The record, 15 juin 2000, Supplément 1

ÿx-ÿj .m.SI Supplement KgP .iaC« TRC jfiucie Coupai BO Principale.C.P.37.0.Bedford.QC JOJ 1 AO Tel.: (450) 248-4552 • Fax: (450) 248-4277 1-800-363-4545 W-MM .TORRINGTON INGERSOLLflAND Bearings and precision components manufacturer rd, P.Q.JOJ 1 AO 450-248-3316 ALEXANDER GALT REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ¦: v-v page 4 • START THE PRESSES! • THE RECORD Thursday, June 15, 2000 A training ground for Toronto Telegram editors CONTINUED FROM LAST PAGE Then Bassett, Jr.decided to use the Record as a training ground for some of his Telegram journalists, and there followed in quick succession George MacFarlane, Arnold Agnew and John Cranford, all from Toronto.In 1961, Hugh Doherty, a Sherbrooke resident, was appointed editor-in-chief, and was there until mid-1968.On January 22,1968, the Record became the first daily in Canada to be printed by the then-new offset process, using state-of-the-art photoelectric production.This was done in new quarters on CPR Terrace with a new press, replacing the traditional newspaper press at the Wellington Street building, both of which had been in service for almost half a century.But Bassett, Jr.had lost interest in the Record, and in August, 1968, sold it to a company headed by his long-time associate, Ivan Saunders.Len Ryan took over as editor of the paper.The new press and move to a new building, however, had been expensive.BRUCE PATTON/CORRESPONDENT Record employees with the first edition off the new press, June 12,2000.The English-speaking population of the Eastern Townships was continuing to decline and this cut into circulation and revenue.Conrad Black and partners buy the Record In the spring of 1969, the newspaper, We, at MultiMeubles Gilles Boisvert, extend our best wishes to The Record along with our continuing collaboration.but not the press or building, was sold to a group of partners led by Conrad Black.They cut staff by 40 per centr-'and since they had no press, the paper was printed across the border in Newport, Vermont.The name was changed to The Record.It was the beginning of what is now Black’s worldwide media empire.Eventually, Black and his partners (Peter White and David Radier) bought a used press, and moved the Record to an old building on Roy St.There were a number of editors during Black’s ownership, including Scott Abbott, Alex Radmonivitch and Barbara (Verity) Stevenson.In 1977, Black sold the paper to a consortium of local businessmen headed by lawyer George MacLaren.They hired - Gilles, Alain, Joanne GILLES BOISVERT a/Ot 231 King St.West, Sherbrooke 563-4743 www.multimeublesbv.com James Duff as editor, and in 1980, Charles Bury, who did the job for 16 years.The business was moved to yet another location on Delorme Street.In 1988, MacLaren sold the Record to the late Pierre Peladeau, head of Québécor, a major Quebec-based corporation.In January 1999, a major fire ruined the Delorme Street building and the presses and other equipment inside, so the paper was forced into temporary quarters in nearby Lennoxville.In September 1999, Black and his partners reacquired the newspaper.Its publisher in 1999 was Randy Kinnear and its editor Sharon McCully.In recent years, there has been an investment in new technology for the Record, the paper now has its own web site, and has been re-designed to give it a new and modern look.A few months after reacquiring The Record, Hollinger placed the paper up for sale along with some 300 other weeklies and small dailies.One of the prospective buyers to express an interest in the paper was Canadian author Mordecai Richler who said he and a few partners from the Eastern Townships thought it would be ‘fun to have the the local paper.’ LES CLSC ET CHSLD DE LA POMMERAIE La Pommeraie Cowansville - Bedford - Farnham ggÜj p'-;v' Ï*$NÉ& % * *\ « » py,, ;< ï->: f iyÜ&î •:•.• >*-• | -,'¦ oÿ»*'- START THE PRESSES! • THE RECORD Thursday, June 15, 2000 • page 5 The Record first Canadian daily to use new technology On January 22, 1968, the Record moved to a more modern building and became the first daily newspaper in Canada to be printed by the then-new offset process, using photo-typesetting production.It was the first major change in printing method for the paper since 1911, and resulted in much cleaner and crisper-looking pages with higher-quality pictures and color.The entire paper was redesigned to take advantage of the new processes.The old press made its final run on a Saturday, Jan.20,1968.The new offset press began printing the paper the following Monday.But it was all happening too late.The conversion to offset had actually been planned for a year or so earlier, and a new offset press ordered then.This was to enable the Record company to tap the huge Quebec market for cir- culars and flyers.The offset technology promised high quality at lower cost.This would bring in the revenue needed to help pay newspaper costs and provide new profits for the company.No one else in the province had the new technology earlier on; the idea was for the Record to get in on the ground floor.But according to Record president Ivan Saunders, owner John Bassett liked the