrhage. To this record we point with pardonable pride.

Another startling discovery for which the Republican claims credit, and the honor of first heralded it to the world, is that there is a busy railway station known as “Melino” in Green Valley where thirty-two trains pass every half-hour. But for the Republican’s enterprise, this place might never have been found.

With its unparalleled facilities for gathering and disseminating information the Republican now follows the practice of publishing today’s news yesterday — sometimes even earlier. In fact, we have on several occasions told of events so far in advance that they haven’t happened yet.

In addition to these advantages the Republican is equipped with a private and exclusive system of grammar and rhetoric, which no other paper in the county is entitled to use, or would know how to use if the right were granted. Besides all this, we have an especially devised and copyrighted code of journalistic ethics, not known or even attempted elsewhere in the world. All these benefits are enjoyed by the Republican’s subscribers without extra charge.

Useful and Reliable Information.

It is not every rural community that can command the service of trained and cultured metropolitan journalists spreading the light of knowledge. How many of the farmers of Santa Rosa or Sonoma county would ever have found out that the codlin moth is beneficial, had not the Republican made this important discovery and given its subscribers the startling news the very day after it was unearthed?

The Republican has made many other discoveries, equally startling and of equal importance to the farmers of Santa Rosa and Sonoma county. How many of the ignorant tillers of the soil here know the proper way to harvest rutabega squashes? Few, indeed. Here it has always been the custom to shake the tree and pick up the squashes from the ground. By this process most of the ruta-bagas were bruised; gangrene set in; and the result was that jelly made from these squashes would not keep well, and was positively unhealthful. Rutabagas should never be shaken from the tree. They should be carefully picked with sugar tongs, wiped with pink tissue paper, and the pickled for two weeks in a solution of lime, sulphur and gasoline. Handled in this way, they form a dish fit for the gods, build up the wasted tissues, improve the breath, harden the gums and, in short, tone the system generally.

Portland Tours Contest.

If there is anybody in this community whom you would like to get rid of, send his name to the Republican on a blank ballot furnished for that purpose. The man who gets the most votes will be sent out of the state. None of the Republican staff is eligible under the terms of the contest. This condition is made necessary by the fact that before it was imposed nobody voted for anyone else except Republican writers.

The Real Thing in Sussiety News.

Through the courtesy of the Superintendent of the Glen Ellen Home, the Republican has secured the service of The Prattler, that most distinguished writer upon social topics, hotel arrivals, etc. Those outside the pale of white ties and hard-boiled shirts who may have imagined that Sussiety news cannot be interesting, should read the thrilling stories from this brilliant writer’s trenchant pen, and learn what literature really is. The Prattler is intensely enthusiastic regarding his work — so much so that he says that after one function has been pulled off he can scarcely wait for another. He just wishes such things could last forever!

Now is the Time to Subscribe.

You should not delay, but send in your name at once for this incomparable and incomprehensible newspaper. The very next issue may contain information that will keep you awake o’ nights and be worth a fortune to you. Old residents of the county, men who have taken all the county papers for years, say they have never seen anything like the Republican under its present management. Don’t delay. There may be something in the very next number that will astonish you as well as everybody else, and make your hair curl.

– Santa Rosa Republican, March 20, 1905

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1905 MEDIA RACISM REPORT CARD

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

One cheer for the 1905 Press Democrat: Racism that year wasn’t nearly as awful as in 1904. But a hiss for the Republican newspaper: What did you have against Japanese-Americans?

News items demeaning Chinese, Black, and Native American local residents appeared repeatedly in the 1904 Press Democrat. Reports of simple events, even weddings, were sometimes expanded into racist vignettes by someone at the paper who mistakenly thought he possessed a talent for writing dialect humor. Race was also just below the surface in writings about the 1904 election, particularly as Finley expressed shock over an African-American child appearing onstage at the Republican Convention, warning it was a portent of dreaded racial integration. But aside from editorial outrage that President Teddy Roosevelt had appointed an African-American to a position of authority, the PD was mostly silent on matters of race in 1905.

