The honor of having produced the first newspaper has long been disputed by Italy, France, Germany, England and Holland, and for many years the British museum exhibited a paper called the English Mercury, said to have been printed in 1588, but which proved to be a practical joke of Lord Hardwicke.

As the first German paper only appeared in 1615, in Frankfort; the first Dutch paper in 1617, the first English paper, the Weekly Gazette, in 1622 and the first French paper in 1631, the priority of Antwerp in the field now seems to be established by exhaustive researches, which show beyond a doubt that the printer Abraham Verhoeven of Antwerp obtained in 1605 from the Archduke and Duchess Albert and Isabelle the privilege of printing the first regular newspaper.

50 Years Ago, 1955

Some sections of Auburn streets tarred last summer and this fall have turned out to be unsatisfactory and have caused mounting headaches for the highway department.

Some 10,000 gallons of road tar applied to several streets, including many in the business area of the city, during the early part of July “went to pieces” later on.

And some other material, used in different parts of the city, also proved unsatisfactory.

25 Years Ago, 1980

WASHINGTON – Congress Joint Economic Committee said in a report released Sunday that a strong economy will bolster the financially troubled Social Security system.

“Retirement benefits are being threatened by inflation, unemployment and lagging productivity.” said the committee chairman, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D., Texas.

“If we revitalize our economy,” he said, “we will have taken the longest step toward restoring faith in our retirement program.

Bentsen pointed out that unemployment instantly reduces contributions to Social Security and pension plans.

“For example, for every 1 million workers laid off for one month in the current year, the Social Security fund loses about $100 million in contributions,” he said.