press that had been ordered for the Record so much it was diverted to Toronto for a new weekly newspaper enterprise Bassett had started up.So the Record had to start all over again, and put in an order for another press.By the time it was operational, it was too late.Other Quebec printers had their offset presses up and running and had cornered much of the flyer market.Hugh Doherty Wewin cuUomeftA mid teadeU In wiTmina d/te dleecid .Mteee-u wUfi me 'new faïe&b.RECORD FILES This photo shows The Record’s current production manager Richard Lessard (right) working in the press room.Mrs Carrefour de l’Estrie Galerie Quatre Saisons Galerie Orford 565-0022 565-1144 843-3803 page 6 • START THE PRESSES! • THE RECORD Thursday, June 15, 2000 High tech: engraving on blue plastic New technology arrived, in 1954 for turning glossy photos into engravings that could be printed.It was a machine that scanned a picture and produced a half-tone micro-dot engraving on a pliable blue plastic plate.Double-backed tape was applied to the back of the plate, and it was ready to be stuck in place on the big lead cylinders that went on the old rotary press to print the paper.We called the machine “The Fairchild” after the company that made it.The machine was a lot faster and cheaper than the old method, which involved heavy zinc plates.For a long time, the Fairchild was set up in the editor’s office, right behind his desk.It made a loud buzzing noise and also generated a burnt plastic odour, both of which seeped out to the newsroom.Mind your ‘p’s and ‘q’s Everyone has heard the phrase “mind your p’s and q’s.” But did you know where the phrase started its life?In the old days, before computers and automatic typesetting machines, printers had to select one letter at a time to set a complete story ready for printing.Since type for printing had to be set in reverse for the printed pages to come out in a fashion readable by the public, the typesetters had to be very careful when building up a page of type not to confuse their p’s and q’s which were beside each other in the bin of type.Equally important, they had to watch their b’s and d’s which were often mixed up in similar fashion.The b’s and d’s didn’t get into the English language as a warning, but the p’s and q’s, which gave us the well-known phrase, “Mind your p’s and q’s” is still used today to warn someone before they made a mistake.Congratulations on your renewed endeavours.perseverance is the cornerstone of success! >jr SANTANA* CANADA 3770 Industriel Blvd., Sherbrooke 563-7411 « v • *- !»*•¦?*f * *' RECORD FILES The Record newsroom in 1981 - reporters Matthew Elder and Tony Ross write their stories on typewriters while Charles Bury speaks with Susan Waite and Jim Duff peruses the front page.BRUCE PATTON/CORRESPONDENT .And in 2000 - reporter Janice Cunningham writes a story on a portable computer.diana timmins < « M « » f f » f ( « « « » » » « START THE PRESSES! • THE RECORD Thursday, June 15, 2000 • page 7 Pioneer papers became part of the Record On May 1,1823, the first edition of the British Colonist & St.Francis Gazette appeared and Ralph Merry IV trumpeted the event in his journal; “Newspapers are printed in Stanstead Plain for the first time that even were printed in the eastern townships of Canada.” The Editor and publisher was 24-year-old Silas Horton Dickerson.Dicker-son had been apprenticed to a Kingston printer at 14 and then worked in Montreal before moving to Stanstead and launching his own weekly.The subscription price was $2.50 a year at a time when a dollar a day was excellent pay (74 years later a subscription to the Sherbrooke Daily Record, published six days a week, was only $1.50 a year).Since cash was hard to come by in the Townships in those days, those subscriptions could be paid in “wheat, corn or oats” delivered to Dickerson’s office.Although Sherbrooke had become the center of the new St.Francis judicial district about the same time the Colonist was launched and was clearly destined to become the chef lieu of the Eastern Townships - Dickerson had the whole field to himself for the next eight years.Then in 1831, the brothers Calvin and Daniel Tolford brought a press from Derby, Vt„ and launched the St.Francis Courtier & Sherbrooke Gazette.“We received a number of a new journal named the St.Francis Courtier published at Sherbrooke by the Messrs.Tolfords, which promises to be a very useful publication.” said the Montreal Vindicator.