Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section33/Charles H. Greer

= Charles H. Greer =

Overview
Since the age of 11, Charles H. Greer worked in every department of small-town weeklies and large city papers, granting Greer the title as ‘Veteran Newspaper Man’. He was interviewed for the Federal Writers’ Project in 1938 by Noma Dobson.

Early Life
Charles Greer was born in Troupe County, Georgia in 1860. At the age of 11, he became self-supporting through writing letters, particularly love letters, and continued his money-making endeavors throughout college. Greer attended North Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical College at Dahlonega and made most of his money writing love letters for boys. With the money he made from his love letter business, he was able to rent himself a room, cook for himself, and have $4.50 to live on each month. Greer first came to Alabama around the age of 16 to work on the old Montgomery Morning News. At 17, he was the publisher of a paper in Randolph County, Alabama.

Career
Throughout the majority of his career, Greer owned his own papers like the Birmingham Daily State and the Marion Standard. But, he spent the majority of his time and effort on one paper: the Sylacauga News. Greer came to Sylacauga to run the Sylacauga News for Victory May who was serving in World War I at the time. Two weeks after Greer arrived in Sylacauga, May was killed and Greer decided to buy the Sylacauga News, which would later become his utmost pride and joy. At the time Greer bought the News, it had a circulation of 500. Under ownership and operation of Greer and his son, the News’ circulation reached 2,400.

Political Involvement
One of Greer’s first memories, when he came to Alabama, was the inauguration of George S. Houston as governor. Houston was the first Democrat elected governor since the Civil War, drawing a large crowd to Alabama to witness speeches and celebrate. Houston and the Democrats contemplated replacing the constitution adopted in Alabama during the Republican rule in 1868. In 1875, they drew up a new constitution declaring that no state could secede and discussed matters regarding federal and state elections, as well as educational and property qualifications for voting.

The 1875 Constitution of Alabama was later revised in 1901 and Charles H. Greer was a proud member of the Constitutional Convention. Alabama’s Constitutional Convention of 1901 fascinated the press worldwide because of their in-depth discussion of the disenfranchisement movement. As a result, black activists began to mobilize for test cases resulting in the Constitutional Convention and its discussions becoming the main story for that summer.

Even after Greer’s work on the Constitution of Alabama in 1901, he continued to work closely with leading political figures in Alabama as a newspaper publisher. The greatest man he worked with, in his opinion, was Oscar W. Underwood. Underwood served Alabama in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. He is best known for his authorship of the Underwood Tariff Act and his role as a Democratic candidate for president in 1912 and 1924.

Impact of the Great Depression on the Newspaper Industry
During the Great Depression, industries were forced to scale back on production due to declines in consumption, forcing them to fire workers. As a result, the unemployment rate spiked, especially in Alabama which experienced an unemployment rate of 25% in 1932. Without a steady income, citizens were unable to purchase common goods, like newspapers, and contribute back to the American economy.

Two-thirds to three-fourths of a newspaper’s revenue comes from advertising, meaning other industries pay the newspaper company to print an article or ad in the upcoming paper. Since many industries were negatively impacted by the Great Depression resulting in long periods of low business activity, fewer advertisements in the newspaper were bought. With little to no revenue coming in for advertisements, newspaper industries suffered greatly. The industry saw periods of fluctuating wages, working hours, aggregate circulation, and prices. Overall, newspaper circulation and sales during the depression were highly sensitive to cyclical movements of business activity. As depression conditions became more prosperous, an upward trend in per capita consumption of newspapers was seen.