1 FROM^ THE LIB R Any OF HALF A CENTURY WITH THE JOURNAL. .•l\\i !w II i:\KV K. 1)A\1S, At his r)KSK IN TiiK loruNAi. CiX'sriNt; Roi HALF A CENTURY with the PROVIDENCE JOURNAL BEING A RECORD OF THE EVENTS AND ASSOCIATES CONNECTED WITH THE FAST FIFTY YEARS OF THE LIFE OF HENRY R. DAVIS SECRETARY OF THE COMPANY COMPILED AND ISSUED BY THE JOURNAL COMPANY 1904 FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION COPYlilGIIT 1904 BY The Journal Company. I'linttil for Pkf.ston 1*1; RouNHS Co. by K. L. Fkk.kman & Sons. Table of Contents. Dedication *^ Principal Dates in the Journal's History xi CHAPTER I. Henry Richard Davis ^ ^ CHAPTER n. Power of the Party Organ ^3 CHAPTER HI. The Independent Paper 4i CHAPTER IV. Editors and Other Writers 55 CHAPTER V. Contributors and Correspondents loi CHAPTER VI. Unusual Traits and Activities 127 CHAPTER VII. The Journal's Carriers ^49 CHAPTER Vni. Collecting the News ^°^ CHAPTER IX. The Mechanical Equipment 201 CHAPTER X. Homes of the Journal 217 CHAPTER XL Journalism in New England 229 85D241 Illustrations. „ ^ . Frontispiece. Henry R. Davis Long-Time Associates of Mr. Davis in the Counting Room of the Journal. 8 i8 Henry B. Anthony . , . . ^o George \V. Danielson -- ^6 Alfred M. Williams 60 Tames B. Angell 88 Former Writers and City Editors 104 Contributors from Brown University General Contributors to the Journal i;!o Women Writers for the Journal Members of the Famous Journal Sunday School i40 152 Former Journal Employees 156 The Journal Carriers 160 168 The Carriers' New Year's Address for 1864 ^7 , 220 Old Homes of the Journal . - 224 The Journal's New Home Dedication. To Henry Richard Davis this vokime is affection- ately dedicated in behalf of the Journal workers, past and present. All who have come in contact with his gentle personality and sterling character have realized that they were being followed by him with friendly interest, whether they remained with the paper or not, so that the bond uniting them has been kept strong by the success of his desire to keep in touch with them. Fifty years ago he entered the service of the Journal, and since then he has come to be the one person most inti- mately associated in the minds of the majority of the Journal's friends with their recollections of the paper while during the half century he has been the connecting influence that has tended to unite the succession of proprietors and preserve the continuity of the man- agement. Modest under responsibility, sweet-tempered amid vexations, in his industry, fidelity, and loyalty he has been an inspiration to his co-workers, who wish to testify, in these reminiscences of events with which he has been associated, to his unobtrusive influence in the steps by which the Providence Journal and the Evening Bulletin have advanced in growth and power. Principal Dates in the Journars History, Jan. 3, 1820. First issue of "Manufacturers' and Farmers' Journal and Providence and Pawtucket Advertiser," published semi- weekly by John Miller and John Hutchens. William E. Richmond, editor. Jan. I, 1S23.— Mr. Miller bought the interest of Mr. Hutchens and became sole proprietor of the Journal. Aug. 5, 1823.— The Journal moved to the Union Building on the West side of the bridge. Nov. 29, 1824. — The publication-office was again moved, this time to the Granite Building, facing Market square. Mar. 30, 1827.— The office in the Granite Building was partly destroyed by fire. Julv 21, 1829. — First issue of the daily Journal. May I, 1833.— Mr. Miller admitted George Paine to partnership, and the paper moved to the Whipple Building on College street. Feb. 23, 1836.— George W. Jackson bought the Journal. An Adams press was provided. July I, 1838. — Mr. Jackson sold the Journal to Joseph Knowles and Wil- liam L. Burroughs. Feb. I, 1839. — Mr. Burroughs retired and was succeeded by John W. Vose; thus the Journal publishers were Knowles & Vose. July I, 1840. — Henry B. Anthony was admitted to the firm, which became Knowles, Vose & Anthony. Nov. 13, 1844. — The Journal moved to the Washington Building, Wash- ington Row. July II, 1845.— A silver .service was presented to Mr. Anthony by Providence citizens in appreciation of the course taken by the paper during the Dorr War. Xll April 2^, 1848. — Mr. Vose retired and the firm became Knowles & Anthony. May I, 1848. — The words "and Pawtuckct Advertiser" were dropped from the heading of the semi-weekly. May, 1854. — Henry R. Davis became a Journal carrier. June 30, 1856. — The Journal was first firinted by steam power on a Hoe single-cylinder press. Sept. 10, i860. — James B. Angell assumed editorial supervision of the paper. Oct., 1862. — The press capacity was doubled. Jan. I, 1863. — George W. Danielson was admitted to partnership; then the firm became Knowles, Anthony & Danielson. Jan. 26, 1863. — Evening Bulletin started. Jan. 3, 1870. — Fiftieth anniversary observed by publishing a history of the Journal, prepared by Rev. E. M. Stone. July I, 1871. — Office moved from the Washington Building to the Barton Block, 2 Weybosset street, and a four-cylinder ]5ress in- stalled, capable of 10,000 impressions an hour. Dec. 21, 1874. — Joseph Knowles died. Nov. 1, 1875.— Alfred Williams joined the Journal rcportorial staff. July, 1875. — A si.x-cylinder type-revolving press installed, capable of f)rinting 12,000 impressions an hour. Feb., 1881. — Hoe web perfecting press installed for Bulletin, with stcreo- ty[)ing apparatus for both Journal and Bulletin. July 1, 1881. — Form of Journal changed from folio to quarto, with an in- crease in size from four pages and forty columns to eight pages and sixty-four columns. .\pril, 1882^ — A second web perfecting press bought. Jan. I, 1883. — Alfred M. Williams became associate editor. Mar. 25, 1884. — Mr. Danielson died. May, 1884. — Incorporated as the Providence Printing Company. Sept. 2, 1884.- — Mr. Anthony died. April, 1885. — Act amended, changing name to Providence Journal Com- pany. May 27, 1885. — The Journal Company elected officers under its new charter, choosing Richard S. Hnwland treasurer and manager, and Henry R. Davis sccri't.iry and cashier. July 19, 1885. — First Sunday editit)n of the Journal issued. Xlll June 24, 18S6. — Historical number issued on the 250th anniversary of the founding of Providence. Jan., 1887. — First number of the Providence Journal Almanac. April 18, 1887. — New Hoe press put in. May 3, 1888. — Journal "read out of the Republican party." July II, 1S88. — Purchase of the Fletcher Building as a new home for the paper. May 6, 1889. — Moved to Fletcher Building, where the paper used the first linotypes in New England. Sept. 29, 1890. — Slater centennial of the introduction of cotton machinery observed by an anniversary number. July 23, 1 89 1. — Mr. Williams resigned. Mar. 19, 1892. — New press put in. April 9, 1896. — Mr. Williams died. Oct. 8, 1897. — Weekly edition of the Rhode Island Country Journal dis- continued. Mar. 31, 1S98. — New press put in. Nov. ID, 1898. — Frederick Roy Martin became associate editor. April 21, 1902. — Photo-engraving plant established. Sept. 16, 1902.— Estate adjoining Journal property on the east procured as an addition to the site for a new building. April I, 1903. — Wireless station established at Point Judith. April 13, 1903. — Foundation started for new Journal building. May 5, 1903. — Wireless station established on Block Island. July 9, 1903. — First number of "Block Island Wireless" issued. CHAPTER I. HENRY RICHARD DAVIS. For fifty years he has been identified with the Providence Journal's life, rendering efficient service in the manage- ment of the counting room, but also finding oppor- tunity for mental stimulus as well as recreation in its other departments and through the companionship of its editors, contributors, and patrons. HENRY RICHARD DAVIS. Half a century ago, Henry R. Davis, secretary of the Journal corporation and manager of the business office, entered the employ of the company as a newsboy, and with scarcely an interruption he has been identified with the Journal ever since. This record is unusual, not only because of its length, but on account of the activity which made his personality so prominent. Many people have been unconsciously led to regard him as the most accessible representative of the Journal and the Bulletin, applying first to him, whether their dealings were with the financial, mechanical, or editorial departments. Long terms of service are the rule rather than the ex- ception in an office where they are encouraged by incen- tives to stimulate the best efforts of each individual. Several members of the Journal staff have completed terms of service varying from twenty to thirty-five years; but a connection of fifty years with a company must necessarily be rare when one considers how small its staff was fifty years ago compared with its force in more recent times. In the accompanying pages an attempt has been made to relate incidents in the history of the Journal as Mr. Davis has seen them, and to recall names of men with whom he has been most associated. Thus this tribute is not a systematic or consecutive history of the Journal, for it deals more with individuals and traits of character than with political or moral reforms inaugurated and 4 flFTV YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. supported by the paper. While the paper was a political organ, controlled for the Republican party by Senator Anthony, during the administration of Mr. Danielson, when the rule of the newspaper manager in public affairs was still more absolute and after the Journal and the Bul- letin shook themselves free and no longer represented the opinions of a clique, Mr. Davis performed the same part in their direction. Whatever hand took the helm in the management of the paper it has found immediate response in the individuality and character of Mr. Davis, with who mconfidential relations could be established without hesitation. His cheerful temperament has been conspicuous since his first connection with the office. This pleasant dispo- sition early manifested itself, and has no doubt been re- sponsible in a great measure for the even balance of his character and for the sanguine temperament which has found such diversity of enjoyment in duties that others might have found mere drudgery. But his disposition is not mere good nature that would tolerate slipshod methods or indulgence that invites imposition, for his firmness and precision are a constant rebuke to indifferent or slovenly workers. When one watches him move from one subject to another and observes the celerity and accuracy with which he deals with each little detail, he can account in a measure for the successful dispatch of business which Mr. Davis allows to be extended so much beyond the routine limitations of the ordinary counting room. It is said that newspaper life is made up each day of climaxes which all culminate in one supreme effort to com- plete the work as the edition goes to press; but each di- HENRY RICHARD DAVIS. 5 verting influence is met by Mr. Davis with such a calm demeanor and rapid power of concentration that con- fusion is avoided and exigencies which might confound others are quickly cleared. Alertness, serenity of temper, and clearness of brain render accumulated burdens less formidable to Mr. Davis than to many executive officers who pride themselves on method. To those who know the proverbial distrust that in many offices separates so distinctly the editorial room from the business office the cordial relations existing between the two in the Journal are generally a surprise. This absence of friction in part results from the fact that Mr. Davis retains the habits of years when the publisher was his own editor and continues his interest in news and its collection. It is not often that a reporter consults with the business office to learn the background essential to some story or the lines that will lead to new discoveries; but some of the best stories in the Journal office have been suggested or rounded out by a consultation with Mr. Davis's index book, in which he has recorded references to the files for over forty years, making it possible to turn at once to the accounts of most important events. Mr. Davis began this system of cataloguing, not merely to help the Journal staff, but also to make available information which the editor is called on almost daily to supply. The newspaper is considered a centre of infor- mation, and people expect the "editor" to answer at once some obscure question about which a dispute has been raised or to give the dates of historical events which he is supposed to have at his tongue's end. Since it is impossible for the most retentive memory to treasure all 6 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. such facts, the reference book was started and has grown to such importance that it is about to be extended and made more comprehensive. In spite of the repeated demands on his time made by seekers after information contained in the index, Mr. Davis finds opportunity to give personal attention to all those who come on an honest errand and at the same time keep up the routine work of the office which he directs. In the many philanthropic enterprises which the Journal has conducted Mr. Davis has usually been the active agent or treasurer, so that there has been hardly a public move- ment for relief since he presided in the counting room with which he has not been identified. Many will intrust money unhesitatingly to a newspaper appealing for it ; but in the case of the Journal such subscriptions have been especially successful because of confidence in the mian who has handled so many such funds. Thus many people who wish to give a little to the poor at Thanksgiving or Christmas quietly leave the money in the office, knowing that it will be wisely distributed. In the three relations, therefore, of fidelity to his em- ployers, interest in his associates, and regard for the public he has exhibited a loyalty to the Journal and properly served the interests of all without sacrificing his concern for the welfare of the paper. He has been able to adjust himself quickly to new methods and to carry them out with an enthusiasm that made them seem a part of his own plans. This avoidance of friction when accepting new conditions has made his work especially valuable, for he never allowed long custom to drag his ofiice into a rut which could not be left without a jolt. HENRY RICHARD DAVIS. 7 Showing cheerful co-operation in undertaking the plans of the managers he has continued to be the person- ality which preserved the good will of the contributors. Whatever their relations with the editors upstairs, Mr. Davis was always interested in what they wrote and greeted them personally as they visited the ofhce to leave their manuscripts or came to receive their compensation for articles that had been published. The constituency of the Journal has been peculiar in the number of persons who call personally at the office to pay their annual subscriptions. If one of these long-time subscribers should fail to meet Mr. Davis and to receive a receipt from him he would be sure to go away with the feeling that an important feature of his periodical visit was lack- ing. In the purchase of supplies it is a part of his work to meet dealers, who have generally found that his knowl- edge concerning prices of articles in the mechanical equipment of a newspaper was accurate and his judgment excellent concerning their availability. It was the spirit of self-reliance that influenced Mr. Davis to seek employment as carrier for the Journal in 1854, for he was largely dependent on his own resources. His father, Joseph Snow Davis, died two months after the birth of Henry Richard, March 21, 1839. Although he had an opportunity to attend the public schools, he did not take more than two years of the high school course. Since that time his education has been obtained in the Journal office, where he has taken advantage of its literary life and of the contact with its countless contributors to acquire mental discipline and the broadening of his general information. In 1852 he began work for newsdealer 8 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. O' Gorman and carried papers to subscribers of the New York Times and Boston Journal. He secured a regular route as carrier on the Journal in May, 1854, and in INIarch, 1856, he became a telegraph messenger boy in the Morse Company's office on Canal street, but his connection with the paper was not entirely interrupted. In September, 1856, Mr. Anthony, recognizing his punctuality and at- tention to business, invited him to take a place in the Journal counting room. One of the duties in this position was the collection of bills, and an incident recently related by a lawyer illustrates the courteous manner which has contributed so much to his success. The lawyer had been much vexed by in- terruptions while he was trying to clear up his desk in time to keep an appointment. Finally he was able to break away from the office a little late and was hurrying out, when he met young Davis at the foot of the stairs. The lawyer knew that it was probably a bill the boy had brought, and started to brush him aside with the remark that he could not make the change just then. ''All right," said young Davis, pleasantly, "I can just as well call again," The attorney was so impressed by his polite- ness that he turned and, calling him back, said: "No, you won't call again. Go right up stairs with me now and I will find you the money." During the wave of patriotic feeling that followed the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Davis joined the Burnside Zouaves, with whom he drilled, expecting to enlist in a Rhode Island regiment; but he was dissuaded from this plan by Mr. Anthony, who assured him of the permanency of his position for which he seemed so well fitted. LONG-TIME ASSOCIATES OF MR. DAVIS IN THE COUNTING ROOM OF THE JOURNAL. James B. Gay, William M. Cotton, Charles H. Mathewson, TlMOTHV F. DwVEK, Charles M, Staniels. HENRY RICHARD DAVIS. 9 Mr. Davis's early work was so satisfactory that he soon found himself promoted to take the place of Charles J. Wheeler at the head of the counting-room force. J. Bowers Slade was soon installed as assistant to Mr. Davis, while Louis W. Clarke was put in charge of the carriers. William M. Cotton, who is still employed in the counting room, took his place in 1868, before the removal from the Washington Row building, but the others who still remain with the Journal's clerical staff joined the force when the Barton block was the publication office, — Timothy F. Dwyer, who now has charge of the advertising, joining in 1872, Charles H. Mathewson in the fall of 1879, and Charles M. Staniels in 1884. With the increase in the volume of business it was never allowed to grow away from Mr. Davis, and he gradually became immersed in it so that his special studies, his diversions, and the time that many would give to recreation were devoted to the life of the newspaper with its manifold interests. The individual friendships with members of the Journal family, the historical and scientific discus- sions it conducted, and the wealth of its literary produc- tions afforded variety enough for the most active mind, capable of appreciating and making the most of each element. Thus he lives the life outside his domestic circle in the Journal and enjoys its possibilities in full measure. His admission in May, 1887, to Orpheus Lodge, No. 36, of Masons, is a possible exception. This lodge was formed by the members of the old Orpheus club of singers, and Mr. Davis is still an active member of the organization. Mr. Davis has always taken an interest in historical lO FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. matters, but it is significant that his principal activity therein has been in connection with some Journal contrib- utor. Thus he accompanied Rev. Edwin M. Stone in studies on the old camp of the French allies whose tent marks were visible a few years ago on the high ground between the Pawtuckct road and Swan Point Cemetery. Rev. Frederic Denison, also a contributor to the paper, was interested in providing a memorial to the French who died in this State during the Revolution, and a few weeks after the question had been discussed by them a subscrip- tion was started in the Journal columns. INIr. Davis was naturally the treasurer, and as a result of his work a mon- ument was built in the North Burial Ground ; and when the cornerstone was laid, in the fall of 1882, the French delegation attending the Yorktown centennial came up and participated in the exercises, decorating the monu- ment with flowers. Mr. Davis was married June 14, 1865, to IMary E. Wilson of this city, who died in 1882. They had three children, Mary E., who lives at home; Henry F., who is married and is employed in the Journal ofiice ; and Emma Louise, wife of Walter Hayward of the Journal staflf. Mr. Davis moved from his Chestnut .street home to 98 Congdon street in 1895, and has lived there since. Such in brief is the record of events in ISIr. Davis's life which have not such direct connection with the Journal as those recorded in the following pages. The remaining events are found in the history of the Journal for fifty years, for he has been a participant in them all. Little attention is given in this volume to the ]X)litical history of the Journal, for in this Mr. Davis has not been active. HENRY RICHARD DAVIS. II But there is scarcely another elenient in the Journal office with which he is not identified. He selected the carriers and has followed them with friendly interest. He was not satisfied to sign the remittances to contributors, for he met them personally and appreciated their work. He has been interested in the Journal's mechanical advance- ment, and he has participated in its preparation of news for publication. His cheerful greeting has met the em- ployees on pay day, and to him the subscriber has looked for the proper delivery of the paper. Thus this little book may be considered a Davis biography, as the record of every event has been associated with him personally. CHAPTER II. POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. The Journal's growth in Influence during the administra- tion of Senator Anthony and George W. Danielson.- — Mr. Anthony's pubhc service. — Mr. Danielson's Policy of Expansion. — Death of the Two Leaders. — The Jour- nal emerges from party allegiance. — Pathetic Incident connected with the death of Mr. Williams. POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. The importance of mechanical improvements in the pubHcation of a modern newspaper and the disappearance of the political organ have created the impression that the daily is no longer a personality, but a costly machine which digests the world's news and spreads it before the public each day, with little idea of influencing opinion. Moreover, a too generally accepted idea is that the news- paper has no longer a mission for party or individual, but merely reflects the life of the period. This theory would not explain the affection w^ith which readers cling to one paper, when they have made its acquaintance, and the welcome they afterward give it as to an old friend and companion. It is a question, also, whether the editorial influence of journalism has actually declined, for the news department has been so developed that the proportion be- tween the two has greatly changed. The reporter does his share to-day in moulding opinion, and the views of the editor have not lost their influence. Brains rather than financial resources are still the chief elements of a news- paper's success, in spite of the expensiveness of its pub- lication compared with what it was when presses were primitive and inexpensive; for nearly all the important journals in America are inspired by some personality, while attempts to create newspapers on the idea that they need only money for the purchase of talent have repeatedly failed. 1 6 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. A correspondent of national reputation recently told the public, on the anniversary of a daily newspaper, that he had seen the great editors pass away, and that the modern writer was simply the hired man of a syndicate rich enough to provide presses, linotype machines, art departments, and a material home for the journal. While it is true that the invention of a machine that has sup- planted hand work in composition and the development of fast presses to make possible the printing and distri- bution of news rapidly enough to keep up with modern requirements have made the material advance more con- spicuous than it was when the literary man could es- tablish an ofhce with $5,000, this material perfection of newspaper plants has by no means obliterated the in- fluence and place of the newspaper man. No better illustration of this idea can be found in America than in the history of the Providence Journal, whose business and editorial departments have always continued to be controlled by the same persons and whose resources have been created by its publication and not contributed from outside income. The development of the telegraph, the discovery of the telephone, and the per- fection of a mechanical substitute for typesetting have all come within fifty years, but they have not forced the Journal editor to a position of inferiority to the business manager; for in that entire period there has been a publisher at the head who was the active director of the news department and was responsible for the opinions as well as the financial management. In the beginning of that period came Senator Anthony, who never re- linquished entirely his editorial care or responsibility so POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 1 7 long as he was owner; and when he laid some of the bur- den on George W. Danielson the healthy growth of the Journal only kept pace with the editorial broadening and strengthening which that leader could bring. On the death of these two men, who combined the work of editorial supervision with the financial problems involved, the Journal passed into the hands of the present con- trolling owner, who is the editor as well as the manager of the business. In the beginning of the 19th century the editor of a paper was the one person responsible for its literary and mechanical work. He gathered what little local news was considered worthy of record, wrote comments, clipped the miscellany that occupied so much space in the columns, and sometimes set the type. When the date of publication arrived he prepared the white paper sheets to receive impressions from the type, fed them to the press, and often distributed the edition to subscribers. Events seemed to gain value by the distance that removed them from the local audience; for the sewing circle and the corner grocery were abundantly able to disseminate local matter and discuss it, while the news from Europe had to encounter the vicissitudes of ocean travel and seemed to increase in importance by this inaccessibility. Another class of news rated as important was the official proceedings of Congress, a body which had then only recently expressed the will of the states in the concerted revolt from the mother country; so when the Declaration of Independence was fresh in mind Congressional debates were rarely pruned or sacrificed to make room for livelier matters. As the magazines had not become so common 2 1 8 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. then and books were rare and expensive, it was one of the duties of the newspaper to print choice miscellany of all sorts. In the preparation of his material the "editor" was then known as the man who "wrote the paper" and his functions also included those of printer, who not only struck off the edition but also conducted a job office for preparing leaflets and printing pamphlets. The differentiation of the early newspaper editorship had begun with the new century, and so the job office was generally separated from the editorial rooms, although both were conducted by the same person and the news- paper was made the advertising medium to solicit printing jobs. Departments were springing up, so that one person could occupy his whole time setting the type and another might attend to the make-up of the forms and the feeding of the press. This specialization had been carried a step farther when Mr. Davis first made the acquaintance of the Journal fifty years ago. The editor no longer had to put the forms on the press, and he had separated the busi- ness department, opening a counting room for the arrange- ment of the advertising and to keep the record of sub- scriptions. There had been a still further division in the Journal office, for the job printing office was conducted separately, although the Journal proprietors still kept it with the assistance of other partners. The firm which published the Journal in 1854 was Knowles & Anthony, and Mr. Knowles, who was an expert printer with training in all branches of that trade, took particular charge of the typographical department. Henry B. Anthony was a literary man, and he still personified the "editor" in that Ke prepared nearly all the matter for publication. Charles HENRY B. ANTHONY POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. IQ J. Wheeler was the sole representative in the counting room, and had long performed the multifarious duties that have since increased in volume so as to require a large force. The home of the paper was in one of the most conspicuous and imposing, as well as central, of Prov- idence buildings, which has not yet been obscured by the modern sky-seeking structures, for Washington Row has not been relegated to an inconspicuous part in carry- ing the city's traffic. It was here that the energetic young man who had won public confidence by his fairness and conciliatory conduct during the controversies that had nearly led to bloodshed now gathered the choice spirits of the day in business, politics, and society; for here, they had learned, was the opportunity for exerting an influence in the policies con- trolling the State. Not only was the editor an individual of flesh and blood, but his seat of power was a place which attracted the leaders in thought whose ideas seemed to be amalgamated, for each visitor at the "Round Table" might see enough of his own ideas put into practice to forget the ones that had been discarded because the interchange had offered better ones. There were no Sun- day papers then, and the suspension of the edition one day in seven gave opportunity for gatherings free from inter- ruption. So Sunday came to be the day for the assem- blies in the sanctum, and these soon became known as the Journal ''Sunday school." The modern political "boss" had not been developed and the leadership in politics was scarcely intrusted to one man; hence the arrangements made in the Anthony editorial room were more the com- bined judgment of the men who gathered there. The in- 20 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. fluence of the visitors to the office may have imperceptibly decreased and the experience of the host increased until he became better recognized as a leader, but the representa- tive character of the gatherings was not lost in ]Mr. Anthony's time. After Mr. Anthony had been in the Senate and had come in contact with national leaders in shaping legislation in