f tronize Our Advertisers, For ;; ey Are Constantly Inviting. ? J a To Trade With Them, jl ****** .ft * SELL ? BUY and BANK J ? IN FARMVILLE ? 1. 11 Not A Small Town Any More! ?' ^ ^ M-i * ? ? ' ? ? i . , i ;;?y::V' vv;&*. o ^'",r / ?, ;? ? t ?' >' * ?' I'Tirrii w ?;?;?; jr.-. opular suppositions this belief ha$ ?proved erroneous. For it is now ?known that worthy burgher, one Lou ? rens Coster by, name, was printing ? from type in Haarlem, a town in ? Holland, eight years before the Ger ? man, and that the rudiments of* I printing had been understood in oth ? er parts of the world long prior to I the birth of either. While the bar I barian ancesters of both inventors V were yet roaming the primeval for V est pn fact, the Chinese had learned the art of block-printing with stone, I and had by this method immortalized I their classic in the year 175. In Ja ' pan, the Empress Shiyau-boku was distributing printed prayers to her priests in 765, and movable types, first of clay and later of copper, were employed in Japan and Korea many generations before they were rediscovered in Europe. Earlief than these innovations, there were the seals and coin stamping devices of the Egyptian Pharohs and the more j ancient Sumerian Kings?all of them i rude printing contrivances. Even back to prehistoric times some form J of the printing art seems to have eltended, since it has been lately dis covered that certain Paleolithic peo ples decorated their leather gar ments by stamped impressions. To sum the matter up, it appears that what Gutenberg and his con temporaries really did was to crys talize and broadcast the experiments , of the past; and that in the process Gutenberg's name became so irretri evably linked with the idea that it has become, and will probably re main, a symbol for the invention of typography. Webster has defined printing in its simple technical sense as "The act or practice of impressing letters, char acters or figures on paper, cloth or other material.'' But as the art has come to exert such a powerful in fluence on the psychical as well as the physical life of man, let us grant j it a deeper philosophical definition, and consider it as a method of dupli cating thought-impressions by words or symbols in such a way that many minds, the distant in time and space may understand and possess the ori ginal thought. Bearing in mind, then, this exalt ed idea of printing, and passing Gu tenberg by as an orthodox Adam of the typographical world, if you will, let us discover the outstanding con tributions to the great thought-dis seminating art that have been made by succeeding thinkers in the 475 year* elapsing since the publication of the first printed book, the Guten berg Bible. (In reality, several books were known to have been printed earlier). _ The first distinct impetus given the evolution of printing was a gradual making over of the langu avea of Europe. Bible and school books became plentiful, and books began to appear on all sorts of recon dite subjects, from the mixing of poisons, and the apprehension of wit ches,' to the best recipes for removing warts, and -the nature of the universe as the seething mind of man was at last liberated by the magic key, of printing. To William Caxton, an enterpris ing young Engishman, is due the credit of printing the first work in a modern tongue, thereby making book easier to understand, for thus far, for lack ad an adequate European lan guage, all books had been printed in Latin . . . Inspired by Caxton's ini tiative other printers and scholars in due time reduced to type the Ital ian, Rreneh Spanish, and lastly the German auuecwj. Probably the next epochal contri bution to printing was the introduc tion of illustrations. In 1493 Antoi Xoberger, the world's first "liv< wire" publisher, brought' out hii famous "Nuremberg Chronicle'', I history of the world w^ich contain ed 600 illustrations and which no tably accelerated the pace in the dis semination of ideas. To Koberger ii hardly due all the credit of thi achievement, however. There wa ScbwM, his printer, who gave 1' years to the production of the firs copy; there was also Michae WohlgwnuA, who executed the woo> cuts. ' Some time before 1555, an up known artitto in Spain conceived th idea of Tif(lHnf printing in a purel decorative'-vay, and began to m*k wall paper. The first examples wez on small square pieces < hand m?i? *>ck . . . Fint, Hollas took it ue .sod 200 years later, wa pappr was Mug printed in London. - The ceramic arts were next to adopt printing. In France, and lat er in England and Italy, pottery ma kers discovered that designs could be transferred to crockery by applying to its surface patterns freshly stamp ed upon paper, and through this de vice the slow hand decoration of by gone centuries was reduced to a sim ple printing process. The printing of fabrics