Good Neighbors (1944)

[Music] Minnesota land of lakes and streams and forests headwaters of the Mississippi the Red River the St Lawrence long fellow's inspiration where the Falls of minaha Flash and bleam among the oak trees Sparkling Waters seconded our pioneers of good Hardy stock were those men and women who settled the Upper Mississippi Valley with them they they brought traditions of work and Thrift they built a great livestock industry they developed fine Dairy herds Minnesota became the butter state in the ranges they found deposits of iron ore and Minnesota became the iron State inherited from the Pioneers was a wholesome respect for Education Minnesota in the 20th century is known for its progress in the Arts and Sciences world-renowned are the works of its men and women in prolonging human life it has become a great Center of medical progress a wealth of thriving industry makes Minnesota a state of balanced healthy sound economy a spirit of neighborly cooperation a love of individual Freedom inherited from the early settlers friendly people these sincere in their civic obligations good neighbors this is Minnesota Hub and Crossroads of the state Minneapolis the sounding board for the progressive Upper Mississippi [Music] Valley and the spokesmen for these good neighbors are their newspapers the many apis star journal and the morning and Sunday Tribune a city within a city neighbors working together bringing all the news to all the people to these men and women freedom of the press is not only a privilege it's an obligation they have chosen one of their number to tell us about the making of the star journal and Tribune this is columnist Cedric Adams good friend of all motans hello neighbors here in this organization we try to be good citizens and we believe in supporting good leadership in our community our big job of course is to keep you readers informed we'd like you to see just how this is done from the time the news happens until the finished paper is delivered at your front door to make up a newspaper staff it takes a lot of Specialists and there work needs Direction and correlation it takes an experienced staff of editors to do this and to mold the results into the Minneapolis Star journal and Tribune any morning or evening the city room presents a busy scene every member of the team is a clock watcher we have to be for the printing of each Edition is a challenge to fulfill a promise to deliver to the reader on time to save precious minutes reporters phone in local news items to rewrite men who put the news in story form at the copy desk all stories are checked for accuracy and background material is added to make them more interesting to the reader National and foreign news is rushed over the teletype machines from Associated Press United press international news service the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service and our own Washington Bureau where our reporters dig up news of special interest to Upper Mississippi Valley readers our Telegraph editor and a core of assistants edit all the teletype material just as the crew at the copy desk works up the local storage all the news stories are sent by pneumatic tubes down to the composing room and that's a world of its own where men and machine set the news into metal type the skilled fingers of these type Setters are like those of a concert organist but their music is a March of world events C in lines of metal that's how a story gets into type now how about pictures they're an important part of good reporting of the news our own staff of photographers covers the local scenes or pictures helped to tell the story and they make it more interesting we also get many pictures from Far Corners of the world wire photo brings us action scenes which have just been taken several thousand miles away [Music] give me this the rush okay lights out these pictures come over the telephone wires a complete picture in minutes wire photo is one of our modern Miracles so let's see how it works although it took years to perfect the technique of sending pictures by wire is comparatively simple it's not a matter of sending the whole picture at once but of separating the picture into Fine Lines sending those lines over a wire and assembling them at the other end let's suppose we have a picture or a pattern which we want to send to another Loc location and the only way to send it is through a small tube for our purpose we'll make this picture on closely wound string now if we start at one end of the picture taking it line by line we can run the string through the tube and assemble it at the other end line by line until we again have the original pattern that's exactly what we do in wired photo transmission we've merely Unwound the original by lines in terms of Lights and Shadows and wound it up again on the negative giving us a duplicate image of what happened to the stunt car and airplane at the valley and here is the finished picture just 8 minutes by wire and ready for the picture editors some pictures must be retouched to make them print better this is done in the art Department other artists draw special maps to make the day's big news more graphic the staff turns out all the artwork required on a metropolitan newspaper but before a picture or drawing can be printed it has to be etched on a metal plate that's done in the engraving Department by first photographing the picture through a screen a screen breaks the picture into thousands of tiny dots each of these dot pictures is chemically transferred to a zinc plate then an acid eats away the zinc between the dots leaving the dots to print the pictures looks simple doesn't it but fine quality engraving calls for real craftsmanship and these Minnesota boys can deliver [Music] it Engravings and stories are brought together here in the composing room The Men Who assemble the type and pictures follow penciled layouts or dummies which the new staff designed for eye appeal the flat pages of metal type and pictures go to the stereotyping Department a moist piece of thick paper placed against the type gets a 20ton squeeze and forms a mold or [Music] mat the mat is an exact impression of the full newspaper [Music] page it's used as a mold in casting a cylindrical metal [Music] [Applause] stereotype [Music] the rounded stereotype plate will fit the presses and is ready to print next an elevator ride down to The Press [Music] Room where an electric eye steers each plate to just the right one of 34 black and white [Music] presses meanwhile other plates have arrived at the big color presses where Sunday magazine and comic sections are being printed during the [Music] week back in the main Press Room everything is made ready for the Run of this Edition ink 8 tons are used up every week in this plant the clean white paper is waiting great rolls of it waiting for the minute hand of the clock the flick of a master switch and away they roll at a speed capable of turning out many thousands of completed papers every [Music] hour these Almost Human presses obligingly jerk out each 50th paper to save counting time in the mail room time is precious here a practiced glance tells the Pressman that everything is okay conveyors Rush the papers to the mail room every second [Music] counts tying machine saves still more time endless belts Hustle the bundles