1'^^ The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027499809 Cornell University Library PN 4899.N56P8 Evening post hundredth anniversar 3 1924 027 499 809 ALEXANDER HAMILTON One ut the tuiinders ot The Evening Post 1801-1901 tLH &tr- ^Jtg a.a h CopyrigJit , 1Q02 THE E VEXING POST PUBLISHING CO. qp Pref ace |HE Evening Post celebrated, on November 1 6, 1 90 1, its hundredth anniversary. For this occasion a special number was issued, consisting ot three regular sections of the newspaper, a tac-simile ot the hrst number, and an ilkistrated magazine supplement with a colored cover. The history ot the Evening Post trom I 801 to 181^1 was condensed from an account written by William Cullen Bryant tor the semi-centennial celebration ot i 8 i^ i ; the history of the next three decades was covered by John Bigelow and Parke Godwin, both connected tor many years with the newspaper ; and the history since the change in owner- ship in I 88 I, when the Evening Post passed into the hands of Henry \^il]ard, by Carl Schurz and by the present editor, Horace White. It had been hoped that Edwin L. Godkin ux^uld be able to give some account of his noteworthy services as editor trom 188:; to 1899, but he was prevented by ill-health trom sending more than a tew words ot kindly greeting. In addi- tion to the history Oii the newspaper, a number ot present and tormer members ot the staff, among them Charlton T. Lewis, William A. Linn, Watson R. Sperry, J. Ranken Towse, F. E. Leupp, and Clarence Deming, contributed interesting reminiscences. There were also articles on the social and business conditions ot New York City a century ago, on the literary his- tory ot the Evening Post, and on early journalism in New York and other large American cities. Aside from the publication of this centennial number, the anniversary day was marked by an event of much interest to all friends of the newspaper — the luncheon at which a number of the foremost citizens of New York entertained the Trustees and members of the editorial staff in the library ot the Equitable Building. The Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, who pre- sided, and Carl Schurz, St. Clair McKelway, Andrew Carnegie, James C. Carter, Joseph C. Hendrix, Arch- bishop Corrigan, Presidents J. G. Schurman, of Cor- nell, and Francis L. Patton, ot Princeton, made ad- dresses, and Horace White, Wendell Phillips Garrison, and Oswald Garrison Villard responded on behalf ot the Evening Post. In the evening the Trustees gave a dinner at the Hardware Club to the one hundred and eighty employees ot the newspaper. This memorial volume contains a selection of the more important matters in the centennial issue and a complete account of the proceedings at the luncheon. In publishing this hook, the Editor acknowledges in- debtedness to Philip G. Hubert, Jr., whose skill as a writer and editor was shown in every page of the cen- tennial issue, to the artists Taber Sears, Thomas Sin- delar, and Brown & Williams, and to all others, em- ployees and triends ot the Evening Post, whose generous expenditure ot time and energy contributed so much to the success ot the anniversary. A Brief History of the Evening Post T/ie First Half Cefitury BY WILLIAM CULLEN BR-i ANT THE first number ot the Kvening Post was issued on the i6th ot November, 1801. The contrast between the Evening Post of 1801 and that of to-dav is no more extraordinary than the contrast between the New York of that period and ot the present. It was then a citv of 60,000 inhabitants. Steam, electricity, gas, railways, steam- boats, water-mains, sewers, public schools, and uniformed policemen and firemen were unknown. The first copy of the Evening Post was printed on a hand-press such as P'ranklin used. In 1851, for the semi-centennial ot the Evening Post, Mr. Bryant prepared the following account ot the first half century of the newspaper's existence. It appeared in the Evening Post, November 15, 1851 : On the [5th inst. closed the first halt century of the Evening Post. It mav not be without entertainment to our readers, and, perhaps, not entirely without instruction, if we now take a brief suryey ot its past history ; in other words,, if we write the Lite ot the Evening Post. The first number ot tiie Evening Post appeared on the i6th of November, 1801, printed on a sheet a little more than a quarter of the present size ot the journal. It was established by William Coleman, a barrister trom Massa- chusetts, then in the prime ot manhood, who had won the good will of the distinguished Eederalists of that day — Ham- THE R V E X I xX G P O S T ilton, King, Jav, and nian\' others, worthy bv their talents and personal character to he the associates oi these eminent men. They saw in Mr. Coleman a combmation ot qualities which seemed to fit him tor the conductor of" a dail\' political paper in those times of tervid and acrimonious contro\'ers\", and several ot the most public-spirit- ed of them furnished him the means ot entering; upon the undertaking. Mr. Coleman was a man ot robust make, ot great appearance ot phys- ical strength, and ot that temperament which some physiologists call the sanguine. He was tond ot pleasure, but capable ot exertion when the oc- casion required it, and, as he was not disinclined to controxersy, the occa- sion otten arose. His temper was generous and sincere, his manners kind and courteous; he was aK\a\s read\" to meet more than halt wa\- the ad\-ances ot an enemx' ; a kind or appealing word disarmed his resentment at once, and a pititul story, e\'en though a little improbable, alwa\s mo\'ed his compas- sion. He delighted m athletic exercises betore his health tailed, and while \et residing m Massachusetts is said, m Buckingham's Reminiscences, to ha\'e skated m an e\'ening from Greenfield to Northampton, a distance ot t\yent\ miles. He was naturalb courageous, and hax'ing entereci into a WILLIAM COLEMAN Editor of Tlie Evening Posr, 1801-29 HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY party, dispute, he never sought to decline anv ot its consequences. His reading lav much in the lighter literature ot our lan- guage, and a certain elegance of scholarship which he had the reputation of possessing was reckoned among his qualifica- tions as a journalist. The original prospectus ot the K\'ening Post, though somewhat measured m its style, was well written. The editor, while avowing his attachment to the Federal acknowledges that "in each part\' are honest and virtuous men," and expresses his persuasion that the people need onlv to be well informed to decide public questions rightlv. He seems to contemplate a wider sphere of objects than most secular newspapers of the present dav, and speaks of his design " to inculcate just principles in religion," as well as m "morals and politics." Some attempt was made to carrv out this inten- tion. In one ot the earlier numbers is a communica- tion in reply to a heresy avowed by the American Citizen, a Democratic daih' paper of that time, in which it had been maintained that the soul was material, and that death was a sleep ot the mind as well as the bod\'. Still later, in an editorial article, appeared a somewhat elaborate discussion ot the design ot the Revela- tion of St. John. XS'ILLIAM LKGGKTT, Assist.int Editor nf" The Evcniim I'"! 18:0-56 12 T H E E V E N i N G P O S T New York, at that time, contained little more than sixtv thousand inhabitants, and scarcely extended north of the Citv Hall and its park. Beyond, along Broadway, were then country houses and green fields. That vast system of foreign and internal intercourse, those facilities of communication by sail, by steamers, by railways, the advertisements ot which now fill column after column in our largest daily newspapers, was not then dreamed of; and the few ships and sloops soliciting freight and passengers did not furnish advertise- ments enough to fill a single column m the small sheet of the Evening Post. Yet the names which appear m the advertisements of its very first number indicate a certain per- manence m the mercantile community. Among the advertisements in the early numbers of the paper are some which show that the domestic slave trade was then in existence in the State of New York. In one, "a vouna; negro woman, twenty-one years of age," " capable ot all kinds of work, and an excellent cook," was offered tor sale, "for want of employment." A black woman, " twent\ - six years of age, and agood cook," was offered for sale "on reasonable terms." The advertisers seem to have been willing to avoid publicity in this matter, for no names are given; but in the first ot these cases the purchaser is referreci to the printer, and in the other the name ot the street and number of the house at which application is to be made are given. In the outset, Mr. Coleman made an effort to a\'oid those personal contro\'ersies which at the time were so common among conductors ot party papers, and with which their columns were so much occupied. In the leading article of his first number, sio;ned with his initials, he expresses his abhorrence of "personal virulence, low sarcasm, and verbal contentions with printers and editors," and his determination not to be diverted from " the line of temperate discussion." He found this resolution ciifficult to keep. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 13 The Evening Post of the 24th of November records the death of PhiHp Hamilton, eldest son ot Gen. Alexander Hamilton, in the twentieth year ot his age —" murdered," savs the editor, " in a duel." The practice ot duelling is then denounced as a " horrid custom, ' the remedv for which must be "strong and pointed legislative interterence," inasmuch " as fashion has placed it on a footing which nothing short ot that can control." Fhe editor himself belonged to the class with which fashion had placed it upon that tooting, and was destmed hmiselt to be drawn bv her power into the practice he so strongh deprecated. Cheetham then edited the Citizen. On the next dav, in a discussion occasioned bv the duel in which young Hamilton fell, he mentioned Cheetham, and spoke of " the insolent vulgarity of that base wretch." At a subsequent period, the Evening Post went so far as, in an article reflecting severely upon Cheetham and Duane, to admit the tollowing squib into its columns : " Lie on, Duane, lie on tor pa\', And Clieetham, lie tlioa too : More against truth vou cannot sav Than trutli can sav 'gainst vou." These wranglings were continued a few vears, until the Citizen made a personal attack upon Mr. Coleman ot so outrageous a nature that he determined to notice it in another manner. Cheetham was challenged. He was ready enough in a war of words, but he had no inclination to pursue it to such a result. The friends of the parties interfered ; a sort of truce was patched up, and the Citizen consented to become more reserved in its future assaults. A subsequent affair, of a similar nature, in which Mr. Coleman was engaged, was attended with a tatal termination. A Mr. Thompson had a difference with him which ended in a challenge. The parties met in Love Lane, now Twenty- iirst Street, and Thompson fell. He was brought, mortally "4 T H 1{ K V E N I N G P O S T wounded, to his sister's house in town ; he was laid at the door, the hell was rung, the family came out, and found him hleeding and near his death. He refused to name his an- tagonist, or gi\e an\ account of the affair, declaring that * 1 ■ " ■ T?f - « J . "ft^ ^J^'^ZMU^ PARK ROW IN iSoi, I'ROM THE SITE Oh' THE PRESENT FRANKLIN STATUE everything which hail been done was honorablv done, and desired that no attempt should be made to seek out or molest his adversary. Mr. Coleman returned to New York and continued to occupv hnnself with his paper as before. When the Kvening Post was established, \N'illiam Dunlap, HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY' i ; author of a ' History of the Arts of Design,' and a 'History of the American Stage,' whose books are in the hands of many ot our readers, and whose paintings, after he returned to his original profession as an artist, man\' of them have seen, \yas manager of the Park Theatre. At that time the fashionable part of the New York population were much more frequent in their attendance to the theatre than now, and the Evening Post contained frequent theatrical criticisms, written with no little care, and dwelHng at considerable length on the merits and faults of the performers. Public concerts were also criticised with some minuteness. Still lighter sub- jects sometimes engaged the attention of the editor. In 1802 the styles of the ladies' dresses were such as to call forth, in certain quarters, remarks similar to those which are now often made on the Bloomer costume. On the i8th of May, 180;, the P.vening Post, answering a female correspondent who asks why it has not, like the other newspapers, censured the prevailing mode, says : " Female dress of the modern Parisian cut, however de- ficient in point ot the ornament \ulgarly called clothing, must at least be allowed to be not entirely without its advantages. If there is danger of its making the gentlenien too prompt to advance, let it not be unobserved that it fits the lad\' to escape. Unlike the dull draper\' of petticoats worn some years since, but now banished to the nursery or kitchen, the present light substitute gu'es an air of celentv which seems to say — Catch me if vou can." In the Eyening Post, during the first twenty \-ears of its existence, there is much less discussion of public questions by the editors than is now common in all classes of news- papers. 