Page:History of the newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.djvu/116

 92 HISTORY OP BEAVER COUNTY PAPERS. of Third and Beaver streets, with the press room near the end of the same lot. In 1881 he erected a brick building on Turnpike street, on the rear of the lot now occupied by Martsolf's drug store, and the Democratic organ for the first time had a home of its own. The expenses of the paper were heavy, which with the inexperience of the new editor, made the venture a doubtful one, but the zealous support of the Democrats, and the encouragement given by a nmnber of liberal Re- publicans, enabled him to weather the storm. He soon learned that his field was restricted to the county, that it was already pretty well occupied, and to succeed he must make some improvements and adopt the best methods. Acting on the suggestion of a friend of experience, he ventured on the trial of miscellany and news in the form of stereotype plates, in the use of which the "Star" was the pioneer in the county. The movement called forth variois comments from local contemporaries, one of them denominating it "boiler plate," while other sarcastic remarks were made, but the innovation was a success, and was soon in use in nearly all the offices. In regard to the editorial policy of the paper during his control, Mr. Kennedy's own version is here given: "The zeal which prompted me to action was for Democratic principles and, for the Democratic party as long as it most nearly represented those principles. I recognized the necessity for a form of government se- curing the greatest degree of individual freedom, con- sistent with the equal enjoyment of freedom by others. I believed that there should be freedom of opinion, speech and press and above all that each and every individual should be free to sell where he could get the most for the product of his labor and buy where he could get the most for his earnings, regardless of the selfish interests of others, hence I was a free trader and the policy of the 'Star' was directed accordingly. On the question of