Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/347

Rh monthly or weekly paper in Oregon the undersigned do hereby associate ourselves together in a body, to be governed by such rules and regulations as shall, from time to time, be adopted by a majority of the stockholders of this compact in a regularly called and properly notified meeting.

The "Articles of Compact" numbered XI; all but the eighth article refer to the method of doing business, and are similar in their provisions to the by-laws of our incorporations of to-day. The eighth article touched vitally the editor's duties, and is as follows:

"The press owned by or in connection with this association shall never be used by any party for the purpose of propagating sectarian principles or doctrines, nor for the discussion of exclusive party politics."

The Printing Association was jealous of the editorial control of the paper. Provision was made for amending all articles except the eighth. The shares of stock were $10 each, and article ten provides for the method of transferring the same; also the distribution of dividends an emergency that never occurred; and in that respect the experience of the first newspaper men of the Pacific Coast was not unlike that of some of their brethren of these later days. The name selected for their paper was the Oregon Spectator, and it was first issued at Oregon City on Thursday, February 5, 1846. The motto was "Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way." The printer was John Fleming, who came to Oregon in the immigration of 1844.

The size of the Spectator page at first was eleven and one half by seventeen inches, with four pages, four columns to the page, and was issued semimonthly. The first editor was Col. William G. T'Vault, a pioneer of 1845, who was then postmaster general of the Provisional Government. His editorial salary was at the rate of $300 a year. It is believed that he was of Scotch-Irish and French descent, and a native of Kentucky. He was a lawyer by profession, although it is said that he had had some edi-