7"he editorial articles were mostly brief, with but occasional exceptions, nor does it seem to have been regarded, as it now is, necessary for a daily paper to pronounce a prompt judgment on every question of a public nature the moment it arises. The annual message sent by Mr. Jefterson BRYANT AT TH K AGE 0\- SE\'E NTV-FI VE HUNDREDTH ANNI\ERSARY 17 to Congress in i8o[ was published in the Evening Post ot the 1 2th of December, without a word of remark. On the 17th, a writer who takes the signature of Lucius Crassus begins to examine it. The examination is continued through the whole winter, and finally, after having extended to eighteen numbers, is concluded on the 8th of April. The resolutions ot General Smith tor the abrogation of discriminating duties, laid before Congress in the same winter, were published with- out comment, but a tew days afterwards thev were made the subject of a carefully written animadversion, continued through several numbers ot the paper. Mr. Coleman had no skill as a manager ot property ; he took little thought for the morrow ; when he happened to have any money, it was spent freely, or given away, or some- body who would never return it contrived to borrow it. In a short time the finances of the Evening Post became greatly contused and embarrassed. From its first appearance, the journal bore, in a card at the bottom of its final column, the name ot Michael Burnham as the printer and publisher ; he had, however, no property in the paper. Mr. Burnham was a voung printer from Hartford, in Connecticut, a man of sense, probity, and decision, industrious and frugal, with an excellent capacity for business; in short, he was just such a man as every newspaper ought to have among its proprietors, in order to insure its prosperity. The friends of Mr. Coleman saw the importance of associating Mr. Burnham with him in the ownership ot the paper, and negotiations were opened tor the purpose. The result was, that the entire control of the finances of the Evening Post was placed in Mr. Burnham's hands, under such regulations as were prescribed in the articles of copartnership. From that time the affairs of the journal became prosperous; it began to yield a respectable revenue ; Mr. Coleman was relieved from his pecuniary embar- rassments and Mr. Burnham began to grow rich. He died in the beginning of i8j6, worth $200,000, acquired partly T H p: e \' e n ] n g post by his prudent management of the concerns of the paper, and partly by the rise in the value of real estate. Mr. Coleman died in 1829, worth, perhaps, a quarter of that sum. About the year 18 19, the health of Mr. Coleman was serioush' affected by a paralytic attack. Until then he had found no occasion for a coadjutor m his labors as an editor. Several slighter shocks followed; his lower limbs became gradually weak and unmanageable, until he was wholly unable to walk without support. Different assistants were called in from time to time, but thev were again dismissed as soon as Mr. Coleman was able to be in his chair. It was while he was in this condition that an at- tair took place which was thought bv his friends to have greatly impaired his health. A person named Hagerman, holding a public office, had been guilty ot some improper condvict at one or two hotels in the interior ot the State. The story was a nauseous one, but Mr. Coleman, thinking that such behavior deserved public exposure, gaxe It with all its particulars in his sheet. Hagerman was furi- ously enraged, and having no other answer to make, watched his opportunity, while Mr. Coleman was driving to his office in a little wagon, fell upon him with a cane, and beat him BRYANT AT THE AGE OF FORTY (From Ionian's P.iinting) HUNDREDTH A N K I \' E R S A R \' 19 SO severely that he was obliged to keep his room for a con- siderable time. This period ot the existence ot the t.vening Post was illuminated bv the appearance ot the poems ot Halleck antl Drake in its columns, under the signatures of Croaker and Croaker & Co., in which the fashions and tollies, and some- times the politicians ot the dav, were made the subjects of a gracetul and good-natured ridicule. The numbers containing these poems were eagerly sought tor ; the town laughed, the subjects ot the satire laughed in chorus, and all thought them the best things ot the kind that were ever written; nor were they tar wrong. At a subsequent period, within the last twenty-five years, another poem, which, though under a dif- ferent signature, might be called the epilogue to the Croakers, was contributed by Mr. Halleck to the paper. ] t was ad- dressed to the Hon. Richard Riker, Recorder, better known as Dick Riker. It was in the year 1826, a quarter ot a centurx- from the first issue ot the Evening Post, that William C. Brx'ant, now one ot its conductors, began to write for its columns. At that time the population ot New ^'ork had grown from 60,000, its numeration in 1801, to 180,000. The space covered with houses had extended a little beyond Canal Street, and on each side of Broadway a line ot dwellings, with occasional vacant spaces, had crept up as tar as Fourth Street. Preparations were making to take up the monuments in the Potter's Field, now the site ot Washington Square, and till it up to the level of Fourth Street. Workmen w'ere employed in opening the street now called St. Mark's Place, and a dusty avenue had just been made through the beautiful farm ot the old Governor Stuyvesant, then possessed by his descendants. 'J"he sheet of the Kvening Post had been somewhat enlarged, the number of its advertisements had been doubled since its first appearance, they were more densely printed, and two columns of them were steamboat advertisements. But the HUNDREDTH ANNn'ERSARY eye, in running over a sheet of the Evening Post printed at that time, misses the throng of announcements of public amusements, lectures, concerts, and galleries ot pictures that now solicit the reader's attention; the elaborately displayed advertisements of the rival booksellers, of whom there are now several houses, an\' one of which publishes yearly a greater number of works than all the booksellers of New York then did ; the long lists of commercial agencies and ex- presses, and the perpendicular rows of cuts ot ships, steam- boats, and railway engines which now darken the pages of our daily sheet. The Evening Post at that time was much occupied with matters of local interest, the sanitary condition ot the cit\ , the state of its streets, its police, its regulations ot various kinds, in all ot which its conductors took great interest. There was little ot personal controversy at that time m its columns. The personal appearance ot Mr. Coleman at that period ot his lite was remarkable. He was ot a full make, with a broad chest, muscular arms, which he wielded lightly and easily, and a deep-toned voice; but his legs dangled like strings. He expressed himselt in conversation with fluency, energy, and decision, particularly when an\' subject was started in which he had taken an interest in tormer years. When, however, he came at that period of his life to write for the press, he had the habit ot altering his first draught in a manner to diminish its torce, by expletives and c]ualitving expressions. He never altered to condense and strengthen, but almost always to dilute and weaken. Immediately after Mr. Bryant became connected with the F^vening Post, it began to agitate the question ot tree trade. The next year he became one of the proprietors ot the paper. Mr. Coleman and Mr. Burnham, who desired to avail them- selves ot the activity and energy of \ounger minds, offered at the same time a share in the paper to Robert C. Sands, a PARki; GODWIN, MAN A(;iX(; i;i)IT()R 1S3I.-1S65, KDITOR 1S-S-81 HUNDREDTH ANNIX'ERSARY 23 man ot wit and learning, whose memory is still tenderly cherished by numbers who had the good fortune to know him personally. He entertained it favorably at first, but finally declined it. A majority ot both houses of Congress were in tavor ot protective duties, and the Kvening Post, at that time, was the only journal north ot the Potomac which attempted to controvert them. In the northern part of the Union it was onl\' in certain towns on the seacoast that a few triends ot a treer commercial sxstem were found ; the people of the interior ot the Atlantic States and the entire population of the West seemed to acquiesce, without a scruple, in the policy ot high duties. The question ot moditving the tariif" so as to make it more highly protective was brought up betore Congress in the winter ot 1828, and on the 19th of Mav tollowing a bill prepared tor that purpose became a law. It was warmh' opposed in the Kvening Post, and the course of Mr. Webster, who had tormerK' spoken with great abilitx' against protection, but who had now taken his place among its supporters, was animaih'erted upon with some severity. That gentleman, in a letter to Mr. Coleman, justified his conduct b\' saving that the protectu'e system was now the established polic\' ot the C(juntr\', and that, taking things as thev were, he had only endeavored to make this s\'stem as perfect and as equalK' beneficial to e\'er\' quarter ot the Union as was possible. In contending against the doctrine ot protection, the P'.vening Post gradually tell into a position ot hostility to the Administration ot Mr. Adams, bv which that doctrine was zeaiouslv maintained. In the election ot 1828, it took the field in tavor ot the nomination of General Jackson, who had declared himself in favor of a " judicious tariff," by which his friends understood a mitigation ot the existing duties. Mr. Coleman lived to see the triumph ot his party, and to hear the cheers of the exulting multitude at his door. In the summer following, the summer ot 1829, he was cut oft hv an *>^:/ HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 25 apopletic stroke. William Leggett, who had earned a repu- tation tor talent and industry by his conduct of the Critic, a weekly journal, several ot the last numbers of which were written entirely by himself, put in type with his own hand, and delivered by hmiself to the subscribers, was immediately employed as an assistant editor. He only stipulated that he should not be asked to write articles on political subjects, on which he had no settled opinions, and for which he had no taste — a dispensation which was readily granted. Before this year was out, however, he found himself a zealous Demo- crat, and an ardent friend of free trade, and in the year i 830 became one ot the proprietors ot the paper. Mr. Leggett was a man ot middle stature, but compact frame, great power of endurance, and a constitution naturally strong, though somewhat impaired b\' an attack of the yellow tever while on board the United States squadron in the West Indies. He was tond ot study and delighted to trace prin- ciples to their remotest consequences, whither he was always willing to follow them. The quality of courage existed m hiin almost to excess, and he took a sort of pleasure in beard- ing public opinion. He wrote with surprising fluency, and often with eloquence, took broad views ot the questions that came before him, and possessed the faculty of rapidly arrang- ing the arguments which occurred to him in clear order, and stating them persuasively. The acts of General Jackson's Administration brought up the questi(jn of the power ot the Federal Government to make public roads within the limits ot the difterent States, and the question of renewing the charter of the United States Bank. With what zeal he was supported by the livening Post, in his disapproval of the works ot "internal impro\'e- ment," as they were called, sanctioned by Congress, and m his steady refusal to sign the hills presented to him tor con- tinuing the United States Bank in existence, many ot our readers doubtless remember. The question ot national roads. SI 'tt3^r'iS^\ -||, fe«ffiis^r?si t o I < c HUNDREDTH A N N I V E R S A R \' 27 after some sham controversy, was disposed of finally, perhaps, and for ever; the contest for the existence of the iNational Bank was longer and more stubborn, but the popular voice decided it, at last, in tavor of the President. Those who recollect what occurred when General Jackson withdrew the funds of the Government from the Bank of the United States, a measure known by the name of the removal of the deposits, cannot have forgotten to what a pitch party hatred was then carried. It was a sort of fury ; nothing like it had been known m this community tor twentv years, and there has been nothing like it since. Men of different parties could hardly look at each other without gnashing their teeth ; deputations were sent to Congress to remonstrate with Gen- eral Jackson, and some even talked — of course it was mere talk, but it showed the height of passion to which men were transported — of marching in arms to the seat of government and putting down the Administration. A brief panic took possession of the monev market; many worthy men really believed that the business and trade of the country were in danger of coming to an end, and looked to a universal ruin. In this tempest the Evening Post stood its ground, vindicated the