such grave matters as the conduct of the Civil War he did not lose touch with the men who were wholly concerned with local matters ; for there were always home questions that came up for settlement, and small problems must have seemed easier after Washington affairs had demanded Mr. Anthony's attention. The Journal was the organ of the Republican party, and as the Republicans were dominant the two became as- sociated in the public mind ; so the newspaper was known as the mouthpiece of the power that was shaping the des- tiny of the State and that had a large share in decision on national questions. The two elements that gave the Journal "Sunday school" such power were the mysterious omnipotence generally ascribed to the "editor" and the actual personality of Mr. Anthony, who had the ability to attract men and to use them when they did not realize that they were contributing so much and hence made no protest. Perhaps it was the ability to make concessions on unessentials that made his success as a leader so con- spicuous, and for a long time there was no resentment felt because of a domination which was so gentle and appar- ently unselfish. From a newspaper standpoint these meetings were especially valuable to the editor in the days when he had no staff of reporters and was dependent on voluntary sug- POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 21 gestions and reports of current events. Sometimes the editor followed up the hint personally, and he often paid an official for writing the account of an event. If a criminal case had to be reported the policeman was generally called on, while Brown students were always available for this sort of work. If an obituary was needed there were a score of old residents whose minds were stored with facts ready for just such an emergency, and they gladly responded to a call for facts. If graver ques- tions arose that required discussion, for which the editor did not feel competent, there were always members of the Brown University faculty who were glad to supply their information and to earn the compensation which made a welcome addition to their salaries for teaching. One of these was Prof. James B. Angell, whose facile pen responded to the requirements of a mind treasuring information and carefully trained. Readiness to write an editorial article did not mean commonplace or super- ficial work with him, and there was a hopeful quality of optimism that seemed to relieve his work of all sug- gestion of forced effort in production. Physically vigorous, he had a virile intellect that appeared to adjust itself so readily to the subject in hand, and to turn to another when it was finished, that he hardly received credit for the three years of toil when he conducted his college classes in addition to the work of filling the editorial page. This responsibility was not lessened when he gave up his college work to devote his entire time to the management of the newspaper, for the war brought with it perplexing prob- lems in which local interests and Rhode Island's part in the struggle were involved. The record of those stren- 22 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. uous days in the Journal office is modestly told by Mr. Angell himself in another chapter. ISIuch of the infor- mation and experience that have since proved valuable to him in diplomatic positions and in his administrative work as President of the University of Michigan was no doubt acquired during those days of editorial responsibility, when he had to discuss such a wide range of subjects. The influence he wielded may have passed with the period in which it served its purpose, but the personality of Mr. Angell impressed all who came in contact with him, so that even the newsboys of i860 still remember his cheerful smile and the kindly word in passing that fell so naturally and readily from his lips. Mr. Anthony was a Brown graduate in the class of 1833, who had literary taste which turned him from the manufacturing industries in which his family were en- gaged, so that he was ready to accept the offer which came from his friend, Mr. G. W. Jackson, to take the editorial place in which he quickly intrenched himself. He was only twenty-five years old when the management of the paper was put on his shoulders in 1838. Almost im- mediately after his taking the position came the culmination of the strife over the constitutional limitations to the suf- frage of the State, and this included questions of the greatest moment which interested the nation and in- volved the future of Rhode Island. The test was a severe one, but Mr. Anthony rose to the issue with sur- prising skill and discretion which assured his reputation. The first contention which he maintained with positive- ness was that law and order must be preserved, and while he did not yield to the radical views of the extremists POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 23 whose action made the reform possible, his associations with the conservatives never compelled him to take a reactionary course. The prestige gained by his course in the Dorr War no doubt contributed to the movement that resulted in his election as Governor, although he had never before served the State in an official capacity. He was thirty-four years old when he entered the office of Governor, and here he extended the political acquaintance he had made and included among his friends many who had been opposed to him politically. When urged to take a renomination he declined, for he wished then to give the paper his undivided attention, as he often remarked that he had rather be editor of the Journal than hold any other position in the world. In the meantime Mr. Anthony suffered a bereavement in the death of his wife, whose place in the home was never afterward filled, so that his hospitality was that of a single and childless man. He had been married to Miss Sarah A. Rhodes of Pawtuxet in 1837, and had lived in that village much of the time until her death in 1854. A trip to Europe was planned as a relief when the pressure of duties seemed heavy with the added weight of personal grief, and in 1855 he traveled over the continent, writing breezy letters to the paper from France, Italy, and Ger- many. His friends at home were assured that he had not forgotten Rhode Island's attractive features by associ- ation with historic scenes abroad, for he was continually comparing a famous building with a Providence block, a river with the stream he crossed on the way from Paw- tuxet, or a waterfall with one he passed on his daily trip 24 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. to this city. On his return he found that the manufact- uring business conducted at Coventry by his family was financially embarrassed; so he unhesitatingly assumed obligations not binding on him — an act that greatly in- creased his popularity. It was during his absence in Europe that James S. Ham, who had been one of the frequent contributors to the paper, was asked to take the editorial management for a year, a position which he was glad to relinquish at the end of that time, for he shrank from the obligations that so often fall to the lot of an editor, compelling him to investigate hurriedly a matter which he knows nothing about and comment on it hastily. Mr. Ham was older than Mr. Anthony, for he was born March 8, 1809, but in his editorial work he had avoided responsibility and had consequently allowed opportunities to pass for which his friends thought him to be well fitted. When Mr. Knowles had owned the Microcosm Mr. Ham had con- ducted it for a year, and he took charge of the Journal a second time before the arrival of Mr. Angell in i860. This sense of responsibility was evident afterward in the management of one of the many estates intrusted to him, for he insisted on taking the blame for loss from a robbery, although the beneficiaries entirely exonerated him. Although Mr. Anthony returned from his trip with new vigor and the expectation that he might now continue his work without interruption, he had hardly settled down in the harness before political conditions so adjusted themselves that he felt compelled to accept the candidacy for the United States Senate. The election took place POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 25 May 28, 1858, and the following year he took his seat in the chamber where already the threats of secession leaders were heard. But the man who had shown his readiness to meet the crisis when he took the editorship of the Journal at twenty-five and had to help stem the tide that threatened revolution did not quail before problems that threatened disruption to the nation. Conspicuous figures loomed up in this branch of Congress like giants in the esti- mation of a people harassed by rumors of secession, who watched with dismay the capitulation of those they had trusted. But Mr. Anthony soon became prominent in the deliberations of the Senate and an ardent supporter of the administration in its efforts to preserve the Union. His Quaker ancestry with its peace-teachings did not warp his judgment when it came to active conduct of the great war, and he enthusiastically led in every movement that Rhode Island inaugurated for its prosecution. The interest that Rhode Island had taken in building up the navy of revolutionary times and the temporary transfer of the Annapolis school to Newport made the selection of Mr. Anthony as a member of the committee on naval affairs a natural one, and he held the position for twenty years. His reputation as a publisher led to his selection as chairman of the committee on printing, a position he used at once for introducing what he con- sidered a great reform in the establishment of a govern- ment printing office, which abolished the old system of work on contract by private concerns. He not only desired to end abuses which had grown up in the letting of these contracts, but he also believed that the govern- ment ought to do the best work obtainable anywhere. 26 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. In March, 1869, he was elected President pro tern of the Senate, an office to which he was again called in 1871. The presidency was again offered to him in 1884, but he felt obliged to decline it on account of the ill-health that threatened his life. Loyalty to his constituents and pride in his native State actuated his work in Congress, for he believed that the standard by which Rhode Island should be measured was "the value of its heads, rather than the number of its feet." The assertion that Rhode Island first realized in a civil government the idea of religious liberty was set forth by him in a speech made in 1861. Repeatedly the charge was flung in his face that Rhode Island was re- stricting its own suffrage and at the same time demanding that the negro should have the privilege of voting, but he was ready with a reply in which he urged that a re- publican government might be representative and still not strictly democratic. Perhaps the most elaborate argument he made on this question was in 1881, when he uttered the memorable phrase that these strangers who were demanding greater suffrage liberty were men who ''came among us uninvited and upon whose departure there is no restraint." Though he was naturally credited with originating this expression, he was careful to give the credit for it to Benjamin Hazard, from whose lips he had taken it at one of the sessions of the Journal ''Sunday school." But it was in his relations with Senator Sprague, who was his colleague from 1863 to 1875, that Mr. Anthony's loyalty to the State was most conspicuous, for senatorial courtesy was often strained by the attacks of Mr. Sprague, POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 27 which even touched upon the conduct of the Journal. In the spring of 1869, when discussion of the national currency was precipitated by the introduction of a bill "to strengthen public credit and relating to contracts for the payment of coin," Mr. Sprague surprised his constituents and the other members of the Senate by making radical propositions concerning government finan- ciering. Rates of interest were then high, and money was scarce at any price; so Mr. Sprague advocated a national bureau to loan money on credit, to enable the small man- ufacturer to compete with his wealthy rival. While these addresses made a sensation in the country, they were pleasing to many victims of prevailing conditions, who hoped to find some relief. The Journal treated Mr. Sprague's suggestions as if they were not to be taken seriously, for it remarked: "The Senator's intense ap- plication to his official duties and to his extensive private interests, we fear, cause him to take too gloomy a view of the situation." This paragraph was construed by Mr. Sprague as an attempt to injure his credit and he was sure that it had been inspired by the firm of Brown & Ives, the other large manufacturing house in the State, so as to accomplish his ruin. Mr. Sprague became still more radical after this and represented the country on the brink of ruin financially, while he believed that the standards of morality had been reduced to a low level. Conditions in Rhode Island were attacked. Gen. Burnside was rep- resented as incompetent and the ist Rhode Island Regi- ment as cowardly, while the rival concern of Brown & Ives was declared to be corrupting all by its enormous wealth. 28 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. To this Mr. Anthony made hnmediate reply, and the invective was probably the most severe that he uttered in the Senate, although his most withering condemnation was in the sarcasm which he could employ so effectively. The Sprague house was already tottering and the crash came a few years later, when an enormous fortune was found to be in a chaotic state and was finally dissipated. The Journal refrained from making more comment than was actually needed on a disaster that shook financial circles. The chief reason urged in explanation of Sen- ator Sprague's attack on Gen. Burnside was that the officer had resented what had seemed to him interference with his command when Gov. Sprague at the beginning of the war was impatiently urging action and the invasion of Southern territory, but Gen. Burnside had his revenge in being elected to succeed Senator Sprague in 1875. In all the disasters to the Sprague family Mr. Anthony had prevented the Journal from making severe reflections on their afi'airs, and when he was attacked for hostility he explained how moderate his course had been, since he often allowed correspondents for out-of-town papers to proclaim unfavorable news first rather than risk any suspi- cion of unfairness to the Spragues. Senator Anthony's excellent command of language, taken in connection with his large circle of friends, re- gardless of party lines, led to his selection as the orator at the funerals of deceased members of the Senate or at ceremonies after their death, and he performed this ser- vice for, among others, his friend Gen. Burnside, for Henry Wilson, and for Charles Sumner. Although My. Daniel- son was made the active editor in 1863, Senator Anthony POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 29 continued to write for the Journal from Washington, and contributed to the paper still more regularly when he re- turned to Rhode Island in the intervals between sessions. When he died, September 6, 1884, he had served in the national body over twenty-five years, a longer term than had been accorded to any other member, except Senator Benton. No more notable funeral w^as ever held in Rhode Island than Senator Anthony's, for in the church were President Arthur, a dozen United States Senators, most of them men of national reputation, judges and other State officials. Formal recognition of Senator Anthony's character and public services was made in Congress, and the Rhode Island Assembly paid him similar respect. But, after the record of his achievements and public services had been recounted, it was left to Miss S. S. Jacobs, an intimate friend of the family, to picture Mr. Anthony as he was known to his friends. The entertain- ments to companions at his home on Benevolent street were long remembered by those who enjoyed the im- promptu and informal gatherings. From an incident in a servant's experience, when he made as an excuse for a late return one night that "things weren't passed around until nearly midnight," was originated the expression so familiar to Senator Anthony's companions of ''passing things around" when refreshments were to be served. He was a restless man, and in later life he often stopped in the course of a meal and walked the floor as he planned out in his mind the comment he was to write. Sometimes he would go to the office absorbed with a subject and without removing overcoat or gloves would write rapidly, his head bending down closer to the paper each moment 30 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. until he would suddenly throw it back with a quick move- ment, and, passing his hand across his forehead, would sweep back the wealth of hair that had tumbled down over his face. His favorite pen was a quill, and his literary compositions were committed to blue foolscap paper. As long as his pet Oscar lived, the dog usually sat at his feet in the office, and his love for such animals was alwavs apparent, for he frequently stopped to caress Sam, the intelligent dog he met at the entrance to the Washington building before he ascended the stairs. Usually a car- nation adorned his buttonhole, an affectation that was considered dandified in Washington by those whose acquaintance with him was slight. Among his personal letters there were many chaffing communications where the nonsense was only a veil concealing deep sentiment. Amid his work he found time to add much to the Harris collection of poetry, which he presented to the Brown University library, containing nearly all the editions pub- lished of American verse to the time of the Senator's death. The editor who next made his impress on the Journal, and organized its newsgathering and mechanical de- partments to meet modern conditions, was George Whitman Danielson, a trained printer, who came to Providence after several publishing ventures and joined the staff of the Providence Post, a Democratic newspaper, with whose proprietors he finally disagreed. He left the Post in 1859, and with Albert R. Cooke established the Evening Press, which was conducted as an independent influence in politics. He left this in the fall of 1862, and for a short time wrote letters from the camps of Union GEORGE W. DANIELSOX. POWER OF THE PAIiTY ORGAN. 31 soldiers at the front. In a few months he was invited to purchase a share in the Journal, and January i, 1863, he was installed as an editor, with especial charge of the mechanical department. Extra papers were then in demand to give the war news, and the press was sometimes kept busy all day issuing brief bulletins about battles or the movements of the armies. Mr. Danielson's experience with the Evening Press convinced him that the Journal might well venture upon such an enterprise ; so he helped start the Evening Bulletin January 26, 1863, and took especial charge of it from the first. Mr. Danielson was preeminently an executive manager and organizer, but he later trained himself in writing until he could express himself in terse and vigorous English. Short paragraphs were his specialty, and were also the despair of those who attempted to keep up the column in his absence. It had been generally known that Mr. Danielson was an indefatigable worker, but the tireless energy which he expended in editorial work was more ap- parent after he took charge of the Bulletin and the Journal, for he was usually on duty from 10 o'clock in the morning until the evening edition went to press about 4 o'clock. He would then return about 8 o'clock in the evening and keep at his desk until long after midnight. His training in the composing room and experience in handling forms made it difficult for him to intrust to others the make-up of the editorial page; so he usually donned an old alpaca coat and took the foreman's place when it was time to arrange in the page the articles he had been writing. Whether news editing, exchange clipping, or proof- reading, Mr. Danielson supervised the whole work, and 32 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. it is said that he personally scanned every line before it aj^peared in the paper. Others have spent long hours at their desks without accomplishing the work that Mr. Danielson could dispatch, but there is no doubt that he undertook more detail than was necessary for his personal supervision and that he injured his health by such close application. But he loved the work, and it was his one ambition to make the Journal a great newspaper; for that object he was ready to sacrifice personal comfort. It is said that he would start on a vacation, but before he ar- rived at his destination would take a train home and resume his seat at the editorial desk. But, in spite of his busy life, he was perhaps even more democratic than Mr. Anthony; for he was never too busy to see a caller, and he gave no in- dication to the visitor that his presence was not desirable. Each editor brings his own set of contributors to a paper, and those Mr. Danielson interested in writing for the Journal were especially numerous. He continued this policy of increasing his acquaintance and enriching the paper through the offerings of friends all through his twenty years of service. He soon learned whom he could depend on to write a certain class of article, so that the comments of the Journal on current events were usually prepared by skilled writers familiar with the facts. Mr. Danielson's grip on the paper was strengthened each year, until he might well be considered the sole authority in the absence of Mr. Anthony. In fact he desired this im- pression to prevail, not from any vanity or arrogance but largely because he best knew each department. Thus when a caller inquired for the city editor he was likely to be referred to IMr. Danielson, although details of muni- POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. T^T, cipal matter were well attended to by a subordinate in that position. When the New England Associated Press sought a president outside of Boston, on account of jealousies that might arise if he were chosen from that city, Mr. Danielson was taken because of this intimate knowledge of every branch of the business of collecting and distributing the news. Good judgment, common sense, and a conciliatory disposition were also recognized in the choice. Mr. Danielson's domestic happiness came late in life, and it was characteristic that he should become interested in a contributor to the paper, whom he married ; but even dur- ing married life his labors on the Journal were not relaxed. As Senator Anthony had to spend much of his time in Washington, Mr. Danielson became his successor in the editorial room conferences, which had become more political and social, until the policies of the party and the selection of candidates for elections or appointment were usually made there. The editor became more dis- tinctly a leader, and if credit were given to Senator An- thony for an appointment it was usually the result of con- ferences with Mr. Danielson, who was Mr. Anthony's representative at home. The modern party "boss" may not seek ofhce himself but he is usually interested in schemes which hinge on the political moves he makes. Mr. Danielson did not profit by his participation in politics ; all the work was done for the love of it and the satisfaction that came from the exercise of power. The Journal was more strictly Republican under Mr. Daniel- son than it had ever been, and it not only continued to 34 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. voice the sentiments of the party, but also dictated each detail of the party work in the State. Although Mr. Anthony considered himself likely to die before his partner, Mr. Danielson, and had drawn up an agreement providing for the disposition of the paper, it was Mr. Danielson who was stricken first, and his life passed out in March, 1884, six months before Mr. An- thony died. It was a tribute to Mr. Danielson's devotion to the paper and his idea of the impersonality of journalism that no editions were suspended on the day of his death. The evidences of mourning at his funeral were notable, for while they did not include expressions from men in public life, as in the case of Senator Anthony, the tributes to Mr. Danielson were just as sincere and the evidences of the part he had taken in local politics were fully as con- spicuous as at the funeral of his senior partner. In the kindly estimates made of his character there was one tribute on which all might agree— Mr. Danielson was devoted to the paper and loyal to its friends. Many in- stances are related to illustrate this characteristic, for when he once found that a man could be depended on he stood by him, even if it involved the risk of offending personal friends outside the newspaper oflke. The death of Mr. Danielson, followed in six months by the fatal termination of the illness from which Senator Anthony suffered, removed two conspicuous personalities and seemed to leave the paper bereft of a certain indi- viduality in the minds of many who had known it best through them. In a way the impression made by Mr. Danielson was fully as striking as that which Senator Anthony created, for he mingled more with the mass of POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 35 common people, while the Senator was more reserved, both by nature and from the circumstances of his official life. Senator Anthony had been a Whig, and that very name implied aristocracy to some people. On the other hand it was natural and characteristic that Mr. Danielson should prefer to ride home in a lunch-wagon, when he finished his duties at night, a custom he followed for the last six years of his life. And yet the face of this plain man of the people seemed to take on the "blood and iron" lines of a Bismarck to those who had reason to feel the power that was behind that mask. The interregnum that followed the death of Senator Anthony and continued until the organization of the paper by the new owners under a charter really began on the death of Mr. Danielson; for Senator Anthony was in poor health, and his remaining strength was too much absorbed in Washington duties for him to take the manage- ment of the paper. Hence Senator Anthony divided the responsibility for the conduct of the newspaper between the three employees he most trusted, and each signed a contract assuming the trust. To Henry R. Davis he gave the financial management; to A. M. Williams, the editorial supervision; and to William J. Danielson, the mechanical deparment, including the purchase of sup- plies. Mr. Danielson was the brother of George W. Danielson and had been employed in the counting room nearly twenty-two years. In fact he came to the Journal a few weeks before his brother and had taken an important part in the conduct of the business. He now conducts an advertising agency, and thus continues his newspaper associations. 36 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Alfred M. Williams, who had been the leading edi- torial writer, took the burden of the management when the Journal was being reorganized as a corporation, and he was afterwards installed as managing editor. It was soon apparent that party prestige was an inherited tra- dition, for his tastes did not incline toward politics. He was more strictly a literary man, and whatever he did to continue the political management so long conducted by the Journal was undertaken as a duty rather than an absorbing pursuit. But he did not have to serve the party organization long, and lived to see the Journal be- come an independent newspaper, free from the associations that had so long restricted its influence. Mr. Williams's coming to the Journal had brought a distinct individuality, unfamiliar to Providence, for although he was a New Englander by birth and breeding, born in Taunton and spending two years in Brown University, he had recently left a region known then as the "West," where he had been editing a newspaper under unfavorable conditions. When he took the paper at Neosho, Mo., it was known as the Investigator, but he had changed its name to the Journal and had advocated Republican principles in that Democratic community. Taking advantage of his proximity to Indians, he had studied their life and had become interested in their lan- guage and folk-lore. The newspaper was not a success and his health was broken, so he returned to the East to start anew. Previous to this western experience IMr. Williams had visited Ireland, for Horace Greeley had been interested by his letters from the front during the Civil War and had ALFRED M. WILLIAMS. POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 37 sent him abroad in 1865 to investigate for the New York Tribune the Fenian question, which was then agitating the country. His arrest as a suspect by the British authorities and his release through the intervention of Charles Francis Adams, the United States Minister, were events that forcibly directed his attention to the con- dition of the oppressed, and the lessons of that first visit had been so impressed on his mind and heart that they had influenced his work afterwards. Such was the experience that Mr. Williams brought with him when he visited Providence in 1875 to seek em- ployment. An accident had delayed the train in which he came, so he stopped at the Journal office to write out a story of the wreck. Mr. Danielson was interested in this readiness to serve the paper, and he gave Mr.Williams a place as day reporter, which he was glad to accept although it was much inferior to the one he had recently held. During the Anthony and Danielson management he had acted in a subordinate capacity, but when he became managing editor after their deaths he soon became identified with the movement that resulted in the release of the newspaper from the oligarchy that had long dominated Rhode Island politics. The Blaine campaign was then in full swing, and the lukewarm position taken by the paper toward the Maine statesman strengthened the impression that politicians could no longer rely on it for organic support of policies or candidates. For the next four years the Journal grew more independent, openly opposing the Republican State ticket in 1887, until it was formally read out of the party 38 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. in 1888, a performance which greatly amused Mr. Wil- liams who was a spectator. During these strenuous days Mr. Williams had been forced to leave his work temporarily to seek relief in 1887, when he was bereaved by the death of his wife, and he again made a voyage to Europe. When in Ireland he took occasion to visit the home of the Banim brothers, whose talented sister had been a contributor to the Journal. After serving seven years as managing editor of the Journal Mr. Williams again went to Europe in 1891 and never returned to the office, for he resigned July 23, in- tending to take the opportunity afforded by the freedom from care for the enjoyment of a long rest. His interest in Sam Houston of Texas led to a visit to that state and the preparation of a biography of the noted pioneer, which has preserved for historical use many traditions that otherwise might have been lost. He was engaged in independent literary pursuits for several years, and in 1896 he went to the West Indies, from which he con- tributed letters to the Journal. A strange and almost pathetic coincidence was the fact that in the last of these letters Mr. Williams told the story of a tragedy at St. Kitts, in which the circumstances were so similar to those attending his own death and burial that it sounded like a prophecy. He had been enjoying a cruise around the Windward Islands, and on March 4, 1896, he related his experiences on the boat Tyne, which had observed heliograph flashes from a lonesome spot on the coast, known as the rock of Rodonda, where a solitary family lived in isolation. '*It is evidently a heliograph" he declared, writing in POWER OF THE PARTY ORGAN. 