In Denver

In Denver, they have buried the hatchet, brought out the peace dove, shaken hands, spoken words of mutual praise, given up things for the common weal.

Who buried the hatchet? One party is Fred G. Bonfils, sometime gambler, fighter, and more recently philanthropist, who is proud to say that his grandfather (surnamed Buonfiglio) was a cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte. When the West was a gold brick, Mr. Bonfils bounced about until he profited $800,000 in the Little Louisiana Lottery. Then he ran into a garrulous bartender named H. H. Tammen and they bought a newspaper, the Denver Post, with which they fattened the gambler's wad and extended the bartender's ingenuity. They had a circus, too (Sells-Floto). But, for raw meat and dripping ballyhoo, the Denver Post was a circus in itself. The reputation of Mr. Bonfils was to use the hatchet, but not to bury it.

The other party is Roy Wilson Howard, smartly groomed and quick-witted head of the 26 Scripps-Howard newspapers. He had stepped into the Denver field two years ago, purchased the Rocky Mountain News (morning) and formed the Evening News to compete with Mr. Bonfils' Post (evening). Mr. Bonfils soon issued a Morning Post (TIME, Jan. 17, 1927). The competition was a vicious fight--a circulation war, a death-grapple for advertising, a snarling in editorials, a sneering in news columns.

How did they bury the hatchet? Mr. Howard, returning from a hunting trip in Wyoming, stopped off in Denver, talked with Mr. Bonfils. They talked, off and on, for nearly a week. Finally, each agreed to kill a newspaper. This leaves Denver with the Scripps-Howard Rocky Mountain News for its breakfast table and the Bonfils Post for its afternoon fare, with both for its Sunday picnic. The prices were raised by both publishers from 2-c- daily and 5-c- Sunday to 3-c- daily and 10-c- Sunday. The Rocky Mountain News added Associated Press service to its United Press service.* The Post added U. P. to its A. P.

Why did they bury the hatchet? Because newspaper wars, especially long ones, cost money. Because Denver advertisers, and all advertisers, prefer two papers to four papers, especially when the two papers represent monopolies in their respective (morning and evening) fields.

Mr. Howard: "The plain truth of the matter, plus a sportsmanlike desire to give credit where credit is due, compels the frank admission that after having been afforded two years' opportunity to judge of a result which had involved the employment of much ingenuity and the expenditure of several million dollars, an overwhelming majority of the people of Denver and the adjacent newspaper field continued their preference for the type of evening paper produced by F. G. Bonfils in the Evening Post, rather than for the type offered by Scripps-Howard in the Evening News. ... On the other hand, the Rocky Mountain News under Scripps-Howard management has enjoyed a rebirth. . . ."

Mr. Bonfils: "That [burial] has now been done for the benefit of the subscriber and of the advertiser, tending to create in our beloved section a better newspaper feeling and co-operation . . . making this a better and a more wholesome country in which to live, rear our families and transact our business. . . . These two papers are going to try to deserve the respect and friendship of each other. . . ."

* The Rocky Mountain News is the only Scripps-Howard morning newspaper.