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UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION made 134 waves.' Two years later, in 1944, Dick elected to sell his interests to his brother, return to Salt Lake City and become a daily newspaper typesetter. Frank then launched a 29 year span during which he, alone, was the editor and publisher -- and a rather unique one at that. His editorials were conceived at the keyboard of his Linotype, which friends labelled, "The joy of his life" and about which he admitted, "A Linotype, machine meant beautiful moments." The mechanics of newspapering were imbued as strongly on his mind as the headlines and the bookkeeping. Wherever he published, new equipment blossomed, and his production plants inevitably became showplac-es of the latest in printing machinery. At least until the advent of cold type and web offset in the 1960's. That was a development he considered at great length and then rejected, even after his publisher-friends had pioneered it to their satisfaction. It was acceptable, he deemed, for commercial printing, but too expensive for newspaper production. Mechanically, that perhaps represented his only significant mis-judgement, for the 'offset revolution' eventually encompassed every paper in the Beehive state. Frank's political editorials were forthright and to-the-point, seldom delved into personalities but always urged readers to exercise their American privilege of voting. He was articulate about freedom of press and its correlation with liberty itself. "If, half a century ago, the 850 million Russian and Chinese would have had newspapers, and could have read them, probably today they wouldn't have to live under the heel of Communist governments in Moscow and Peking," he argued in support of that axiom. He was a staunch advocate of education, particularly at Dixie College after he'd acquired the Washington County News. And he editorially argued for dams, highways and recreational facilities. Like his father before him, he also championed home-town progress and reserved boldface type to proclaim community improvements. 588 |