39 the present tense, "with which the manager is endeavoring to communicate with us for something or other, perhaps it is an urgent appeal for aid." There was no one on board who could decipher the message, so the Tyne sailed on. The doubt and anxiety felt as to the significance of the message led Mr. Williams to relate in his letter the following incident : ''There is a tragedy connected with Rodonda, which saddens the thought in connection with the unheeded appeal. A young English gentleman, the only son of the owner of the mine, visited the island, and cruising about in one of the boats got soaking wet in a tropical shower, the sun brought on fever, and when he landed in St. Kitts he was in a perilous condition. Symptoms of yellow fever manifested themselves, and after lingering a few days he died. Within a few hours he was buried and the news was flashed under the sea to his parents. They could not have the consolation of having his body sent home, as he died of a pestilence, and a photograph of his grave, with the wreaths placed on it by kindly, if stranger, hands, is the only memorial they can have of his last resting place. Let us hope that no such tragedy is now happening on the solitary rock of Rodonda as we steam away in the golden twilight." The very next day after this was written, Mr. Williams was stricken with mortal illness, and he died March 9. He had to be buried almost immediately on the distant island, while the friends who made vain attempts to move the body had only the satisfaction of a photograph of the lonely grave. The Journal printed the news of his death, and his obituary, March 22, and on the same day 40 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. the prophetic letter appeared in another column of the paper. In personal relations ISIr, Williams may have seemed a little brusque in manner, especially to strangers, but one peculiarity in his appearance, produced by his drooping eyelids, which he usually raised with thumb and forefinger when addressing a person, was the result of a malady he contracted in the war, which seemed to settle about his eyes. He walked erect, with military precision, and when he first came to Providence he wore a sombrero well drawn down over his forehead, so it is no wonder the stranger invited a second look from those who first met him. But back of the apparently stern and forbidding ex- terior friends soon found that he had warm sympathies proceeding from a tender heart. It is doubtful if any other Journal editor was loved more than he by those who won his confidence, and to them he was a delightful compan- ion. He enlarged his literary acquaintance until it included such writers as John Boyle O'Reilly, the poet, and his sympathies for members of the profession found ex- pression through his activity in the Providence Press Club, which he assisted in organizing and of which he was presi- dent in its most successful days. CHAPTER III. THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. The Organization of the Journal Company in 1885. — The Coming into Control of Mr. Rowland. — Reading the Paper Out of the Republican Party.^ — Notable Growth as an Independent Newspaper. — The Person- nel of the Present Staff. THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. It was an important date in the history of the Journal when, on May 23, 1885, the Journal Company was formed and Richard S. Rowland became the editor and treasurer. At that time William A. Hoppin was elected president, and Henry R. Davis, clerk and cashier. (In 1894 Mr. Davis, continuing in this capacity, was also made a di- rector.) In 1886 Lucian Sharpe was chosen president. He served until his death, October 17, 1899, when Mr. Hoppin again became the president. Mr. Sharpe's death was marked in a resolution of the directors, wherein the deceased was referred to as ^'a most valued adviser whom it will be impossible to replace," and it was said of him: "It was always his earnest wish that the machinery and organization of the Journal should be kept at the highest standard attainable. The labor of his life was to obtain the best in all things, and he helped the entire community by his precept and example." It was under Mr. Howland that the Journal broke away from its Republican moorings. In the salutatory on the editorial page of June 3, 1885, which announced that a new hand had taken the helm, it was stated that the paper would still be Republican, but notice was given of independence which gradually grew intolerable to rock-ribbed partisans. Richard S. Howland was born in New Bedford, on July 12, 1847, and was graduated at Brown in 1868, 44 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. later taking the degree of Master of Arts. He studied a year at Berlin University, having previously spent some months in European travel. Several generations of his family had engaged in the shipping business, both mer- chant and whaling. In 1871 Mr. Howland visited the Sandwich Islands. Subsequently he was established in California, where he remained until 1885. During his whole life he has been traveling at odd intervals, having visited not only every State in the Union and followed the common paths of European tourists, but also having been in Africa, South America, and many of the West India Islands. If his points of view have been oftener those of the cosmopolite than of the provincial New Englander, the hundreds of thousands of miles that he has traveled throw some light upon the reasons. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth in some quar- ters, and many dire predictions of disaster were uttered, when the Journal began to prod Republicans as well as Democrats and to advance the doctrine of freer trade and other political principles previously attacked by the paper. Could there be anything but orthodoxy in "the Rhode Island Bible," as the Journal was often called? At last the truth began to dawn, but somehow the Journal prospered even more than it had when it was a party organ. One has only to look back at the files twenty years ago to realize how remarkable the changes have been, how comprehensive the improvement in news-gathering, and how tremendous the increase in advertising. To be sure the Providence Journal of 1884 was not as an- tiquated or as poorly printed as the average Paris journal of 1904, but it looks strange indeed beside the larger, THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. 45 more substantial, more up-to-date Providence Journal of 1904. During the years of 1 885-1887, while George Peabody Wetmore was Governor, the Journal was constantly pro- voking rabid Republicans to sheer desperation. Under an owner who really would not regard the party as sans peiir et sans repyoche, and with editorial writers, the pithy products of whose pens daily shots chills up and down the spines of Rhode Island Republicans, the paper be- came the target of critics whose rage was stronger than their sense of humor. On the other hand, the Journal never lost its sense of humor. Read its editorial columns of those years and you find in almost every issue proof that the man behind the editorial gun must have laughed and grown fat as the protesting heathen raged and grew thin. There was a state of high tension, intensified by four years of Democratic rule at Washington, when the Re- publican State convention was called for May 3, 1888, to elect delegates to the national convention. Such a para- graph as this, which appeared that morning in an editorial comparison of conditions in Lousiana with those in Rhode Island, did not soothe the perturbed minds of Repub- licans: "The contest would have been decided honestly by both parties, except for the fear of corruption by the other. But there is a purchasable and corrupt element in the State, which has existed for many years, sufficient to de- cide the elections and both parties attempted to gain it. The Republicans had the most money and were suc- cessful." 46 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. The plan was formed to read the Journal out of the party. Mr. Williams, who was then writing the political leaders, did not fail to appreciate the situation. He en- gaged a box at the Opera House, where the dire sentence was to be passed, in order to enjoy the ceremony. The event was thus foreshadowed in the Journal: "It is understood that one of the solemn functions of the Republican convention to-day, after the ratification of the list of delegates already selected, will be the reading of the Journal out of the party with the ceremonies of the major excommunication and quenching the candles upon it. In itself this may be regarded as somewhat of a work of supererogation, but the performance will un- doubtedly be of considerable thaumaturgic interest." Hon. W. A. Pirce was the chairman of the district con- vention, which was called first, and he made a character- istic speech, in which he attacked the Journal, recounting a list of grievances Republicans had suffered at its hands. When the State convention followed, these resolutions, which had been prepared for the committee by Rathbone Gardner, were adopted with a shout: "We deem it expedient at this time to put on record the fact that the newspapers published by the Providence Journal Co. have long since ceased to represent the Re- publican party in this State. They have factiously opposed wise and well considered acts of legislation which were devised in the councils of the party and have been approved by the consent of the people. They have wan- tonly misrepresented the acts and the motives of honor- able gentlemen Ijy whom those laws have been con- scientiously and laboriously framed, enacted and ad- THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. 47 ministered. They have recklessly and without justi- fication or excuse charged upon the party a selfish and corrupt use of the elective franchise and of the legislative vote ; they have falsely and maliciously traduced the good name of the State; they have betrayed the party which they professed to support and they have forfeited all claim to public confidence." The expulsion was no doubt a serious matter for many Republicans, who had regretted the independent ten- dencies of the newspaper, which they could not under- stand; but the Journal accepted the situation cheerfully, and the next morning clearly outlined its policy in the following language: "This is a formidable list of crimes, and the worst of it is that they are all true. They completely disqualify the Journal from being considered an organ of the Re- publican party. They deprive it of all standing in party conventions, all weight in party counsels, and all official recognition of any name and nature. So much must be admitted and endured by the Journal with such suffer- ing and humiliation as belongs thereto. Nevertheless, despised and cut off from party fellowship as it is, there are certain rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, under the general terms of ' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' among which is the privilege which the Journal will claim of supporting Republican candidates when it believes them entitled to the suffrage of honest and intelligent citizens and advocating Republican principles when it believes them calculated to subserve the interests of the country, incidentally telling the truth as it sees it at all times and courting the good will of no party 48 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. or individual to whom the truth is offensive or honest criticism objectionable." The editorial column closed the next morning with the following lines on the Cardinal's curse, taken from the tale of the Jackdaw of Rhcims in the Ingoldsby Legends: " The Cardinal rose with a dignified look. He called for his candle, his bell, and his book! In holy anger and pious grief He solemnly cursed that rascally thief! He cursed him at board, he cursed him in bed; From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. He cursed him in sleeping, that every night He should dream of the Devil, and wake in a fright. He cursed him in eating, he cursed him in drinking, He cursed him in coughing, in sneezing, in winking. He cursed him in sitting, in standing, in lying He cursed him in walking, in riding, in flying. Never was heard such a terrible curse! But what gave rise To no little surprise. Nobody seemed one penny the worse." From that day to the present there has never been any doubt of the Journal's independence. Somebody de- scribed the government of Rhode Island as ''an oligarchy tempered by the Providence Journal." When politicians have attempted to make capital they have denounced the paper as the tool of this, that, or the other corporation. "We have to do it," one of them once apologized. ''It is expected of us." But it has not worried the Journal, which has pursued the even tenor of its way, fighting against a corporation when the public weal demanded it, as in the memorable train-shed contest between the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad and the THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. 49 city of Providence; or taking the side of a corporation, as in the uprising of the Pawtucket mob during the street- railroad strike. In partisanship, too, it has steered an independent course. Although it never endorsed the high tariff views of the Republicans during the McKinley administration, it upheld the party in its attitude subsequent to the war with Spain, and may perhaps claim some of the credit for the fact that anti-imperialism, so flourishing in the neighborhood of Boston, took no root whatever in Rhode Island soil. So, too, with local politics. Since it has lately seemed that the Republicans, representing the industrial progress and conservative interests of the State, have deserved to control the General Assembly instead of the Democrats, who have frequently been led by socialists, single-taxers, and notorious demagogues, Mr. Rowland has seen to it that the influence of the paper was cast on the side of more promise. On the other hand, when the municipal government suffered from a lack of independent action, the Journal led in cultivating independence in city elections and has generally been credited with electing Democratic mayors of Providence, who probably could not have hoped to carry the city with- out the aid of the Journal in preaching the doctrine of non-partisanship in city affairs. Although he has written much himself and has always been the director of the Journal's policy, Mr. Rowland has encouraged self-initiative on the part of his staff, it being his theory of control to give the heads of depart- ments free rein, but to hold them constantly responsible. Until shortly before his death, Mr. Williams was in 50 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. charge of the editorial page. Of Mr. Prynne's service record is made elsewhere. Of the present editorial staff, Frederick Roy Martin became associate editor in charge of the editorial department in November, 1898. Fred- eric N. Luther became a member of the staff in 1886, Walter Hayward in 1886, Henry R. Palmer in 1890, Edward Fuller in 1891, Frederick Hoppin Rowland in 1893, and M. Morris Howland in 1897. All the present editorial writers have been trained on the Journal staff from the beginning of their newspaper careers except Mr. Martin and Mr. Fuller, who came from service on Boston papers. Conspicuous for long service is M. S. Dwyer, who began in the counting room in 1875, after carrying papers for about two years, and has gradually been promoted until he has charge of the mechanical departments and assumes general superintendence of publication. J. J. Rosenfeld, the city editor, joined the staff in 1891 and took his present position in 1893. Mr. Rowland's fondness for first-hand investigation of political questions carried him to Venezuela twice, when public attention was centred on the disturbed international relations there, and to Cuba in 1898. In both instances he wrote articles for the Journal. On his return from Cuba, where he studied the awful results of Spanish rule and the widespread human suffering, President McKinley sought his advice as to the best means of affording both immediate and permanent relief. Subsequently Mr. Howland made visits to Algiers, whence he wrote several articles for publication ; and when Mexico's depreciated currency was uppermost in the THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. 51 minds of students of finance he spent several months in the capital of that republic, where he obtained through intercourse with the leading Mexican statesmen an in- timate knowledge of the growth and needs of the republic. The result was a series of articles on the social, political, and financial questions that confront the Mexicans. In short, Mr. Rowland, though a New Englander by- birth, has always been in a position to look at questions from a less provincial point of view than most New Eng- landers. For five years he has made his home in Ashe- ville, N. C, which has enabled him to appreciate the political and social problems of the South as the average northerner does not. This, of course, has been reflected in the columns of the Journal with the usual disregard of how the views expressed would affect political parties. Advertisers appreciate the value of the paper because the central purpose of its management is to print the news. Its opinions have not been governed by counting-room influences. Its course may have seemed to veer. When Republicans have stood for corruption and have needed chastening the Journal has helped to administer it. When Republicans have stood for sound money, for civil service reform, for a courageous grappling with our new problems as a world power, the Journal has done its utmost to help them. Or, to choose a local example: When Brown University has been under the guiding influence of as irresponsible and erratic a personality as ever controlled a New England college, the Journal has given it good advice, however deeply this was resented in certain quarters. But when Brown University turned toward the light and 52 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. adopted saner methods under saner leaders, nobody ren- dered more constant aid in increasing its endowment than did the Journal. During its years of progress as an independent paper the Journal has avoided "entangling alliances" and has remained free to ridicule sham in all its guises. Of enemies it has doubtless its share — for even Athens, the nearest to perfection in all things that civilization ever attained, was envied by all the other cities of Greece — but it has so many friends that to name them all would be impossible. It has endeavored to cultivate the good- will of reasonable people, and although nobody is always reasonable, most persons are usually so. Upon that truth is based the deep-rooted feelings of mutual con- fidence and good-will that exist between the Providence Journal and the people of Rhode Island. THE JOURNAL STAFF, MaY I, 1904. Richard S. Rowland, editor-in-chief. Frederick Roy Martin, associate editor. Matthew S. Dwyer, publisher. Henry R. Palmer, editor, Sunday Journal. J. J. Rosenfeld, city editor. Frederic N. Luther, editorial writer. Edward Fuller, literary editor. Frederick Hoppin Rowland, editorial writer. Walter Hay ward, exchange editor. John R. Hess, industrial editor. M. Morris Howland, editorial writer. Edmund E. Eastman, night news editor. Charles R. Thurston, day news editor. THE INDEPENDENT PAPER. 53 Frank E. Jones, night telegraph editor. Edmund H. Kirby, day telegraph editor. Edward M. Albro, news department. David B. Rowland, telegraph department. George W. Carpenter, Jr., assistant city editor. S. Ashley Gibson, assistant city editor. Albert C. Rider, secretary to editor. Horace G. Belcher, Sunday staff. J. Earl Clauson, Sunday staff. Frederick W. Jones, Sunday staff. William A. Potter, music critic. Miss Grace L. Slocum, woman's department. Mrs. Emma Shaw Colcleugh, woman's department. Miss Elizabeth R. Kendall, literary department. Henry M. Barry, reporter. Edward A. Batchelor, reporter. Vernon J. Briggs, reporter. Edward K. Browne, reporter. Daniel C. Chace, reporter. Marc T. Greene, reporter. James H. Hogan, reporter. Arthur D. Holland, reporter. Wallace E. Jameson, reporter. Harry Knowles, reporter. Lafayette E. Mowry, reporter. James P. McNeilis, reporter. Leonard Nichols, reporter. William C. Pelkey, reporter. Arthur L. Philbrick, reporter. William Sandager, reporter. Frederick H. Young, reporter. CHAPTER IV. EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. President James B. Angell, of the University of Michi- gan.— His Experiences as Editor during the Strenuous Days of the Civil War. — Reminiscences of Senator Anthony. — The unusual equipment of James S. Ham for Editorial Work.— Notable men who once frequented the Editorial Rooms. EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. "I am asked to give some recollections of my connection with the Journal and also of the contributions which my friends, the professors in Brown University, have made to its columns. "I returned from my studies in Europe in August, 1853, and entered upon my duties as professor at Brown in September. From my early boyhood I had been a regular reader of the Journal. During the years 1854, 1855, 1856, I contributed several communications on European affairs, which Governor Anthony, the editor, chose to insert as editorials. In 1857 he made a regular engagement with me, and during that year I wrote about one article a week, and in 1858 I furnished a larger num- ber of articles. In March, 1859, Gov. Anthony took his seat in the Senate. James S. Ham, so long connected with the Journal, was left in editorial charge, while I was depended on to furnish the bulk of the editorial matter. Still discharging my professorial duties, I wrote a large part of the leading articles and paragraphs. Of course I no longer confined myself to foreign themes. The great national issues, which brought us to the war in 1861, were looming on the horizon and invited earnest and con- tinuous discussion. Senator Anthony, in the midst of his duties in Washington, found time to send back articles bearing his characteristic stamp, and contributed even more frequently while at home in the recess of Congress. 58 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. "It required some time for him to feel himself as much at home and as contented in the Senate chamber as he had been in his old office chair. A few weeks after he took his seat in the Senate he wrote me that he should be happier if he could change places with me. But of course this state of mind did not last long. Yet it remained true to the day of his death that he was never happier than when he was at his desk and surrounded by his old friends in the Journal office. "The spirit in which he conducted the Journal while he was personally in charge of it, and in which he always wished it conducted, was that of courtesy towards op- ponents and of optimism concerning the country. He could be very trenchant in discussion, if necessary, but he disliked an acrid and bitter temper. Hence both he and his newspaper were in most cases respected and esteemed by his most determined political adversaries, He frequently repeated the old saying, ' molasses catches more flies than vinegar.' He was fond of using and employed with great success the weapons of wit, humor, and raillery. It may be doubted whether a more felicitous writer of paragraphs has appeared on the staff of any American newspaper. A half-dozen lines were often so turned by him as to demolish an opponent more completely than a labored and logical 'leader' by a less deft hand. But in his longer articles, written generally with great rapidity and apparent ease, his style was most lucid, graceful, and chaste. His English was a model of simplicity and transparency. It made easy reading. It had a sparkle and brightness which rendered his articles, on however dry a subject, attractive and EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 59 interesting. A reader who began one of his ' leaders ' was sure to finish it. Three things he insisted on in the con- duct of the Journal. First, it should be a clean paper, even in its advertisements. These were subjected to as severe a censorship as communications, no matter what the consequences in the counting room. Second, the English in the paper should be pure. Third, whatever the Journal could do for the honor, the prosperity, the glory of Rhode Island should be done at whatever sac- rifice. For us who were left in his absence to carry on the work, it was the tradition and the law to let his spirit prevail, so far as we could attain to it, in all depart- ments of the paper. How far we succeeded, it is for others to judge. "Perhaps this is the best place to say a word of that remarkable man, James S. Ham, who was responsible editor from the spring of 1859 till August, i860. As a printer, he had lived long in Washington and in Cam- bridge and had been a careful observer of public men and student of American history. I have never met a man who more thoroughly understood our political history during the period of his active life, say from 1820 to i860. I am confident that Senator Anthony would have joined me in acknowledging the great indebtedness of the editorial writers on the Journal for years to Mr. Ham for the stores of political knowledge which he placed at their disposal. He had also a most felicitous gift of pre- paring careful obituary notices of prominent men. These were the only contributions which he was willing to write, but his judgment concerning the articles which might properly appear, and especially concerning those which 6o FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. might not properly appear, fully justified the confidence which Senator Anthony felt in his discretion. But for a morbid distrust of his own powers and a depression of spirits verging at times on melancholia, one would say he ought to have held some conspicuous post in life. ''During the year i860 he became very desirous of laying off the responsible charge of the Journal. It was growing difficult for me to discharge satisfactorily to my- self my double duties as teacher and editorial writer. Accordingly at the end of the academic year I resigned my chair in the college and accepted the invitation to take the editorship, subject of course to the control of the Sen- ator. That position I held from the summer of i860 to the summer of 1866. A more interesting and important period for the responsible post of conducting such a newspaper has not been presented in our history. Few of the newspapers in our country have so won the confidence and so controlled the opinions and actions of their constituency as the Providence Journal under the editorship of Henry B. Anthony. Its opponents used to say that its readers considered it their political bible and opened it in the morning to know what they ought to think. The opportunity, the privilege, the duty of such a journal at such an epoch no one comprehended more thoroughly than Senator Anthony. His inspiration guided it from first to last. By his frequent letters we in the offices were kept in constant touch wath him, and through him with the very inmost life of the government. Never was a more indulgent chief. He left us in the offices the utmost liberty compatible with the general policy of the paper. Though with my limited experience I must have made JAMES B. ANGELL. EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 6 1 mistakes, I do not remember that he ever complained to me or even criticised me, except as criticism may some- times have been gently implied in suggestions. He won the esteem and the affection of every one in the office. All of us were always more than willing to meet any extra- ordinary demands made on us in emergencies. "Those who now enter the spacious offices of the Jour- nal and see its large mechanical outfit and its force of writers, reporters, and clerks will have difficulty in under- standing on how modest a scale it was then conducted. Henry R. Davis, who still remains in active and efficient service in the counting room, was then the only accountant. Then as now, by his sweet temper and winning manners, he attracted all who had business at the office. Through all these years he has done his full part in securing the prosperity of the Journal, to which he has been loyal through all its changes of ownership and editorship. In those days he was often called on for service outside of the counting room. He was sometimes sent through April mud to Foster and Scituate to collect election returns, and to Hartford or to Worcester to intercept the night train from New York to Boston via Springfield to bring back a copy of the President's message on a special locomotive so that we could publish it by morning. I not only wrote as a rule all the editorial articles, but read all the exchanges and made the clippings, and supervised and edited all communications. Not more than a column and a half or two columns of editorial matter was ordi- narily expected. We had no regular reporter, except the marine reporter, who was a compositor and set up the news he gathered. When I wished a reporter I sent 62 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. out and found one. Two or three college students held themselves subject to my call, when I could find them. Francis H. Shepard, a bill collector, was detailed to report the proceedings of the General Assembly. After the war came on I engaged some young officer in each Rhode Island regiment and each battery, generally one of my college pupils, to correspond, and very well they all did their duty. Not unfrequently after I had gone home at T o'clock in the morning, good natured Joe Burroughs, the foreman of the printing room, God bless his memory, came to my house with some important news from the front, and I crept out of bed and in very slender attire wrote an article on the subject for him to take back. There is no one of the surviving staff or of the habitual visitors of the old sanctum who does not have a good word for Joe Burroughs. Never impatient, never fretful under the heaviest pressure on him at the latest hour, he was a favorite with everyone. The Journal was a four-page sheet and was printed on an old-fashioned press that rested on the shaky second-story floor, and the wonder is that so good looking a sheet was regularly printed with so few interruptions. ''During