Administration in its change of agents, on the ground that the United States Bank was unsafe and unworthy, and derided both the threats and the tears ot the Whigs. In June, 1834, Mr. Bryant sailed for Europe, leaving Mr. Leggett sole conductor ot the Evenmg Post. Mr. Burnham had previously withdrawn as a proprietor, substi- tuting his son in his place. The battle between the triends and enemies of the bank proceeded with little diminution ot virulence, but the panic had passed away. The Evening Post was led by the discussion of the bank question to inquire into the propriety of allowing the State banks to exist as monopo- lies, with peculiar powers and prerogatives not enjoyed by individuals. It demanded a general banking law, which should place on an equal footing every person desirous of 28 THE EVENING POST engaging in the business ot banking. It attacked the patron- age ot the Federal Kxecutive, and insisted that the post- masters should be chosen by the people in the neighborhoods in which thev ministered. A system of oppressive inspection laws had gradually grown up in the State — tobacco was in- spected, llour was inspected, beef and pork were in- spected, and a swarm ot creatures ot the State Government was called into being, who subsisted by tees exacted from those who bought and sold. Nobody was allowed to pur- chase an uninspected or untaxed barrel of flour, or an unin- spected and untaxed plug of tobacco. The Evening Post renewed its attacks on the abuse, which had previously been denounced in its columns, and called for the entire abroga- tion of the whole code ot inspection laws. The call was answered some years afterwards, when the subject was taken up in earnest by the Legislature, and the system broken up. Meantime, another question had arisen. The Washing- ton Telegraph had procured printed reports of the Abolition Society in New York, then a small body, and little known to the public, and extracting the most oflensive passages, held them up to the people of the South as proofs of a deliberate design on the part ot the North to deprive the planters ot their slaves, without their consent and without remuneration. Other extracts followed from day to day, with similar inflam- matory comments, till at length the Southern blood took tire, and the Southern merchants began to talk of ceasing to trade with New York. The New York commercial community disclaimed all sympathy with the abolitionists, and to prove its sincerity began to disturb their meetings. From slight disturbances the transition was easy to frightful riots, and several of these, in which the genteel mob figured conspic- uously, occurred in the year 1835, at difterent places within the State. The meetings of the abolitionists were broken up, their houses were mobbed, and Arthur Tappan was obliged, for a while, to leave the city, where his person was not safe. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 29 The Evening Post at first condemned the riots, and vindicated the right of as.sembHng and the right of speech. As the mob grew more lawless, it took bolder ground, and insisted that the evil and the wrong of slavery were so great that the WALL STREET, CORNER OF WILLIAM, iSoi (From 'The New Metropolis.' Copyright by I). Appleton & Co.) abolitionists were worthy of praise and sympathy in striving for its extinction. It rang this doctrine from day to day in the ears ot the rioters and their abettors, and confronted and defied their utmost malice. No offer was made, in the midst of all this excitement, to mob the office of this paper. 30 THEEVENINGPOST During Mr. Bryant's absence in Europe, the interest of the younger Burnham was purchased for his two associates, who thus became the sole proprietors. In October, 1835, '^'"- ^eggett became seriously ill; he returned to his labors after a short interval ; but a relapse came on, and confined him to a sick-room for months. Mr. Bryant returned in the spring of 1836 from Europe, and found him still an invalid, the editorial chair being ably filled, tor the time, by Charles Mason, since distinguished as a lawyer in Iowa. He resumed his labors, and engaged in a controversy respecting the State banks, which was then at its height, and which continued to agitate the community till the adoption of a general banking law by the State, and of the independent treasury scheme bv the Federal Government. In the month ot June, 1836, attempts were made in dif- ferent parts of the State to compel journeymen to refrain from entering into any understanding with each other in regard to the wages they would demand of their emplovers. Twelve journeymen tailors were indicted in this city for the crime of refusing to work, except for a certain compensation, and a knot of journeymen shoemakers at Hudson. In this citv. Judge Edwards — Ogden Edwards — and at Hudson, Judge Savage, laid dow-n the law against the accused, pronouncing their conduct a criminal conspiracy, worthy of condign pun- ishment. The Evening Post took up the charge of Judge Edwards almost as soon as it fell from his lips and showed its inconsistency with the plainest principles of personal freedom, with the spirit of all our institutions and laws, and with the rule by which we allow all employers and purchasers to regu- late their transactions. The other journals of the city took a different view of the question, but the doctrine maintained bv the Evening Post commended itself to the public mind, and is now the prevailing and universal one. In October of the same year, Mr. Leggett, after a sojourn of some months in the country, returned to his office with his HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 31 health in part restored. His return led to an examination of the finances of the Evening Post, which had suffered very much during his illness. Its circulation, though lessened, was still respectable, but its advertising list was greatly diminished, and its income was not more than a quarter of what it had been. Some ot its friends had been alienated by the vehemence with which the journal had attacked slavery and its defenders. The proprietors of steamboats and ships, and those who had houses to let, had withdrawn their adver- tisements, because no cuts designed to attract the attention of the reader, were allowed a place in its columns. Mr. Leggett, with an idea ot improving the appearance of his daily sheet, had rigidly excluded them. This examination led to the retirement of Mr. Leggett from the paper. He established a weekly sheet, the Plain- dealer, which he conducted tor about a year with great ability, and which, hut tor the tailure of his publisher, would have been highly successful, as was evident from the rapid increase of its circulation so long as it was published. We have mentioned the short panic of 1834. It was followed by a season ot extravagant confidence, and ot de- lirious speculation, encouraged by all the banks — that ot Mr. Biddle and the deposit banks co-operating in a mad rivalry — a season such as the country had never seen betore. It might sound like a vain boast of superior discernment to say that the Evening Post insisted, all along, that the apparent prosperity of the country was but temporary, that its end was close at hand, and that it would be followed by a general collapse and by universal distress — but it is, nevertheless, true, and as we are writing the history of our journal, it must be said. The crash came quite as soon as the most far-sighted had anticipated, and thousands were ruined ; the banks stopped payment, and the Legislature of New York, in a fright, passed a sort of stop law in their favor, absolving them from the engagement to pay their notes in specie. 32 THE EVENING POST Meantime, no means were left untried to bring back the paper to its former prosperous condition. William G. Boggs, a practical printer, and a man of much activity, was taken into the concern, first with a contingent interest, and in 1837 as a proprietor. The figures of steamboats, ships, and houses were restored to its columns, and nothing omitted which it was thought would attract advertisers. They came with some shyness at first, but at last readily and in great numbers. It required some time to arrest the decline of the paper, and still more to make it luove in the desired direction, but when once it felt the impulse it advanced rapidly to its former prosperity. The book press of the country about this time had begun to pour forth cheap reprints of European publications with astonishing tertilit\'. Few works but those of English authors were read, inasmuch as the publisher, having nothing to pay for copyright to the foreign author, could afford to sell an English work far cheaper than an American one written with the same degree of talent and attractiveness. The Evening Post was earlv on the side ot those who demanded that some remedy should he applied to this unequal operation of our copyright laws, which had the effect of expelling the American author from the book market. It placed no stress, however, on the scheme of an international copyright law, as it has been called, but consistently with its course on all commer- cial questions, insisted that if literary propert^' is to be recog- nized by our laws, it ought to be recognized in all cities alike, without regard to the legislation ot other countries ; that the author who is not naturalized deserves to be protected in its enjoyment equally with the citizen ot our republic, and that to possess ourselves of his books simply because he is a stranger is as gross an inhospitality as it we denied his right to his baggage, or the wares which he might bring from abroad to dispose ot in our market. The dispute between the friends ot the credit s^•stem, as HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 33 they called themselves, and their adversaries continued till the scheme of making the Government the keeper of its own funds, instead of placing them in the banks, to be made the basis ot discounts, was adopted by Congress. For this measure, which is now very generally acknowledged by men of all parties to have been one of the wisest ever taken by the Federal Government, and perhaps more wholesome in its effect on the money market than any other adopted before or since, the country is indebted to Mr. Van Buren's Admin- istration, and to those who sustained it against the credit party. The Evening Post was one of the very earliest in the field among the champions of that scheme, and lent such aid as it was able in the controversy. In 1840 it was engaged in the unsuccessful attempt to re- elect Mr. Van Buren. In the four years ot that gentleman's Administration nearly all the disastrous consequences of the reaction from the speculations ot the four previous years were concentrated. He and his friends applied what is now ac- knowledged to be the wisest remedy, the independent treasury scheme; but a sufficient time had not elapsed to experience its effects, and the friends of the credit system everywhere treated it as the most pernicious quackery. The Administra- tion of Mr. Van Buren was made responsible tor conse- quences which it had no agency in producing, and Gen. Harrison was elected to the Presidency. We have now arrived at a period the history ot which, we may presume, is so fresh in the memory of our readers that we need give no very circumstantial narrative of the part borne in the controversies of the time by the Evening Post. In this year, Parke Godwin, who for some time had been employed as an assistant on the paper, became one of its proprietors, and continued so until the year 1844, when the interest he held was transferred to Timothy A. Howe, a practical printer, who has ever since been one of the owners of the concern. 