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
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IB UBST." !??|
,fl SINCE GUTENBERG
ERNEST SEEMAN
?"?Manager Duke University Press
fl ~ (Reprint in part from the
.JjB Publishers' Weekly)
, B The art of printing is commonly
Believed to have begun with Johapnes
Rutenberg, of Mainz, Germany, who
practiced it with movable cast-metal
Bype about 1454. However, like most
B>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 <has lived up to the
high degree of rsponsibility placed
upon him.
INVENTOR SAW RESULTS
Hie ^rork to which John Gutenburg
had devoted his life had come to'full
fruition during the decade proceeding
> 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.