the war the Journal office on Washington Row was the gathering place for all the prominent men in the city and in the State. My table was in the outer room surrounded by these men. I was thus able to feel the public pulse every day. Among those most frequently present I may mention Samuel Ames, Thomas A. Jenckes, Thomas P. Shepard, William Binney, Sylvester G. Shearman, Nathan F. Dixon, Henry Lippitt, Charles Hart, Edward H. Hazard, James T. Rhodes, William EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 63 Blodget with his perpetual fun, and Augustus Hoppin dashing off with a blue pencil illustrations of current events or caricatures of noted men. I could write much about them. One could not but catch many good suggestions from the conversation of such men. We used to say, more expressively than elegantly, that 'we milked every cow that came into our yard.' I had the habit of writing while they were conversing, until Judge Ames began to talk. There was something so fascinating and brilliant and witty in his conversation that I used to lay down my pen and tell him that I would wait till he had finished. It will be remembered that Thack- eray praised his wit in most complimentary words. Mr. Jenckes had the most extraordinary memory of any man I have known. Especially during the war was he ready in perceiving resemblances between military situations in our battles and those in the battles of Julius Caesar or in those of the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal. And on looking up the histories I always found him right. "Among the friends of Senator Anthony who were cer- tain to call at the office in passing through town were Frank Bird, Schuyler Colfax, and Charles Sumner. I remember calls also from Horace Greeley and Henry J. Raymond. "Among the correspondents and contributors I recall Mrs. Jane Anthony Eames, a cousin of Senator Anthony, who wrote letters of travel; Rev. E. M. Stone, who fur- nished religious intelligence and local historical matter; John R. Bartlett, Secretary of State, who gathered literary items; and Henry C. Whitaker, whose charming pictures 64 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. of everyday life in town and country reminded one of Charles Lamb. *' Of the faculty of Brown University Professor Goddard and Professor Gammell were before my connection with the Journal the most frequent contributors. Most of the work of the former antedates my recollection, though I am confident that he furnished important articles during the Dorr War. The latter generally chose themes in American history, and especially in Rhode Island history and in educational discussions. For thirty years he fur- nished the necrological sketches of the alumni of Brown University, published in Commencement week. He also wrote excellent and rather elaborate obituary articles on prominent citizens. His writing was characterized by a clear, dignified, and somewhat stately style, formed on his long study of the writers of Queen Anne's time. "Dr. Caswell furnished for many years his meteor- ological records, which have since been published by the Smithsonian Institution. During the border war in Kansas I think he wrote some spirited communications concerning the conflict. ''During my editorship I occasionally persuaded Pro- fessor Diman to write on the career of some distinguished European scholar. I recall particularly his article on Bunsen of Heidelberg, who had much impressed him. Mr. Diman also furnished some excellent reviews of books. Rev. Dr. S. L. Caldwell, who was the secretary of the cor- poration of Brown University, wrote at my request numerous articles in his fresh and incisive style when at various times I was called out of town. After I left the Journal both Diman and Caldwell wrote on Mr. Daniel- EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 65 son's invitation. The former was a constant contributor for years. Their tastes led them often to discuss matters of Rhode Island history, and once to engage in a sharp, though friendly, discussion on Roger Williams. Diman wrote on a great variety of topics, on many phases of European affairs, on Gladstone and Beaconsfield, on various questions of English politics, on the overthrow of Napoleon III and the establishment of the German em- pire, on public charities, and on education. He furnished the articles which it had long been the custom of the Jour- nal to publish containing suggestions and reflections appropriate to the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and the college Commencement. His style, even in his rapid writing, was singularly rich and flowing. His articles were distinguished, though not overburdened, by a wealth of scholarly allusions that lifted them above the level of most newspaper writing. Yet they never left on the reader any impression of pedantry. They seemed the natural utterances of a scholarly mind. Characteristic extracts from them may be found in the Memoirs of Mr. Diman, written by Miss Caroline Hazard, now President of Wellesley College. "After Geo. W. Danielson became connected with the Journal, the supervision of the business, of the printing, of the local reporting, and of the Bulletin was assumed by him. I need not say that he was thoroughly master of the whole business of making a newspaper. He and I worked in perfect harmony. We agreed in our ideal of a newspaper. Perhaps the time has come when there is no harm in saying that we conceived the idea of pur- chasing, if practicable, the Journal and publishing it as 66 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. a non-partisan, independent newspaper. But Senator Anthony, naturally enough, was unwilling to sell. Mean- time the severity of the work, in which I had been really engaged for eight years, with only a week's vacation in each year, was beginning to affect my health. An ur- gent call to return to academic life by accepting the presidency of the University of Vermont in August, 1866, led me to part company with the Journal and my pleasant associates on its staff. But I am glad to bear witness that the experience and training in that strenuous life have been of much service to me since, and that the mem- ories of my co-workers from the compositors to the Senator are among the brightest I have cherished. "James B. Angell." Mr. Angell lived on Angell street and had to pass the home of his sister, Mrs. J. H. Coggeshall, on his way to the office. He was editor during the exciting days of the war, and when he returned to his home after news of some great battle he would always stop and ring the bell and tell them about it before he went to bed. The Angell family came from Scituate, R. I. His friends attribute his long life of activity to his evenness of temper. He was always sweet tempered, and exercised restraint in eating and drinking. He usually took a long walk in the morning for his daily exercise. A room was fitted up for him over the stairs leading to the Journal office, and there he could write, uninterrupted by conversation, except when Mr. Ames was speaking, and then he laid down his pen to listen. Soon after James B. Angell began writing for the paper Henry C. Whitaker was encouraged to contribute more EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 67 regularly to the Journal, especially after the appearance of Mr. Whitaker's articles, signed "Rusticus," which he dated from "Huckleberry Hollow," writing them during his residence in Clayville, South Scituate. A graduate from Brown in the class of 1838, with such eminent men as Bishop Alexander Burgess of Illinois, Charles S. Bradley, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, IMarcus Morton, late Chief Justice of the Massa- chusetts Supreme Court, James M. Clarke, the friend of Senator Anthony, Congressman Thomas A. Jenckes, and President Robinson of Brown University, Mr. Whitaker enjoyed the fellowship of some of the brightest intellects of that generation. He was a relative of Sen- ator Anthony, and his first letters to the paper were written as early as 1849, although it was not until ten years later that he was recognized as the commercial editor of the Journal. Although his tastes were purely literary and poetry was more to his liking than finance, he made a thorough study of business questions, which had been forced upon his attention when he was credit man for a large dry goods house in New York city. He returned to Rhode Island after the crash of 1857. Thereafter his work came to to be a feature of the paper for twenty years or more. He not only covered the markets, but also prepared sketches of local life and poetry, and the carriers found him very ready to respond to their appeals for verses to be used as New Year's addresses. While these were written without thought of reward, the carriers often expressed their appreciation by some such gift as an atlas or a dictionary. 68 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. The work of Thomas Stcere as editorial writer on the Journal comes down to a recent date, although he was early welcomed to the company that enjoyed Senator Anthony's hospitality. Mr. Steere was an *'old school gentleman;" courtly, rather distinguished in appearance, with abundant white hair, which he allowed to fall loosely over his head, while the twinkle of his keen eyes always impressed a stranger on first meeting him. Mr. Steere was born in 1818 and studied for the bar, but did not long follow that profession. When he was elected a mem- ber of the Rhode Island Assembly he was the natural se- lection as speaker of the House. In 1854 he was ap- pointed United States Consul at Dundee, Scotland, by President Pierce, where he served four years. Soon after his return from the Civil War he became editor of the Post, a Democratic newspaper. He came to the Journal in 1873, and wrote continuously after that until he retired in 1888. His first work for the Journal was the prepara- tion of articles on Rhode Island manufacturing, and he afterward began the articles on "Rural Notes and No- tions," which were a feature of his work during his editorial connection with the paper. For a year during Mr. Williams's administration as managing editor Charles J. Arms was an editorial writer on the Journal. His contribution to the Boston Adver- tiser on *'Our Life at Whistledown" attracted attention to his ability, and he came August 16, 1885. Mr. Arms at one time served as secretary to Governor Hartranft of Pennsylvania. EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 69 MAKERS OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. John W. Barney, its Business Manager, tells about Charles H. Dow, its Founder, and their Connection with the Journal. John W. Barney, business manager of The Wall Street Journal, was for some time employed on the Providence Journal, where he filled various positions and finally be- came Mr. Danielson's "right hand man" in the prepara- tion of copy and the revision of matter for the paper. He has written little about himself, but most of the fol- lowing letter is devoted to Charles H. Dow, also a "grad- uate" of the Journal, who founded the Wall Street paper: "My earliest recollection of active work on the Journal dates back to the Washington Row office, in which the two figures which left the strongest impression on my boyish mind were those of Henry R. Davis and Charles J. Wheeler. The first-named every one who knows the Journal knows and esteems; the latter-named has gone to his reward. I was only a carrier in the Washington Row ofiice, and did not begin to entirely support myself by newspaper work until after the establishment was settled in the Barton block. It was not until years had brought discernment and the chief actors had passed forever from sight that I realized I had been permitted to know and to work with representatives, possibly the last of their line, of that school of personal influence in journalism of which the elder Bennett, Greeley, Prentice, Raymond, and Bowles stood as exemplars. "The Journal of the days of Anthony and Danielson was unique. Standing alone, heedless of possible com- petition in its rich field, it led the sentiment of the com- yo riFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. munity. In its famous back room was the seat of War- wick, the king-maker. Its finger was on the pulse of public opinion, and if its hand was not on the helm of legislation, its approval or disapproval of a measure was alike significant and generally potent. In material affairs advertising flowed to it as in a natural channel. It never employed an advertising solicitor and its absolute inde- pendence of " business " considerations cannot, probably, be duplicated to-day in any other community of equal size. ''Senator Anthony was to my young mind the ideal man of affairs. Concerned with national issues, he was absent from the office for long periods at a time, and when at home he never worried himself about details. His editorials, I recall, seemed so absolutely logical that I wondered how his political opponents could answer his reasoning. He always wrote with a goose-quill, and I recall my profound satisfaction with myself because I could generally read his manuscript, which was considered to be blind. "George W. Danielson was one of the most lovable men I ever knew. He was reserved in manner, save to his intimate friends, was a most considerate and appre- ciative employer, and his judgment regarding matters of public policy was not to be swerved from his conviction as to the absolute right and truth by considerations of expediency. He made the first editorial column famous for its short editorials, ranging from a few lines to a stick- ful in length. These were always powerful, piercing the joint in the armor, but never malicious nor vindictive. It was my good fortune to enjoy confidential relations EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 71 with Mr. Danielson, and we, who knew him best, have not ceased to cherish his memory and regret his death. "Alfred M. Wilhams was a rare character. He had the bearing of a recluse, the piercing glance of an Indian, and the impressionist style of a Stevenson. His articles read like a chapter from Balzac. Let a tragedy bring into prominence some evil resort, and Williams's report would, in a few thumbnail sketches, show the grisly skeleton underneath the roses and raptures of vice as columns from another pen would not serve to reveal it. Simply as character studies he maintained an acquain- tance with Romany tribes whose language he knew and with a number of persons, nearer home, of a class not generally met with in polite society. He was equally at home in the records of Boxiana and in Gaelic literature and verse. His first editorial column was also famous, but his paragraphs were the thrust of the inscrutable man in the velvet mask, and his rapier had no button on it. "A little more than a year ago Charles H. Dow died in New York. His work left its impress on the Journal, particularly in the line of careful, painstaking research, in the development of articles of historical value and of more than ephemeral life, and as the precursor of the special articles and the special correspondence which has come to occupy so large a space in the papers of to-day. He came from work with the elder Bowles on the Spring- field Republican— an excellent school— and the manner of his joining the Journal forces was characteristic. He had been working on another local paper with results not very satisfactory. He called on Mr. Danielson, showed him his string of articles for a fortnight, told 72 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. him what he had received for it, and asked for a chance to work. Mr. Daniclson said he had nothing he could give him to do. Mr. Dow said he didn't need to be given anything to do; that he knew news, and wanted only a chance to go out and get it for the Journal. From that time until he left to go to New York his work was a strong feature of the Journal's columns. He would get together a page article, broken into sections by double heads, of great historical value, and his less important daily con- tributions were all along most original lines. His history of steam navigation on Long Island Sound was reprinted in pamphlet form by the Stonington Steamship Company. When at the beginning of interest in the discovery of the carbonates at Leadville a number of New England newspapers united in an investigation of the new found deposits, Mr. Dow was selected by the persons identified with the management of the properties as the best equipped to write informingly about them, and on their request to the editor of the Journal he was assigned to this work. "Association on that trip with men of prominence in the financial world revealed to Mr. Dow a field for his efforts in financial journalism in which he could attain an importance and usefulness not to be hoped for in or- dinary newspaper work. His financial reporting in New York inaugurated a new era in such w^ork, that of abso- lute trustworthiness and straightforward truth. It es- tablished also the basis upon which he founded the finan- cial news service which is known by his name all over the English .speaking world. This service and the great daily financial newspaper which he established constitute his true monument. In his broader field he enjoyed EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 73 the friendship and confidence of the country's greatest financiers, and his analytical studies into prices and values have been recognized by economic writers generally, and as 'Dow's Theory' are assigned due value in their cal- culations." THE LIBERALITY OF PROVIDENCE Impressed Carl W. Ernst, who did editorial work in this City. Carl W. Ernst, son-in-law of ex-Mayor Hart of Boston, who has filled several executive positions in that city, was once a writer on the Journal and was later connected with the Providence Press. From this editorial writing he was called to Boston as a member of the staff on the Adver- tiser, in December, 1879. He began his newspaper work here in connection with preaching, which he has since abandoned. He writes: "My first contribution to the Providence Journal ap- peared in 1870, my last in 1877, I think. One fine morn- ing when things in Europe were squally, Mr. Danielson went out of his way to ask me whether I kept abreast of European affairs. It was a great question, entitled to a great answer, which was duly made. All he meant was could I write him some suitable leaders, and all I meant was that I should be glad to earn wages. "We got along beautifully. My articles were harmless, he paid promptly, and we were both pleased when the cable bore out my predictions. I enjoyed the utmost freedom, was never asked to take sides, and received good encouragement when asking once or twice that my ar- ticles should be judged by the event. 74 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. "With great pleasure and affection I remember Mr. Davis, of the Journal counting room, who was as faithful as Mr. Danielson and sincerely kind to all sorts of callers. "Providence has been called provincial. My ex- perience, both in the Providence Journal and the com- munity at large, does not bear out the charge. On the contrary, I never lived in a city where there was greater freedom of thought, a finer liberality of living, than in Providence." ANOTHER FINANCIAL EDITOR. Oliver B. Munroe is Connected with Frank P. Bennett's Publications. Oliver B. Munroe, a graduate of Brown in the class of 1878, was financial editor of the paper for nearly five years and wrote editorials on that subject as well as cover- ing the markets. He familiarized himself with the details in money questions and closely followed the shifting quotations of the markets, until his knowledge of the sub- ject came to be of considerable value to the paper. He is now connected with Frank P. Bennett's financial pub- lications in Boston. Mr. Munroe writes as follows: "I joined the Journal staff I think about the close of 1884, having previously served on the Providence Evening Press. After doing some general work in the way of re- porting, I was given the financial and commercial depart- ment to look after, which I handled until, I believe, the year 1889. During that time I wrote editorials, also on financial and business topics, for the Journal. In those times we all worked pretty hard and I took a hand at almost everything, although my special line was the stock EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 75 market, merchandise markets, and editorial writing. After I left the Journal I started in Providence The Financial News, a semi-weekly publication, devoted to local and general financial interests, which afterwards became merged into the Daily News. My connection with it ceased in 1890, in the fall of which year I came to Boston, accepting a position of managing editor of the American Wool Reporter, published by Frank P. Bennett. With the exception of two or three intervals, when I have been laid off by reason of sickness, I have been connected with this establishment ever since, and during my term of service here we have started and brought to a very successful status the United States Investor, a weekly financial paper. We also publish a sheep paper and a monthly devoted to the interests of the clothing trade. Of all these publi- cations I am at present the managing editor." CHARLES M. PRYNNE's MEMORIES. He Participated in the events connected with the Journal's Transition from an Organ to an Independent Newspaper. This is the greeting sent from St. Louis by Charles M. Prynne, who was once active in the editorial direction of the Journal. He is now well established in business, but his newspaper experience left many pleasant recol- lections among his associates. He says: "The memories of eight happy years cluster around my associations with the Providence Journal. Eventful years they were, too, for the Journal. Senator Anthony was gone; George W. Danielson was gone; and new men and to some extent new policies were to the fore. Mr. 76 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Howland had just come into control of the property and was the business manager; the late Alfred M. Williams had been made editor-in-chief; a Sunday Journal was about to be started, to the horror of the staid East side. There was newness everywhere. The gentle face of Henry Davis, the much beloved, beamed then as now across the desk of the counting room manager; the bustling " Mart " Day (who was capable of hiding in a furnace pipe rather than be balked of a piece of news) remained as city editor; but in the editorial rooms the old oak bucket with its cocoanut dipper was about the sole reminder of the elder days. "In the editorial writers' quarters— tucked away in an almost inaccessible corner behind the paper rolls — there was only one of us who was not new to the paper, and even to the State. ''It is not strange, I suppose, that we sometimes un- wittingly touched with irreverence the sacred things of traditional Rhode Island. Nor perhaps is it very strange that when Rhode Island began to awaken to the fact that the Journal had been changed from an organ into a news- paper its first impression was that it did not like it. We were read out of the Republican party before very long — formally, ex cathedra, in State convention, with bell, book, and candle — the chief sitting in a box and chuck- ling to himself as the party orators thundered anathema at him from the stage. If the chief smiled while he listened, the editorial room huzzahcd when it heard. Politicians are foolish mortals except when fixing slates and canvassing wards; and if we had previously bought a few of them they could not have served the Journal better, EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 77 nor better advertised to the State and the nation that it was above price. What we expected happened. That excommunication was one of the best things that ever befell the Journal. Its circulation increased by leaps and bounds. It was placed solidly upon the rock; and if the politicians who that day hugged themselves in de- light over their dear revenge will think it over calmly now, they will see that another good office they did the Journal was practically to kill then and there what they hoped was to become a deadly rival to the paper. "Probably the politicians see now, after so many years, that, whether right or wrong, the Journal was at any rate honest. And that is the chief and happiest remembrance I have of the paper. It was absolutely fearless, and its integrity was beyond a question. I know what I say. My duties probably brought me closer to the management than was any other person, and in all the years of my ser- vice it was never hinted to me, not even by the manipu- lation of my 'copy' that a predetermined course was to be taken upon any subject, irrespective of the facts. Nor did I ever hear that any other writer was hampered. On the contrary we were made to feel over and over again that the Journal's policy was to serve the nation, and truth and uprightness, without trimming or trickery or thought of self-interest, but in conscientious devotion to public duty. And I recall one memorable occasion (when the paper's future as a business enterprise seemed to depend upon the decision), the editorial writer detailed to de- termine a policy was instructed to 'study the question without bias, thoroughly and honestly, give a reason for his belief, and speak the truth without regard to the paper.' yS FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. "No newspaper man needs be told what it meant to a writer to labor under such conditions. Work was a delight. But the Journal was more than honest. It was manly and dignified, and of a literary excellence which if not singular was at least exceptional; while it was enter- prising to the point of daring, without a tinge of 'yellow- ness.' The most marked development of journalism in the past score years has been that of the Sunday paper. I like to recall now that the Sunday Journal at the outset in 1885 embraced all that is best and most distinctive in the Sunday newspaper of to-day, and at that time stood absolutely alone. The Journal was a pioneer in ncw-s- paper illustration and the first to test many methods. It was the first to cut w^holly away from hand typesetting, and newspaper men came from all over the world, even from far away New Zealand, to see its wonderful linotype machines. I remember that we were staggered when this innovation was determined upon by Mr. Rowland, and some of us feared ruin was ahead when we saw what sums of money he was willing to spend to get the news. How wise he was was show-n w^hen with new^ and im- proved presses and an enlarged stereotyping plant w-e were shortly compelled to move away from Turk's Head to what was then thought to be a building big enough for all time; but which I am glad to hear the Journal has already outgrown. "The personal recollections of these years are all of gladness. There never w^re kinder chiefs or more com- panionable associates. I never heard an unpleasant word spoken by our superiors: there was never a jarring note to break the perfect harmony of the writers' room. EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 79 Even the counting room (usually a word of scorn to news- paper men) dwelt in cordial peace with the editorial room, without meddlesomeness; and there was not a man in it, from the much loved Henry Davis to Tommy, the office boy, who was not a dear good fellow. I love to think of the Journal men and the Journal days, though they are nearly a dozen years in the past; and if I were a news- paper man again I could wish nothing better for myself than that I might be able to finish out my life in its service." THE PROVIDENCE PRESS CLUB. Charles H. Howland Recalls Festivities in which Journal men Participated. The Providence Press Club was founded by Journal men, and its inspiration was Alfred M. Williams. He brought from England the idea of its beef-steak suppers, and it was his wit and ability to enliven a dinner by repartee and the raillery of its guests that preserved the in- stitution's distinctive features. When these were lost, interest waned and the Press Club passed out, leaving a trail of savory memories. Henry R. Davis found no little enjoyment in attending the Press Club dinners, where newspaper workers laid aside their responsibilities and gave themselves up to social enjoyment. Charles H. Howland, who was a member of the Journal staff from 1884 to 1889, was actively identified with the club and he has revived these memories of the institution: " The club was an outcropping of Journal fellowship. It developed an atmosphere of camaraderie between the newspaper worker and the public, professional, and busi- ness life of the town that was not the less marked because 8o FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. it was unconsciously wrought. Originally designed to give the newspaper men in the local field an occasional opportunity to drop shop, suspend journalistic rivalries, and indulge in play together, it early attracted to its hos- pitable fold men of many diverse activities who came under the spell of its propaganda of good followship. ''Alfred M. Williams of the Journal staff was an editorial writer when he suggested the forming of the Press Club. The prompting incident was a supper of newspaper men and public officials complimentary to Manton H. Luther of the Journal on his departure for other fields. Twenty- one newspaper men met and organized on February 2, 1883. Mr. Williams was chosen president of the club, and served until he declined a re-election for a fourth term. He continued, however, to be the inspiring genius of the club's unique functions for many years after. "Meantime Mr. Williams became editor-in-chief of the Journal. It was a memorable period in the career of the newspaper. In Rhode Island, as elsewhere, the middle 'eighties were a time of newspaper evolution. Politically, a shaking up was in progress in public affairs. Many important partisan newspapers were undertaking the novel policy of independent journalism. Nowhere did the new idea create more of a disturbance than in Rhode Island when the Providence Journal cast loose from the party anchorage. "Over the pipe and the bowl of the Press Club, the public men and the inllucntial citizenship of the city and State met the newspaper workers of the new era. The contact was mutually edifying. Each found the other of human kind. Competing newspaper men, rival EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 8l politicians, the man of business, the lawyer, the clergy- man, and the college professor, assembled at the Press Club board, discovered in one another an affinity un- dreamed of in ordinary intercourse or customary con- flict. ^ ''The supper fare was simple and annually the same —beefsteaks, big and thick, with mushrooms, baked po- tatoes in their steaming jackets, brown ale that had rested quietly in the wood for some weeks preceding, rare old cheeses, churchwarden or corncob pipes and a hallowed mixture of tobacco, perhaps a dash of cognac with the coffee, and a feast of unreason to follow, the relish of which waxed with each succeeding occasion and the fame of which expanded so that, from a handful of grown men at play on the earlier Press Club nights, upwards of two hundred used to gather and make merry on the annual occasion. 