Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one” - A.J. Liebling
My father Bob Wilson took this to heart, and bought one and started his own newspaper, the Prairie Post of Maroa, Illinois in 1958, and ran it until he died in 1972. It never had a circulation of more than 2500 or so, but every week, he would fire off editorials at everyone and everything from local events to the actions of the nations of the world.
He may have been a Quaker peace activist in a Republican district, but his love and support of the farming communities garnered him enough respect that he eventually ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1962, though he lost. (He might have tried again, had he not died of an accident while only 49.) Many of his views ring true today. And he might have been willing to change the ones that fell behind the times. Although raised in the casual racism of the 1920s and 1930s, at the age of 15 he took stock of what he was being taught and discarded much of it as being wrong, and lived his life with respect for all. [well, almost all. I have found that his views on homosexuality were those common to his time. Would he have been able to change again? Maybe...]
I decided to transcribe his old editorials (I may make a book for some of my relatives) and every once in a while I will repost one here, as a view of how the world has changed wildly, or remained stubbornly the same.
March 19, 1964
A STRAIGHT ANSWER
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Our patient readers have no doubt already been assaulted by the story on radio, television and newspapers. Prof. Revilo P. Oliver of the U. of I., who became famous for his charges against President Kennedy, last Monday announced he was planning to sue Editor Bob Wilson for $100,000 for libel. In case you have not seen it, we append the statement which we made in reply.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet Dr. Oliver in court. He suggests that he is considering a libel suit against me in the amount of $100,000. So that he will not hesitate on that account, I will assure him that if I sell everything I own, I can meet such a judgement. I want Dr. Oliver to know that he is welcome to every penny of it if he can prove, as he has stated, that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a Communist and a traitor to his country.
John Kennedy made all of us proud to be Americans; he made the nation feel young again, and he convinced us that we CAN win the world struggle against Communism.
The John Birch Society is a hindrance rather than a help in the efforts of decent and reasonable people to overcome Communism. I feel that someone, at some point, must make an open stand against them; and if I have been chosen, I am prepared.
At the same time, I wish to repeat the appeal which was the main burden of my editorial message on March 5. In a free democratic society such as ours, we have nothing to fear from the expression of any opinion, however false or mistaken. Dr. Oliver is very, very mistaken, but he has the right to speak. It will reflect no credit upon our community if there is a disorder at this meeting.
March 26, 1964
WHOLE-WHEAT WEATHER
Any manufacturer who saturates the airwaves with idiot commercials must run the risk of angering the public and turning them against his product.
What could be more harmless than the harmless singing commercial on radio for good old harmless Cream of Wheat? You can't get lung cancer from Cream of Wheat; it will not intoxicate even in quantity, and that warm feeling it gives in the tummy is simply nutrition. It takes a pretty crotchety old editor to criticize Cream of Wheat.
The point is, we suppose, that advertising has reached such a dreadful state that it cannot even offer a hot cereal for sale without badly exaggerating its modest merits.
Be our guest at a steaming-hot bowlful of facts; starting with the wheat you raise on your farm, Cream of Wheat is the least nutritious and most tasteless product possible to derive from it.
The manufactures have gone to great pains to remove the husk and the germ, which contain nearly all the essential vitamins and minerals. The nice white stuff left over is starch, which makes hogs and people fat and torpid.
Of course, a little of the goodies removed from the product are returned, as in “enriched” bread; this entails further expense. The remainder of that wheat germ is sold as a special “health food”, which it is.
So is wheat, just the way it comes out of the fanning mill. If you crave a really tasty, really nourishing hot cereal, have you tried cracked wheat, freshly ground?
We have sometimes seen whole families whose firm flesh, lustrous hair, and ruddy cheeks proclaim that they regularly eat whole-grain cereals in one form or another.
Try it! Of course, few do. Cracked wheat is only 3¢ a pound, while Cream of Wheat is 24¢ a pound, but it takes longer to cook the wheat... and nobody thinks of it because nobody is selling it with singing commercials!