out to the Loading platform the news of the day from the home front from all over the world is on its way often only a few minutes after the stories come in over the phone or the teletype but the job isn't over not until the last paper gets to its reader hundreds of mail carriers distribute newspapers to farm homes and there are 5,000 carrier salesmen your own Sons perhaps or your neighbors's boys [Music] these young fellows are part of the newspaper organization getting valuable business experience this job teaches salesmanship builds character develops sound bodies by regular healthful outdoor exercise to encourage these young businessmen the Minneapolis Star journal and Tribune Awards 10 one-year tuition College scholarships to those who rank highest as students good citizens and industrious carrier salesmen and the paper reaches its readers who eagerly await the news of the world today we've seen how this news gets into the paper now let's see some of the work of the men who get the news our own correspondents cover the battlefronts of the world they follow the fleet and the air forces the Army and the Marines to send back firsthand news news of our own Minnesota boys and the part they play in the big fight our correspondents Ro the world columnist George Peterson made some 60 reports to our readers on the Alaska Military Highway along the whole route he lived in camps and Barracks talked with generals and Eskimos and got the first complete story of this famous Highway editorial comments on City State national and world affairs are written by men you've heard and other commentators of the star journal and Tribune we believe that a newspaper should express it own views courageously and readers should have this same privilege this is the American way in everybody's ideas you'll find letters from our neighbors that often disagree with editorial views honest opinions openly expressed help build sound decisions still other opinions to help keep the citizens of the Upper Mississippi Valley informed we bring the viewpoints of these well-known columnists the Gallop poll brings still more opinions and the national opinion poll the views of the American people and then there's our own poll which tells us what the people of the Northwest are thinking about local state and National Affairs of special interest here politics for a third of a century Minnesota and National politics have been covered by another well-known neighbor Mike howerin Mike believes in reporting fairly and completely all sides of controversial questions he's proudest of the fact that not even his wife knows how he votes at least that's what Mike thinks food producers and consumers too welcome the timely information prepared by ew keer our farm news riter Victory gardeners ask thousands of questions Garden editor George luon answers them you've probably heard him speak at a garden meeting when it comes to preparing food Minnesota Homemakers keep up on Manus and rationing problem s through Alice Bennett's column in the Morning Tribune and here's another department I meet our Good Neighbors in this corner every day you know it's your friendly help that has made this corner our Corner when there's a need for something you've always opened your hearts remember the request from our boys in the South Pacific they wanted old jewelry to swap to the natives for things they needed you came through as usual in the good old Minnesota spirit with five tons of costume jewelry in fact you've always exceeded the goal when there was a need no matter what it was and I am grateful for the opportunity of meeting with you every day but let's get on with our story Virginia safford's column is written from firsthand experience sports games something new to eat something new to try she keeps the readers interested a peak speaking of something new to try there are other pages of the newspaper full of ideas a dress shop announces something new and attractive buyer and seller meet through the pages of the newspaper and both are pleased an employer seeks help a draftsman a welder a janitor or an executive perhaps he writes a note to every reader of the star journal and tribune and here again motans who may never have met during the course of a lifetime get together through their meeting place the want ad section of their newspaper motans are proud of their Charlie Charlie Johnson sports editor of the star journal and Tribune when Charlie and his crew of writers and photographers swarm over the Gopher grid iron they bring back a complete story in words and in pictures often more than 3,000 action pictures are taken during a single game the best pictures are chosen for the Tribune sports section on the street almost immediately after the final gun and the game lives again George Barton ex pugilist who once flattened terrible Terry McGovern was called the greatest fight referee of all time by Jean tunny Barton naturally writes about boxing and wrestling men like Bernie Swanson Hy Hall and Ted Peterson round out a staff of experts to keep our Sports Pages alive and sparkling encouragement of clean Sports by the star journal and Tribune includes the famous Golden Gloves tournament top fighters of the Northwest from this tournament go to the regional meet in Chicago the Minneapolis Tribune bowling classic each spring attracts thousands of entrance and is the largest event of its kind in the nation 3,000 boys and girls compete in the annual silver skates meet sponsored by these papers Jimmy Robinson is on the go most of the time speaking on outdoor life and sports here and there over the Northwest and pounding out his daily column gei goini this formidable chiua tribesman is just plain Ed shave rer around the outdoors everybody's friend with the support of Sportsman's clubs Ed visits the annual pheasant dinner for disabled veterans you can almost guess that these Indian name means comes with good tidings covering the cultural front is John K Sherman one of America's great critics he keeps eyes and ears open for Native talent for Minnesota is a great center of the Arts it supports one of the world's outstanding symphony orchestras one which is has entertained music lovers in 41 States Canada and [Music] Cuba leadership needs support So as good neighbors we Endeavor to support good leadership and to assume our share of resp responsibility this is discussed at weekly meetings of our supervisory staff out of such meetings came the decisions to help the scrap Salvage campaigns Victory Gardens Clean Plate clubs Bond drives scholarship Awards and many other projects we hope you've enjoyed this little visit behind the pages to make a newspaper takes more than just the ability to write and print it calls for good honest principles we constantly strive to edit these newspapers so they'll be worthy everyday visitors in hundreds of thousands of homes we think that the purpose of a newspaper is to present all of the news quickly and accurately to give you the views of the best known commentators and also the opinions of our neighbors like attorneys in the court of law we lay all the evidence before you it's up to you the reader however to make final decisions you are the jury on your information and knowledge on your thinking on your carefully considered decisions depend the progress of our community and of our [Music] nation