for cloth ing first gained headway in Holland. The stamping of calico from blocks dipped in dye bad long been prac ticed in India and Egypt, but not un til the invention of block presses in Europe in the 17th century, did cloth printing thrive. ' v At Venice in 1620, printing be came attached to a virtuous idea that had been wandering about the world since the days of ancient Rome, and as fruit of this unidn there was born a popular institution destined for a long and useful career?the newspa per. Acta Diurna the Romans had called the daily bulletin posted by the government for the information of citizens?a great improvement ov er the method prevailing in former times of spreading the news by a trumpeter, or still earlier by house to-house gossip. ? The first paper of public intelli gence was issued under the name of "Gapzetta" and once the Venetians had hitched their innovations to the rising star of printing, its progress wa swift. Within two years of the newspaper's debut in Italy, it had been introducd into England as a weekly by Nathaniel Butler, and 80 years afterward the world's first daily appeared in London, a product of the enterprising mind of E. Mal let, a poor printer on Fish street. It is fitting that London, the city of the daily newspaper's nativity, should still have the most widey read newspaper in the world?the London Daily Mail. \ The forging of the next link in the typographical chain may be said to have begun on January 7, 1714. For on that day Queen Anne granted to Henry Mill a patent on a writing machine embodying the idea of s typewriter. But Mill seems to pa tented a mere dream, for it was not until 160 years later, that the first practical typewriter was constructed by Christopher Sholes, a Milwaukee printer. The first author to take advantage of the new invention was Mark Twain, and his "Life on the Mississippi" was the first typewrit ten manuscript ever submitted a publisher. The first persons to fore see the possibilities of the machine in the field of woman's employment were Generals Francis Spinner and William LeDue. Owing to the short age of male help after the Civil war, these men employed women as gov ernment clerks?an innovation in which the typewriter was to have a far-reaching effect in the economic emancipation of the sex. The use of the typewriter has now become world wide, since it has not only been adapted to 84 languages, but com bined with the "thinking machinery" of Burroughs and othprs as the re cording instrument in mechanisms for solving mathematical problems. Almost simultaneously with the perfection of the typewriter was de veloped the art of shorthand, which was readily accepted as its twin. Credit for the modern simplification of shorthand may be ascribed to Isaac Pittman and hisi contemporar ies, but the art itself is an ancient one, . apparently having followed from the heiroglyphics of Egypt. In Rome, the slave Marcus Tullius Tiro, freed by Cicero and- made his sec retary, devised a system that achiev ed wide use, and it was he who pre served (w\th scant appreciation from the modern schoolboy) his master's famous "orations". Atticus later built up a flourishing business on Tiro' idea, training hundreds of slaves as stenographers, and Julius Caesar is said to have been among t his patrons. ' - Haste, Post, Haste. This phrase * (from which our word "posthaste" has descended) was commonly wnt I- ten across letter in pre-railroad days ? to urge their prompt dispatch; when t relay* Vf messengers on horseback i constituted the only postal system, i But it was left for printing to furn i ish a better method for expediating ? mail, viz; by the postage stamp and - the letter envelope. It was not until - 1834 that postage stamps as we know s them were invented by James Qtal s raers, a printer of Dundee, Scotland * The next event in the history oi I thought dissemination was the arri t val of a principle whereby blind per >1 sons might enjoy the inner light oi d understanding afforded by the print ed word. The discovery of thii i- principle was dramatic. The seem e was a street in Paris, at dusk o: y an ev?*lng in the winter of 1784 e Through the falling snow plodded i e man of intellectual and ascetic mien >f wrapped in contemplation of th 4 world's miseries. Opposite tb B church of St. Germain Ms attentio: 1 (Continued on Page two 2nd Sec.) | FarmviUe Enterprise j Wednesday| May 29 The 30th anniversary of THE FARM* I VILLE ENTERPRISE will be observed I I on Wednesday, May 29, at the Rouse I I Printery, which will hold OPEN HOUSE I from eight to eleven in the evening. I Educators, business, civic and church j leaders, and all other citizens of the I town and community, who do not come i under these classifications but who sped the significance of printing and I love the printed page, are invited and urged to unite with us