To them that was no cause for discouragement. Gardner Cowles was then 42, with six children and not much money. A small-town banker in Algona, in northern Iowa, he had taught school there, married one of the teachers, made a little money as a contractor in rural mail routes.
For a while he edited a local weekly called the Advance. Harvey Ingham. What Mr. Failing to find a buyer, he decided to go on, against the competition of the Capital and the Scripps-owned News. Deaf to the hoots of his advertising representatives. Publisher Cowles resolved to give out no circulation figures whatever until the Register had 25, He found subscription accounts two, three, four years past due, weeded them out, put the paper on a cash-in-advance basis.
Helped by his oldtime experience as an overland mail contractor. Publisher Cowles studied maps and railroad timetables, learned the location of every town and hamlet in Iowa, memorized the schedules of every train out of Des Moines.
As the Register circulation machine began to work, a Register-habit grew steadily throughout the State. Circulation mounted to 25, in , 50, in In the Register gobbled the newly established Tribune. Reason: It gets and prints all Iowa news, and knows how to deliver it. Its State correspondents report not only hot news, but every marriage and death in their communities.
Where train schedules are not adequate, a fleet of motor trucks does the job. On Sundays, when R. Fifty-six circulation managers, 90 supervisorsβall crack menβkeep the machine running. Young Blood. Three daughters, three sons has Gardner Cowles.
