Joy of Christmas

Looking back at old papers is one of those simple joys of life

This was one dangerous column idea – go down to the Summit morgue, find the 1906 Christmas edition of the Summit and head back down memory lane.

I’m a sucker for old newspapers so an hour turned into two, which turned into 2 1/2 … you get the idea. I think before I brought the paper upstairs, I had read the entire Dec. 19, 1906, Summit.

And I enjoyed every minute of it.

So let me share some of the news and advertising our newspaper shared with our readers a century ago …

NEWSPAPERS IN GENERAL are always trying to find a way to self-promote themselves. It’s something, I believe, that we don’t do as well as our friends in radio and television.

But let me tell you, in 1906, the Summit had no trouble self-promoting itself.

The Summit, on its front page no less, came up with a deal for its subscribers. Pay your overdue bill or buy a new subscription and you would get a 13-month subscription for a quarter. Not bad, considering the regular subscription rate was a buck a year.

“This is without a doubt the most liberal offer ever made in this county,” the ad said. “Just think of it. THE FOREST CITY SUMMIT 13 months – mailed to any address in the United States for 25 cents.”

Now, that’s self-promotion!

THE LEAD STORY in the Summit 100 years ago was a “Washington letter” from Olger H. Olson, the editor and manager of the newspaper.

Olson’s letter was filled with the news of the day from the nation’s capital, but a couple really caught my eye.

One hundred years ago, Washington was abuzz over the removal of Bellamy Storer, the American ambassador to the Austrian Empire. Everyone blamed Mrs. Storer, a recent convert to Catholicism who “by virtue of her own and husband’s position to promote church dignitaries.”

There was also the scandalous affair of former Utah Sen. Arthur Brown, who had recently been murdered in Washington by one Mrs. Bradley.

But it appears that the late Sen. Brown received little sympathy from our editor at the time. “His illicit relationship with the woman without a disposition on his part to remedy the wrong drove the woman into a frenzy which resulted in shooting him.”

IF YOU WERE traveling for the holidays in 1906, the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad had a deal for you.

If you bought one round-trip ticket, you’d get the second for one-third the price.

The only catch was you had to be back in Forest City by Jan. 7, 1907. Still, the Summit for a quarter and a round-trip train ticket for one-third the regular rate … there were bargains galore.

AS THE FATHER of two young boys, I appreciated the Christmas shopping deals offered by Forest City’s C.E. Wry & Company.

Wry was selling boys double-seat and double-knee overalls for 38 cents a pop. OK boys, let’s see you wear these puppies out!

Yet, my favorite part of the quarter-page advertisement was the 9-cent sale on “a lot of men’s black and fancy socks.”

AS MUCH AS I enjoyed the news, the ads in that 1906 Summit made for great reading.

Olson & Hanson Tailoring Co. made their pitch for new suits by telling customers “surely you do not want to start the New Year looking ‘seedy.’ Surely not!

N.P. Nelson was selling a phonograph that would be a much better gift than Christmas trinkets because, in part, “the trinkets please only the individual recipient [but] the Edison Phonograph offers a continuous round of pleasure for the whole family.”

And then there was this gem from Waldorf College, although it has nothing to do with Christmas. The college was looking for students to enroll for its winter term, which started on Jan. 2, 1907. The ad told prospective students what kind of degrees Waldorf bestowed but it added this nugget: “Classes organized for those who have neglected their common school education.”

Hmmmm, that sounds like an ad aimed for the Bob Fenskes of 1906.

THUS, ENDS THE trip through the yellowed pages of the Summit. Prices have changed, the news has changed (I doubt my boss is sending me to D.C. anytime soon) and phonographs are long gone.

But one thing hasn’t changed – Summit Editor Olger H. Olson and his staff wished everyone a Merry Christmas back in 1906. One hundred years later, we do the same.

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