in this anniversary observance, to pay honor to the day when the PRINTING PRESS, which has contributed more to the progress of am* lization than any other inventidh, was ? ? .. * . * , -v # . . Y " brought to Farmville to serve as an inte gral factor in its growth and development. y i ' ? . > ? . "i. Alex Rouse, Editor and Publisher; Sec-Treas Fanmflle Building & Lean i ? Started His Life Work at Age of Twelve; Has Served the Community in Various Capacities for Nearly Three Dec ades Bom in Nashville, county seat ?of Nash county, the oldest son of Alexander Nichols Bouse and Mrs. Nannie,Friar Rouse, George Alexan der, known to his friends as "Alex" Rouse, led.much the same life of any boy reared"in a small country town; he made average grades in school, did odd jobs, played baseball, tennis and marbles in season, and took a few music lessons.? After finishing high school he entered the College of Experience, from which he de-1 clares he hasn't graduated as yet j At the age of twelve he decided on his life's work. He chose the print ing industry. He-was attracted to the art and learned the rudiments of the craft, working after school, and beginning his career as office boy in the Nashville printing office of his brother-in-law, M. W. Lincke, which is still in operation under the management of his daughter, Mrs, J. A. Ragan, formerly Miss Christine Lincke. In 1906 he accepted the position of foreman and make-up-man in the Daily Reflector office in Greenville, and served the Smithfield Herald in the same Capacity the following- year. The next three years were spent in ? Snow Hill as manager and printer of . the Snow Hill ftiblishing Co. The position of editor and manager r of The Farmville Enterprise was of . fered him soon after it was founded . in 1910, by Jno. T. Thorne and G. A. f Jones, who represented the stock ? company owners, A. C. Monk, W.*A. I Pollard & Co., L. Davis Jk Bros, i and the above mentioned committee, f and probably others, whose names the writer was unable to get A year i Iy Contract with the Snow.Hill Pub i, lishing Co. prevented, his accepting e .the position at that time, but he die a decide to take the job later end ar a* rived in Farmville oh June 27> 1911. Editor Boose says he will neve! ?? :hK '?**'^ v *' ; EDITOR G. A. "Alex" ROUSE i Owner and Manager of "The Farra ville Enterprise" and The Rouse Printery; also Secretary-Treas-; urer of The Farmville Building and Loan Association. forget that day, for it wtaa one of the hottest and moat trying of his experience. He was ill at the time and had a temperature when he seat-. ed himself in the horse-drawn phaeton for the 12 mile trip from Snow Hill to Farmville, which was made in the ( short span of about two hours. He stopped at Lizzie and got a cup of - - - - _- i u shaved ice, which he says w&b uw&- j ed from his hands when the phaeton jolted unexpectedly. Taldng; charge of the business on July 1st, he noted his equipment as: an 8x12 job press (which a few yean ago he sojd to the Raleigh Times for their.shop printing), a- Simplex news paper press, operated by a 2-horae gasoline engine, two open type stands and an imposing stone; The only . part of the original equipment now i remaining in the shop is thto bed; from the newspaper press, which is - used as ah impoaing stone, and kept ; as a lasting soavenir. I Miss Donie Abram#, of Greenville, ? worked with him as compositor until her marriage to Tom McGee. Charlie r Moore, a bright and lively colored ?' v.i ? ?? "U V, ~? ? - -re boy served as office boy and assist ant pressman. , Mr. Rouse's new position demanded that he be a combination errand boy, reporter, publicity and advertising' writer, compositor, proof reader, sub scription solicitor, pressman, book keeper, collector, machinist, an4 on occasions when verses were needed, to fill in a space he served as a poet. His first and only poem, however, was written and published May 80th, 1912, and appears elsewhere in this issue; entitled "Farmville On The Boom." . ? I The new editor and manager's sal ary of $75 a month was to be paid out of the net earnings of the com pany, which to his dismay amounted to only $43.75 the first month. The clsh and credit of the stock company had become exhausted prior to Mr. Rouse's arrival and with them went the dreams of the enterprising Progressives, who had hoped to make some contribution in this way to the upbuilding of the town. Only the in herent interest and enthusiasm of the youthful editor'remained. And when he offered to take oyer the few assets, consisting mostly of goodwill, and the many liabilities of the plant the following year under lease, the stocks holders gave a sigh of relief and handed over the reins. Then The Rouse Printery came into existence. A few years later the establishment was purchased by Mr. Rouse, x Somewhere Alex Rouse had