34 THE EVENING POST During the time that the Executive chair was filled by Mr. Tyler — for General Harrison passed so soon from his inauguration to his grave that his name will scarcely be noticed In history— several of the questions which formerly divided parties were revived. The question ot the inde- pendent treasury had to be debated over again ; the measure was repealed. The question of a national bank came up again in Congress, and we had to fight the battle a second time ; the bill for creating an institution of this kind pre- sented to Mr. Tyler was refused his signature and defeated. Mr. Tyler, however, had a dream of a peculiar national bank ot his own ; this also was to be combated. The compromise of 1832 in regard to duties on imported goods was set aside by Congress, without ceremony, and a scheme ot high duties was proposed which resulted in the tariff of 1842. Here, also, was matter for controversy. The question of admitting Texas into the Union, which had several times before been discussed in the Evening Post, was brought before Congress. It was warmly opposed in this journal, which contended that if Texas was to be admitted at all, a negotiation should first be opened with Mexico. This was not done, hut the result has shown that such a course would have been far the wisest. The eager haste to snatch Texas into the Union brought with it the war with Mexico, the shedding of much blood, large conquests, California, and those dreadful quarrels about slavery and its extension which have shaken the Union. In 1848 Mr. Boggs parted with his interest in the Even- ing Post to John Bigelow; and William J. Tenney, who had been tor some time past the able and useful assistant of Mr. Bryant, withdrew. The controversies which have since arisen are yet the controversies of the day ; they still occupy all minds, and there is no occasion to speak of their nature nor of the part we have taken in them. We have now brought our narrative down to the present moment. It does not become us to close without some HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 35 expression of the kindly feeling we entertain towards those subscribers — for there are still a few of them — who read the Evening Post in i8ot, and who yet read it, nor to those — and there are many such — in whose families it is looked upon as a sort of heirloom and who have received a partiality for it as an inheritance from their parents. When these examples occur to our minds, we are consoled for the occasional dis- pleasure and estrangement of those we had deemed our friends ; and we think of our journal as of something solid, permanent, enduring. This impression is strengthened when we reflect that in the mechanical department ot the paper are men who came to it in their childhood, before any of the present proprietors of the paper had set foot within the office, and are employed here still. An experience of a quarter of a century in the conduct of a newspaper should suffice to give one a pretty complete idea of the efl"ect of journalism upon the character. It is a vocation which gives an insight into men's motives, and reveals by what influences masses of men are moved, but it shows the dark rather than the bright side of human nature, and one who is not disposed to make due allowances for the peculiar circumstances in which he is placed is apt to be led by it into the mistake that the large majority of mankind are knaves. Jt brings one perpetually in sight, at least, of men of various classes, who make public zeal a cover for private interest, and desire to avail themselves ot the influence ot the press for the prosecution ot their own selfish projects. It fills the mind with a variety of knowledge relating to the events of the day, but that knowledge is apt to be superficial, since the necessity ot attending to many subjects prevents the journalist from thoroughly investigating any. In this way it begets desultory habits of thought, disposing the mind to be satisfied with mere glances at difficult questions, and to dwell only upon plausible commonplaces. Reminiscences of Parke Godwin Managing Editor l8j6-l86^. Editor iSjS-Sl IN talking over old days upon the Evening Post, Mr. Godwin remarked that very few persons would remem- ber how distinguished a lot ot men used to write for that newspaper half a century ago. " I can remember," said he, " a score of men whose work gave great pleasure to our readers in those da\'s, but, of course, most of them are now wholly forgotten bv the public, and you would hardly find even their names in any list ot American writers. Among the men whose names, however, are known to every one, I might mention among the early correspondents of the Kvening Post, the distinguished French critic Sainte-Beuve, who wrote a good deal ot correspondence for us at a time before the Atlantic cable had made European letters ot less importance. Upon our regular local staff we had at one time or another Walt Whitman, who did report- ing tor us, and, if I remember rightly, wrote a number ot letters trom Washington at the beginning of the war. Arte- mus Ward also did some reporting tor us, but 1 cannot remember its exact nature : it was, of course, betore he attained fame as an American humorist. Bret Harte was on our staff for quite a while, and perhaps, as it is so very long ago, he will not object to mv saying that I remem- ber him chiefiy for the difficulty with which I could get anything in the wav of' copv ' out of him. He was remark- HUNDREDTH A N N J \' E R S A R Y 37 ably regular at the office upon pay-days, but something too much of a Bohemian in other respects to fit in with our staid ways and manners. Mr. Harte ought to forgive me for saying this, especially as it was I who brought him to New York. " Before the war the Evening Post was poorer than we allowed any one to believe, so poor that it often fell to mv lot to go at the end ot the week to some of our moneyed friends and raise the funds to pay off the staff and the com- posing-room on Saturday. Well, I had noticed in the San Francisco papers some sketches by Harte that took my fancy, and I proposed to bring him on to New York for Putnam's Magazine, of which I was then one of the editors. But the magazine was not able to afford the salary that Bret Harte asked, and so work was found for him upon the Evening Post, where he wrote sketches and did some editorial writing, besides his work upon the magazine. James K. Paulding, Sidney Gay, Charles A. Briggs, Charles Nordhoff, Charlton T. Lewis, are among the other writers whose names occur to me. There was also, as literary critic upon the Evening Post for a number of years, John R. Thompson, a most delightful talker and writer, and an intimate friend of Poe's. It was customary in those days, also, for a newspaper like the Evening Post to depend somewhat upon the occasional con- tributions of friends, politicians, lawyers, and business men, and in this way Mr. Bryant, who was not a pohtician or an editor by nature, but a scholar and a poet, received much valuable assistance and advice. Martin Van Buren, Silas Wright, Azariah Flagg, Michael Hoffman, Samuel J. Tilden, and John Randolph were all occasional contributors and con- stant visitors. Van Buren very seldom came to New York without dropping into the office and talking over national affairs. Among our local authorities was W. G. Blunt, whose pet interest was the harbor of New York and the city's shipping. In the same field I might also mention Capt. John 38 THE EVENING POST Codman, who died a year or two ago, and whose many ad- mirable letters will be remembered with pleasure bv all the old readers of the PLvening Post. Blunt was a man whose character rather fitted his name. I remember that one day he greeted in his blutt and hearty way William L. Marcy, who was the reverse in manner, and who drew himself up with the remark that Blunt had the advantage of him. ' Don't you know me ? ' exclamied our old friend ; ' m\' name is Blunt.' 'And so is your manner,' remarked Marcy as he walked away. " I have mentioned that the Evening Post was a very small affair, so tar as money went, in the days before the war. Our position upon the anti-slavery question was by no means a popular one with the merchants upon whom the New York papers depended largely tor their support. Most of our importers were closely connected with the South, and, of course, our position brought us into disfavor with all their Southern customers. It was only when the tide turned that we rose, almost at a bound, into financial tavor. After the first year of the war, all the bankers and speculators who had bonds to sell took our columns at any price we chose to ask. Our circulation was not large as compared with modern times, but toward the close of the war it was often limited only bv the possibility ot printing newspapers upon the rudimentary presses of those days. It was not, however, circulation that paid us, but the immense advertising patronage at high prices. The Evening Post became what it has since remained, the organ for the most exclusive and expensive advertising, that which appeals chiefly to well-to-do people and investors. "The Government and its agents naturally thought well of the paper and made liberal use ot it. Seward was one of our good friends. Talking of Seward reminds me of a little incident that cast a peculiar light upon how history is some- times made. At one of the critical moments of the war, when McClellan, after losing a terrible number of men by HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 39 death and sickness in the Peninsula, was finally forced to retreat, the anti-Administration papers seized upon it as a text tor criticising the Government and predicting final dis- aster. Seward happened to come at that time to the Astor House, and we went over to confer with him. 1 had private cipher letters from the front, describing the situation as des- perate, and trankly told the Secretary what they contained. Upon the strength of those letters, we believe, and I still believe, that McClellan was forced back, and there was danger ot a serious collapse. Seward insisted that the best possible face should be put upon the matter, and that McClellan's retreat should be termed a strategic movement ot great bril- liancy. It was finally decided, after a long conference, that so it should be called, and so it has gone down, more or less, into history. " Chiet among the good deeds to the credit of the old Even- ing Post, I ought to mention Mr. Bryant's suggestion of the creation ot Central Park. As every one knows, Bryant was not only a lover of Nature and inordinately fond of trees and flowers, but a great walker. He delighted in roaming about the upper part of the city, which, of course, was then all country above Forty-second Street, or even Twenty-third Street. He knew intimately the part of the island where the park now is, and advocated over and over again the organization of a committee to lay out a great park before the land should become too valuable. His original scheme was to make the park include a strip from river to river, but this he afterwards modified, and contented himself with what was known as the Goose Pasture, some of the tract now occupied by the Cen- tral Park. It seems astonishing at this day that such a proposition met not only with criticism, but with the bitter opposition of people who considered a park such as Mr. Bryant proposed a reckless and wicked waste of public money. Another proposition first made by the livening Post, which was not only criticised but mercilessly ridiculed, was to put 40 THE EVENING POST the city constables, the forerunners of our present poHcemen, into uniform. This had been done by Sir Robert Peel in London, and had been a success. When the Evening Post proposed it here, some ot our critics said that we were follow- ing the Chinese custom ot hunting criminals with a brass band. I believe that in China the watchman carries a big rattle, heard a long way off", so that the evildoer has plenty of time to get out of the way. Our New York critics thought that to put a policeman into uniform was to make him helpless, inasmuch as the malefactors could see him coming and make oft. Nevertheless, the proposal was finally adopted when the old constabulary under Jacob Hayes gave way before the present system. " The editorial force of the Evening Post in the days before the war was, of course, very small, for the amount of editorial writing and of news matter in comparison to the advertising columns would be to-day considered insignificant. One long editorial article a day was deemed sufficient, and when no such article happened to be on hand, perhaps a letter from some esteemed contributor would do. Until the war brought the telegraph into common use, we used it sparingly, as the expense was enormous. It was my good fortune to follow the history of the telegraph as a newspaper necessity from the very beginning. When I was graduated from Princeton in 1834, I had already some knowledge of the coming wonder, for I distinctly remember that among the experiments made by our professor of physics, the famous Henry, afterwards of the Smithsonian, was one m which signals were sent by electricity, or magnetism, as it was called in those days, from one end of a wn^e to the other. The wire was coiled around and around the laboratory and we listened to the clicks with interest. Professor Henry re- marked at the time that there was in that experiment the germ of an apparatus for sending messages from town to town, and perhaps even from country to country. This was HUNDREDTH ANNI\'ERSARY 41 several \'ears before Morse brought out his telegraph. When I became a regular working editor, and began to use tele- graphic dispatches in the Evening Post, they were luxuries rather than necessities, until the war changed all that. Speak- ing ot earlv inventions, it was also mv good fortune to travel once in a steamboat built bv Robert Fulton, and when I went to Princeton by way of Perth Amboy, I travelled upon the second railroad line built in the United States. Those \\ere the days when New York practically ended at Canal Street. I remember that as a boy we youngsters believed that Indians roamed unmolested above the Canal Street bridge. It is not surprising that when Mr. Bryant proposed, a tew ^ears later, that the city should buy some hundreds of acres where Cen- tral Park now stands, the notion should have been deemed a wild one. Five miles in those days, with the antiquated stages then in use, was as much ot a journe\ as twenty-tive miles would be to-day." Mr. Godwin said that the way in which he came to enter the service of the F',vening Post, in iSj6, was a curious illus- tration of how slight an accident may sometimes turn the whole course ot a man's life. He was, at that time, a young lawyer, had been admitted to the bar, and was waiting tor clients. He was so poor, however, that he could not aflord the boarding-house in which he was living at that time, and, going to a cousin of his, he inquired casually whether she could inform him of a cheaper boarding-house. She said yes. There had been a school directly across the way from her, which had just been vacated, and which was now to be opened as a boarding-house; and that, as the\ were making a new start, the owners would unquestionably make a very cheap arrangement for him. He went over and found this to be the case, and moved in ; and he and another gentleman were for a time the only boarders. One day, when he came into the parlor, he found this other occupant ot the boarding- house talking to a gentleman to whom he was introduced. 