“It will be a valuable adjunct to Mr.Dickerson’s Journal and will do much in diffusing those principales in its neighborhood which the enlightened portion of mankind at the present day pronounces to be correct.” Those principales which “the enlightened portion of mankind” shared with Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan, editor of the Vindicator, Silas Horton Dickerson and the Tolford Brothers, held American Republicanism to be superior to the British system of government, de- clared the British American Land Company a land grab by foreign speculators and championed a free press as an essential counterweight to abuse of authority.Dickerson was the first to run into trouble.When he published letters critical of Judge John Fletcher’s arbitrary judgements in the Sherbrooke courthouse, he was charged with contempt, convicted, fined and jailed.When the Tolfords criticized the British American Land Company, Sherbrooke’s businessmen withdrew their advertising called a public meeting at Adams’ Hotel and resolved; “That the publication of certain articles in the St.Francis Courier, in opposition to the establishment of the British American Land Company, has, in our opinion, militated against the interests of the Province in general, and this section in particular.” Fined and jailed again and again by Judge Fletcher, hounded by his creditors and unsupported by the business community, Dickerson was forced into bankruptcy in June, 1834.The Colonist’s press was bought by Walton 8* Gaylord, Stanstead bookbinders and publishers of maps and school texts, who moved it to Sherbrooke.There, with the support of local merchants, they launched a new weekly in direct opposition to the St.Francis Courtier.Joseph Soper Walton, the editor, had been born in Peacham, Vermont, in 1802 and apprenticed at 14 to his brother, a Montpelier printer.Less infected with American democracy than O’Callaghan, Dickerson or the Tolfords, he brought out the first edition of the Farmer’s Advocate & Townships Gazette on June 23,1834.O’Callaghan sneered; “It ought rather be named the Land Company’s Advocate.” With help from the Vindicator, the Courtier managed to hang on a little longer but without the support of local businesses, its fate was sealed.It disappeared in December, 1835, the Tolford’s returned to Derby Line and the Farmer’s Advocate had a clear field.CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 mtcml ¦'¦¦¦ ; > ilfllS -I •' mddi ¦r * ¦->.v : jx;.-: ; BPÜSI 1- - ; V -v" ?RECORD FILES The Sherbrooke Examiner, The Weekly Examiner and The Canadian Times.dfoocd éac& asadée&C u'ôs’d&s’ fos*uaas*- /tea/ VOLVO $ SUZUKI A//A ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS DRIVE ONE + SUBARU ihe beauty of all wheel drive Ml BSË CENTRE 4367 Bourque fâlvd.ma» êlm iry ptr «ci *w- TeL: F • sm.Turn-key operation free estimate with blue print — LES SALLES DE BAIN SB ET FILS » Sylvain Maciure 1 Main St.West, MAGOG • 843-3323 • 1-888-922-3323 printed(ocaffy, again, dfo now ana forever i ! CONTINUED FROM LAST PAGE The American invasion of Canada in 1775 stopped the Gazette presses altogether.Regular publication was not resumed until a month after the Declaration of Independence, by which time the Americans had all left the country.Mesplet gets help from Ben Franklin By the winter of 1776, the occupying American army recognized its need of a printer who might arouse the sympathies of the French populace.Fleury Mesplet, a French printer living in Philadelphia, was their man.Sponsored by Benjamin Franklin, bearing a borrowed press, type, paper, and a commission from the Continental Congress, Mesplet arrived in May.In June the American venture collapsed and the invading army withdrew.The abandoned printer was imprisoned, but three weeks later he was released.Mesplet set up shop and began job printing.Not until June 1778 did he risk publishing La Gazette du commerce et littéraire, pour la ville et district de Montréal.Canada’s first fully French-language newspaper, with Valentin Ju-tard as editor.Mesplet avoided criticism of both church and government, but the radical ideas of Jutard - an admirer of Voltaire - made the paper suspect.In June 1779, both men were arrested and the Gazette littéraire died.Mesplet was allowed to return to his printing business.Often in financial straits, eventually he sold out, and then turned around and rented his equipment back again.He was the only competent printer in town.In 1785, he started up a new newspaper, this one bilingual, the Montreal Gazette/La Gazette de Montréal.Mesplet’s Gazette, despite its name, was anything but an official organ.Often critical of the clergy, it sought to apply the ideas of the French Revolution to the political situation of Quebec.When France and Great Britain went to war in 1793, all such seditious ideas were suppressed.The Gazette abruptly altered its views and continued publication (it continues today), but within a few months Mesplet was dead - bowed and bankrupt, but not broken.By this time, the new province of New Brunswick, with its new Loyalist settlers and its new government, had its own newspaper.Two Americans who had already put out a Loyalist paper in New York, William Lewis and John Ryan, had come to Saint John bringing their press and types with them.On 12 December 1783 they began the Royal St.John’s Gazette and Nova-Scotia Intelligencer, advertising themselves as “Printers to His Majesty’s Loyal Settlement.” Lewis and Ryan changed their paper to the Saint John Gazette and Weekly Advertiser and became even more energetic in their opposition to government practices, successfully defeating administration candidates in local elections.Governor Thomas Carleton responded by overturning the elections and arresting his crities, including Lewis and Ryan.In May 1786, the two printers pleaded guilty to charges of criminal libel and paid fines of 20 