St. Louis Blues

Like a drowning swimmer, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat went down last week for the third time, taking 350 employees with it. The 134-year-old newspaper (circ. 146,432) is not expected to surface again. The financially troubled daily almost closed in 1983 and ceased publication last year for two months. Current Owners William Franke and John Prentis sought $15 million in industrial revenue bonds to finance a new building, buy presses and meet operating costs, luring investors with the promise that if the paper defaulted, they could deduct the loss from their state taxes. But a local lawyer said the bail-

out was unconstitutional and threatened to sue. The owners could not afford to wait, and Missouri's Supreme Court was asked to rule immediately. On Wednesday the court refused, and the paper shut down. Thus ended a publication that began its life supporting abolition and became one of the nation's most prestigious journals in the late 19th and early 20th century. More recently it has reflected Publisher Prentis' born-again Fundamentalism in its editorials. St. Louis joins the swelling ranks of one-newspaper towns; the surviving Post- Dispatch has about twice the Globe-Democrat's circulation.