OCR Text |
Show The Roosevelt Standard anc Uintah Basin Record have been sold to Cliff Memmott, former editor and co-publisher of the Helper Journal. He will take over Sept. 1. This means, since Mr. Memmott is strictly an editorial ed-itorial man, that I will be leaving leav-ing shortly for what I can always al-ways hope are greener fields. Originally I planned to remain re-main here for about a year. I then changed my mind and expected ex-pected to stay a little longer. Finally I was forced to re-adopt my original plans because of the papers' sale. 1 Actually, however, my object here is fairly well accomplished. I have what I sought in coming here, a general background of newspaper publishing from the ground up. About the only thing I haven't done at the Roosevelt Standard is set type and make-up ads. I have done about everything else along the way. This experience should be invaluable in-valuable to me should I ever decide to enter the newspaper profession again. As of the moment, mo-ment, my personal plans are in doubt. I am considering publicity pub-licity and public relations work. In (he meantime, I will probably prob-ably enjoy my vacation while looking for 8 job- My departure date will probably pro-bably not be before Sept, 15, unless I find a job to my liking before then, Mr, Memmott wants me to stay around at least until, then, in order to help him get acquainted with people and conditions here, I have learned a lot in my year of newspapering here, and I hope the public has gained a little, even if no more than a sketchv knowledge of what is i going on around town, from my being here. I have tried with I every idea and effort at my command, and a man cannot be expected fp do more. My pre-. pre-. yious inexperience has hindered hin-dered me in some ways, but helped in others, On leaving, my philosophy of what a igood newspaper should be hasn't changed since coming here. And the year here has been , the crucial year in more ways than one, because I I haven't been afraid to discuss I really controversial issues, and this is the only way an editor ' can ascertain how the public ' will take his views. Altogether I have found the people here fairly tolerant. Most of them have felt I am entitled to my views, regardless of how they may conflict with theirs. I consider this truly a helpful sign. Intelligent discussion of all ideas and problems of the day is, to me, the best way of knowing them. The result is enlightenment en-lightenment from a review of the ideas, and promised solution to the problems. Only when man has had an opportunity to obtain all shades of opinion and a. chance to diligently consider con-sider them can he hope for accurate ac-curate knowledge. But once he feels he has considered all "sides of the matter," he can generally consider himself safe. That is why I have tried to keep the Roosevelt Standard on a controversial plane during my year here. I . have not expected people to agree with me; I have hoped only to goad the individual in-dividual reader toward the goal of thinking objectively on all controversial matters. That is all. In the long run I think that newspapers which outline their stand and stick to it will, profit. Those that prostitute their opinions opin-ions to selfish individuals and pressure groups will suffer. I know that I have ceased to have respect for a newspaper when I felt the management had become be-come unable to stand on its own two feet and die if necessary for what it believed. Once a newspaper sells its principles, it really has nothing left. The people peo-ple want a newspaper that will stand behind them when needed, need-ed, not one that considers expediency ex-pediency the hallmark of success. suc-cess. I have always felt that complete com-plete independence is a newspaper's news-paper's prime asset. It must remain re-main so if the profession is to survive. From what I have seen and experienced in just one year of newspapering, I believe that the press has unlimited success I in prospect, so long as it makes ' independence the cornerstone of i the future ' I have enjoyed my stay here. At times the public and I have collided, but only once seriously. serious-ly. The rest of the time relations have been harmonious. And the pleasant aspects of life are what I remember; trials and tribulations tribula-tions are best forgotten. I have lived through an exciting ex-citing year with the people of the Uintah Basin. I have been around at the dedication of a new school, feverish reclamation talk, new oil strikes, basketball victories, an inter-Indian reservation reser-vation dispute, proposed county coun-ty consolidation and other evidences evi-dences of history in the making as they occur. I have even had a lot of fun, in my own peculiar way. I have accepted the limitations of amusement in Roosevelt, and have tried to make my own amusement. I have done a great deal of study in fields particularly particu-larly interesting to me, mainly art and politics. I shall always feel that I have profited in many ways from my short stay in Roosevelt. I don't particularly regret leaving the town, but I do the people. But for a person with a natural urge to travel, I find that leaving old friends behind is becoming quite habitual. The one consolation consol-ation is that I always find new friends in the next place I visit. Down South, we always say at parting, "I'll be seeing you." I can always have hopes of keeping this promise even though I am thousands of miles and many years away. |