42 THE EVENING POST He failed to catch the name, but was struck bv the beauty of the visitor's EngHsh and his evident refinement and culture. When he left, Godwin asked his fellow-boarder what the name of the man was. His friend said: "It is William CuUen Bryant, the poet, and he is coming here to live, his family having gone abroad." After that, Mr. Godwin had many opportunities to meet Mr. Bryant, and they finally became very mtimate friends, taking long walks together, in the direction of what is now Centra! Park, and which was then open pasture land. Mr. Bryant came to him one day and told him that his assistant had incipient consumption, and was forced to go to Cuba for his health, and that he had considerable difficulty in finding a substitute to take the sick man's place. Finally, he asked Godwin whether he could not take it. The latter said no, as he was trained tor the law, and he did not see how he was fitted tor newspaper work. But finally Mr. Bryant prevailed upon him to accept the position temporarily. After he had been there two months, news came from Cuba that the assistant had died. 1 he result was that Bryant again came to Godwin and asked him to stay permanently. Godwin said no again, that it was im- possible; that he felt he owed it to his father to go on with his career. " But," said Mr. Godwin, " I promised that I would stay a few weeks longer, and I stayed forty-six vears." Mr. Godwin became a stockholder in the paper in i860. When Lincoln made his first visit to New York after his inauguration, Godwin called upon him at his hotel, and Lincoln said to him that he had received a great many re- quests from prominent New Yorkers to make him (Godwin) Consul-General at Paris, and that he was very glad to do this, and would do it the first thing when he got back to Wash- ington. Godwin was very much gratified at this, and said that he would accept. Going back to the Evening Post office, he met Mr. Bryant and told him at once of the ap- pointment. Mr. Bryant was very much annoyed, and said HUNDREDTH A N N I \' E R S A R ^' 43 that that would never do, and that he must not go. Godwin replied that he had never received more than $50 a week smce he had been on the paper, and he could see no prospects tor him there, and that he was anxious to go abroad. Just then John Bigelow, Mr. Bryant's partner, came in, and Bryant stated the case to him. The latter re- plied that he thought he saw a way out of the difficulty, and told Godwin that he (Bigelow) was very anxious to go abroad, and that, if President Lincoln would change the appointment from Godwin to Bigelow, the latter would sell his one-third interest in the Evening Post to Godwin tor the sum ot $iio,oco. Godwin replied that he had no money, and that he could, therefore, not purchase it. Bryant said that he and Henderson would raise it tor him, and thus the matter was arranged. Bigelow went as Consul-General to Paris, after- wards becoming Minister, and Godwin remained on the Evening Post as one-third owner. The year atter he purchased his one-third interest, the three owners, Ciodwin, Henderson, and Br\ant, divided $210,000. He himselt originated the real-estate advertise- ments in the P',vening Post, as he went to Ludlow & Pme, then the leading men in the real-estate business, and induced them to let him print their advertisements tree in the Even- ing Post for the period of a year. After this they were very glad to pay for their advertisements, and all the small real- estate men felt bound to appear where these great leaders did. Mr. Godwin said that during the old days ot auctioneering, the Evening Post also had the best part of that advertising. John Bigelow's Reminiscences Associate Editor iS^g-lS6l MR. BIGELOW, who during his eleven \ears' connec- tion with the Kvening Post was one of Brxant's warmest friends as well as his business and editorial associate, still speaks with aftection ot his newspaper davs. " I was connected with the Evening Post," said Mr. Bigelow, " troni 1849 until the tall ot 1861. During that period the newspaper was largely occupied with efforts to resist the extension ot slavery into the tree Territories. This contest, which came to a crisis in i 848, resulted in the disrup- tion of the Democratic and Whig parties and the nomination of Van Buren and /\dams tor the Presidency, in opposition to the candidates ot the regular Democratic and Whig parties. Although I was m those davs a lawyer b\' profession, I wrote occasionally tor the press, chiefly upon professional matters. In 1849 Mr. Tilden asked me it I would like to go into the Kvening Post, saying that Mr. Bryant needed assistance; that I might be useful there; and he thought an arrangement could be made to pay me a pretty good salary it 1 would accept it. I said to Mr. Tilden, journalism had its attractions for me, but that I had already learned one profession, had a good practice for a young man, and did not propose to leave a field where I was my own master to accept a subordinate position elsewhere. Phe onl\' condition under which I would entertain a proposition to go into the P.vening Post would be HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 45 as a partner; as a salaried man I was sure I would do neither myself nor my partners justice. Not to go into details, the result was that Mr. William G. Boggs, the business manager, retired from the firm and sold out to me in the autumn of 1849. 1 recall with pride the fact that Charles O'Conor, who was then already nearing the headship of his profession in the United States, and upon whom I had no claims, except such as are established bv mutual respect, lent me the monev which I required to consummate the purchase. " At that time the Evening Post was far from prosperous. We were three partners. The income from the paper the first year after 1 entered the firm was between ^9,000 and |io,ooo. The circulation was small, from 1,500 to 2,000. Its course in resisting the extension of slavery into the free l^erntories had affected our advertising; seriously. Southern business men resented anything with an abolition tinge, and most of our advertisers looked to the South for business. It was enough tor a Northern merchant to report in the South that a rival firm advertised in the Evening Post to close accounts between such firm and any of its Southern customers, to whose notice the tact was pretty sure to be brought. Some of the oldest and best friends ot the Evening Post gave this as their excuse tor withdrawing their advertisements. In that way our advertising columns suffered severely tor two or three years. It was a tardy satisfaction afterwards to learn that prettv much all who saved their customers at the South in this way had reason to regret it. The debts to the North- ern merchants repudiated bv the South a tew years later were moderately estimated at not less than S 10,000,000. " Of course our staff at that time was small. It con- sisted of Mr. Bryant and ot Mr. Tenney, whose chiet busi- ness it was to read exchanges. We shared with the Com- mercial Advertiser the expense ot a marine reporter. We had no city editor and but one city reporter. Ttiat was about the condition of all the newspapers published in New York 1«HN BI(;EL()\V, associate editor 1S49-1861 HUNDREDTH ANNI\'ERSARY 47 at the time. I don't think that the Commercial Advertiser, our only evening competitor, had any larger force. The Courier and Inquirer, then the leading morning paper, had a marine reporter and a special boat, with which it used to get its European news from incoming ships. That was quite a novelty, and seemed a bold thing to do. It is difficult now to realize the change wrought in newspaper work in New York during the fifty-odd years which have elapsed since then. Every day the Herald gives more space to sporting news of various kinds than was given then in six months by any New York daily. Nothing in the way of games or sports was ever reported in the press at the time I entered the Evening Post, except perhaps horse-races in the spring and autumn. Ot college games no note was taken ; in fact, there were none noticeable either in quality or quantity. " When I entered the firm we had a job-printing office, poorly and feebly managed. It I remember rightly, the net income of the last year had been only about $750, or some- thing like that. Shortly before I left the bar, the courts had adopted a rule that cases coming to them on appeal should he printed. I was on pretty good terms with the bar and the judges. I gave both notice that it their cases were sent to us they would be printed in proper shape, which was more than the average printer at that day knew how to do, as it was a new kind of printing. Yerv soon business began to come in. We got a new foreman, who was directed never to decline a job because he could not execute it in time, e\'en if he had to get all the printers m to\\ n to aid him. We soon had all the lawyers' printing, or pretty much all ot it, and naturally it brought a great deal of other business. Atter the first year, and I think down to the time I lett, there was no year that we did not net between 5 10,000 and Si 2,000 out of our job-printing, while neither Mr. Bryant nor myself ever spent altogether what would amount to three days' time in a year on the work of that department. It went by itselt. 48 T H R E V K N J N (i P O S T " I had not been long in the firm when it became neces- sar\- to make another change in the pubHshing department, and Isaac Henderson was invited to take the place of Mr. Howe. Mr. Henderson had many excellent business quali- ties, of which the fiscal department ot the paper soon began to teel the effects. He continued to be a proprietor of the paper until it passed into the hands of its present proprietors. " In looking back to mv work upon the Evening Post, I have the pleasantest recollections ot Mr. Bryant as a fellow- laborer. It was a pleasure and a distinction to work with him ; perfect harmony always prevailed between us. Mr. Bryant was not a journalist in the modern sense of the word ; he had, like most editors of the period, but an imperfect ap- preciation of the financial importance of news for a newspaper. He had always been a leader-writer. In fact, the superior value of news to editorial articles or opinions, as a newspaper asset, was first taught in New York by James Gordon Bennett, the elder, who made a fortune out of it. The Times followed his ex- ample with corresponding success. Mr. Bryant and every one else connected with the Evening Post had alwavs relied chiefly upon Its editorial page to attract readers. The Evening Post's influence was always considerable; but news had ne\'er been m those days its chief or even a conspicuous feature. The great prosperity of the Evening Post began when the political tide turned and Southern principles had ceased to be a wand to conjure with. Before that, people with political aspirations at Washington, or merchants seeking the Southern trade, were actually afraid to have the paper seen in their possession. Earlv in the fifties, however, it began to gain steadih". Wlien I entered, its income, as I have alreadv said, was not more than 1 10,000 a year; when I left, it was yield- ing between $70,000 and S8o,ooo. In the meantime, we bought a property at the corner of Liberty and Nassau Streets and fitted it up for ofiices. It turned out to be a \'ery profitable investment for the newspaper. The business HUNDREDTH ANNJ\ERSARY 49 office when 1 entered it was on the east side of Nassau Street, near the corner ot Fine. Aaron Burr's sign as counsellor at law was on a two-storv brick building iminediatelv opposite. The Evening Post remained upon the site of what is now the Bryant building until it moved to its present quarters. " There was another issue besides slavery in those days, and that was opposition to the waste of public money. We endeavored to teach, so far as possible, that the proper busi- ness and function ot a representative Government allowed of no interference with private business or propertv. We ques- tioned, occasionally, the wisdom of Government schools, for instance, doubting whether the principle which allowed the Government to teach school did not carrv with it a right to meddle with everything else. Different views of Democracy now prevail. Mr. Brvant wrote a great deal on the subject of free trade. Most ot the other papers ot that day were either tor protection or without opinions upon the subject. While we were always nominally Democrats, we were reallv independent on this as upon other subjects. The Demo- cratic press generally avoided the question of tree trade as one upon which the party had not tormallv expressed an opinion. The South was solid for free trade, while New England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were all inclining to protection, the New England States more especially, because their manufacturing industries had received a verv substantial impulse, and, up to the time when I lett the bar, were absorbing most ot the capital ot that part of the country. Most of the great fortunes of New England had been made through manufactures. " Mr. Bryant was a man with whom I never disagreed upon any subject where it was not easy tor one or the other of us to yield, because he was always, in the highest sense ot the term, a conscientious man, a man of the highest principles, and I tried to be. " One peculiarity of Bryant was that he absolutely refused 50 THE EVENING POST to do any newspaper work except at the office. I renieniher that when he wished to prepare an historical review for the semi-centennial ot the paper in 1 8 1; i , 1 offered to have the files of the Kvening Post sent down to his house at Roslvn, so that he could use theni there. He would not have it, and did it all at his desk. His home work, when he wrote at all awav trom the office, was either poetry or somethmg relating to poets. Mr. Br\'ant's office desk was his editorial throne. It was something ot a curiosity. It was a large desk, always piled up with rejected manuscripts, letters, books, pamphlets, documents ot all kinds, with a little place in the center where he could find room enough in which to write. I should men- tion here that he always wrote for the t.vening Post on the backs ot old letters and rejected manuscripts. 