'Trom year to year some very bright men were priv- ileged to make some very bright speeches to the club and its guests. Something of the character of these addresses may be gleaned from the topics given out and the names of the men who undertook to dispose of them. For in- stance, Hon. Charles E. Gorman once ventured to ad- dress the gathering on 'Modesty as a Drawback to Journalism,' and William Goddard on 'Poverty as an Aid to Journalism.' The late Mayor Hayward was heard on 'State Charities as a Refuge for Journalism,' Rev. David H. Greer, on the 'Debt of the Preacher to the Reporter,' Rev. W. F. B. Jackson, on 'Baseball in Journahsm.' More frequently the speakers of the evening were called upon without previous notification or assignment of topic; 82 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. manuscript was not regarded with favor, the demands upon him who was thus permitted to take the time of the club were usually extreme, and their fulfillment was beset with such obstacles as the imperious audience might, in its mirth, conjure up. A list of those who, at one time or another, participated in the club's stimulating programme would be a directory of most of the men in the public eye during the dozen years or so of these extraordinary gatherings. On occasion, there were special feasts in honor of the stranger in town — as one to Alexander Paul, of the London News, another to the late Julian Ralph, another to Charles Emory Smith, at the time the leading spirit in Philadelphia's famous Clover Club. Lecturers, artists, literary folk, musicians, actors, statesmen, and other persons of contemporary distinction who visited the town were often entertained by the club in its own distinctive way. "That the position of the newspaper worker in respect to his fellow citizens in the community is much happier, much better understood, and of higher repute than it used to be is in no small measure due to the salutary influence exerted in his behalf by this Press Club. It was set forth in the club's constitution that its principles were 'Opposition to any form of favor given or received which is not demanded by the legitimate duties of the profession,' and its motto 'Independence and Honor.' Outside the newspaper offices, twenty years ago, those principles and that motto were not so generally recognized as they are to-day." EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 83 HENRY B. RUSSELL OF SPRINGFIELD. His Coming to the Journal and Work as an Editorial Writer. Henry B. Russell of the Springfield Homestead tells of his connection with the Journal as follows: "I went there in March, 1888, from the New York Sun. The late Julian Ralph, then on the Sun and also a special correspondent for the Journal, one day introduced me to the late Alfred M. Williams, who was in the city looking for an editorial writer. Never having written any editorials, I suppose I thought I should like to; at any rate, after a very pleasant dinner with Mr. Williams at a Broadway hotel, I agreed to go. It so happened that I left New York shortly before the great blizzard of 1888 arrived there, and, as it passed a little north of Providence, I, like others there, had only the indirect effects. At a time when the wires were all down and the trains were all stalled, so that neither telegraphic news nor newspapers reached the Journal office, I, who had never written an editorial in my life, found it incumbent to write them all for a day or two. "However, I have some remarkably pleasant recol- lections of Providence and the Journal. At the time I went there the office was in the old building on Wey- bosset street, I believe, but the editorial writers, Mr. Prynne, Mr. Luther, and myself, were given more orna- mental quarters in an adjoining building where there was a library composed mainly of Congressional Records. As I remember it, our usual procedure of a day was at a certain hour, about 11 A. M., to go down to the office of Mr. Williams for suggestions that we sometimes got and 84 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. more often did not. I don't remember of receiving many, for there was a sort of understanding that I could take anything that did not belong to the other two. "Mr. Williams was a man of peculiar traits, and at first not easily understood by one who, having first caught the glint of his rare intellect over the dinner table, as I had, next found him alarmingly stiff and solemn in his editorial chair. The more I saw of him the better I liked him. It was astonishing what a wealth of wit there was beneath his grim demeanor. "I always made it a point to call on Mr. Davis once a week, whether he returned the calls or not. He always had the money ready. He was uniformly kind and good natured. Such men live to a good old age, and they ought to." RICHARD ALDRICH OF NEW YORK. He laid the foundation for future success as a writer when employed by the Journal. Among the "graduates" of the Journal is Richard Aldrich, who took up newspaper work in New York city ten years ago and has followed his specialty of writing about music until he is now occupying an important position in charge of that department on the New York Times. As his boyhood home was in Providence, his impressions of life on the paper are associated with his school days and previous life in the city. In his congratulations to Mr. Davis he says: "I can hardly persuade myself that your typewriter has not gone astray in putting down Mr. Davis's service EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 85 in the Journal office as fifty years. When I was in that office a few weeks ago he looked exactly as he did eighteen years before, when I first entered the Journal's service — just as bright in the eye, just as well and as darkly thatched, just as active in every movement, just as alert in watching the expense account, just as proud of the Journal, and I needn't say just as kindly and gracious in his greeting, as he has been for all these years, which you say are fifty. When I went on the Journal's city staff, just out of college, it seemed to me as if everybody had always known Henry Davis as a matter of course — he knew my father and I came into a sort of inheritance of his friendship. But he didn't seem to me very venerable then even ; and he has been grow- ing steadily less so ever since. I went upon the staff just after Mr. Howland became manager. The Sunday Jour- nal had just been started. Access to the 'back office' was not what it used to be. There was a new impulse in the paper that even a beginner could not help feeling; and there was a certain impression in some quarters that there had been a revolution in Rhode Island. I came to Mr. Williams with a note from my cousin, President James B. Angell, who had been an editor of the Journal under Gov- ernor Anthony. Mr. Williams seemed to be favorably in- clined toward young college graduates. He pushed me along toward lines that he wanted developed on the paper. He seemed to think well of some articles about the Provi- dence artists that I turned in in the intervals of covering the old justice court in Canal street in the morning and what in New York they call police headquarters work at night. I became art editor. Then I undertook music, for which I had always had a special taste; it had been 86 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. previously done by Thomas H. McElroy, when he was not holding down the city and the suburban copy desk. Then I was intrusted with the burden of the dramatic editor. At times I was financial editor, or seemed to be acting as such, when Oliver Munroe went away. I edited city copy, I reviewed books, and finally became an editorial writer. There were periods when I was more different kinds of an editor than I have been during all the years that have elapsed since, in succession. I am sorry that I cannot find time to remember and write down incidents of those days. Very prominent in their mem- ories is that of the friendly helpfulness and the kindly smile of Henry Davis." THE CITY EDITORS. Manton H. Luther gives his recollections of the late Edward P. Tobie. Manton H. Luther, who continues his work as a sten- ographer, with an office in the Opera House building at Chicago, was a reporter on the Journal during the decade from 1870 to 1880, and he gives the following recollections of the city force of that day: "Edward P. Tobie, Jr., then city editor, was my chief by virtue of office, although as a matter of fact his per- sonal relations with me, and indeed with all who came into his department later, were more the relations of a companion than of a superior in command. He was at that time in the full vigor of his young manhood, a gentle- man of about thirty years, active and enthusiastic, quick of action, seemingly doing things without taking the least fraction of a second to think beforehand. Moreover, EDITORS AND OTHER WRITERS. 87 Mr. Tobie had the highest appreciation and respect for even the most insignificant speck of news that fell in his way or that he had 'chased down,' and knew how to make the most of everything that promised an ' item.' And thus I found him ever. But this wide-awake and up-to-date newspaper man did indulge himself with one old fogy habit. When he wrote with a pen, it was always a quill pen; and when as we started up the stairway to the city room we heard the squeak, squeak, squeak of Tobie' s quill we knew instantly there was something doing. Squeak! Why, that old goose quill fairly squealed when the man behind it was slinging off 'hot stuff.' "Mr. Tobie had many warm personal friends who visited him at the office, especially among the veterans of the Civil War of whom he was one. I could name many, but will only mention the one of whom I saw the most. That was Capt. Geo. H. Pettis, whom we called 'Coozy' Pettis, the sobriquet being grafted on him by reason of the fact that he once lived in Cohoes, N. Y., from which name it was derived, according to current tradition. "The only other regular member of the city staff, when I joined it, was William E. Browne, a gentleman of whom I have the most pleasant recollections and who stood high in the esteem of every one who knew him. He was in habit of action just the opposite of Mr. Tobie. I can see him now in my mind's eye, sitting opposite me at the long table, which was in common use in the city room, calmly stroking his luxuriant reddish brown beard with his left hand as he wrote with his right, and at intervals of thirty seconds as the clock ticked solemly takmg a puff at the 88 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. cigar which rested between his teeth. I do not recollect of once seeing him in the least ruffled or discomposed in all the years I knew him. "So when I joined the Journal's city staff, somewhere near the beginning of the seventies, it was composed of only three men in regular service, namely. City Editor Tobie, Mr. Browne, and myself." Mr. Browne was for about twenty-five years a reporter on the Journal, and during the first years of his work there he made a specialty of preparing the records of council meetings for publication. His brother, S. T. Browne, was the Journal carrier who was after^vards paymaster in the Navy. About the time of his brother's death, in 1881, William E. Browne resigned from the paper and lived in New London until his death, November 12, 1888. Edward P. Tobie reported on the Journal from 1865 until his death, January 21, 1900, with the exception of a year when he was employed by the Telegram. Until 1882 he was in the office, and upon his return in 1883 he went to Pawtuckct, where he was correspondent over six years. Martin C. Day was the first city editor given the title and a staff of reporters whom he might organize. It was natural therefore that the system of making assign- ments should be developed under his management, for the value of local news was beginning to be recognized and corresponding space was allowed for its publication in the columns of the paper. During the administration of Mr. Day as city editor the famous Barnaby-Gravcs poisoning case afforded the Journal an opportunity for enterprise in securing a special report of the trial of Dr. Graves in Denver, Col. Mrs. *■-• v. AlGL'SIUS BUCKLIN, John Randolph, THE JOURNAL CARRIERS. William D. Maktin, James T. P. Bucklin, John Tetlow. THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 57 office to-day. Comparisons with the character of the boys who formerly served in this capacity with those who do the work to-day lead only to the conclusion that self- reliant boys still seek this method of earning their clothes or even helping pay family expenses. It was when help was needed in the counting room in 1856 that young Davis, who had established a repu- tation for punctuality and method as a carrier, was taken into the ofhce of the Journal, where Charles J. Wheeler had long presided alone. He was a rosy-cheeked lad then, and was considered especially promising. Soon he was put in charge of the carrier force, with whose work he was so familiar. In the fifty years that have followed the sympathy which Mr. Davis formed for his associate carriers has been extended so as to include a small army of men who have come into the service of the Journal in this capacity and are now filling positions of trust in the world. To Mr. Davis they all continue to be "Journal boys" and as such they are affectionately remembered, so that they never need introductions when they call to renew old acquaintance. In no way does his memory so conspicuously assert itself as in recalling the names of former carriers or in following their careers after leaving the office. This is not merely mechanical recol- lection, as many a carrier can testify, but a genuine con- cern in their welfare that may be shown by some favor extended in business, and certainly by a friendly interest that counts them all members in a growing family. The list of representative men who as boys trudged the streets carrying bags loaded with newspapers would be a 158 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. long one, for almost every lad had at least an ambition to do such work and many secured the opportunity. To go back of the service of Mr. Davis as a carrier would recall names of men with whom he has not been associated, but such members of the printer's trade as Samuel S. Wilson still live and keep alive traditions of newspaper ofhces that are constantly being compared with modern conditions. He lived in the home of ''honest" John Miller, to whom he was apprenticed, and his duties included the care of the Miller baby besides the regular chores. While not a carrier himself, Mr. Wilson came in contact with the boys who had the first routes established by the Journal, and his experience with Benjamin C. Simmons, one of that number, is one of the traditions of the office. Wilson lived where the Rhode Island Historical Society building now stands, and one night he was called into the dormitory across the street by a Brown student, who asked him to keep the Commencement illuminations going in his window. Wil- son soon tired of his job, and, deciding to go home, he threw out the board holding the candles and sent the chair after it. Simmons was passing under the window with his bundle of papers, and the chair struck him on the head, greatly frightening Mr. Wilson, who did not learn until sometime aftervvard whom he had injured. For- tunately the injuries did not prove serious, and Mr. Sim- mons lived long to enjoy the distinction of having carried copies of the first issue of the Journal. John M. Rounds seems to deserve the credit of being the oldest living Journal carrier to-day, for he had routes back in 1833. The papers were delivered to him from THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 59 the old Whipple building on College street, and Mr. Rounds remembers how the forms on the Adams press were inked by John Mellen, while John Ellsworth fed the machine as it ground out the edition at the rate of eight hundred impressions per hour. Mr. Rounds received only $1.25 a week for his services as carrier, and the col- lections from New Year's addresses did not add much to this sum. Of those who did business with the Journal as carriers when the ofhce was in the Washington building, Charles E. Gorman, the lawyer, is perhaps the oldest, for he be- gan when only six years old to work for his father, who had a newsroom at Turk's Head. One night he was returning from school when he was offered five papers and told he might keep the profits if he could sell them. He was so pleased with the profits that he wanted to continue the work, and his father installed him as a regular carrier. His first connection with the Journal office was the delivery to Senator Anthony each day of the Boston and New York newspapers as soon as they arrived in Providence. The appearance of Mr. Anthony and the atmosphere of the editorial room made a great impression on the lad; and although the two men dif- fered politically, as Mr. Gorman grew to manhood, the lawyer always entertained the greatest respect for the man who wielded such an influence. Just before the period of Mr. Davis's service for the paper there were seven carriers on the force, of whom four represented families that retained routes for several years, passing them down to different members. All four Randolph boys handled the paper — Richmond Kidder, l6o FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Col. George E., John, and Peyton H.— all of them soldiers in the Civil War. Col. George E. Randolph is living in Denver, Col., while John is associated with R. L. Greene on Washington street. When John Randolph delivered his papers in the vicinity of the Dexter Asylum on the East side only a few scattering houses had been built near that institution; but he has reason to remember two of these, for it required a long walk to reach the homes of John Stimson on Angell street and of Charles F. Tilling- hast on the corner of Angell and Hope streets. Of the thirteen Bucklin children born in the old home- stead on Arnold street, four succeeded in securing em- ployment in the Journal office, and Joseph H. Bucklin remained there many years after giving up his route, so that his connection with the paper covered about forty years. After a considerable interval John C. and James T. P. followed Joseph, and their cousin, F. Augustus Bucklin, joined the force. J. T. P. Bucklin, who was recently harbor master, remembers the trick the boys played on his brother ''Joe," whom even the tics of re- lationship did not protect from attacks by his younger brothers. On the route which James had along South Main street there then stood some of the most substantial residences in the city as well as leading business buildings, and Gen. Greene, Zachariah Tucker, and J. H. Ormsbee were among his customers. The snowbanks of those days seem to him higher than any that have gathered since, and he has vivid recollections of plowing through unbroken streets amid drifts that surmounted cowhide boots and soaked the feet, unprotected by rubbers. F. Augustus Bucklin had the route along Benefit street. THE JOURNAL CARRIERS. Rev. C. C. Cragin, Benjamin E. Kinsley, Harry C. Curtis, George M. Baker, Dr. Edward S. Allen. THE JOURNAL S CARRIERS. i6l and he had to deliver papers to three of the four houses then standing on Governor street. His customers in- cluded the Spragues, the Goddards, and Judge Ames; so the opportunities for New Year's collections were the envy of other carrier boys. The opportunity of mount- ing the steps or entering the grounds did not usually give the carriers the privilege of eating fruit found in door- yards, but Mr. Bucklin remembers one of the subscribers with gratitude to-day, for this man told him to help him- self to all the pears he could get. The dainties the carriers would bring to the office for Christmas breakfasts, to be devoured before dawn in the dingy press room, and the hilarity attending these basket picnics are among the pleasant memories of those days which Mr. Bucklin still treasures. Three of the Earle brothers whose name is associated with the Earle & Prew express business were once car- riers of the Journal, and Charles R. Earle gives the fol- lowing account of their experience: "My eldest brother, John D. Earle, had the South Main street route after S. T. Browne left it to enter the Navy. My brother William H. Earle came on in 1857, and I succeeded him on the North Main street route, taking in the vicinity of Canal, Smith, Charles, and Orms streets. I had about fifty-five subscribers on this route, and the last paper was left at the old State Prison. In the latter part of 1859 I left the route in the care of Henry Allen, a cousin of Dr. Allen, but I resumed the work in 1862. The first person to greet me with a 'good morning' was Job Winsor, an eccentric man, who will be remembered as the ex- hibitor of a whale as a curiosity. I often encountered 1 62 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. 'Janey, ' the colored man, who was always looking for a job (at least the inscription on his wagon would indicate that). On State street Capt. Joslin would be watching for me, and if the morning was cold he would generally urge me to come in and drink something warm. Mr. Davis was substitute for Joseph Bucklin when he was absent. We would make it warm for Bucklin when the press broke down, and I remember that at one time this occurred quite often. Sometimes he lost his temper over our jokes, and that was just what the boys wanted. He would sometimes threaten to discharge us all, but the next morning he would greet us very cordially. Mr Davis was a young man in the counting room, and always paid us when it was time to call for our money. The boys used to look forward to New Year's, and Mr. Bucklin was always very good to see that our addresses were written in time. The people for whom I left the Journal were generally more liberal than they were on some of the routes. I enjoyed getting up in the morning and also the pleasure of carrying the Journal. We used to have heavy snowstorms, and I remember seeing drifts from six to eight feet deep on South Main street as well as along my route." Asa F. Bosworth was the eldest of three brothers who took routes, and when he began in 1862 he had to pass among the neglected stones of the old Proprietor's burial ground, which has since been converted into Hay- ward Park. This experience was not very pleasant for the lonely lad on dark mornings. His brothers, John C. and Fred S. Bosworth, followed him. But the most interesting instance of routes long held THE journal's CARRIERS. 163 in a family was the achievement of the six Baker brothers, who kept up a succession from 1874 to 1896 with either the Journal or the Bulletin, a period of over twenty-two years. The beginning was made by George M. Baker, the metal refiner, who passed his route on through Frank N., E. G. Jr., Harold D., Walter S., and Ernest C. Baker, and the boys not only earned their spending money, but were generally able to save enough to buy the clothes they wore. Similar successions have perhaps been main- tained by other families, but the Bakers can safely claim the most unique record in this respect. Some of the staunchest friends of the paper may be found among those who thus served it in their boyhood, for the favorable impressions made in those early years are lasting, especially when accompanied by such rigor- ous discipline as early rising. Such a friend of the Journal is Benjamin E. Kinsley, for the father took the paper from the date of its first issue, and the son had it follow him in his travels all over the world. Mr. Kinsley retains vivid recollections of the office on Washington Row and the timid way in which he would climb the dark stairs to the press room, fearing each minute lest he should encounter the form of some drunken man who had crawled in there to sleep off his debauch. The carriers of one period remember an incident in Mr. Kinsley's career which led to his discharge. Mr. Kinsley does not hesitate to relate the story, and, although he says he would not think of repeating such a trick now, the reve- lation it gave him then of Mr. Anthony's character was some compensation for his punishment. Mr. Kinsley was as active as any in the lively set of carriers, and when 164 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. he found the other boys waiting for the pressman one morning, he accepted a ''dare" to change the types in the form so as to give a ridiculous turn to an announce- ment in the advertising column. The consciousness of what he had done weighed on him that day so heavily that he was not surprised later when he saw "Joe" Bucklin enter his father's shoe store with a very grave face. He was escorted into the august presence of Senator Anthony to be examined about the offence, but it did not require much questioning to bring out the facts, for he was then ready to confess it all. "Of course we cannot keep you after you did this," said Mr. Anthony, but in such a kindly way that it seemed to take some of the sting out of the sentence of discharge. Mr. Anthony even asked him to stay and break in his successor; so he thinks that he was treated pretty leniently, when he con- siders the character of the offence. The late Daniel W. Ladd was also implicated in this scrape and was dis- charged with Kinsley. The Ladd and Kinsley routes were then consolidated and given to Henry B. Ladd, who is still employed by the paper. W. D. Martin, who entered the employ of the Lippitts over forty years ago and still works for their company, succeeded Mr. Davis when he gave up his early morning walks for a place in the telegraph office. This route extended up Westminster street toward Cranston, and ended on the hill overlooking Olneyville. It was Mr. Martin who took advantage of the deep snow which reached nearly to his waist one New Year's morning to excite the sympathies of his customers by his prompt de- livery under such obstacles and his immediate return THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 65 for the distribution of addresses. He remembers that his extra effort was well rewarded. While most of the houses where deliveries were to be made were accessible by well-defined lines of communication, there always seemed to be one or two customers difficult to reach. Thus Martin remembers that he had to cross the Dexter Training Ground to take a single copy to the step of a house on Cranston street. John Tetlow, head master of the Boston Girls' High and Latin Schools, retains his sympathy for the carriers, for he worked in that capacity when a boy, and he re- calls his experiences as follows : ''I j&x the date of my service by the date of the appear- ance of Donati's comet, which in the autumn and winter of 1858 was a conspicuous object in the eastern sky as I left my father's house on Cabot street at 4 o'clock in the morning to take my way to the Journal office. My route began at the bridge, and after leaving the business section of the city included between the river and Wey- bosset street extended westward to the end of Friendship and Pine streets. I was in attendance at the Providence High School at the time, under the instruction of Edward H. Magill, whom I remember as the best teacher I ever had. As I often carried a school book along with me and prepared a lesson as I delivered the papers along my route, I am afraid that I sometimes in my absent-minded- ness missed a subscriber and brought on myself a well- merited rebuke from Joseph Bucklin, who had charge of the room in which we carriers received our papers from the press and folded them before proceeding over our several routes. For, when a subscriber made a com- 1 66 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. plaint at the upstairs office, Mr. Wheeler or Mr. Bucklin entered the complaint, together with a suitable exhor- tation or objurgation, as the case might be, in a large book which we were expected to consult on our arrival at the folding room every morning. As the re- buke administered to each one was open to the inspection of all, it not seldom happened that a tardy comer would be greeted by his fellow carriers with jeering remarks as he entered the folding room and would learn from their remarks that there was warm language awaiting his in- spection in the order book. The carriers whom I best remember as serving at the same time with me were Richard M. Atwater (Brown, 1865), Edward Atwater, William D. Martin, Joshua M. Addeman, and Henry S. Latham— the first three being carriers of the Journal, the fourth of the Post, and the last of the Transcript. We were paid once a week, as I remember that I received every Saturday afternoon from Mr. Wheeler in the upstairs office the munificent sum of $1.25. I should add, how- ever, that on New Year's day we carried to our patrons a New Year's address, written as I remember in one of the years of my service by Mr. Rodman of the firm of Moulton & Rodman. On that day I used to gather in a harvest, as it seemed to me, for the contributions of the subscribers along my route amounted to from $15 to $25. To this day, as the result of my early experience, I feel that there is a bond of sympathy between me and the boy who brings my daily paper; and I regret that I do not have the opportunity to cheer his heart on New Year's day, owing to the lapse of the New Year's addresses, by a THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 67 token of my appreciation of the important service he renders me." Arthur W. Dennis, treasurer of the Elmwood mills, who was a carrier for the Journal in i860 and 1861, had a route which took him along North Main street, up Charles street and over Smith's hill, and he delivered his last paper at the old State Prison on the other side of the Cove. Mr. Dennis has reason to remember Mr. Davis, who was able to secure for him a clerkship with Adjutant General Mauran in war times. The Cragin family furnished three brothers to the carrier force, and Rev. Charles Chester Cragin contributes these incidents to the chapter of experiences, writing from Campbell, Cal.: "I cannot recall when I carried the Providence Journal, but 1861 was a part of the time, for I have a most vivid rememberance of profound feeling when I distributed the paper telling of the firing on Fort Sumter, though I had little thought then that it was the beginning of a war in which I should serve six months as a private and two years as a captain. I carried it also in 1859, for I remember reading in it, as I was folding the papers for my route, that I had taken a second Greek and a second Latm of the president's premiums offered to members of the Freshman class in Brown University. I said to my- self, 1 know the result sooner than any other who competed for 'the prizes,' and I called Richard Atwater's attention to the paragraph. My brother, H. B. Cragin, carried the Journal at one time, for I recall what he said about a tur- key dinner, which he attended as a carrier. I also think that my brother, W. P. Cragin, was a carrier for a season. 