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THE UTAH NEWSPAPER HALL OF FAME kingdom of Davis. " That love, exhibited by his tireless community spirit and participation in its endeavors, would remain with him for the rest of his life and would project both W.P. and his newspaper to success. This man, a failure at age 52, was yet destined to become one of the outstanding publishers in Utah, even though his activities were confined entirely to the weekly field. The Reflex had moved to Kaysville from Farmington in 1911 with LeRoy Shelby its manager. In September of that year it was leased to Benjamin F. Cummings, but four months later, after a bitter disagreement with the lessee, businessmen Henry H. Blood, J. R. Gailey and John R. Barnes took possession of the plant and its rather meager equipment. On April 4, 1912, they leased it to Epperson and his son, beginning a span of 38 years during which a member of the Epperson family was at the helm of the newspaper. Within a month after taking over the Reflex, the Eppersons began expanding and improving. The increase in news content, better makeup and a vigorous editorial policy soon attracted new readers. W.P. knew how to make a newspaper pay and they were soon showing a profit with the Kaysville publication. Like most weeklies, and some dailies, of that time, the first editions of the Reflex under the Eppersons were filled with rather dubious advertisements for such patent medicines as Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and various catarrh remedies. The field for such advertising was open as a source of revenue largely because "boiler plate" existed. It was used extensively in Western publications to expand the editorial content. The system was that Western Newspaper Union, as well as some other smaller competitors, provided up to four pages of partially pre-printed newsprint containing feature stories, national and international news and patent medicine advertising. Half, or sometimes even more of the pages, were left blank, providing space for a local editor to insert material pertinent to his community. Early editions of the Reflex contained ten pages, four of which were home print. The local editorials were vivid and 495 |
