Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/313

Rh Under Pittock and Scott the Oregonian attained a very solid reputation as a journal of the first class. Advantage was taken of the new improvements offered by science in new presses and in establishing daily telegraphic service with San Francisco as early as 1864. The Pittock-Scott control won for the Oregonian the political prestige formerly held by Bush and the Statesman. These same policies carried out in more recent times have given the Oregonian an international reputation.

. In 1854 it was determined by the preachers and laymen of Oregon to issue a weekly religious paper, to be controlled by a joint stock company. T. H. Pearne was elected the editor, and he was directed to procure an office and a six months' supply of paper. The first number was issued in Salem, September 1, 1855. In an address on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the paper, Pearne said:

"In 1854 ... it was determined to organize a joint stock company to establish and issue a religious weekly in Oregon. It was estimated to cost some three or four thousand dollars to purchase an office and a six monthssupply of paper. Articles of agreement were prepared. George and Alexander Abernethy, James R. Robb, Beers, Holman, Kingsley, Waller, Wilbur, Parrish, Hines and perhaps one or two others subscribed the necessary amounts. . . .The necessary outfit was nearly six months in coming around Cape Horn.

We had considerable study and care in agreeing upon a name for the new paper. . . . The Oregon Christian Advocate was suggested, but rejected as being too long and narrow. The North Pacific Herald was proposed but rejected as being entirely too long. At last the Pacific Christian Advocate was suggested and adopted. (Suggested by A. F . Waller.) The paper was first published in Salem. After a few months the paper was removed to Portland. The circulation was at first rather small. It slowly increased until, in the first year, it had grown to eighteen hundred or two thousand. The editor's salary for several years was seven hundred dollars a year. . . . The joint stock company fell through because of non-payment