1 don't remem- ber to have ever seen a piece ot his ' cop\' ' on tresh paper, or to have known ot his ordering any paper tor editorial use. During his absence once in h.urope I cleared his desk and thought 1 had greath' improved its appearance and con\-en- ience. When he returned I explained to him what I had done, but I saw trom the expression ot his tace that mv housecleaning had given him anything hut satistaction. He made no remark, but his silence meant chagrin. He was tond of things with old associations. He had an old jack- knife, tor instance, with which he used to cut his quill pen. No one could induce him to use a new one. He was likewise attached to an old blue cotton umbrella that he insisted upon taking with him ever\'where. When he was starting tor Mexico, his daughter hid it awav, replacing it with a hand- some new silk umbrella. Betore he got of^- he discovered the fraud, and insisted upon having the old one restored to him. " I have no hesitation m expressing mv con\'iction that no other man's example ever exerted so great or lasting influ- ence upon me as Mr. Br\'ant's. I sa\' example, because he rarelv gave advice. But his example to me proved very HUNDREDTH ANNIX'ERSARY infectious. Years after I had retired from the profession, when puzzled about a question of duty or propriety, i would instinctively ask mvself, ' How would Brvant act in this case?' I always and promptly received a satisfactory answer. "It is often said that the Evening Post was founded bv Alexander Hamilton, but this is so only in the same way that the Sun was founded bv Governor Morgan. I don't know whether Hamilton put any money into it or not. I don't think he had any to put in. I suppose it was called ' Ham- ilton's paper' just as the Hamburger Nachrichten was called ' Bismarck's paper.' It was recognized as his organ and advocated his principles. " In those days, all the newspapers of importance were owned or controlled by their editors, who were usually the leaders or representatives of the leaders of one or the other of the great political parties. Coleman, the founder of the Post, was a Federalist of the Hamiltonian school, and continued to be the champion of Hamiltonian Federalism until iVIr. Brvant had become established in the paper. " Then newspapers were edited and published more for the influence thev exerted upon public affairs than for the revenue they yielded the proprietors. Since then, the superior value of news to political patronage in extending the circula- tion and influence of a newspaper has entirely changed the character of the press from a feudal to a pureK- democratic regime. The late James Ciordon Bennett was, so far as 1 know, the first to discover that news-gatherers were more important than leader-writers for procuring readers and ad\'er- tisers. His example has prettv much emancipated the dailv newspaper in this country from any dependence upon political organizations, and has transferred newspaper property in a great measure from the proprietorship of editors to that of capitalists ; into organs of public opinion rather than of party opinion ; into followers rather than leaders, servants of the 52 THE EVENING POST public rather than its masters. Among the editorial writers upon the Evening Post during my time, I should mention William M. Thayer, afterwards Consul to Egypt while 1 was Minister in Paris. He broke down in health, and Mr. Seward gave him the consulate at Alexandria, where he died a few \'ears later ot consumption. Thaver had had some experience in writing tor magazines in connection with Charles Hale, brother of Edward Everett Hale. At the time of the attempt of Walker to conquer and colonize Nicaragua, I sent Thayer to Washington, where he became acquainted with Walker, who invited him to accompanv him on his famous expedition. Ours was, I believe, the onlv paper that had a special correspondent there. When he re- turned I sent him again to Washington, where he was very much esteemed. He had the ear of all the important people in Washington, especially Fish, Seward, Chase, and Sumner. "■ Rut for the condition of his health he would probably have been received into our firm. He had in him intellectu- ally the making of a notable journalist. " With the exception ot Mr. Godwin and mvselt, I belie\'e every person who was ever on the staff ot the Evening Post in my time, whether as editor, reporter, or cor- respondent, is now dead. The same is true of most of its corps ot occasional contributors, among whom, as worthv ot special notice, I may mention Azariah C. Flagg, the Comp- troller of the State, and afterwards of the citv of New York ; Francis P. Blair, the editor of the Washington Globe during the administrations ot Jackson and Van Buren ; Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri ; Judge William Kent, son of the Chancellor; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln ; John Van Buren ; William Cassidy, at one time editor of the Albany Atlas and corre- spondent of the Evening Post, and your old associate, Mr. Godkin. HUNDREDTH ANNI\'ERSARY 53 "All these men, who contributed not a little to whatever reputation and influence the Evening Post enjoyed in those days, have also, with the exception of Mr. Godkin, long since joined the majority. Judge Kent, who was probably in a literar\' sense the most accomplished member ot the New York bar ot his time, became sufficiently enamored ot journal- ism as a profession, between 1855 and i860, to intimate to me a desire to join Mr. Bryant and myselt in the Evening Post. Personally, the association would have been very agreeable to all parties, and it probably would have been con- summated, but tor a divergence ot view between him and the Evening Post, developed atter the nomination of Lincoln for President, which threatened to render such a connection in- compatible with the independence ot one ot the parties. "The Judge, like Mr. Tilden, apprehended ci\'il war and disunion as the probable consequences ot the triumph of a candidate for the Presidency by the votes ot the tree States alone. It was to him that Mr. Tilden addressed his letter of warning to the country ot the danger ot embattling a solid North against a solid South. "In those days, as in later times, the Evening Post devoted more attention to literature and book reviews than any other paper except the Tribune, where Mr. George Ripley made the book department a feature ot great import- ance. Mr. Brvant used to write short notices ot books, for we had no special man tor that work. What he did not do I commonly did — mostly long reviews, with extracts, etc. You see, in those days the expense ot a newspaper had to be watched very caretullv. Now the newspapers have to be careful not to spend too little. " I managed in the course ot the years I was in the Evening Post to make a satisfactory living. I had besides two years in Europe, two vacations in the West Indies, and I retired with what I thought an ample competence, grateful to the profession that had given it to me. But the profession 54 THE EVENING POST had become a little irksome to me in one particular. I was compelled to spend most of mv energies in criticising other people — a lite ot antagonism that is not naturally congenial to me. It was a great relief to be out of it, and no longer responsible tor what some people were doing that I was unable to approve ot. It is difficult enough to judge the motives ot our own conduct ; to judge the motives of others is dangerous." Notes by Carl Schurz Editor 1SS1-S3 IN March, 1S81, having turned over to my successor the Interior Department, at the head of which I had been during the Administration of President Hayes, I went from Washington to Boston tor the purpose ot attending a banquet. Before leaving Washington I received a letter from my friend Mr, Horace White, asking me to stop over night in New York, as he wished to lav lietore me a project which he thought might interest me. 1 complied with his request, and in New York Mr. White met me, together with Mr. Henry Villard. 1 had heard of Mr. Villard's great enter- prises in the far West, but had never had any personal acquaintance with him, not even by letter. Mr. Villard then told me that he had conceived the idea ot purchasing the controlhng interest in the Kvening Post, that journal to be put under the editorial control of Mr. Horace White, Mr. E. L. Godkin, and myself, I to occupy the position of chief editor. Mr. Villard, in whom I found, to my great surprise, not only an active man ot af1"airs ot a large conception, but an enthusiastic idealist of extraordinary public spirit, pictured to me in impressive language the influence on public opinion which might be exercised by the proposed combination, and warmly urged the plan upon mv consideration. The consent of Mr. White and Mr. Godkin had already been obtained. Upon my return from Boston we met again and discussed the plan in detail, and alter mature consideration the enter- CARL SCHURZ, EDITOR iSSi-S: HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 57 prise was resolved upon. It was agreed, and I might say as a matter of course, that the editors should be in entire con- trol ot the paper, and that the Evening Post should be an independent journal in the truest sense — that is, it should treat public questions, political, economic, or social, upon their own merits, without respect of persons or political parties, or of social influences or other interests. The editors should also be permitted to purchase as much of the stock ot the company as they might like. Mr. V^illard assured us that this was just what he had in mind, and that the paper should be absolutely tree trom any mfluence on the part ot the owner- ship, a promise which was most conscientiously kept. I leave the detailed history of the career of the Evening Post to other hands ; but I may add that, despite occasional mistakes of information or errors ot judgment, which no daily newspaper, however carefully conducted, can entirely avoid, the Evening Post has, by the observance of the principles of conduct then agreed upon, won the respect and confidence ot serious men and women all over the country, and succeeded in setting people to thinkmg m so extraordinary a degree that it may well be said to have thus achieveci an almost unique position in American journalism. The Evening Post from 1 88 I to the Present Day By Horace White, Editor since iSgg THE ownership of the Evening Post in 1881 was vested in Mr. Parke Godwin and Mr. Isaac Hender- son, the former being a proprietor in his own right and controlling also the interest ot the late William C. Bryant. In pursuance of the arrangement recited bv Mr. Schurz in the preceding narrative, the shares of both were purchased. Before the purchase was completed, however, the suggestion had been made to Mr. Villard bv Mr. E. L. Godlcin, the editor ot the Nation, that that paper should be taken over and made a weekly edition ot the Evening Post, which suggestion had the concurrence also ot Mr. W. P. Garrison, the associate editor and general manager of the Nation. This plan was carried into effect. Mr. Villard's motives in purchasing the Evening Post were wholly of a public nature. He wished to do something useful to his adopted countr\' h\ taking a daily journal ot established reputation and putting it m charge ot men who would give it increased influence and authority. He in- formed them that they were absolutely independent of him- self, independent ot the counting-room, and independent of party. To make good this declaration, he placed all ot his shares in a trust, with David A. Wells, Benjamin H. Bristow, and Horace White trustees, with all the powers that he could have exercised. This trust remained in force tor several HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 59 years, and at its expiration Mr. Villard turned the property over wholly to other members of his family. Mr. Godkin once said that he knew of no other man, in his wide circle of acquaintance, who would have acted so generously and dis- interestedly in thus effacing himself from the control of an important pecuniary investment. The history of the Evening Post from that period to the present time must be found in the positions it took, the judgments it formed, and the opinions it expressed on the leading questions of the day. A newspaper which merely inks over a certain amount of white paper each day may be a good collector of news, it may be successful as a business venture, but it can leave no mark upon its time and can have no history. The new management became invested with the editorial control of the paper on the 1st of July, 1881. On the day following this event (July 2) President Gar- field was shot in the railway station at Washington city by Charles J. Guiteau, an office-seeker of unbalanced mind. At the time when this tragedy was enacted, Senator Conkling and Vice-President Arthur were in Albany working for the vindi- cation of the former in his quarrel with the Administration. Mr. Conkling had resigned his seat in the United States Senate in order to express his indignation at the appomtment by the President of Judge Robertson as Collector of Customs at New York, in place of Merritt, removed, and had gone to Albany to secure a reelection by the Legislature as a rebuke to the President. In this enterprise he had secured the cooperation of his colleague, Senator Piatt. This was the first event upon which the Evening Post under its new manage- ment had to express an opinion. It took the position that the quarrel, being a difference about " spoils " and not about principles, was one in which there was little to choose between the President and the Senator, although the latter was making himself ridiculous by his method of carrying on the fight. EDWIN LAWRENCE GODKIN', EDITOR iSS:-iS 3-1*99 HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 6i On the course of Vice-President Arthur, however, it expressed the opinion that he was severely censurable for espousing Mr. Conkling's quarrel, and that he had lowered the dignity of his office by making himself Mr. Conkling's tool at Albany. At the same time it expressed the opinion that it Mr. Arthur should become President under such circum- stances, he would probably be a more conservative and digni- fied one by reason of the sobering caused bv Guiteau's pistol- shot. A few words quoted from one of its articles on this subject possess interest in connection with the assassination of President McKinley : " He [Mr. Arthur] is a man of education as well as oi" affairs, of an amiable and yielding disposition, and hence more likely to be impressed with the responsibilities of his new station, and the fatality through which it fell to his lot, than a person of narrow mind and headstrong temper would be. The duty ot the people to him in the event of President Garfield's death will be no less imperative and binding than his duty to them. He will be entitled to the forbearance and confidence due to one who has neither sought nor expected the Presidential office, but who assumes it in obedience to law and under verv trying circumstances. Mourn as we all may and must for our elected chief, if he be lost, the country has still higher claims upon us. To see that the republic receives no detriment is the first command laid upon every citizen. The sobriety and reasonableness which carried us through the crisis of" a disputed Presidency will not fail us in the emergency now so painfully appre- hended." President Garfield died on the 19th of September, and the Evening Post's greeting to his successor was in these words : " To-day President Arthur receives from all parts of the country assurances of good will, of sincere wishes for his success. These assurances come from journals and from men HORACE WHITE, PRESENT EDITOR OF THE EX'ENIXG POST HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 63 of all political parties and shades of opinion, who esteem the welfare of the country a higher consideration than the fortunes or tate of any man, and we have no doubt they are sincerely meant. Every good citizen shares the feeling which inspires them, and will be heartily glad to find in President Arthur's Administration much to praise and support, and little to con- demn and oppose. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that these expressions of sympathy and good will are given in advance, and that President Arthur's ultimate relations with the people will depend entirely upon the manner in which he understands and performs the duties of his high office." Mr. Arthur's Administration was in general dignified and wholesome. It was marred by some bad appointments to office, which led to a split in the Republican partv in New York in the election of 1882, which resulted in the election of Grover Cleveland (Democrat) as Governor by a plurality of 192,854. In the Congressional elections of the same year the Democrats secured 191 seats in the House of Represent- atives and the Republicans 119. The Republican party was now thoroughly alarmed. It attributed its overthrow in the elections to the frequent scandals in the civil service and to the assessments levied on office-holders for campaign ex- penses. In a penitential mood it passed the so-called Pen- dleton bill, which, for the first time, made assessments on office-holders unlawful and made appointment and promotion to certain positions in the Federal service — mainly clerk- ships — dependent upon competitive examination. It also established machinery tor carrying the reform into effect. This was a measure for which the P'.vening Post under its new management had contended zealously ; the Nation had been conspicuous and unremitting in its labors to the same end from its foundation, in 1865. The Pendleton bill became a law in January, 1883. The Evening Post ex- pressed the opinion that President Arthur would carry out the measure in eood faith, but it added ; HENRY VILLARD HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 65 " His successor may be a man who will see in it nothing but a Republican device to cheat Democrats out of their well- earned rewards, or a weak man unable to resist the pressure of old friends and patrons. In either case constant vigilance will be necessary, until all trace of the notion that the public offices are spoils, or prey, has disappeared from the public mind." Fortunately, the apprehension here expressed was not realized. The election ot 1882, which gave the Democrats control of the House, as already said, made Grover Cleve- land Governor of New York. He was then a new man in public life, for although he had served a term as Mayor of Buffalo acceptably, his name was little known outside of his own immediate neighborhood. His election to the office of Governor was an event of the first importance in national politics. In the autumn of 1883 Mr. Schurz voluntarily retired from the editorship ot the Evening Post and was succeeded by Mr. Godkin. Early in 1884 it became evident that James G. Blaine would be a formidable candidate for the Republican nomina- tion for the Presidency. He had been a candidate betore the Convention of 1S76, when the nomination finally went to Governor Hayes, of Ohio. He had been defeated then by a timely exposure of certain transactions with the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company while he was Speaker ot the House of Representatives. The details of these trans- actions were embraced in a correspondence between Mr. Blaine and Warren Fisher, Jr., of Boston, known as the Mulligan let- ters, from the name of the man in whose custody they had been placed by Mr. Fisher. Eight years had elapsed since the Mulligan letters had been made public, yet they seemed to constitute, in the minds of Mr. Blaine's supporters, no bar to his nomination for the office of President in 1884. The E>vening Post thought otherwise. It had been a 66 THE EVENING POST Republican paper hitherto, as the Nation had been also, in the sense that they had never failed to support the Republican nomuiees in Presidential campaigns, but the editors foresaw that if Mr. Blaine were nominated in the face of the Mulligan letters, they could not support the Republican ticket in the coming campaign, and that in all probability the partv would lose the Presidenc\', tor the first time since the election of Mr. Lincoln in i860. Accordingly, in the month of April, the Evening Post published editorially a full statement of the charges against Mr. Blaine in connection with the railroad, and expressed the belief that he had made use of the Speaker- ship for the purpose of private gain, and that if he were nominated, he would be defeated. This article was the opening ot the anti-Blaine campaign. Mr. Blaine was, nevertheless, nominated b\' the Repub- hcans. The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland, and the F-vening Post gave him its active support. Mr. Cleve- land carried the State ot New York by a small pluralit\", and was elected. The Evening Post had declared before the election that civil-service retorm could never be well rooted in national policy, or in the public opinion which constitutes and entorces national polic\', until it should have stood the test ot a change ot political power at Washington. It had expressed the belief that Mr. Cleveland could be depended on to execute the new law in its letter and spirit. It took up this text and made the subject prominent in its discussions ot public atfairs during the interval between Mr. Cleveland's election and his inauguration. The President-elect wrote a letter December 25, 18S4, to Mr. Ct. W. Curtis, announcing his purpose not only to execute the Pendleton act according to its terms, but also to extend its operation as tar and as fast as practicable, but declaring at the same time that of^ce-holders not covered by the Pendleton act, who had proved themselves offensive partisans and unscrupulous manipulators ot local party man- HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 67 agement, must not expect to be retained in office — a position which the Evening Post considered justifiable. In this inter- val, too, Mr. Cleveland wrote a letter to the Hon. A. J. Warner and other Democratic members of Congress, indi- cating his opposition to the coinage ot silver then going on under the Bland act. The Evening Post had been a zealous and unceasing opponent of- that measure, and it gave a hearty support to Mr. Cleveland in the fight over this question, which continued for nine years longer, and ended in victory in the autumn of 1893, when the Sherman act, which super- seded the Bland act, was repealed. In the municipal campaign ot 1884 the Evening Post supported Mr. William R. Grace for Mayor, the opposing candidates being Grant (Tam.) and Gibbs (Rep.). Mr. Grace was elected by a plurality of about 11,000. Six months after Mr. Cleveland's inauguration as Presi- dent the Evening Post congratulated its readers on the fact that, although the Democratic party had come into power after a lapse of fourteen years, the American republic seemed to be still in a good state ot preservation and tairly well con- tented. It said : " The superstition which had come to possess a large proportion of Republicans that the accession ot the Democracy to power would involve the ruin ot the country has been for ever dispelled. It seems almost incredible now that only a few months ago there were hosts of men who fully and sin- cerely believed that the election of Mr. Cleveland meant the bankruptcy of the P'ederal Treasury by the payment ot the 'rebel claims,' the loss of all the truits of the war, and such a general political, financial, and moral upheaval as would set the natio'n back twenty years. Popular government is a failure If a party which comprises a majority of the people cannot be trusted to govern the whole people. Six months ago a considerable percentage of the public held this most discouraging view of the result of a century's trial of the HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 69 American experiment. To-day the man who should begin ranting about the country's gomg to ruin because the Demo- crats were in power would simply be laughed at, even bv Republicans whom he formerly duped most badly. To have thus restored faith in government of the people, whatever servants they may employ to do their work, is in itself a great achievement." In 1885—6 one ot the leading measures before Congress was the Blair Educational Bill, which proposed to appropriate ^100,000,000 from the national Treasury to run through a series of years as an aid to education in the South. The Evening Post opposed it on the ground that such donations tended to deaden the spirit ot selt-help. Its position was summed up in the tollowing words: " All the plans tor Federal aid proceed upon the assump- tion that such aid will be a good thing for the South. It is this assumption which we combat. We maintam that the worst thing that could befall the cause ot education in the South would be a series ot liberal appropriations trom the national Treasury for a series of years. We mean, ot course, the worst thing in the long run, for no judgment upon such a matter is of any value which is not based upon a long look ahead. We are ready to admit that more Southern voters might be able to read ten years hence it 5 100,000,000 should be appropriated by Congress, for use chiefly m Southern schools, than if the States were left to their own resources ; but we insist that this temporary gain in intelligence would be purchased at the cost of a permanent loss in character vastly more important — the loss of self-reliance and self- respect." The Blair Educational Bill was before Congress several vears. The first vote on it in the Senate was taken April 7, 1884, at which time there was a majority in favor of the bill of three to one (yeas ^3^ nays 11). It was passed by the Senate a second time, March 5, 1886, yeas 35, nays 12 ; and 70 THE EVENING POST a third time, February 15, 1888, yeas 39, nays 29. In none ot these cases did it come to a vote in the House. It was finally defeated in the Senate March 20, 1890, by yeas 39, nays 43. What is more remarkable is the fact that a major- ity of the Senators from the States that would have re- ceived most ot the money voted against it. It was the general belief at the time that the arguments advanced by the Evening Post were chiefly instrumental in defeating the measure. There was an exciting municipal campaign in the autumn of 1886, the candidates for Mayor being Abram S. Hewitt, Henry George, and Theodore Roosevelt. 