1 68 riFTY YEAIIS WITH THE JOURNAL. Another event which stands out vividly in my mind was on a bleak, wintry morning, before daylight, when I was on my way to the Journal office. I was near the foot of Sabin street, and had been running to get warm, when the wind caught me out of breath and forced me to turn around and to stand struggling and gasping for breath, as if my last hour had come. As I recall it, I used to rise at half past three, depending on an alarm clock to awaken me. The first time I heard the clock it was startling, like the crack of doom, and I leaped at once out of bed. But I found afterward that if I lingered awhile before rising it sounded less and less distinctly, until finally I ceased to hear it, till I went back to my first experience and obeyed it instantly. It seemed to me like the voice of conscience, which must be heeded if it would be heard." Walter B. Harrington, the restaurant proprietor, be- gan carrying papers as assistant to Mr. Tetlow, and re- ceived only fifty cents a week for this work; but he says that the boys were glad to assist in that way to secure a regular route, so great was the demand for carrier po- sitions. When the Civil War was precipitated by the attack on Fort Sumter he was notified to be on hand Sunday morning, as the Journal would issue an extra, which he afterward learned was the first of the kind since the Mexican War. Copies sold so well that he cleared nearly $io by his day's sale. Occasionally boys were allowed to sell papers them- selves, and William P. Chapin built up a route in this way. Mr. Chapin admits that he was a timid lad and disliked to start out alone on dark mornings; so he strapped a lantern to his belt for company. Early in liis career the John S. WniTEHorsE, Walter A. Presbrev, THE JOURNAL CARRIERS. James E. Tillinghast, William V. Polle\s Franklin A. Snow. THE journal's CARRIERS. 169 soldiers were in camp on the Dexter Training Ground, training for the war, and he obtained permission to de- liver papers to them each morning. Mr. Chapin was much impressed by the personality of James B. Angell, who always had a pleasant word for any member of the force he met on the office stairs. John A. Arnold, secretary of the Conant Thread Company, was a contemporary of Mr. Chapin, and he built up a route of Bulletin sub- scribers. James E. Tillinghast, now secretary of the Equitable Insurance Company, became a carrier in the stirring days of 1863, and continued the work until 1869, being put in charge of the carriers the latter part of the time. He thinks the experience is especially desirable for boys, as they not only profit by the discipline but are brought into contact with business men who may be watching the promising ones with the idea of intrusting them with greater responsibility some day. He believes that he paved the way for his own life work by making the ac- quaintance of a customer who was an insurance agent. Louis A. Budlong, the carpenter and contractor, suc- ceeded to Mr. Tillinghast's route when the latter took an office position, and Mr. Budlong's brother, Walter Budlong, followed him. John S. Whitehouse, manager of the Rhode Island Concrete Company, can trace, more directly than Mr. Tillinghast, the choice of his business life to his experi- ences as a carrier. When Enoch Shattuck died Mr. Whitehouse was asked by the senior Shattuck whether he knew about the business they had conducted, and he soon made an offer to Mr. Whitehouse for him to take the lyo FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. management. When Mr. Whitehouse asked in sur- prise how he happened to be selected, Mr. Shattuck re- minded him of his carrier days, when he had the run of a jewelry shop with permission to sell Bulletins to em- ployees at their work late in the afternoon. "I noticed," said Mr. Shattuck, "that you quietly attended to business and left the place when you were through, without having disturbed the men, and I concluded that you had some elements of success. " Dr. E. S. Allen, who was a carrier from 1865 to 1872, appreciates the dangers to which a young boy is exposed by such strenuous work and irregular hours, which in- terfere with normal sleep. As a rule the carrier boys have about three hours less sleep than their companions, and he remembers that they used to drop off dozing in the hot schoolrooms during the afternoon. "While I ap- preciate the value of the training," says Dr. Allen, "I would never allow a son of mine to be a carrier, for it is too hard work to be safely undertaken at that tender age. The boys who have to rise at 3 o'clock to begin work on their routes do not have a chance to make up the lost sleep, for it is rare that they retire earlier than their com- panions. They start out without warm food and usually without proper nourishment, for the lunch hastily eaten generally consists of a doughnut or cracker. Sometimes a subscriber would take pity on a carrier and offer him a cup of hot coffee, but such instances were rare." One of Dr. Allen's associates as carrier was Franklin A. Snow, who carried the Journal from 1867 to 1872. Mr. Snow has had an interesting experience since, for, after working four years in the office of the city engineer, he went THE journal's CARRIERS. I71 to South America to help build a railroad around the falls ■ of the river ISIadeira, i,6oo miles up the Amazon. After two years in Brazil he went to Colorado to make railroad surveys. In the latter part of 1885 he went out for a year as chief engineer for the Dutch contractors at the Culebra cut of the Panama Canal, and also worked for the American Contracting and Dredging Company at Colon. Another friend of Dr. Allen was Henry B. Dean, of the firm of Dean & Shibley, brokers. He began by helping Dr. Allen carry his papers, and when established as a regular carrier he was paid $1.10 a week, with fifteen cents extra when a supplement was issued, which had to be folded into the regular paper. The loneliness of the work impressed Mr. Dean, but occasionally he was cheered by a customer who was up and waiting for his paper. Registrar Douglas of Brown University was often found in the dark hall of the dormitory, ready to receive the Journal ; and Samuel Noyes is remembered with gratitude, for he occasionally had a cup of hot coffee ready. The rule "first come, first served" was observed in dealing out the papers, and even then it was often necessary to urge the boys to be on hand earlier. The office was par- ticularly anxious on a holiday to have the papers started out early, and Mr. Dean says that just before Thanks- giving one year it was announced that the first boy to arrive on that morning would receive a prize. By a special effort Mr. Dean was able to reach the office first, and a neatly bound package was handed him, which proved to contain the champion ear of corn that had been on exhibition in the Journal window. 172 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. • Charles C. Newhall, who was a carrier from 1868 to 1870, remembers the strife to outwit ''Joe" Bucklin and secure some extra copies of the paper without his know- ing it. M. S. Dwycr, now superintendent of the news and mechanical departments of the Journal, began his service for the Journal in 1872 as a carrier and continued in that work for two years. Maj. Carver Rowland was a carrier for nearly two years before he received his appointment as a cadet at West Point in 1872, and Maj. L. V. Kennon also distributed papers at about the same time. Among the merchants who look back with satisfaction to their work as carriers are David S. and Horatio Fraser, coffee dealers, who are both impressed with the hard- ships which confronted boys who had to rise so early and face all sorts of weather. David came on in 1873, and he remembers that after a severe flood he was once obliged to walk along the upper cross bar of a picket fence to reach his subscribers' houses on Daboll street. Horatio remembers that one morning when the snow made trav- eling difficult, his father had to help him finish his route. Many a Brown graduate began to earn money in pre- paration for college as a carrier for the Journal, but few of these continued the work after undertaking college duties. In this respect Edward C. Bixby, assistant librarian at the Providence Library, is an exception, for he not only continued carrying Journals until half-way through college, but he built up a route of Bulletins besides. As he lived two miles from the college, he estimates that he had to walk about twenty-five miles a day in all, a task which THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 73 few students would be willing to undertake in addition to their studies. Harry C. Curtis, who succeeded to Mr. Bixby's route, had a dog which generally accompanied him in the morning, and he trained the animal to leave the paper on Lockwood street, thereby saving himself a good many steps. While the New Year's addresses were discon- tinued by Journal carriers in 1867, Mr. Curtis re- members that some customers wished to keep alive the custom of rewarding faithful boys, so they left word at the office the night before Christmas that a present would be ready for the carrier if he called the next day when he had finished his route. While the boys could not ask for fees, there was nothing to prevent accepting them at New Year's time, and one year Mr. Curtis says that he received $5 from a subscriber who told him that after noting his arrival each morning for six months he found that he had not varied ten minutes in that period. W. A. Presbrey, of A. A. Presbrey Sons & Co., who after- ward graduated from Brown, thinks that his was one of the hardest routes, for it took him an hour and three- quarters to go over it. When Eugene C. Myrick, now of the Silver Spring Bleachery, applied for a carrier's position Mr. Davis feared that he would be too small to do the work ; but he secured the opportunity to try, and he succeeded so well that he continued his route until half way through his course in Brown, where he was graduated in 1890. Mr. Myrick was known as the boy with the dog, and he taught his St. Bernard to run down side streets and drop papers on doorsteps. Many a morning Mr. Myrick would find the snow so drifted that 174 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. it would be difficult to reach the top step while carrying two bags of papers; but the dog could generally wallow through the snow, carrying the paper in his mouth. William Y. Polleys, contractor with the R. H. Tingley Co., had a route on the East Side from 1882 until 1885, and is glad to consider himself eligible to the company of Journal boys. The list of Journal carriers might be considerably ex- tended, but no attempt has been made to secure a com- plete list of them. Enough representatives of each decade during the last ten years have been found to bring out the character of the work and to recall some of the names of men who form the members of the Journal family in whom Mr. Davis has taken an especial interest. The story of the carriers would not be complete without further reference to the New Year's addresses they were for many years permitted to distribute. These were gen- erally in the form of verse, which was printed on a single page, varying in size according to its length or ambitions of the paper, although the publishers did not always have a part in their preparation. The lines usually con- tained some hint of the object of the missive, and there was almost always an obsequious use of congratulations, suggesting that the time for substantial appreciation of the messenger service had come. The custom originated in the beginning of the last century, and was adopted pretty generally throughout the country, until it led to abuses and had to be discontinued by self-respecting newspapers. The author of the verse usually withheld his name and identity, but in rare cases he signed the missive. The events of the year were reviewed, especially THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 75 in such strenuous times as the Civil War, while occasion- ally the rhyme took on a religious tone of thankfulness for blessings and observations on the inexorable flight of time. The New York and Philadelphia papers followed the custom, and exhibited considerable rivalry in attempts to make each offering outshine that of competitors. Illustrations were used, some of them serious, but more frequently pretending to be humorous, representing such scenes as the toper swearing off. The New York Herald, one year, illustrated incidents in the chronicle of the pre- ceding twelve months, which seemed to have been noted for fires, as three out of four crude pictures were animated representations of fire departments battling with burning buildings. When the example set by the carriers was adopted by such public servants as the Western Union Telegraph boys, who had Christmas addresses prepared, the revolt began, and the enterprising tradesmen gave the custom a death blow when they copyrighted "Newsmen's" or "Carriers' Union" addresses and offered them for sale in the news-stands throughout the country. Originally the newspapers recognized the custom, and often called attention to the addresses on New Year's morning by such a paragraph as this, which appeared in the Journal : "The carriers wish to say that in the course of the morning they will wait on their patrons with the com- pliments of the season done in verse." But the subscribers who did not contribute in response to the appeals were either slighted or they imagined that they were, and in 1867 the salaries of the Journal carriers 176 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. were increased and they were forbidden longer to dis- tribute addresses. One of the first addresses seen in Providence was that issued by the Columbian Phoenix in 1810, which began with the sentiment: " Such is the Fashion of the time, A carrier now must deal in rhyme." At first newspapers, in Rhode Island at least, were dis- posed to vary the form of the addresses, which sometimes appeared as calendars, the table for each month sur- rounding the verses, while the sheet was encircled by a border which was very elaborate for those days. While much that was written was mere doggerel, the attempt to secure real poetry was sometimes rewarded, as when ^Irs. Sarah Helen Whitman or William Pabodie condescended to do something to please the boys. Probably Henry C. Whitaker was called on as frequently as any of the makers of verse to write these addresses, for his sympathies could easily be enlisted and he wrote with comparative ease. In an emergency one year some one suggested that ex-^Iayor Rodman could write poetry, and he did so well that he was asked year after year to summarize local events in verse, which often contained pointed allusions to familiar characters or topics of discussion. Only once in the addresses discovered in Providence could the name of the author be found printed with the verse. When Mrs. Whitman's sister wrote for the daily Post boys in 1865 she ended her lines as follows: " Wishing our patrons all a happy year, With social pleasures and sumptuous cheer. THE JOURNAL S CARRIERS. 1 77 The carrier stands, awaiting his reward, The author takes her leave and leaves her card." S. A. Power. Occasionally an attempt was made to have the appeal more personal by using the carrier's name, as when the ''New Year's address of Charles E. Gorman, the news- boy, " appeared in 1855, while later a Massachusetts paper allowed "the business record of the printer's boy" to be distributed among its subscribers. The purpose of the message was not always expressed as frankly as it is in these lines: ' And should your feelings lead you to bestow, In generous impulse — fifty cents or so — On us — the carriers of your daily news— We shouldn't have the heart — I'm sure — to refuse." When the inexperienced or uncultivated poet wooed the muse the inspiration did not always supply a word that rhymed with Journal, and this accounts for the frequent use of the word diurnal, even in the addresses of successive years. Thus one year the epistle contained these lines: " Through each new born year, midst cold and heat, Our visits are made diurnal And our hearts are cheered by the smile we meet From the friends of the daily Journal." A few years later the same ending appeared to the lines: " To our kind friends and patrons of the Journal Whose doors we meet in our rounds diurnal." And again: "With a sudden start the carrier woke To find himself in office of the Journal With papers ready for his rounds diurnal." 178 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Some idea of the character and diversity of these ad- dresses may be gathered by a comparison of the one written in 1855, which was of average abihty and characteristic of a majority of epistles, with that of 1867, which was the last one delivered by the Journal carriers. A stanza in the address of 1855 reads as follows: " Oh, no sir, not a bill, though I confess You might expect one just at this time, No, not a bill, but only my address, My customary gift in annual rhyme." Here is a part of the legend told at length as a farewell in 1867: " The stars had set in the wintry skies. And the dawn like an angel of paradise Had stolen through the midnight dungeon's bar And left the gates of the morning ajar. " Scarce were the Christmas greetings said, Scarce were the Christmas roses dead, When the New Year came with an eager tread With locks unshorn, Like a God new born To reign in the old year's stead. "New Year's morning, the legends say, Like some seneschal old and gray. Back to the dwellings of living men, The ghost of the old year comes again. Little he recks of the crowded street, Little he cares for the hurrying feet. In ghostly gait, with footsteps fleet, He goes unseen. Like a shade I ween, The new born year to meet. " The stars had set in the wintry sky, When the weird train came hurrying by. Only seen in the dusky street By the newsboys pacing their wonted beat. THE journal's CARRIERS. 1 79 List to the old year's solemn tread, List, oh! list! to the words he said, As he stood twixt the living and the dead, And blessed the heir, And prayed the care Of heaven upon his head. The old king laid his hour-glass down, And took from his temples the hoar)' crown, And stood in the ghostly silence dumb, With the misty shape of the things to come. Blithely the new year raised his head, 'Welcome the crown and the scythe,' he said, 'The proud shall be humbled, the poor shall be fed; In God's sweet peace. The earth's increase Shall give the people bread.' " Other newspapers continued the custom of New Year's addresses long after it was discontinued by the Journal, and even now Mr. Davis receives annually syndicate offers of such literature, but they are out of the fashion. Still while they lasted Providence papers furnished addresses as creditable as any to be found. After Mr. Rodman died the task of writing addresses seemed to fall on S. N. Mitchell's shoulders. He had composed popular songs, so he turned off effective rhymes for the boys for many years. But he has lived to see the custom die, with the change in the "fashion of the time." CHAPTER VIII. COLLECTING THE NEWS. Revolution produced by the Telegraph.— Difficulties first experienced by this method of Transmission. — Euro- pean News by Steamer before the Cable was laid. — The Journal's system of Collecting Election Returns.— Its Resources tested by Flood and Storm.— Success- ful Experiments with the Wireless method of trans- mitting Dispatches. COLLECTING THE NEWS. When the transmission of European news under the ocean was made possible by the completion of the At- lantic cable a subscriber of the Journal remarked to Senator Anthony, "You give us daily, for a breakfast zest, news from nearly every part of the globe." "Yes," was the reply, "but the end is not yet." In connection with this remark it is significant that a few years later the Senator introduced a bill in Congress for the protection of a company which wanted to transmit news through the air by sound waves. Of course he was ridiculed, but while nothing came of that suggestion it might be con- sidered a foreshadowing of the wireless telegraph of 1902, which his paper was one of the first to use in its news service. Before the days of the telegraph the obstacles to any attempt to systematize the collection of general news were very great and little pi*ogress could be made, yet enter- prising papers used trains and steamers and established expresses to railroad stations and employed boats to meet incoming steamers before they reached port. The Journal arranged to get the important news from Boston by means of special messenger, who sometimes covered the distance in four hours. Considerable improvement in the prompt collection of general news was secured by an arrangement with the editor of the Boston Atlas to work in combination, and this proved especially useful 184 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. in collecting returns of a national election. New York was then a great news centre, as it is to-day, and it was considered a great achievement, when the railroad was opened to Boston, that the news of the day could be put in type at night and shipped East by train, which could be intercepted at Danielsonville, Ct., and the matter be re- ceived here in season for insertion in the Journal the fol- lowing morning. Before that arrangement was made most of the general news items printed in Providence had appeared the morning before in the New York city papers. The Boston and New York Telegraph Company built a line in 1846 connecting the two cities by wires, which passed through Worcester and not by way of Providence. Then the express service to Boston, which had been es- pecially useful in conveying European news brought across the water by steamers, could also handle the tel- egraph news that centred in New York city. Senator Anthony, in the meantime, realizing the need of a wire to Providence, became one of the incorporators of the Rhode Island Magnetic Telegraph Company which built a line along the railroad from Providence to Wor- cester. Before the consolidation of the lines there were sev- eral companies doing business and dividing the profits, so that the rivalry between them was sharp. In Provi- dence the House system had an ofhce in the Washington building, the Bain company was stationed on Canal street, nearly opposite Washington Row, while the Morse company office was on South Main street. Bidding for business was so active that the Bain and House operators kept champagne ready to serve customers, and each of COLLECTING THE NEWS. 1 85 the three profited by accidents that continually happened to their rivals. Benjamin F. Ashley, now residing in New York city, was connected with the office in Washington building which used the House machine, then considered very efficient for receiving messages. This machine printed the dispatches out on paper ribbon in a single line of capital letters. A wheel, turned by hand, furnished the power for the operator, who manipulated a set of keys. In the Bain system a paper disc was treated with chem- icals so it received the current and the dots and dashes left their impress on it as the paper revolved. The Morse receiver was much like the ticker of to-day, except that it recorded only dots and dashes instead of capital letters. The House system claimed the advantage, because there was no necessity for the operator to transcribe the code; but no doubt the other offices made corresponding claims of superiority. The newspaper offices preferred the House system, for they could give dispatches out as copy just as they came to the telegraph office. The cus- tom was to measure out three sections of the ribbon be- tween the outstretched hands and to put them on the hook for one "take" to the compositor, who was expected to fill in the missing letters and prepare suitable headings. All these devices finally gave way to the Morse system and its code, and the rival companies, which had been engaged in commercial warfare, were merged one by one. While the receiver takes his messages now on the type- writer, the first operators developed speed in manuscript and soon became expert in rapid writing. Walter P. 1 86 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Phillips, who afterward became manager for the United Press Association, was long an operator for the Western Union company in Providence, and he made a record in 1868 by receiving by sound and writing out in one hour 2,731 words sent to Providence from Boston, which is an average of a little over forty-five words a minute. Credit was given the House system in Providence for early recognition of the fact that electricity caused the display of Northern lights, for some scientists had pre- viously supposed that they were the reflection of sun- light on ice packs. Mr. Ashley noticed that every flash in the sky seemed to throw the instruments into disorder; so he called the manager's attention to the matter, which was reported for the papers. All these features of the telegraph interested Mr. Davis, while a messenger boy in the office. The telegraph had solved the problem of collecting domestic news promptly, and the great increase in its volume led to the various news-gathering associations formed for the purpose of exchange and the consequent prevention of unnecessary work. Such an organization was formed by the New York newspapers in 185 1, but it was not until 1856 that the Associated Press came into being to gather the world's news. But Europe was still a great way off, for its news had to come by steamers, which required two or three weeks to cross the ocean. The incoming steamers usually touched at Halifax, and the news packages brought by them were dropped off there. Then the Associated Press. would send the contents of the European mail to New York city in cipher, which was there transcribed and sent out by telegraph COLLECTING THE NEWS. 1 87 all over the United States. It is hardly possible now to conceive of a time when news from the other half of the globe was from two to three weeks old when published and the papers kept standing such leadlines as "Three Days later from Europe" to mark the interval that had elapsed since the arrival of the previous steamer. Busi- ness men nervously waited for market reports, while the public suspense can be imagined when the United States was not certain whether such episodes as the Mason- Slidell incident meant war with Great Britain. Hence when word came "steamer sighted off Halifax," all the newspaper offices would keep open for the news. Cable messages were exchanged across the Atlantic in 1866, but the first messages were largely congratulatory, much as were the words which Marconi professes to have recently transmitted across the ocean by his wireless sys- tem. By the time the Franco-Prussian war broke out the cable service was well perfected, so that fairly full reports could be transmitted. Nearly twenty years had intervened between the tel- egraph and the ocean cable, and it was fully ten more be- fore the telephone came into practical use. When an instrument for conveying sounds over a wire was exhibited at the Centennial in 1876 it was considered little better than a plaything; but more capital was available for its perfection than when the telegraph was put to public use and a practical telephone service was soon developed. The only local news considered worthy of much space in the early days was the election returns, which were always collected with thoroughness, and it was expensive at first to get them from all parts of the State promptly. 