Then, as now, the newspapers were the best "boosters" of their respective communities. They were the first to point out the advantages in each community and to suggest ways in which natural advantages might lead to commercial growth and civic prosperity. Thus a writer in a Cedar Rapids paper, after enumerating and commending the progress made by the town since its organization, dwelt upon the value of the water power, pointed out how the woolen mills then in operation might be made more effective. There was an abundance of timber around Cedar Rapids at that time and he advocated the establishment of saw mills in the city. He saw no reason why staves should be brought all the way from Michigan to Cedar Rapids, when they might as well be manufactured here at home. He advocated that a packing house be established in this city, instead of shipping the hogs from Cedar Rapids to Chicago and then shipping the meat back. "This is only one item that would keep thousands of dollars in our town that now go out," he argued. He wanted a hub and a spoke factory, a fanning mill factory, and as for a "paper mill there is no better point in the state." History moves in ever repeating cycles and some of the things for which this old editor fought are still needed today in Cedar Rapids and in other towns of Linn county. But each cycle is better than the last. Proof of this is seen in the dispute which was waged over freight rates less than a decade after the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska Railway had been built into this city. The grain rates from Cedar Rapids to Chicago were thirty cents a hundred pounds and the noise of protest which was made then was quite similar to the noise which is sometimes THE NEWSPAPER GRAVEYARD The newspaper graveyard was established very early in the history of the county and it is still claiming its victims. Among its early victims was the _Cedar Rapids Democrat_. It was issued by W. W. Perkins & Co. Somehow or other, democracy never flourished greatly in the Linn county newspaper field, and the early democratic editors had not learned the art of switching to a "progressive" side. So their papers died. The _Democrat_ lived a year and a half. It deserved a better fate, for it was well edited and printed. In 1853 a monthly agricultural paper called the _Cedar Valley Farmer_ was commenced by James L. Enos. It lived through the first volume, but a grave was opened for it before it had reached the tender age of two years. The _Voice of Iowa_ was commenced in January, 1857, under the auspices of the Iowa Teachers and Phonetic associations, James L. Enos editor-in-chief, assisted by a board of corresponding editors. It was continued through two volumes and was then merged with another journal.