The Neodesha Daily Sun
and
Paul A. Guess, Sr.

Paul A. Guess, Sr., was owner and publisher of the Neodesha Daily Sun from 1951 until his retirement in 1967. Over the years, many Neodesha boys delivered papers for Paul. Five days each week carriers folded the newspapers into stars and put them into canvas bags that were draped over the handlebars of a bicycle or Cushman Eagle motor scooter. From there the papers were sailed (mostly with accuracy) onto front yards and porches throughout the town. The exception was the walking route that covered the downtown district where papers were hand delivered to local businesses. Any paperboy for the Neodesha Daily Sun will remember the smell of ink on a hot summer day, the rhythmic, hand-like movements of the linotype machine, and the loud, pulsating noise of the big black press in the back of the building.

At press time Paul would paste, roll, and then mail the out-of-town papers, while News Editor Elmer Morgan would watch over the front office. In the 1950's Paul's wife, Dorothy, might be putting the final touches on her weekly column, "Dot's Dashes." Friday afternoon was special when Paul would pay out, in cash, a weekly salary to each of his carriers.

Paul Guess Sr. was in the newspaper business for all of his adult life. The Neodesha Daily Sun was the last stop for this kind, small town editor. On April 30, 1969, Paul A. Guess sold the Neodesha Daily Sun newspaper. He had been the owner and editor for eighteen years.

On May 1, 1969, the Neodesha Daily Sun became just the Sun under new ownership and Paul A. Guess retired from his newspaper career that had lasted for over forty-nine years.

Written by his son, Doug Guess, June of 2003.

Doug has all of the columns (Dot's Dashes) written by his mother and is considering publishing them for others to enjoy again.

Doug wrote: I also had the Main street route, for which my dad paid me handsome sum of $3/week. I did not have the route too long, figuring that with all the walking I might as well go out for track.  As a financial replacement ? I would sweep the Sun Office floor every Saturday morning for $1.  I  always liked the smell of a newspaper office. I still have one of the old wooden desks that my dad used in the Sun office.

Kerry Writes: I carried the Daily Sun for several years. I started at the age of 9 as a substitute for the Main Street walking route, which had about 50 papers. When the regular quit, Paul would not let me take the route because I was so young. Later on I got the south route with 150 papers for the grand sum of $4.50 a week. I blew some of it at Margie's Diner across the street where we got fifteen cent hamburgers and dime pop. The diner was just a little bigger than a walk-in closet today. We never spent more than a nickel on the pinball machine because we knew it inside and out. Occasionally the paper would get a 'wet spot' and the entire length of paper had to be rethreaded through the press. When that would happen we would head for Margie's until they yelled at us from across the street that the press was running again.

The front of the business held the counter and is where subscriptions were sold and news received. Immediately behind that stood the Linotype machine. Old used type was thrown into a melting pot on the side of this and melted down to use again. The hot lead was stamped into type and slid, glistening and shining, down the side where it was gathered and taken to big flat tables to the rear of it. The type was then inserted loosely into a page-sized frame and set. When the page was ready, the frame was tightened and that held all of the pieces into place. These heavy lead pages were taken to the back on a cart and installed into the press. Behind the tables was where logos and other castings (such as the Neodesha Daily Sun banner) were stored for repeated use. These could then be inserted over and over for repeated advertising, etc. I never saw how they handled a picture that they might need to use, but occasionally a big sheet of orangish colored fiberboard would arrive. It had a negative impression of news items which could be cut out and cast in lead for the paper. Due to the fact that the paper was usually only four pages, these were seldom used since the newspaper was devoted first to local news, then to national. The rear of this area was used to store old newspapers. To the side was a bench where Mr. Guess would prepare the mail subscription newspapers. He would fan out the 5 by 7 pieces of paper until the ends were about an inch apart and lay them on the table. He applied paste to the top ends of all of the sheets at once, then quickly rolled the newspapers and wrapped them in the papers he had just pasted. He then stamped each one with the address of the subscriber. To the rear of this room was a large paper cutter and Paul and his crew always had an audience of paperboys when they had to cut up some stock on this. It could easily cut through two inches of paper stock. Near it was a very old printer that could be used to print handbills, etc. It too was never operated without an audience. End pieces of newsprint paper, still on the rolls, was sold for covering picnic tables and such.

In the rear of the building was the giant printing press. This was before our new inks made of soy oil, and the smell was one you cannot forget once you have been there. The huge press was loud and cranky. Big rollers pressed the ink onto the paper as the paper whizzed by and down a large V that folded it. Folded twice again, it came out stacked on a tray near the paperboys. We had a small shelf that ran down the side of the room along the press and we would sit on this tray and wait for some papers. We would get a handful of newspapers and fold them into the star shape. Throwing them was an art. If done properly, it would arc up and back down and land on the porch right by the door. Or on the roof. Or in the bushes. New carriers had to learn how to perfect this motion, since trying to throw it too hard would simply unfold it and drop it at your feet. We were paid approximately 3 cents a week for each patron. The Main Street route was 50, so a week of delivery paid $1.50 (Ok, so Doug got $3), or 30 cents per day. My cousin Kellie Goode had a route, then my brother Jerry had the 150 customer south route. I eventually held this route. When it rained you waited until the rain let up. All of our bikes were parked in the large open back of the building. I was able to buy a new bike to deliver papers on with my wages. I got it at the only place in town to buy one, Western Auto. They not only had the bikes, they had all of the repair pieces to fix them, plus horns and mirrors and lights. Sometimes we spent our money and bought foot-long plastic streamers in bright colors that we could stick in the holes in the handlebar grips. They took my old worn out bicycle in on trade. I put some cash down and Mr. & Mrs. Dean Jump sold the new bike to me on credit, which I paid a dollar a week on the balance until it was paid off. They knew if I didn't pay for it my dad would and did not hesitate to sell me the bicycle. Coy Johnson sold me a television the same way. When it snowed you usually just put the bag on with your head through the hole in the middle of the bag and walked the route. The two north routes were delivered by Terry Kingston and Ronnie Clifton. They were the biggest routes and required the Cushman Eagles. Ron ran into a car delivering his route and broke his leg. And, no, he did not sue the newspaper.

Mr. Guess ruled with an iron hand as he tried to keep us out of the type and paper cutter and ink. Once he could not reach me by phone to tell me a customer did not get his paper. I was outside when he drove up. I SWORE I had thrown it, to which he replied "Get in!" Needless to say, I got in. We drove to the house and there was the newspaper in plain sight. Mr. Guess then informed the caller they better look good before they call him again about not getting a copy. We were only allowed 3 extra papers per day. Occasionally someone would buy one off of us for a dime. This was a BIG sale, equal to throwing a newspaper for two weeks to a customer. And not allowed by Mr. Guess. But he was fair and paid us more when we had ads to insert into the papers. The paper was a single sheet of four pages most of the time. It was full of news and had his wife's column, Dot's Dashes. You knew what had happened, what was happening, and what was going to happen. We were elated to get the wages we got and precious Daily Sun routes were inherited from relatives or friends due to their value. Mr. Guess was still the final say in whether you got the route. You were expected to train a backup and by golly one of you better show up to deliver the paper. You did not call in sick. Your substitute just showed up. When you got home you spent a considerable amount of time scrubbing the ink off of your hands, black (especially between the index finger and thumb) from folding and throwing the freshly-printed papers. On Friday you took your wages out of your pocket and dreamed of all the things you could now buy!

Written by Kerry Elkins, webmaster and past Daily Sun paperboy, June, 2003