1 88 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Samuel A. Coy of Westerly is remembered as a collector of election returns from Washington and Kent counties, and he sometimes used a locomotive on the Stonington line, which messengers could meet along the route. With no regular reporters, the paper depended largely on its friends for local matters of interest; but there soon came evidences of system in publishing the record of sessions of the Assembly or the City Council, which like the pro- ceedings of Congress were considered of the first im- portance and were given almost entire. In the reporting of elections, a work in which Mr. Davis has taken an active part during all his years of service in the ofhce, the Journal is unique among all the newspapers of the land in that with its own staff, increased somewhat for the occasion, it collects the returns from every voting district in an entire State. This has been practicable because of the size of the State, and necessary because during nearly all its career it had been the State's only morning paper. For many years also, — until, that is, the establishment of a State Returning Board in 1901— its compilation of the vote for State officers was the only one made. The law in those days made the canvassing and adding of the precinct officers' returns a duty of the General Assembly. But when the committee to which the duty was delegated found itself confronted with the many bundles of ballots it was accustomed to content itself with taking the figures from the columns of the Journal of the day after election and report the results accordingly. In effect, the Journal's count was thus the official count by which governors and other officers were seated. COLLECTING THE NEWS. 189 Of course, however, it was not any sense of responsi- bility of that sort that led to the elaboration of the paper's efforts on election days. For generations the people of Rhode Island have been accustomed to look to it for early and complete news of local elections — not merely the gen- eral results and the total pluralities, but the exact number of votes cast for every candidate for every office in every precinct — and to meet this demand the full resources of the office have been employed. In the early days this meant special locomotives, pony expresses run in relays from the remoter rural voting places, and toilsome tabulation and addition by Mr. Davis and his counting-room clerks. Now, with increased population, multiplied voting places, and greater possibilities in expeditious communication it means the hiring of special telegraph and telephone lines, the use of wireless telegraphy, and the organization of three distinct special forces of workers — the first at the polls, to hurry the fragmentary returns to the office; the second in the news room, to collate and prepare for the copy table; the third in the composing room, to as- semble the set matter line by line in its proper place in the arranged form of tabular presentation. Completeness of organization for an anticipated task is the Journal's mark of competency in news service on election day, as readiness to meet unforeseen emergencies is on all the days of the year. A member of the staff, perhaps specially engaged for the occasion, is stationed in each of the voting precincts of the State when the polls close, with a printed blank form on which to take the count. As fast as the count progresses, if a telephone is accessible, he gives the figures to the office for use in mak- I go FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. ing bulletins and preparing early forecasts of results. When the count in his precinct is completed and his blank form is filled, which in some precincts may not be till daylight is breaking, he telegraphs or telephones the full results to the office or himself hurries thither with them. There another force of men is waiting, each having a special part of the work of tabulation assigned to him. First the figures received are transferred to other printed forms, so arranged that each shall carry to the composing room the copy for a single line of the tabulated matter as it is intended to appear in the paper. Next they are read successively to the men whose part it is to tabulate and add the votes for the different offices. The tables of figures thus gradually growing through the night are not sent to the composing room ; they are kept only to get the totals, for which adding machines are employed, and when the last precinct return comes in, or the last that is to be used in a given edition, its figures need only to be added to those that have come before and the result — a single "total" line — sent to the composing room. In this department, guided by sub-heads and table captions that have been set in advance and galleyed separately, the copy as it has come up line by line has been put into linotype lines and placed in proper order on the proper galleys; so that simultaneously with the growing of the tables of figures toward the totals in the news room the same figures in type form have been ac- cumulating on their proper galleys in the composing room. Thus at the end of the night, the main heads and intro- duction having been written and set as soon as the final results were clearly foreshadowed, when the last total is COLLECTING THE NEWS. 191 obtained in the news room it needs but a couple of minutes to have the completed galleys ready for the forms. To get all the figures from all the precincts into the oflfice at the earliest possible moment, to get those figures in copy form into the composing room as soon as possible after they reach the office, and to keep the work of setting at every moment as far advanced as the work of tabulating — these are the prime objects of the Journal's system of work for election nights. Except for the failure of some precinct officers to complete their count in time, the sys- tem must result in giving the readers the next morning a complete report, down to the minutest details, of the bal- loting throughout the whole State. Besides that, there is, of course, another election service which the paper must render. It must meet the demands of that large number of active politicians and others specially interested in elections who will not wait for the morning issue but who flock to the Journal office, on the evening of every election day, seeking to know in advance the probable general results and the prospective plural- ities. To meet these demands, besides the men busily tabulating the returns for the morning issue, there are others studying them as they come in, picking out sig- nificant facts and figures and putting them on lantern slides for display on the stereopticon sheet outside the building or transmitting them by telephone to inquirers at a dis- tance; and still others who are making comparisons with the figures of previous elections and thereby reaching estimates of probable results. From the earliest times the inquirers for this sort of information have thronged the Journal office on election nights. In the old days at 192 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Barton block they would pack the long counting room to suffocation, and Mr. Danielson himself would come out from his room to read returns to them and to announce the latest estimates. The candidates would often gather in the news room and themselves assist in adding up the figures that showed their triumph or defeat. In the outer room discussion would often wax hot among the waiting throng, and at times of unusual uncertainty and excite- ment order was preserved only with difficulty. In the later times the use of the stereopticon, the megaphone, and the flash-light has kept most of the eager inquirers outside the office, but still the rooms that are open are always filled, and it is necessary to devote one telephone to the exclusive use of answering inquiries. In all this work — which means, of course, many hours of preparation before election day as well as the labors of the night itself— Mr. Davis has throughout his connection with the paper taken an active and interested part. It has fallen to him to supervise the arrangements for col- lecting the returns from the districts outside the cities; and in earlier years he did a large part of the tabulating done in the office. With the increase of the work that, of course, was impossible; many tabulators, labor-saving devices, and division of labor became necessary, but he still serves with the younger men every election night, and never leaves the office till the last total has been sent upstairs and the rumble of the presses has begun. The flood of 1886 tested the resources of the Journal for the collection of news, especially in this part of New England, to which the overflow was mainly confined. The rain began February 10 and continued for thirty-six COLLECTING THE NEWS. 193 hours, until February 12, while the fall of rain, sleet, and melting snow amounted to 8.13 inches, a record which has seldom been surpassed in the United States. There were nearly two feet of drifted snow on the ground, which had been frozen hard, so that the rising waters had no other means of escape except to flood the valley. The storm appeared to be most severe in the area drained by the Moshassuck river, which is ordinarily a comparatively small stream. The Woonasquatucket river was also compelled to take a tremendous addition to its usual volume, and the tide poured by both these streams into the old cove basin nearly reached the pavements of Exchange place. The first signs of the magnitude of the flood were ap- parent Thursday afternoon, February 11, when reports from surrounding villages brought the information that the water in every stream was very high. The Bulletin for Thursday, however, went to press without special efforts to describe the situation. During the evening the Moshassuck river began to approach the danger point ; so reporters were sent in every direction about the city, but in many cases their tedious jaunts did not bring re suits for publication until Friday's Bulletin. By Friday streams overflowed and washed roads and destroyed bridges, buildings along the rivers were flooded, dams were carried away or injured, and the railroad tracks became so dangerous that the running of trains had to be stopped. The Moshassuck river, where it reaches the vicinity of the Charles street railroad crossing, swept over the street upon the railroad tracks, and from that point to the Smith street bridge a four-foot current rushed along 194 riFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. the rails in the "cut" and emptied again into the Mos- hassuck at the northern end of Canal street. Of course this blocked all north-bound trains, which had to be held in the station. The flood in the valley of the Moshassuck reached its height Friday forenoon, but some of the other basins drained by the Providence river continued to rise until that night, when the most damage was done. All com- munication with Boston and Worcester by railroad was cut off nearly all day Friday, although some trains, pre- ceded by wrecking apparatus, went through that night. In the meantime persons who were anxious to reach Bos- ton started in a party wagon, leaving Exchange place at II o'clock that forenoon. There were not many long- distance telephones in use at that time, and comparatively few other lines running outside the city, and these were in some cases carried down by the flood . The telegraph wires worked fairly well, but they were in such a condition that only important news was transmitted. The Journal's re- porters and correspondents about the city were compelled, almost without exception, to bring in their own news be- cause it could not be sent over wires and messengers were not sure of getting through. The Bulletin, nevertheless, went to press with crowded columns describing the storm, and printed 33,730 copies— a large number for that time. The total loss through the flood probably reached a half-million dollars, for not a town in the State escaped the consequences of the overflowing of the streams. Roads had to be remade, bridges rebuilt, the railroads repaired and cleared of debris, and manufacturers were compelled to repair their plants and make up los.scs on stored stock COLLECTING THE NEWS. I95 and machinery. The city of Providence had to restore streets and partly destroyed bridges. The Mayor of the city, the late Thomas A. Doyle, was on the scene of the Moshassuck floods all Thursday night and Friday fore- noon, and other officials who could do anything to save property were on duty for thirty or more consecutive hours. They early perceived the danger threatened by the famous Georgiaville dam, and ordered those having charge of it to let off all the water possible. It was for- tunate that the tide was running out when the greatest rush of waters came. Another test of the newspaper's ability to surmount obstacles in handling news was made in the famous bliz- zard of 1888, when New York city and southern New England were storm-bound for four days. The storm reached Providence Sunday evening, March ii, when the barometer began to fall, and it continued in its down- ward course until Tuesday morning when it showed a pressure of 28.85 at an elevation of 75 feet above the sea, a record seldom equalled in this locality. Only seven inches of snow fell in Providence, but this was whirled by the wind into troublesome drifts. Down the Stoning- ton road, as it was then called, and along the whole of the Shore Line to New York, the fall was much heavier, so that the drifts completely blocked the trains. In New York city the storm was even more severe, and completely tied up the steamship, railroad, and other transportation service of the metropolis. The area of the barometrical depression was from one hundred miles west of New York to north-central New England and the ocean. As New York is the centre of general news, the effect of 196 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. the blizzard on that city was apparent in the newspaper offices generally. Several long-distance telephones could be worked from Boston to Albany and thence to New York city, but the messages were transmitted with the greatest difficulty and hours occasionally intervened be- tween the periods of open-line operation. With this un- satisfactory exception, Providence had no means of com- munication with New York from Monday to Friday by usual methods. The character of the situation was realized at the Journal office Tuesday, forenoon, when provision was made to get into touch with New York as quickly as possible. Reporters were sent to various points, par- ticularly to Stonington, where it was supposed that the first news from New York might come by boat. One re- porter spent two days and a night there waiting for the first boat, which did not arrive until 4 o'clock Wednesday afternoon. By this means the Journal was able to secure the news for Thursday morning, although it was several days late. The Bulletins of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday printed no fresh news that was not entirely local. The Journals of Tuesday and Wednesday were likewise lacking in general dispatches. But when the reporter secured newspapers from New York city by the Ston- ington boat Wednesday afternoon the Associated Press was able to glean a record of 8,000 words of the world's happenings, which were put on the wire that night for the New England papers. This was probably the heaviest report sent out from Providence in one night by that organization, either before or since the bliz/ard. This COLLECTING THE NEWS. 197 fresh information included the announcement of the death of the Emperor of Germany, a dispatch that should have been published Monday afternoon. This boat continued to be the only means of communication between New York and a large part of New England for several days. The condition of travelers on the road to New York had been rather serious, and the report that several in- valids on their way to Florida had suffered from the ex- posure induced a reporter to tramp nineteen miles in the snow after a train which was plowing its way to that city. The old ferryboat that then carried the trains across the Thames at New London was loaded down with two trains full of passengers, for whom food had to be sought in the vicinity. East river was frozen over in New York city, which was in danger of a famine for several days. Although Providence was shut out from a part of the world by this blizzard, the storm was not severe enough here to cause much suffering, although the poor train service to the south of the city was a great incon- venience. Nearby towns were not cut off as they had been by the floods of 1886 and the telegraph lines to Worcester were intact. The Journal kept men on the scenes of the digging out of trains between Providence and New York until communication was open. But during the inter- ruption of telegraphic reports of Congressional speeches and incidents in European life the local force proved that the paper could be made interesting with only city news, and it was some satisfaction to reverse the order that prevailed in the previous generation — when home problems were hardly considered worth mentioning, but European and national affairs were printed at length. igS FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Another case where difficulties in the prompt collection of news which seemed unsurmountable were overcome was in the report of the preliminary hearing given to Lawrence Keegan, when he was bound over to the grand jury for the murder of Mrs. Emily Chambers on the Scituate hills September 27, 1894. Keegan was taken before a judge in the isolated village of Richmond, which was without telegraph or telephone facilities and was located three miles from any line of communication by wire to the city of Providence. There was great local interest attending the case, since the parties were from Providence, and the tragedy was involved in much mystery. The case was set for October 20, the week of the horse races at Narragansett Park. The Journal company made arrangements with A. H. Barney for the use of running horses from his stables, by which the report was taken as fast as written to the point where the telephone wire passed nearest to the place. Here a telegraph operator tapped the wire, placing the instrument in his lap while he dis- patched the reports to the Bulletin ofhce as fast as they were brought to him. Two horses were used, Athalena running from Richmond to Ashland, where she was re- lieved by her mate Jakey Joseph, who covered the re- maining distance to the point on the Saundersvillc pike where the wire had been intercepted. The result was that a full account of the proceedings appeared in the Bulletin the same afternoon, the news being received almost as quickly as if the hearing were held in the Providence Court House. The Bulletin was the only newspaper which had the news of the mur- der case that day, and the achievement was one of the COLLECTING THE NEWS. 1 99 most extraordinary in the history of reporting. To the village people the sight of the racing horses dashing over the road at frequent intervals was indeed a novelty, which could not fail to impress them with the expedients to which a newspaper may resort when confronted with obstacles. For its general news reports the Journal has been served by the leading New England and national associations engaged in such work, but in late years they have been supplemented by special reports from New York repre- sentatives. When the fact was established that wireless com- munication was possible through the air the Journal decided to test the matter practically, to learn what were the possibilities of this system for the collection of news as well as for commercial purposes, and it established at considerable expense stations at Point Judith and Block Island, installed operators there, and transmitted messages to and from the island. In this enterprise, which was undertaken as an experiment, the Journal was actuated by the same motive which had prompted it to adopt the typesetting machines before they had come into general use, and, as in that case, the results have been entirely satisfactory. The tests proved that the simple but mysterious method was entirely practicable and could be used in competition with better known means, for news matter had been sent and received at an average rate of twenty words a minute over a space of thirteen miles, and it was possible to communicate with vessels for considerable distances at sea. When the operators had acquired considerable facility 200 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. it was decided to try the publication of a daily newspaper on Block Island during the summer which should receive its telegraphic news by wireless transmission through the Journal office from Point Judith. One result of this was to bring the isolated communities where the stations are situated into closer touch with the country, while it af- forded the publisher an opportunity to make further ex- periments with the possibilities of wireless appliances. Marine observatories were established at both points, and passing vessels are now regularly and promptly reported to their owners. The Block Island newspaper, which was conducted during the summer-resort season of forty-five days, was the second in the world ; for the Los Angeles Times had already done similar work in establishing communication with Catalina Island on the Pacific coast, and had main- tained a newspaper there. CHAPTER IX. THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. Typesetting by Machinery first adopted in New England by the Journal. — The successive Improvements in Presses and their increase in Speed. — Development of the Art Department and its present Equipment. THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. Hardly less important than the collection and arrange- ment of news by a morning journal is the facility for speedily putting it into type and getting it ready for distri- bution before dawn. With the enormous advance made possible by the telegraph and telephone in the prompt col- lection of reports the tendency has been to increase the volume of matter instead of furnishing greater oppor- tunity for its arrangement in the office and transmission to the printed page. The result has been that where once hours intervened between the closing up of the forms and the arrival of the pressman, who printed them, the me- chanical processes have been so greatly improved that enormous editions are now turned out in minutes where once the work would have required days and almost weeks. The daily paper, with morning, evening, and Sunday editions, is now practically a continuous industry on which work is never suspended for an instant. Fast presses gave the first relief to the perplexed publisher, who felt the limitations of printing machinery. These contrivances for increasing the speed of printing did not satisfy the demand for the prompt transmission of news, for with the possibility of printing more matter in much shorter time there came the pressure for more news and prompter service. The introduction of type-casting machines produced a similar result as the invention of fast presses, for the 204 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. publisher who saw possibilities in the cheapening of composition soon found that the only effect of linotype machines was to increase the matter printed and to make more pages for the same money that had been expended for picking up the type by hand. While in both printing and setting up the type the Journal has been always abreast of the time and has taken advantage of every serviceable invention, it has been during the past fifty years that the most notable changes have been made in the Journal office to keep its equipment modern. In fact, it has led in the two most important inventions which have revolutionized printing during that time — the adoption of cylinder presses and the use of the linotype machine. When the Hoe press was first put in it seemed a notable achievement to have secured the first machine of the sort outside of Boston; but when Ottmar Mergen- thaler's discovery, which had grown out of a determination to construct a practical typesetter, was put to the test, editors at the metropolis of New England were either skeptical or feared the antagonism of the organizations which bitterly opposed the machines that threatened to displace many of the craft. It was known by the publishers that a Washington stenographer's hope to produce a machine that would lessen the manual labor required to form letters had led him to perfect a machine that the inventors believed would arrange characters in a form ready for printing in a much more rapid way than they could be assembled by hand. Enthusiasts had been working on the letter- machine idea for ten years, and when this led to the type- setting models similar objections seemed to arise and make THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 205 the plan wholly impractical. But the stenographer,^ J. O. Clephane, persisted and hunted out inventors working on this idea for whom he secured aid. One of the most promising of these was Mr. Mergen- thaler, a poor watchmaker, employed in a Baltimore ma- chine shop for a mechanical engineering firm. He de- voted his spare moments to the invention for many years with rare patience and perseverance, which was finally rewarded by a recognition that he had discovered a system of casting from matrices that might be made practical. He tried to cast the lines in a set form, but justifying and correcting were difficult. Then he suggested putting the type matrices together in a little brass frame, casting ten lines at a time. Although this was favorably received the inventor seems to have lost heart, for he withdrew from the concern interested in his patents. While pro- moters were busy with these matrices, which were made from type faces, Mr. Mergenthaler produced a new form of matrix, which is practically the one in use to-day, and made the single face of type in a row of letters cast in a solid line. In the meantime Whitelaw Reid of the Tribune and other newspaper men had become interested in a company for making linotype machines, and they gladly adopted the new form of brass matrix which finally solved the problem of composition by machinery. But the invention was by no means perfect yet. One great difficulty was in justifying the lines so as to bring them out even at the end and distribute the space remaining between all the words in the line. This problem had been solved however, by another inventor, who devised a wedge space 2o6 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. for use between words, which might be increased in thickness at a single blow and thus divide the room left after the last word in the line among the preceding words. People who wonder at the mechanism of the linotype to-day, and are inclined to attribute to it almost human qualities, often overlook the fact that this little space band was necessary to make the machine practical; for if the operator had to stop at the end of his line and "justify" by hand the space left over, the value of the machine as a time-saver would be lost entirely. The linotype was practically complete when it was furnished with these spaces for use between the little brass matrices ; but the feeding of separate molds for type faces into their assembly place was still defective, as was the system of injecting the hot metal into the mold. For months when the machine was on exhibition at Baltimore visitors were liable to be spattered with the molten metal, which was not ejected with precision or effectively. Gravity was not considered of sufficient force to bring down the matrices into line, so compressed air was used to eject them and a wire line steadied them directly to their places. In other respects the machines installed in the Providence Journal office in 1889 were much like the machines made to-day, but even then there were skeptics who doubted whether any machine could supplant the hand operator who had made little advance in one hundred years, except possibly to develop dex- terity and increase the speed possible in the operation of laboriously picking the single type from its compartment in the case and setting it into the "stick." But here was THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 207 a machine that would arrange a line of matrices, auto- matically distribute the space left as the end of the line was approached, cast a solid block, and distribute the matrices again, without much attention from the operator, save to touch the right keys to bring down the proper letters. A long arm, which seems to be endowed with human skill, reaches down and, grasping the matrices that have been put in the line, carries them to the top of the machine, where a screw moves the row along a lock bar built much on the plan of the cash carrier, so that each matrix for a letter drops in at the right place ready for use in forming another line. The New York Tribune, Louisville Courier-Journal, and Chicago News became financially interested in the Mergenthaler machines and began using them a year be- fore the Journal took hold of the matter, but they did not install plants to supersede their hand composition. The linotype was considered an experiment when the pub- lisher of the Journal saw it had probable elements of success and offered to equip his composing room with it. In the spring of 1889, just before the Barton block was va- cated, the machines were set up in the building on the corner of Westminster and Eddy streets, so as to be ready for use when the place was occupied. The old composing room was not entirely abandoned at first, for the fourth floor was fitted up with the cases which were so soon to be abandoned. During the first few months there were discouraging incidents, such as the clogging of the channels through which the matrices were forced by the compressed air, the scattering of the molten metal, and other minor de- 2o8 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. fccts which have since been remedied. But the machines were practically a success from the start, and their faults were soon corrected. The first machines to enter New England, and the fourth set installed in the country, they were visited by inquiring publishers and foremen of news- paper offices, who generally adopted them later; for the linotype machine now holds sway in nearly every office in the country. The inventor did not live long to enjoy all the distinction which his genius had earned, for he died of consumption in 1899; but he did not suffer those disappointments that fall to the lot of many a genius, for he shared in the proceeds from his protfiable enterprise. It is said that in all inventions there is a point at which experiment proves the practical use to which the device may be put, and after that there can only be perfecting improvements. Thus the locomotive has not changed in principle since it was first planned, and the trolley car is moved by a motor working on the principle of the first invention. There will always be doubters who hesitate about the adoption of an apparently successful invention, and there are thousands who have championed hare- brained schemes; but when the recognition of the value of a new invention is the part of a continuous policy, which is to be on the alert to improve mechanical con- ditions, there is little element of chance involved. To illustrate the care with which the decision to adopt Mergenthaler machines was made, credit should be given to the opinion of the late Lucian Sharpe, an officer of the Journal corporation, who inspected the machines in operation, and his approval was the judgment of an expert in machinery whose scientific instruments are well- THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 209 known the world over. The Hnotype machine may be said to have been perfected in practical operation at the office of the Journal, which was the fourth newspaper in the country to give it a trial and the first in New England. There were eleven of them set up, and John Burger, a machinist, who was with Mr. Mergenthaler during the experiments he made in Baltimore, soon took charge of them and was able to put them in efficient condition. He still remains in charge of the machines, which have twice been replaced. Nearly four years ago eleven ma- chines were purchased by the company, one of which sets "heads" while three of them have changeable fonts, rep- resenting the latest modern improvements. The New England paper that first followed the Journal was the Concord, N. H. Patriot, which secured them in 1892; in Boston the first to adopt them was the Post, which did not put in a plant until 1893. When the linotype machines were introduced the de- vice was still imperfect, and the operators were obliged to pay so much attention to the mechanism that little time could be given to deciphering bad manuscripts. Type- writing machines were not in general use then, although one had been operated for a short time in the counting room for the business department. It was decided to transcribe all the copy for the printers using the linotype machines to typewritten pages, and Miss Gertrude Johnson was engaged for this purpose. She was an ex- pert operator who had received her training at the Pull- man company's office. As the work increased it was thought best to have another operator, which the Pullmans were again asked to provide. As a result, Mr. R. W. 2IO FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Jennings came to Providence, and after serving some time as a copyist he did reporting. Mr. Jennings afterwards became private secretary to Governor Brown, and when he left the office he took Miss Johnson with him. Mrs. Jennings is now instructor in stenography and type- writing and her husband is absorbed in poHtics, for he is secretary to Chas. R. Brayton as well as clerk of the State returning board. Each step in the development of the printing machinery in the Journal office has been taken to meet the new conditions in the demand for news, and while every improvement seemed to provide for the needs for a long time, it would be only a few years before another change became necessary. It would sometimes appear that the increase in capacity created a demand that taxed every facility until another change had to be made. Fifty years ago an improved Adams press, which had suc- ceeded the platen and frisket type, was in operation. The impressions made were distinguished at this period by the white lines on the border of the columns made by the tape which moved the paper along and protected it from the impression. When in 1856 a single small-cylinder Hoe press was installed it was considered a great achievement that 1,800 impressions could be made in an hour. The paper was enlarged a second time, being increased from seven to eight columns, and seven inches were added to the length of the page. An impression cylinder had taken the place of the old platen, but the paper had still to be passed through twice to be printed on both sides. In 1862 another Hoe press was bought, with double the THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 211 capacity of the first one, which was gained by adding a cylinder, so that an impression was made as the forms passed each one on the bed. When the office was moved to the Barton block in 