Compared here is Press Democrat and Republican coverage of the same event in the Chinese community. Press Democrat coverage is restrained, almost indifferent, except for the two regrettable uses of the old-timey “Celestial” stereotype. Aside for an inappropriate stab at humor (“post mortem spirito-creature”?) the Republican’s offering was superior in every respect, and included details about participation of members of the white community that will likely be interesting to sociologists.

The Shame Award for 1905, however, goes to the Santa Rosa Republican. Their description of a party of drunken Japanese workers was a throwback to the sort of crap the Press Democrat published the year before, filled with racial slurs, fanciful details that the writer could not possibly have known, and told in a manner inviting ridicule.

Even with all its ethnic bashing in 1904, the Press Democrat held back from attacking Japanese-Americans. The Japanese community had deep social roots in the county, and it probably didn’t hurt that Japanese-American businesses, such as the “Japanese Employment Office,” were regular advertisers in the PD. Over at the Republican, racist slurs were never found under previous editor Allen B. Lemmon, and the new owners, transplants from the more cosmopolitan Oakland newspaper scene, appeared to share his progressive views. So why did the Republican trash its ethical standards to crudely insult the Japanese community? I’m puzzled, but can offer a few guesses.

Although unlikely, it’s worth considering that the story, factual or not, was published as some sort of a swipe at Ernest L. Finley and his Press Democrat. When this item appeared, the PD-Republican feud had escalated leagues beyond the “flapdoodle” between Finley and Lemmon the year earlier. Finley had started the fight with the new owners in March 1905, ridiculing them with a series of parody ads (blog post coming) that were probably side-splitting funny when read loudly in a saloon, but now just seem mean. The newsprint jousting turned serious in August, however, when the Republican charged the rival paper with tolerating criminal activities in town on behalf of its cronies (blog post coming about that, too). From then on, the editors took op/ed potshots at the other side nearly every day. The fumes were so toxic that anything that appeared anywhere in either paper at this time should be considered a possible veiled attack on their foe. Most of the tie-ins to their fusty newspaper war are no longer apparent today, of course. Honestly, interpreting these old papers is sometimes like being a Kremlinologist.

Another possibility is that the Republican’s shameful article was motivated by new anti-Japanese racism within the California GOP. Earlier that year, San Francisco labor unions had created the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League, seeking to expand the ban on Chinese “coolie” labor to include other Asian workers. Their champion in Congress was Rep. E. A. Hayes (R-San Jose), whose March 13, 1906 Japanese exclusion speech launched years of discrimination that would cumulate about twenty years later with a ban on virtually all Japanese immigration to America. Neither 1905 Santa Rosa paper mentioned the formation of the discriminatory League (which is odd, considering both took every opportunity to editorialize about other aspects of San Francisco politics), so it’s unknown what, if any, influence the organization had on the editorial position of the Santa Rosa Republican.

A third option is that the story was intended as a strained metaphor to lampoon the Russo-Japanese War, which had ended with Japanese victory just three weeks earlier. After being almost continuously on the front pages since the start of 1904, readers knew well the names of Yamamoto and Ito, both Japanese admirals. Also note the descriptions of the prizes: a statue of the “Emperor of Japan doing Hari-Kari to the Czar” and an oil painting of the Japanese flag flying on the courthouse in downtown Santa Rosa. Don’t think so.

But there’s yet another explanation that’s simplest of all, and thus the most likely: Was this noxious anti-Japanese story in the Republican authored by the same reporter who penned the racist stories in the Press Democrat a year earlier? Articles were never bylined in these papers, but the writing style here is quite similar to the hateful vignettes found in the 1904 PD, and this piece is likewise rich in fantastic details. That the reporter (let’s call him “Racist Ralph”) was hired away by the other paper would also explain the decrease of anti-Black, anti-Indian, and anti-Chinese reporting in the 1905 Press Democrat (again, the PD was hardly bias-free that year; it was just less contemptible). Even if the writing of the detestable stories of 1904 and 1905 all can be blamed on Racist Ralph, however, the disgrace of these articles appearing in the daily papers still falls to the editors.