heard that "the Ant fifty years in the printing business are the hardest," and so he went to work to get them over as fast as possible. With only twenty more lean years to look for ward to the editor grows more light hearted each day. Mr. Rouse found that there is, considerably more to becoming a 'printer than just buying a plant on a moderate investment and he has had the hard experience of ! running- a business without a cash outlay. >' On December 27th of the year he came to reside "here, Mr. Rouse ! brought Miss Myrtle Dail, of Snow Tiill, to Fannville es his bride. Four 'years later a daughter, Mary Friar, ! was born to bless this union. Staunch . Methodist, the little family took sn active ,p$it in ths local church, Mr, ; Rouse serving one. time on th$ Board of Stewards; Mrs. Rouse pass ed away in February 1988. There Were rough sees to chavj and many difficulties to overcome during the early year* of The Roma Printery, and credit ha* Ab bs gim :-1111? to the foresight and enterprise of the pilot; and to the cooperation and confidence displayed fay th? towns people as a whole. Necessary equipment was added ififom time to time and the splendid printing' facilities now insure speedy and efficient production on a large scald and make the work of the plant notable. There has been a steady advancement in the variety and quality of the service offered doe largely to the owner's lifelong in- j interest in the art of printing, his , practical constructive ability, the 1 precision and accuracy which he de- , mands from his assistants, and the 1 pride which he has in the printery , itself. His chief ambition is that The. Rouse Printery name stand as i a .symbol of printing excellence. The Farmville Enterprise editor is j a machinist by instinct and train- , ing in the school of experience when ( pressing necessity demanded that the ( trouble be found with no mechanic , available. There isnt a piece of ma chinery in the plant that he cannot j take apart, refit and operate as ] competently as any highly trained } mechanic or operator, and there isnt j one thing in the shop out,of place or | in a position unknown to him. Leaders in civic improvements and , worthwhile movements have found ^ a' sympathetic ear in the Newspaper j office and the Enterprise pages al- ( ways ?Pen them, with an editor willing to cooperate in their activi ties and serving constantly the many j betterment agencies. The lack of ? column space has been noted for ar- ( guments when politics have gotten y j heated here, and there has been no ( room for publishing personal griev- j lances of any sort. This unsympa- j thetic attitude towards the disgrun tled has resulted in the paper being kept on a balanced keel and the con servative disposition of the editor has kept its policies sane and on a I high plane. Mr. Rouse was a charter member ( and the first secretary of the Ro- ^ tary club; a charter member of the , Country club and the Farmville ( Chamber of Commerce and Mer- . chants Association. He has served as president of the ftotary Club and as head of the Eastern Carolina Printers' Association. A man of dig- ( nity and natural reserve, he has nev- . ertheless, a tine sense of humor and , his chief characteristic is the benev- , olent feeling he has for his fellow- j man. Golf and horBeback riding are his ^ favorite sports and 'motoring* his favored form of recreation, though J he takes little time away from his office for either. Son}* tarenty years ago he was a great^Bhsdball ] enthusiast and a promoter \i?s the j Parmville baseball club, which he served as "chief transporter" for one 1 season. ^ Next to the editor's daughter, and ' taking a parallel rank with the Rouse ' Printery in the heart and mind of ] this man .is the Farmville Building ' and Loan Association, which he has served faithfully and well for the past 16 years as secretary and treas- ] urer. He is profoundly interested in its a progress and feds a justified 1 pride in the giant strides it has made during these past several 1 years. He knows building and loan, , and is never too busy or has any matter so pressing:-that he cannot al- ' ways lay it aside to discuss at length with any inquirer the principles, ob- J jectives and service of the Building and Loan Association. His first dollars saved was from stock taken in the Farmville Build ing and Loan Association; and it was with this saving he purchased the name and good wjll of The Farmville Enterprise and the little printing plant of The Farmville Publishing Co. If the Building and Loan confer red titles he might wear the degree of "Distinguished Service" but as T. A. Marshall, veteran director of the Wadesboro Association said on one occasion when complimenting others who had been in its srvice for many years, "to have lived with fidelity to a great trust is in itself a tribute of praise . . . and titles do not mean anything?it is the record that counts." The secretary and treas urer of the Farmville Building and Loan Association his death. When he died the craft he had developed was becoming, the most , potent factor in the intellectual ad , vancement of Europe. | OTHE^ ANNIVERSARIES 1940 The use of postage stamps began in 1&0; the 150th anniversary of t Benjamin Franklin'# death occurs in i 1040. The birth of Geoffrey Chauc ? er is ascribed to 1840r six hundred mm- - t? * i?