1871, a four-cylinder press was installed, a machine which was then superior to any in New England outside of Boston and Springfield. This was really a "double deck" press, two cylinders being placed above the two which had been the feature of the other machine. Next came the press of six cylinders, arranged in pairs one above the other and working on much the same principle as the two-cylinder press. By this arrangement 12,000 impressions could be made in an hour, but the machine was obsolete in six years. The invention of the cylinder on which the type forms could be locked, the column rules being curved to fit the "turtle backs," was the beginning of the modern fast press; and the machine could be well called "per- fecting," for it needed only the adoption of stereotyping to reach the highest stage of development known to-day. The next improvement was stereotyping, by which process the type faces were reproduced on solid metal curved plates, so there was no longer danger of metal pieces becoming loosened in the forms and flying out at a tangent as they revolved. In 1881 the Hoes built a single web perfecting press for the Journal, and this ma- chine took the blank paper from a continuous roll, but it had no folder attachment, as that feature had not then been fully developed. This press could print an eight- page paper at the rate of 24,000 an hour. A folding, cutting, and pasting attachment was added in 1886. Since that time three presses have been made for the 212 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Journal, and all of them arc now available for use. Their capacity and speed are about the same, but each new one possessed the latest mechanical improvements. All three of them are double-supplement presses with a capacity of 24,000 papers an hour when the paper is twelve pages in size, and 12,000 an hour when the paper is either sixteen, twenty, or twenty-four pages in size. For the mechanical equipment in the new building the very best press facilities have been secured, since the new machines will not only reach as great a speed as has been attained by any yet manufactured, but they will be capable of using five different colors in ink, thus pro- ducing high-grade pictures to conform to modern stand- ards in illustration. R. Hoe & Co. are building these two sextuple presses, each to have a capacity of 24,000 copies an hour of ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-four-page papers com- plete, cut, folded, and pasted. Of eight-page papers each press will print 48,000 copies an hour. Walter Scott, who assisted in the press room, has seen the development of the press from the old flat bed machine to the type cylinder, perfecting press of to-day. He has reason to remember the old double-cylinder machine, for his arm was drawn into its gearing one day, when another workman threw it off its centre and the powerful springs caught him, mangling that limb badly. Before the days of web rolls the paper was bought in reams, and it was one of the duties of the pressman to prepare this for printing by dampening every few sheets, when it was spread out in piles, the process of smoothing out the creases being known as "breaking the back" of the fold. THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 213 The six-cylinder press was the most imposing of any used, for it required three feeders at each end and thus was three stories high. When the morning paper issued extras during the day to give the war news, before the Bulletin was started, these were two-page sheets, printed double and then divided by tearing them apart with a column rule as guide. Often they contained only a few lines of live news, which was leaded conspicuously amid dispatches that had appeared in the morning. Mr. Scott would sometimes notify Mr. Danielson of the receipt of war news on a Sunday and urge him to issue an extra edition. If Mr. Danielson did not think it worth while Mr. Scott occasionally bought the edition and printed it on his own account. The last time that he did this was when the news of the surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomatox came on a Sunday. He had great expectations in handling this edition, but he was disappointed, for people did not seem to care to buy the paper when they knew the war was over. The Journal was one of the first newspapers in New England to realize the value of illustration in daily journal- ism, and from the day the first illustration appeared in its pages it has endeavored to keep pace with the improve- ments that have been introduced from time to time. In the early life of this branch of newspaper endeavor its importance was quickly admitted, clearly proven to the satisfaction of all — editors and readers — and it only re- mained necessary to develop the field. The Journal has to-day an art department fully equipped to carry any needed illustration through the various stages to the stereotyping room. Artists and 214 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. photographers are ready at a moment's notice to take snap shots, sketch, or "frame up" pictures. And photo-engravers are ready to reduce the photographs or sketches to printable form. The system is so perfect that the laymen would scarcely believe cuts could be produced in such a short time. It is not unusual to print a half-tone illustration of a noonday event in the Bulletin that appears on the street three hours later. The first news of the fire in the Masonic building of Chicago, January 23, 1904, reached the Journal office at a quarter before 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Two minutes later the engraving department received for reproduction a picture of the building, and at 3:25 o'clock, thirty-eight minutes afterward, a finished two-column, half-tone cut of the Chicago structure was ready for printing. All the work— art, photography, and photo-engraving — is done by Journal employees in the office. Until April, 1902, the illustrations were reproduced by outside en- gravers, but since that time the Journal has used its own plant. The development of special articles as a feature of the Sunday Journal created a demand for illustrations. The first picture made in the Journal office for use in its columns was a cut of the steamer yacht Norma, which appeared May 9, 1886. This was drawn by Charles H. Rowland, who was a reporter rather than an artist. A picture of the schooner yacht Sachem, owned in Prov- idence, appeared in the issue of Sunday May 30. There were numerous old-time wood cuts in the issue of the Journal, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding THE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT. 215 of Providence. Charles P. Davis began occasional work with illustrations to a poem "The Ancient Anglers of Warren,"- published Sunday, July i8, 1886, and later he became a more frequent contributor until he was reg- ularly attached to the Journal staff in 1888. The establishment of this department April 7, 1888, was occasioned by the engagement of Mr. Davis, who not only sketched the pictures, but engraved them on the zinc himself. Later, when the department expanded, the drawings were sent elsewhere for reproduction. Mr. Davis remained with the Journal for about a year and a half, and he is now connected with the School of Fine Arts in St. Louis. Soon the illustrations were not confined to the Sunday editions, for the desirability of picturing events for the week-day issues became apparent. It was found that the process of making zinc plates was too slow for daily editions, so the chalk-plate process was employed for several years, but this soon became obsolete. The camera has had an interesting part in the develop- ment of the art work on a newspaper. One of the first cameras used on the Journal was a tiny pocket affair, 1 1 inches, which the artist personally owned and carried with him on his sketching tours, where he found it of great advantage. From this small photographic begin- ning, about six years ago, the present camera equipment of the art department has been evolved, including prac- tically everything that varying conditions might require, from the small 4 x 5 to the 6^ x 8| Graphic and 8 x 10 King tripod, with a complete assortment of lenses. Cameras, though useful, were not essential until the 2l6 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. newspaper half-tones came into use, and in a sense the half-tone has revolutionized newspaper illustration. It has robbed it of whatever crudeness or unnaturalness it might have possessed, and it has rendered feasible a far more extensive illustrative plan. The first notable half- tone work from photographs published in the Journal was on the occasion, in February, 1899, of the return of the ist Rhode Island Regiment. Before this half-tones had been published occasionally, but the custom grew rapidly from that date. To show the increased activity of the Journal's art department the figures for three years are interesting. During 1901 the total number of cuts made was 2,712; 3,951 cuts were made in 1902, and 5,465 in 1903. CHAPTER X. HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. Evolution from the office in the Old Coffee House to the New Building being erected.— Some Characteristics of the Places Occupied During the Last 50 Years. HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. In the last fifty years the Journal has successively oc- cupied three homes, and will soon move into a fourth, which is being built so as to include the site of the present Journal building. When the Journal was first estab- lished it was published in the old "Coffee House" build- ing which stood at the corner of Market square and Canal street. The publishing business was moved across the "bridge" to the corner of Dyer street in August, 1823, but it remained in that location only a year. The next move was to the "granite building," which still faces Market square, and the Journal was printed there for nearly ten years. During that period a fire in May, 1833, injured the plant, but the office was restored and continued to be occupied until the establishment was trans- ferred to the Whipple building, which then stood on the south side of College street, just below the location of the present court house. It was not until after Mr. Anthony became editor that the removal was made to the Washington building, still standing on Washington Row, and facing the river. It was while in this centre of activity that the Journal office became the gathering place of the public men who ex- changed ideas with its editors and dictated the policy prevailing in the government of the State. Mr. Anthony was most conspicuously associated with his sanctum in this building, where he could be found almost every day, for he had not then entered active political life in Wash- 2 20 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. ington. Many older residents remember the open grate that warmed and cheered the counting room and the desk in the editorial room which was nearly buried with ex- changes. Over the stairs was built a '*den," where Mr. Angell could find seclusion for his serious work. The editorial rooms were on the second floor, reached by the stairs ascending from No. 5 Washington Row, while street access to the press and composing rooms was ob- tained by ascending the stairs at No. 9. At the right of the main entrance was the counting room. In this de- partment Mr. Davis had a desk behind the counter, in front of which "Joe" Bucklin sat while addressing the wrappers for the next morning's mail. With these two was J. Bowers Slade, now the head of the firm of Slade Wilson & Co., and the three constituted the working force in the business office for several years. Senator Anthony had a private office opening from the right of the counting room ; but the room in the rear of the busi- ness office was the general editorial room, occupied by reporters as well as editors. It was here that the his- toric Journal "Sunday School" held its sessions. Before the Journal was moved from the Washington building the question of erecting a home of its own was considered favorably, and in 1868 one-half the Hall block on Weybosset street was bought for the purpose. But this lot did not prove suitable for a newspaper, so the plan of building was abandoned for a time. The Hall block was sold in May, 1872, after the Journal was well estab- lished in the Barton block. The place is now occupied by Henry Pearce, the banker, and by the Westminster Bank. OLD HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. Coffee House, Fletcher Building, ' Washington Buildinc Barton Block. HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. 221 The transfer from the Washington building to the Bar- ton block, 2 Weybosset street, was an important one, for the office had been identified with Washington Row for twenty-seven years. But it was necessary to place the new presses on the ground floor, and therefore a building adapted to this purpose was needed. In the Barton block the front of the first floor was divided with the Western Union Telegraph Co. In the rear of the count- ing room was the news room, while the editors, Messrs. Anthony and Danielson, were wedged in back of the telegraph office, and next to the press room, where they were next to the roar of the machinery as it turned out the freshly printed sheets. The reporters were installed on the second floor, while on the third floor a small space was partitioned off from the composing room for the use of the editorial writers. In recounting his experiences in the Barton block, Mr. Manton H. Luther, now in Chicago, thus describes the local room: "The city room was commodious. It was situated on the second floor of the old Barton block and was nearly large enough to serve the purpose of a lodge hall. At some former period it had been used by a dealer in stoves, and the board floor was seamed and scarred with the marks of the heavy castings that had been dragged over it. Two windows and a loft door opened into the alley, and through these apertures, in warm weather, was wafted an in- spiring aroma from 'Billy' Arnold's restaurant kitchen, not always unmingled with odors of a less savory char- acter; and through them also came 'Billy' Arnold's flies to visit us, when they were driven from his famous eating house." 222 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. Visitors to the Journal editorial rooms in the Barton block rarely left before they had taken a drink out of the famous old cocoanut dipper, which was one of the estab- lished institutions of the place. A pail on a small stand was filled with ice water which could be dipped out with this ladle. When the office was moved from Barton block to the Fletcher building the dipper was taken along, but when visitors lessened in numbers and the germ theory of disease gained strength the old dipper gave way to more modern receptacles. In the special edition of the Journal, describing the new office in the Fletcher building, appeared the following reference to the editorial dipper: "Filled with pellucid water, cooled and chastened with crystal ice, it has slaked the thirst of generations of Rhode Island statesmen, cheered the parched lips of 'Old Sub- scriber,' ^A-vis,' and 'Pro Bono Publico,' sweetened the draughts of victory and consoled the pangs of defeat of candidates for every office in the gift of the people, and been ever fresh and full like the contents of the newspaper of which it is the emblem and adjunct. Like the Journal itself, while undergoing changes, it has been ever the same. Editors have died or resigned and been succeeded by others; publishers have passed away and others have taken their places; but the newspaper has been perennial. So the hoops of one bucket have been gnawed by the tooth of time or the bottom fallen out from structural weakness; so one cocoanut dipper has been cracked or parted com- pany with the handle. But others have been supplied and the fountain has never failed." After eighteen years on Weybosset street the Journal was moved to the Fletcher building on Westminster and HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. 223 Eddy streets. This structure is five stories high and is now being used entirely for publishing purposes by the Journal Company. The well-equipped counting room occupies the entire front on Westminster street, the presses are on the ground floor in the rear and facing on Eddy street, the editorial room is on the second floor, the local news and composing rooms are on the third floor, while on the fourth floor are the Journal barber shop and the gymnasium for employees, who can take advantage of the services of a competent instructor provided by the com- pany. The mailing room is in the rear of the second floor, rooms for editorial writers and a large library are on the fourth floor, and the art department occupies the fifth floor. A lunch room is provided on the third floor in the open space surrounded by the separate compartments for telegraph editors and reporters, where the employees may enjoy their lunches at midday or midnight. Altogether the office is complete in its provision for the comfort and convenience of the workers. Long distance telephone service is available on three floors, and all the departments are connected by an interior telephone system. On the news room floor are the bound files of ah the issues of the Journal and the Bulletin, as well as other local papers. Automatic carriers connect the business and editorial rooms with the composing room, and there are speaking tubes at the desks in addition to the adjustable telephone instruments. An elevator in the Eddy street entrance reaches all the floors. The building is lighted by electricity generated in its own plant. When the east half of the new Journal building has been finished the present offices will be moved into it, so as to aflow 2 24 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. for the completion of the new building over the site of the old without interruption to the employees. When the new Journal building now in course of erection is completed, Mr. Davis will see the Journal in a home of its own which will be in marked contrast to the quarters occupied by the paper when he first began his labors for the concern. The new Journal building will occupy not only the space now taken up by the present Journal building, but also the adjoining land which was recently acquired by the Journal Company. The new building will cover the combined lots, which will give it a frontage of about 87 feet on Westminster and Fulton streets and 202 feet on Eddy street. The building will not only be creditable to the news- paper, but also to the city. It will be of three stories. The style of architecture will be Italian Renaissance, which admits of an ornate treatment. The material used for the street fronts will be principally terra cotta except the shafts of the tall columns, which will be of limestone. The terra cotta will have a tooled surface, so that stone and terra cotta will have an uniform gray color and texture. The maximum amount of light has been obtained in the first and second story by making the bays between columns almost wholly of plate glass. The third story is lighted by large dormers of terra cotta and by overhead skylights, which are concealed from view by the steep pitch roof which forms a parapet. The roof will be of light green slate with finials, crestings, etc. of copper. The main entrance will be on Westminster street, and the triumphal arch motive will be used here. Iron ■feV^J >S'..r:t-.-,» r f ». ■iil ^^^■•iE-. r|.^^ m $, l\ a-/ ^f;;V=-'1-^l^ L> .:J«%1 i,F^ . - • . ■ wl • ■ ^^ HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. 225 bulletin boards will be placed on each side of the entrance, and the wide opening is to be closed by means of orna- mental iron gates. The long vestibule and the staircase hall will have a high wainscot of marble, with tinted and panelled walls above, ornamented stucco cornice, and beamed and panelled ceiling. The stairs in the lower hall will be entirely of marble, and the elevator screens and the stairs above the first story of wrought iron in an ornamental design. The Journal Company's office will open from the staircase hall, and will also have a large separate entrance in the centre of the Eddy street front. The large room is to be finished in marble and oak, with columns and pilasters and mosaic floor. The ceiling will be heavily beamed, and the room lighted by a large overhead sky- light. A large amount of space in the Journal ofhce will be devoted to accommodations for the public. The building will be of fireproof construction throughout. The section of the basement of the new building which will be used exclusively by the Journal Company is of unusual design and construction. The engineers found few precedents for laying water-tight floors about 20 feet below the water level, and the conditions on the lot adjoining the present Journal building at Westminster and Eddy street were peculiarly unfavorable. The mud was extremely fine, and the difficulties of excavation were augmented by the necessity of supporting the adjoining buildings which rest on ordinary foundations about eight feet below the sidewalk. Water-tight sheathing was driven, and the mud, which ran almost as freely as water, was scooped out preparatory to driving piles. An idea 226 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. of the character of the soil may l^e formed from the fact that workmen who stood long in one place were pulled out by derricks, their Ijoots usually being left in the quagmire. The length of the piles varies from 30 to 40 feet, and the total dead and live load estimated for each is ten tons. The piles arc held by friction, there being nothing in the nature of hardpan to support them. The upward pres- sure of the water on the floor is 6,000 tons, and while the concrete was being laid clay and water were forced through 12 inches of concrete. The floors and walls were water-proofed by ten layers of tarred paper and coal tar pitch. The ])r()gress of work was slow, but it was completed without accident; and early in T904 a concrete boat 50 by 202 feet was constructed, and its floor is as dry as if it were above tide-water. The upward pressure of the water is met in part by the weight of the walls, this being distriljutcd by curved steel beams extending throughout the floor from wall to wall. This plan reduced the thick- ness of the concrete and obviated the necessity of deeper excavation. The basement is divided into three parts. The en- gine room is in the third, fronting on Westminster street; the boiler room is in the centre, and the presses will be placed on the Fulton street side. The floor of the engine and press room is 18 feet below the sidewalk, and the boiler room and motor pit in the press room are four feet deeper. The concrete floor in the engine and the press rooms is 3^ feet thick, and in the boiler room the thickness is from 4 to 7 feet. This is necessitated by the greater HOMES OF THE JOURNAL. 227 pressure of the water, which even in the motor pit, covering nearly one-third of the press room area, is 1,200 pounds per square foot. In the basement are 4,000 cubic yards of concrete, 300,000 pounds of iron, 300 cubic yards of brick work, 900 piles, and half an acre of water-proofing. The development of the homes of the Journal has been characteristic of the growth and prosperity of the paper, which successively required more room as it needed presses of greater capacity. In early times the newspaper was generally an adjunct to a printing establishment. The first department to be developed was the editorial room, and this was especially noticeable in the Washing- ton building, where the public seemed to regard the rooms with a sense of ownership. The modern news- paper has space for departments never dreamed of in the early days. CHAPTER XL JOURNALISM IN NEW ENGLAND. The Hartford Courant, Hartford Times, Boston Journal, Boston Transcript, Springfield Republican and Worces- ter Spy. JOURNALISM IN NEW ENGLAND. In the length of time it has been pubHshed, its steady prosperity during seventy-five years, and the comparative consistency of its poHcy from the first, the record of the Providence Journal has been unique in the history of New England newspapers. This even growth, uninter- rupted by financial disaster or revolution in business methods, has been due, perhaps, to the long terms of its proprietors, whose periods of control have overlapped one another sufficiently to insure the continuation of a well- defined policy. The custom that prevailed during the first part of the century of a canvass by a printer, who de- sired to start a newspaper and wished to learn what as- surance it would have of support, did not precede the birth of the Journal, which owed its existence to the rise of a tariff sentiment in opposition to those who feared lest protection might injure the commercial supremacy of such a port as Providence. It was the cotton spinners and other textile manufact- urers of Providence — and, indeed, of all Rhode Island — who gave the initial financial support to the Journal, which at the outset made itself a conspicuous advocate of that protective system for American industries which was then taking definite shape as a national policy; and all through the middle part of the igtli century the paper continued that advocacy unremittingly. In later years, too, there has been no real digression of the Journal from 232 FTFTY YEAKS WITH THE JOURNAL, its original patriotic j)ur])ose in this respect, though with the changing of industrial conditions it has, of course, found the truest protection and encouragement of do- mestic industry in free raw materials, in reciprocity, and in such other modifications of the earlier tariff systems as make for broader markets; at the same time in the interests of home consumers it has urged the reduction of all duties to a revenue basis as fast as domestic producers become able to meet natural com- petition. The open rebellion of Isaiah Thomas's Massachusetts Spy forced the removal of that newspaper in 1774 from the Tory-tainted atmosphere of Boston to the more loyal colony in Worcester. .From Worcester Mr. Thomas attempted to start other newspapers in New England, and he left a record of patriotic service in giving expression to the fervor that carried the Revolution through to its successful close. But nearly fifty years before Isaiah Thomas, James Franklin, the brother of Benjamin Franklin, had established a newspaper in Rhode Island, which was the fourth launched in New England. Yet it is in its career as a daily that the Spy must be compared with the journal, which began its daily issues in 1829. The Worcester Spy did not ap]3ear daily until July 24, 1845, and its pros])erity hardly continued unbroken for fifty years, although its jjublication has been continuous. A closer resemblance to the history of the Journal is seen in the Hartford Courant. which has been published as a daily since 1837. The Courant was established as a weekly in 1764, and has been issued ever since from })ractically the same home, which was remodelled and JOURNALISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 233 rebuilt in 1879. Another similarity has been in the long service of its editor, Joseph R. Hawley, in the United States Senate, from which he has until recently dictated its policy. Since the conspicuous part he took in the Civil War General Hawley has occupied an editorial position similar to that of the late Senator Anthony, with whom he was so long associated in Washington. Not unlike the positions of Senator Anthony and Sen- ator Hawley was that of Senator W. E. Chandler of New Hampshire, owner of the Concord Monitor, which he managed when a member of the upper House in Congress, although newspaper ownership by public men in New England is by no means common to-day, so exacting are the duties of the publisher. There are features in the growth of the Hartford Times and its long ownership by Mr. A. E. Burr that remind one of the Providence Journal, especially the gatherings of eminent party men in the office to discuss questions of the day. The Times is Democratic, and the men attracted to its office gathered there afternoons when the paper had gone to press, or in the evening; but otherwise one might see a resemblance to the group of men composing Senator Anthony's "Sunday School," who were at first principally Whigs and afterwards Republicans. The positive type of Mr. Burr's views was illustrated by the fact that when foreman of the Courant office in 1839 he refused to buy an interest in that paper because the conditions of the purchase included the promise to join the Whig party and the Congregational church. Mr. Burr's editorial connection with the Times was longer than that of Sen- ator Anthony with the Journal, for he had been over 234 FIFTY YEARS WITH THE JOURNAL. sixty years in the harness when he died in 1900. The Times was first issued as a morning daily in 1841, shortly after Mr. Burr became the owner, but he soon realized that there was a better field for an evening edition in Hartford, especially as he expected to find his strongest constituency among the working people who can read more in the evening after the day's work is through. In its mechanical development the Hartford Times has shown the same enterprise and disposition to keep abreast of the latest improvements as the Journal has, and its new building, erected in 1898, is a model of convenience. In point of long service in connection with a newspaper, William Durant of the Boston Transcript, who died December 31, 1903, after seventy years in the oflice, at- tained a distinction which was perhaps without precedent. He entered the employ of the Transcript when a lad of eighteen, and became a director and treasurer of the com- pany. At his funeral there were present sixteen mem- bers of the staff, who had each served over thirty years on the paper. The Springfield Republican holds a unique position in New England journalism because it has been owned continuously by a member of the Bowles family since it was founded by Samuel Bowles, grandfather of the present publisher. The daily edition was started with an evening issue in 1844, largely through the influence of the second Samuel Bowles, then a young man. Under this son's management it rose to prominence among American newspapers. For a long time the Boston Journal was conducted along lines similar to those that determined the policy of the JOURNALISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 235 Providence Journal, and when news had to be gained by clipping from exchanges each found the cohimns of the other particularly valuable. It was launched as the Mer- cantile Journal in 1833, ^o^^ years after the Manufact- urers' and Farmers' Journal began to issue a daily in Providence, and until recent years it consistently advo- cated party principles so warmly as to be considered an organ by Republicans. The relations of the Boston Journal to its Providence neighbor were particularly close during the administration of Col. William W. Clapp, who soon after Mr. Danielson's death succeeded to the presidency of the New England Press Association. GENERAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. FEB 7 - 1955 LD 21-100m-l/54(1887sl6)476 i ^ ^O / I / 859211 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY