Biography: Dolph Griffin Frantz, Caddo Parish La.
Submitted by: casteel@hiwaay.net (Thomas J. Casteel)



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DOLPH FRANTZ

In the early years of the twentieth century two young Shreveport men roomed
together in one of the famous old rooming houses of the day which was
located at the corner of Market and Milam streets.  One was a bookkeeper,
drawing a few dollars each week and the other was a "cub" reporter just out
of college and trying to make his way in the journalistic world.

Anyone seeing these two young men working for such low wages could scarcely
have visioned them twenty years later after they had become publisher and
editor, respectively, of the Shreveport Journal, but such is the record.

The bookkeeper was Douglas Attaway, now president, general manager, and
majority stockholder of the Journal Publishing Company and the "cub"
reporter was Dolph Griffin Frantz, managing editor of the Journal and
secretary of the Journal Company.

After a short period of journalistic work on the Clarion-Ledger at Jackson,
Miss., of which his father, Judge E. E. Frantz, of Jackson, was an editor,
Dolph Griffin Frantz migrated to Shreveport. This was only a few months
after his graduation in 1904 from Mill saps College where he received the
Bachelor of Arts degree.

Mr. Frantz comes from a line of newspaper editors. He is the third
generation to edit a newspaper. His grandfather, Col. A. J. Frantz, was
owner and editor for many years of the Brandon, Miss., Republican. Dolph
Frantz's father, as mentioned before, was for many years an editor of the
Clarion Ledger at Jackson.

After working for several years on the Shreveport Times, Dolph Frantz, in
1907, became city auditor and subsequently secretary to the city council
and secretary to Mayor Ernest R. Bernstein. 

He resigned from his position with the Bernstein administration to become
engaged in business with the Journal Job Printing Company, launched by the
then owner of both the Shreveport Times and Shreveport Journal, W. E.
Hamilton. Mr. Frantz's associate in this enterprise was W. A. Payne, then
city editor of the Journal, and who is now general manager and part owner
of the West Palm Beach (Florida) Post, and whose friendship for Mr. Frantz
has continued through all the intervening years.

But the lure of politics drew Mr. Frantz again after several months with
this enterprise and he and Mr. Payne disposed of their interest in the
business, which for several months Mr. Frantz operated as manager, retiring
to become secretary of the campaign force of J. Claiborne Foster, who was
then a candidate for mayor on the reform ticket. Mr. Frantz was in line for
the auditership and the secretaryship to the mayor, but Mr. Foster lost the
election by one vote. It was perhaps the hottest campaign ever held in
Shreveport.

Mr. Frantz was offered the city editorship of the Journal when his friend,
W. A. Payne, resigned, and accepted. This was a few days after the Foster
Mayoralty Campaign. He held this position until the time of the city
administration under Mayor John McW. Ford, when he was appointed city
auditor under George E. Lilley, then city commissioner of finance, and L.
F. Clawson, then city secretary -treasurer and later commissioner of
finance, and now Caddo parish treasurer. A close friendship grew up between
Mr. Clawson and Mr. Frantz, which has continued until now. Mr. Frantz
resigned his post with the city to become managing editor Of the Journal in
1918. He has served continuously in that position since that time.

During the early days of the Louisiana Fair, Mr. Frantz served one year as
assistant secretary under W. R. Hirsch, who has been a close personal
friend of Mr. Frantz for many years, and nominally Mr. Frantz has held the
title of publicity director of the State Fair nearly ever since its
organization.

Mr. Frantz came to Shreveport in 1904 when the city was still in the grip
of the open saloon. Reporting was a dangerous occupation in those days and
reporters usually went armed. William (Billy) Steel, now a cotton man in
New Orleans, was then managing editor of the Times where young Frantz went
to work.

Mr. Frantz, during his residence, has seen Shreveport grow from a small
city on the banks of Red River to a large metropolis. He has seen 110
licensed saloons, which infested the town when he came here pass out of
existence. He has seen [he hectic days when reporters were in danger of
their lives and often threatened. He prizes the recollection that his first
vote went for prohibition-he voted "dry" as "a matter of
self-preservation," due to the perilous post he performed in those days, a
police reporter; later voting "dry" from economical and moral standpoints.
He has seen Shreveport pass from that sort of town to a municipality where
life and happiness are held sacred.

Editor Steel soon found he could trust the Mississippi stripling who was
undaunted in the face of the dangers that beset the path of reporters and
although threatened he would bravely carry on-ready to fight if necessary,
but always preferring peace.

It was during these early days in Shreveport that Dolph Frantz and Douglas
Attaway became roommates and close personal friends, a friendship that has
existed for more than two decades. It was proper that when Mr. Attaway, who
had worked his way up from the bottom, became the controlling stockowner
and successful manager of the Journal, and the managing editorship became
open that he should call on his old friend to fill the post.

It was while city editor of the Journal that Mr. Frantz became active in
the fight for prohibition. He fought for these principles before and while
working for the election of Mr. Foster as mayor, and he continued the fight
when he joined the Journal, which throughout its career has been a strong
advocate of prohibition. He has kept up the fight since becoming editor and
the Journal has continued under his editorial direction an advocate not
only of prohibition, but of other things for the happiness and general
welfare of the public.

That the public of Shreveport and its vicinity has agreed with this policy,
is reflected in the steady growth that the Journal has enjoyed. Its
circulation has steadily increased. It has been said that the Journal
devotes as much space to religious and other uplifting and constructive
news as any secular paper on the globe.

Mr. Frantz is an honorary member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
an honor conferred upon him in recognition of his outstanding work for the
prohibition cause.

He is a devout Christian and active in church work. He has served for many
years as secretary of the board of deacons of the First Presbyterian Church
and is the only secretary the Laymen's association of the church has had in
several Years of its existence. He served for two years as chairman of the
board of deacons of the church.

One of the accomplishments of Mr. Frantz is the writing in collaboration
with Dr. Jasper V_ Smith, the pastor, of a history of the First
Presbyterian Church. This history was presented to the church when the
congregation occupied its new building in Jordan street on March 7, 1926.

But it is not only in church affairs that Mr. Frantz has been active. In
civic matters he has taken a great interest. Besides his services with the
city and his activity in the prohibition fight in which, incidentally, he
was chairman of his precinct of 500 voters when the city went "dry"-and
this precinct was one of those going safely for the cause-but he has also
served for a number of years on the Caddo Parish Democratic Executive
Committee, his experience in the collection and tabulation of returns
making him a valuable member of the committee named to compile the returns.
On this committee during the last four Years he has served under
appointment by Chairman W. A. Kerley, with Secretary J. H. Mayfield.

In 1920 he was appointed a major in the Louisiana National Guard by
Governor John M. Parker and served on his staff throughout his
administration. Besides these activities Mr. Frantz is secretary of the
Norwela Boy Scout Council, comprising Northwest Louisiana. He has, in fact,
been the only secretary the Council has had since its formation several
years ago.

Mr. Frantz is a member of Caddo Lodge No. 179, F. & A. Masons, is an Elk
and a member of the Concatenated order of Hoo-Hoo, a lumbermen's and
newspaper fraternity. He is also a member of the Shreveport Rotary Club.

During his college days, besides playing on the baseball team, as a
pitcher, he was also active in student affairs and was a member of Alpha Mu
chapter of the Kappa Alpha Greek letter fraternity. He has been active in
the alumni chapter of the fraternity in Shreveport, particularly in the
early years of his residence in Shreveport.

That his fellow workers among the fourth estate hold Mr. Frantz in the
highest esteem, is evidenced by an honor conferred upon him in 1927 when he
was elected an honorary life member of the North Louisiana Press
Association.

Besides this Mr. Frantz was secretary of the Big Brothers Club, an
organization of big-hearted Shreveport citizens who maintained for several
years the Shreveport Training School for Girls, providing them with food
and vacations. Through the club's efforts permanent provision was made for
the care of the institution.

When the Shreveport Ad Club several years; ago issued a special edition of
the Journal, probably the largest edition of a paper ever issued in
Shreveport, Mr. Frantz personally prepared practically all of the reading
material in the issue, in addition to his regular duties. In appreciation
of his service the club sent him as a delegate to the International Ad Club
Convention in Toronto, Canada.

In 1924 Mr. Frantz was a member of a group of 75 of the leading editors of
the United States who were guests of the United States Navy on a cruise to
the West Indies and the Caribbean waters. Upon his return he wrote an
interesting book giving an account of the trip and which he dedicated to
the U. S. Navy. The title of the book was "An Editor's Experiences and
Observations With the U. S. Fleet During Maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea and
West Indies, February, 1924."

During the World War Mr. Frantz was publicity director of the War Savings
Campaign in Shreveport. He secured three full pages of advertising daily
from local firms boosting the work of the campaign in addition to his many
other duties.

Mr. Frantz's hobby is Rosborough Springs, a health resort in East Texas,
near Marshall, and every moment that he can steal away for recreation he
spends at this place, where he has been enjoying recreational time for
twenty years. He unfailingly gives the resort his testimony, believing that
he owes this information to his fellowman.

What may also, be considered a hobby, rather mild but interesting, is
coffee drinking with one friend, Joe K. Walker, who, in referring to their
friendship, says, "Dolph and I have taken a cup of coffee together almost
every day, unless unexpected circumstances prevented, for more than twenty
years."

Mr. Frantz is interested in young folks, especially young men moving to
Shreveport without friends or acquaintances, recalling his personal
experiences in this respect, and happily and with pride, recalls the fact
that he was a member of the team that raised the banner amount in the
"drive" for the fund with which to erect Shreveport's Y. M. C. A. building.

On June 9, 1910, Mr. Frantz was married to Miss Elda Verne Weaver, daughter
of Mrs. Martha 0. Weaver, niece of the late Capt. P. M. Welsh, and member
of a prominent pioneer family of North Louisiana, formerly of Harrison
County, Ohio. Their married life has been one of great happiness.

Mr. Frantz is still a young man and his countless friends, and admirers
predict an even brighter future for him.

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From Chronicles of Shreveport and Caddo Parish, Maude Hearn O'Pry, 1928,
Pages 351-353
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