Deceased Aged Chinese Woman Buried Yesterday

The aged Chinese woman, Kee Haw, who died on Second street last Wednesday, was buried yesterday by her countrymen in the county cemetery. She had lived in this city for some time and her death was from natural causes. The woman was very poor and a number of Chinese with some of the white neighbors provided the burial expenses and several of the white children in the vicinity of her late home placed a few flowers on the cheap coffin. Somewhat different was the Oriental contribution to the dead — a bowl of rice and two chop sticks for her post mortem spirito-creature wants.

On the way to the cemetery a Chinese rode on the hearse with the driver and scattered prayer papers along the way. These were propitiate the unseen attendant devils who play the star part in the Mongolian’s religious belief. After a time, if the deceased has any friends either in this country or in China, her bones will be disinterred, sewed up in a little white sack and shipped home across the wide Pacific. If not, her dust will lie and mingle with those of the occident.

– Santa Rosa Republican, April 21, 1905

Chinese Woman Buried

Mrs. Kee Haw, a Chinese woman, who died on Second street on Wednesday, was buried Thursday morning in the county cemetery. A Celestial rode beside the driver on the hearse and let the customary shower of slips of paper fall en route to the cemetery. On top of the grave the roast pork and chicken was placed in due form and Celestials carried out the other fancies of their burial exercises.

– Press Democrat, April 21, 1905

YAMAMOTO’S EUCHRE PARTY
His Guests Pulled Their Guns and Shot the Three Prizes Into Ruins

Mr. Oki Yamamoto, the proprietor of a Japanese boarding house in Cloverdale, gave a progressive euchre party at his spacious shack Sunday night. He invited all his countrymen from the surrounding vineyards and hop yards and the guests assembled early. Four large boxes helped out the three tables and by 8 o’clock the little brown players were pitching “jokers” and “bowers” at each other fast and furious.

Refreshments were served bountifully in large glasses and this had a tendency to make the games over-interesting. Landlord Yamamoto noticed a spirit of battle breaking out in spots among his growing-noisy guests but with a section of hop-pole he knocked down several of the most truculent of his fellow patriots and kept white-winged peace present through roosting p [sic] on the roof to be out of the storm center below.

Presently Mr. John Kinno, who had gone oftenest to the fountain — said fountain being the host’s demijohn of red, red wine — broke out. He thought he saw Mr. Ito Hikikito lifting two jacks from a cold deck in his jumper pocket. With a frying pan which he grabbed from a near-by stove he soaked [sic] Hikikito over his dark brown head. Ito, bubbling with the war spirit of his great namesake, climbed from the floor where he had laid down and slept for a few moments just subsequent to his meeting with the frying pan, hurled several loud “banzais” and pulled his gun. Other guns appeared and white-wing peace turned in her hat check and left. One Jap got a chunk of lead driven into his muscular brown arm and another son of Nippon had one of his ribs scraped by a Smith & Wesson ball. The lights were shot out in true Caucasian style and the mirror in the proprietor’s sleeping room was put out of commission. Several shot holes in clothing and walls were made.

But the most desperate damage was done the three euchre prizes which were on exhibition in the room. One was a tiny statue group representing the Emperor of Japan doing Hari-Kari to the Czar — a masterpiece of art, the second an oil painting of the Court House in Santa Rosa with the sunburst flag of the Jap flying over the building, a prophesy, and the third prize a small keg of rare old wine from the Fountaingrove winery. When the smoke had cleared away the first two prizes were found ruined, but the keg had disappeared.

The gunners and their guns had disappeared when the Constable’s posse broke in the door and only Mr. Yamamoto was present. He assured the “honorable” American gentleman that no trouble had occurred in his “dishonorable” habitation, in fact he had just awakened from a dream of peace in his “mean” sleeping place. No arrests.

– Santa Rosa Republican, October 17, 1905

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