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The San Mateo County News,
the only daily newspaper in San Mateo County, is published in the
city of San Mateo every afternoon except Sundays and holidays and
was founded by A. P. Bellisle and J. D. Bromfield in the year 1914,
its first number appearing on the 5th of January. It is the county
publication in the sense that its influence and scope of action
extend throughout the entire district from South San Francisco and
Daly City on the north to Menlo Park and Pescadero on the south,
which demonstrates its prestige all over the county.
Preeminently, San Mateo County is a district of homes
and for many years a real need had been felt for a daily newspaper
that would publish the news of the county in a prompt efficient and,
unbiased manner. The foundation of the San Mateo County News
responded to the necessities of this epoch in the peninsula's
development which were clearly understood by Messrs. Bromfield and
Bellisle, who thus endowed the County of San Mateo with an
independent newspaper, free from political influences of the various
factions whose frequent struggles had agitated the county.
On November 1, 1913, the two young men who later were
to establish the county's first daily paper, took over the San Mateo
Leader from Charles M. Morse. Prior to that time A. P. Bellisle had
been associated with Mr. Morse in the publication of the Leader and
J. D. Bromfield had been connected with the San Francisco Morning
Call for about five years. Two months after assuming control of the
San Mateo Leader, Messrs. Bellisle and Bromfield announced through
the columns of their weekly paper their determination to establish
the county's first daily. In less than two days, over six hundred
subscribers had been secured.
Despite the enthusiastic reception accorded the new
paper by the public, some doubts were expressed as to the success of
the enterprise. A few pessimists and a number of envious
contemporaries voiced the opinion that the News would cease
publication before the expiration of three months. Hearing these
generous expressions about the "foolhardy" young editors, many
persons declined to invest more than forty cents at a time for
subscriptions because of a fear that they might lose their money.
In the face of these dark predictions, however, The
News thrived and prospered. Independence, respect to the private
citizen, the judicious attack on public officials, and not against
the individual personally, have formed the doctrine of The News from
the beginning. Truth, honesty; that was the starting point. Liberty,
progress and development are the only ends which the paper has
pursued.
Such complete liberty of judgement and action, far from
implying a lack of definite issue or clear perspective, were
indispensable to form a basis of the program which the San Mateo
County News outlined from the beginning and which it has maintained
up to the present, and will continue in the future.
The News has now entered upon its third year and is
steadily gaining in the confidence and esteem of the communities
which it serves. Its efficiency and independence in giving the news
has caused it to grow rapidly and steadily until it now has nearly
10,000 daily readers. This large and growing circulation has won for
it the patronage, and not the sympathetic support of the advertising
merchants. It can be truthfully said of the News that it has never
solicited advertising except on the basis of giving value received.
In this respect it differs from the ordinary country newspaper.
There is a popular demand for The News in all parts of the peninsula
and today it holds first place in the journalistic field of the
county and still has the distinction of being the only daily
newspaper in a county of 35,000 population.
The News Publishing Company, which not only publishes the San
Mateo County News and the San Mateo Leader, but does a large
printing business as well, has twenty regular employees on its pay
roll and has become one of the leading business enterprises of the
county.
The San Mateo Leader, companion publication of The
News, is the oldest established weekly in San Mateo, having been
founded in 1889. The Leader, which is made up of the best local news
selected frcm the daily, is without doubt the most newsy weekly
paper in the county and is invaluable to those who can not avail
themselves of the daily service of The News. The Leader is conducted
with the same independent policy that characterizes the daily paper.
The News has correspondents in all centers of
population throughout the county, however small they may be, and the
public in general aids materially in facilitating the work of
gathering the news of the county by communicating information of
current topics and important events direct to the editorial rooms.
The San Mateo County News has become one of the
permanent institutions of the county and its present success
presages a brilliant future. Messrs. Bellisle and Bromfield are to
be heartily thanked for filling a longfelt want in San Mateo County.
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