Strikers' Sheetlet

A staff of reporters and editors, turned loose in a newspaper composing room to put their own copy into type, could produce little more than a few garbled lines. Last week a group of compositors started a daily newspaper for which they not only set type, but also made a creditable showing at gathering, writing and editing the news.

The printer-publishers were onetime typesetters on the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, Union (morning & evening) and Daily News, on strike since last month (TIME, May 27). When the strike occurred, hard-boiled Sherman Hoar Bowles, owner of all four Springfield newspapers, published them in typewritten form until he could get strikebreakers on the job. After four weeks on the picket line, the strikers scraped together enough money to launch the Journal, a 16-page, 2-c- tabloid full of local news. Two unemployed newshawks helped them. Local merchants, theatres, lunchrooms, liquor stores bought liberal advertising space. Press run: 20,000. All proceeds went to the Typographical Union for strike benefits.

From the Journal readers could learn about the "Girl Killed by Automobile," the "Injured Man Left in Street," the " 'Queer' Money Being Spread in This City" and the Treasury's daily balance. Strike propaganda was mostly confined to the editorial page, which appealed to "the good will of a citizenry which loves fair play."

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