pounds each. page 16 • START THE PRESSES! • THE RECORD Thursday, June 15, 2000 Lx * Print what is ‘most favourable to the British’ CONTINUED FROM LAST PAGE Roy’s successor fared little better.Imported from the United States, twenty-year-old Gideon Tiffany was given explicit instructions that the Gazette was “to improve by degrees and to establish a character.” In determining what news to print, the printer/editor was told to use his “own good sense and discretion,” and to prefer that “which is most favourable to the British Government.” As long as he acted “uprightly and industriously,” he would be “met with His Excellency’s support.You must be the architect of your own fortune, and the best perserver of your own character.” Those who paid the printer were determined to set the tone.Gideon Tiffany largely ignored these admonitions.He put out his paper in his own Yankee way.After he was joined by his older and more experienced brother, Silvester, even more American news filled its columns.When the printers bought supplies of paper from New York sources, they were severely reprimanded.Cross-border shopping, for supplies or ideas, was forbidden.Early in 1797, Gideon was in serious difficulty.Despite reminders in the paper, many subscribers were delinquent in their payments.Worse, the government was slow and contentious about paying both his regular allowance (75 pounds a year) and a number of bills which it owed him.Simcoe had by this time left the province, and administrator Peter Russell was in no mood to help his printer.And there was something much worse.Perhaps Gideon Tiffany had never read Simcoe’s first Gazette proclamation, for in April of1797 the printer was in very bad trouble.He was charged with blasphemy and violating a law going back to William III.To write, print to teach anything denying the doctrine of the Trinity, the truth of the Christian Religion, or the authority of Holy Scripture, was considered a come “greatly tending to the Dishonour of Almighty God” as well as “destructive to the Peace and Welfare of this Kingdom.” It is not known precisely what writing by Gideon prompted this prosecution - the surviving trial record is incomplete.Gideon resigned his post as King’s Printer.Two weeks later he was sentenced “to be fined .twenty pounds to the King and to be confined for one calendar month in his Majesty’s goal of Newark and to remain in confinement till the fine is paid, and afterwards to find security for his good behaviour for three years, himself in one hundred pounds, and two sureties of fifty pounds each.” Disloyalty and blasphemy - the print- ers’ proclivities were very clear, at least to their critics.To quell the growing dissatisfaction, a new Gazette editor was appointed, Titus Geer Simons.He was a local lad and a loyal one.There was only one problem: he knew nothing about printing - he had no training in the trade.He employed the Tiffany brothers to continue setting types and working the press-and they continues to exercise an influence.Chief Justice John Elmsley fumed about “unprincipled and unattached re publicans.” Early in 1798 he formally registered his concern: “Pray is there no possibility of having another Printer?Tho’ Simons’s name is used, the Tiffanys are the real managers.” A recent speech made by King George, “the finest thing in Modern History, & which ought to be circulated in all his Dominions, & got by heart by all his Subjects, has never made its appearance: while every trifle relating to the damn’d States is printed in large character.” Not long thereafter, Silvester Tiffany was threatened with prosecution for some unnamed “treasonable or seditious conduct.” The exact nature of the charge is unknown, but it is known that he had privately threatened to expose the Provincial Administrator, Peter Russell, to hold him “up by one leg to public shame." An informant told Russell that “Tiffany says you charged the public with the expense of advertising for a Negro Wench.- Therefore Tiffany means to say, it is not fair wenching.” Whether the supposed sin was abuse of a public trust or abuse of a woman slave is not clear.What is clear is that Tiffany saw his duty, not as following the wishes of the province’s chief administrator, but as serving a higher order.The printer claimed that his first allegiance was to the people, not to the government.There was no official response.Simons was simply instructed to find another printer.Silvester Tiffany eventually returned to the United States where he died in 1811.Gideon Tiffany gave up printing but remained in Upper Canada and became a leading citizen of Delaware township.In 1838 he was accused of fomenting discontent, attempting to recruit support for the 1837 Rebellion.The charge did not stick, but there was enough evidence to indicate that the old fears about his seditious inclinations were not entirely unfounded.Chris Raible is the author of “Muddy York Mud: Scandal and Scurrility in Upper Canada ” and is a regular contributor to “The Beaver.” : ' s' : :::: xVV:,.> : Congratulations of our future to The Record on your new plant and best wishes for a bright future From your Friends at Kruger © Kruger S SCOTT