< > - .. ?> fi . X* Advent of frmttng fress | Brought Transformation Opened Doors to Three Decades of Progress; Serves as Medium for Contact Between Bus iness and Buyer; Ave nue of Information on All Subjects : :?? " ; V The advent of the printing' press in Farmville, brought a startling ihange to this community, opening to the citizens here the doors of the past and present, and one which was more important still, the doors of future progress. While 30 years of printing in Farmville is only a part in the large pattern of printing in the nation, it is a period that means something special to the Farmville people, and emphasizes, on a small scale of :ourse, what printing has done for' ill the world. The newspaper is such a familiar ictivity, so muth a part of- daily living that special reminders are needed from time to time to make t appreciated. Certainly the service ? this community performed by the graphic arts and crafts is worthy of iCknowledgment, and all readers from the highest to the lowest are logical participants in the celebra tion of the 30th Anniversary of printing in the town of Farmville. The Rouse Printery in this issue Invites all adults, who are interested n the printed page to the celebra :ion of its 30th Anniversary, which vill be observed with Open House >n Wednesday, May 29, in the even ng from 8:30 to 11:00 o'clock, for nspection of the new plant. Who can estimate the potentiality >f the vast influence of the news paper black and white for perusal, for study, for reflection! Printed lews gives the pleasure of review ng when addresses or poor reception in the radio make unheard parts nost desirable and to the vast popu lation of deaf or near deaf persons, leprived of all other means of in telligent sources for learning of cur rent events, it is indispensable. Everyone in the entire family looks jagerly for the arrival of the home town paper to discover what has happened since the last issue and to find what will happen in the days to come . And though the editor tnows some people, who read it for irrors alone, most readers feel that teeping informed on world and lo :al affairs is an obligation that is iefore every alert citizen. We are living in an epoch-making period of history. The world moves fast. Things happen quickly: The FARMVILLE ENTERPRISE is de signed especially to bring these hap penings to its readers completely and interestingly. It enables read ers to know and interpret world af fairs and helps kpep them informed if town affairs with a minimum of loss time. Since the advent of the printing press in Farmvilie, citizens have been informed at first hand of all the news of Church and School; the bus iness men have been furnished an av enue for assuring old customers that their establishments are interested in keeping their trade, and one by which new ^customers may be attraced. It has effectively carried the advertis er's message right into thousands of homes of potential buyers and con sumers who look to Farmville as . their trading center. The tobacco market has been fea tured in every issue published just prior to and during the selling sea son, and its success and future de velopment have been paramount ob jectives of THE ENTERPRISE since the beginning. The market has been literally "kept under the wing" of this publication; praise, and con demnation, well deserved, have poured into its pages regularly and it has always been alert to pounce upon any individual, group, or rival market which has Uttered any dis paraging word in connection with any phase of its activity. The civic ? and social happenings have been faithfully recorded and publicized, and, the interest of the farmer folk have been taken care of in helpful suggestions relating to ag ricultural development, and in news items designed to benefit them in particular. ? , Farmville's only newspaper and printing plant has throughout these thirty years furnished news informa tion, inspiration,. buying guidance and adequate facilities for job print ing needs of this section of Eastern Carolina and hopes to continue this service for many years to come. ASSOCIATED ANNIVERSARIES Paper makers will observe this year the 260th anniversary of the first pa per mill in this country, established by William Ritteahouse at Ffcihtfel* phia in 1690; the electrotyping In dustry originated In 18HM0.