7 he Evening Post supported Mr. Hewitt, who was elected by a plurality of about 23,000. In the Presidential campaign of 1888 the Evening Post supported Mr. Cleveland, but his Republican opponent, General Harrison, was elected, Mr. Cleveland receiving, how- ever, a plurality ot the popular vote. An event of minor importance was the election of Hugh J. Grant, the Tammany candidate, for Mayor of New York. The opposing candi- dates were Abram S. Hewitt, the then incumbent of the office, and Joel B. Erhardt, the Republican nominee. The year 1890 was signalized by two measures of great importance in national politics — the McKinle^' tariff" and the Sherman Silver Bill. The House of Representatives was controlled by the friends ot the former and the Senate bv the silver men. The two measures were passed hv means ot a political trade, although this tact was not made public until some vears later. The Evening Post opposed both measures. The tariff" bill was supported bv its ad\'ocates with the rather shopworn argument that our infant industries still needed protection. This droll plea moved an occasional contributor to the columns ot the Evening Post to write for it a short poem, which was published anonymously. The author was James Russell Lowell. The poem was entitled : HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY THE INFANT PRODIGY. A veteran entered at my gate With locks as cherry-blossoms white ; His clothes proclaimed a prosperous fate. His boots were arrogantly bright. The hat was glossv on his head. Gold-rimmed his eye-glass, gold his chain. In genial curves his waistcoat spread. And golden-headed was his cane. Without a prehice thus he spoke, "I've called to get my annual due"; Whereat I too the silence broke. With: "Who, respected sir, are you.' " What is vour claim against me, pray .' A manv-childed man am ], Hard pinched ni^' monthly bills to pay. And prices rule perversely high." "Not know me.' Everybod\' knows And gladly gives his mite," quoth he. " Whv, I'm a babe in swaddling clothes, I am an Infant Industry." "Forgive me, Reverend Shape," I cried, "You set m\" taith a heavy task; This iniancv which seems vour pride. Is it voar second, mav I ask r " Or have "\'ou, where so manv failed. The kev to life's Eli.vir found .' You look like one who never ailed. In wind and limb sedateb- ^ound." "You doubt m\' word.' (E.xciise these tears Thev flow for you and not for me.) Young man, for more than seventy years I've been an Infant Industry. 72 THE EVENING POST " Your father rued mv helpless lot. Lifelong he handed me his fee. Nor ever asked himself for what; He loved an Infant Industrv. " Ouoth 1, " He paid m\" ransom then From further tribute, small or great. Besides, it I can judge of men. Since that vou've grown to man's estate." He murmured, as I bowed him out, " The \yorld is getting worse and worse; This fellow makes me almost doubt Whether I've not been changed at nurse. " But no; this hat, this cane, these boot,^. This suit in London made b\' P., Con\-ince me to the very roots I am an Infant Industry" Until he vanished from mv sight These words came floating back to me: "Yes, spite of Time, in Reason's spite, I am an Infant Industry." While the Sherman Silver Bill was pending; the Evening Post predicted that if it should become a law it would lead to a financial crisis. It said : " Experience teaches that the present coinage rate ot two millions per month [under the Bland act] is all that the public will take ofi" the Secretarv's hands. Anv excess ot silver purchases will, therefore, be an addition to the public ex- penses, exactly the same as a new pension bill, or anv other unproductive expenditure. It is the same thing as buvmg any kind of property not wanted for use. But the conse- quence ot a great increase ot the public expenses is to create a Treasury deficit, and whene\'er this happens, and however it may come about, the Treasury will no longer be able to maintain parity between gold and silver. Not only will the HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 73 silver crisis then begin, but another kind of crisis will begin at the same time. A Treasury deficit does not exhaust itself with silver payments. Unless taxes are increased, so as to choke the deficit, bonds must be issued to meet current expenses. This is what we have to look forward to it any such insensate ineasure becomes a law." These predictions were more than fulfilled within three years. In the summer ot 1890, in preparation for the municipal campaign of that year, the Evening Post published a series of biographical sketches ot the leaders ot Tammanv Hall, and accompanied the same with an editorial article which made them extremely angry. This article concluded with these words : " The work the Evening Post has been doing about these men and their kind is work which ought not, in an\' highly civilized community, to devolve on a journalist at all. We do not believe any civilized community has heretofore left it to its journalists. The wav m which such men usualK- come under the notice of the press is in comment on the efforts of the police to watch them, and catch them, or on the sentences passed on them by the criminal courts. Writing their history with the view of keeping them out ot places ot civil honor and trust is surely an unprecedented editorial ex- perience in a great capital, and yet this is the task which New York to-day imposes on its newspapers. It is a task which, it seems, has to be performed, but it is one which no respect- able journalist can perform without shame and indignation." Shortly afterwards a series of warrants of arrest were issued against Mr. Godkin, the editor of the paper, charging him with criminal libel. They were issued on the complaint of various Tammany politicians whose biographies had been published in the Evening Post. The warrants were served at times and places where it would be most inconvenient to procure bail ; not for the purpose of a trial on the charge ot 74 THE EVENING POST libel, but to cause personal annoyance. In one such case a policeman came to Mr. Godkin's house Sunday morning, before he had risen, and insisted upon going to his bedroom, where he served the warrant, and refused to leave the room except with Mr. Godkin m custody. Not a single one ot these cases ever came to trial. Thev \vere all dismissed for want of prosecution. The Republicans were defeated in the Congressional elec- tions of 1890, electing only 87 members out ot a total of 332 — an unexampled defeat, due to the passage of the McKinlev Tarift' Bill. The municipal campaign in New York resulted in the re-election of Grant (Tamman\) for Mayor against Scott (Fusion). In the ensuing campaign ot 1892 Mr. Cleveland received his party's nomination a third time, despite the tact that the regular Democratic delegation trom his own State, led by David B. Hill, was unanimously and bitterly opposed to him. The Kvening Post ad\'ocated the sending of a volun- teer delegation of New York Democrats to Chicago to coun- teract the influence of the regulars and to urge the nomination of Mr. Cleveland. This was done. A com-ention was held at Syracuse, and a delegation headed bv William C. Whitney was sent to Chicago tor the purpose aforesaid. It accom- plished the work which it was appointed to do, and without much difficulty, for it found two-thirds of the delegates, other than those of New York, enthusiastic for Mr. Cleveland, who was nominated on the first ballot, and was elected in November by a very large majority. After the election the Evening Post pointed out the necessity of repealing the Sherman Silver Act, and called upon Senator Sherman himself to assist, in order to avert impending financial disaster. A tew da\'S later an interview with Mr. Sherman was published in which he expressed a sincere desire to put a stop to the Government's purchase of silver, but said that legislation on the subject must depend somewhat on the HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 75 outcome of the Brussels Monetary Conference, which began its sessions in November, 1892. The Evening Post predicted the utter failure ot that Conference, saying : " They [the European delegates] have not overlooked the fact that our currency is still in politics — that is, is voted on, or liable to he voted on every two years at the election of members of Congress — and that the enormous store of silver we now have in the Treasury vaults has been accumu- lated not under the influence of financial, but of political con- siderations, not because our experts recommend it, but because a large bod\' of voters, who know little or nothing about the matter, demanded it, and in spite of the warnings and pro- tests of nearh' every instructed person in the country. We have only to state these facts to show that an mternational agreement with regard to the coinage, which depended for its maintenance and success on the fidelity of every one of the parties to it, would practically put the currency of every country which adhered to it into the American political arena, and compel it to watch our elections with the utmost anxiety lest the result of the vote should break up the compact. To suppose that France, Germany, and England are going to expose their standard of value to a risk of this sort is to sup- pose that their business men have lost all their sagacitv. It is, in fact, a ridiculous supposition." On the 17th of December the news came that the Brussels Conference had adjourned without coming to any agreement, except to reassemble in the month of May, 1893, which it failed to do. The financial troubles that the Evening Post had pre- dicted as the sure result of the Sherman Act and the McKinley tariff came in the summer of 1893. The part that the Tariff Bill played consisted in the repeal of the sugar duties and the payment of bounties on the production of home-grown sugar, causing a loss of over $60,000,000 of revenue and making it necessary for the Secretary of the Treasury to take money 76 THE EVENING POST out of the greenback redemption fund to ineet the ordinary expenses ot the Government. The holders of legal-tender notes, anticipating this contingency, began to present them at the Treasury for redemption. The gold reserve fell below the traditional sum of $100,000,000 in April. On June 26 the Government of India demonetized silver, the price of which fell 15 cents per ounce in three days. A panic of great severity began in Wall Street. On June 30 the President called Congress together in extra session to repeal the Sher- man Act, fixing August i as the time for meeting. The Evening Post believed that the turning point had at last been reached and that the silver craze, although it might hnger somewhat, was now on the decline. It closed an article on this subject with the following paragraph : " The term ' siK^er lunacy ' has been treated as a term of vituperation, but it is nothing of the kind. It is stricth' de- scriptive. It denotes a wave of popular hallucination, such as, in past ages, usually arose in the field ot religion and dealt with the supernatural, or expended itself on the infidels, or the witches, or the Jews. Had we alone had to deal with it, there is no knowing into what slough it would have plunged us before passing awav. Happily, some power over the object of the superstition remained m the hands ot the saner portion ot mankind in other countries. The Latin Union, England, and now India, had the fortunes of the idol more or less in their hands, and have, mercifully for us, used their power to rip him open and exhibit his fraudulent insides to his dupes." Congress assembled at the appointed time, and the House, under the lead of the late William L. Wilson, promptly passed a bill to repeal the Sherman Silver Act. The bill went to the Senate, and after a long debate, which disclosed the fact that a majority was favorable to its passage, the minority refused to allow a vote to be taken, and began to filibuster against it. The filibustering continued for weeks. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 77 The majority resorted to night sessions in order to bring on a vote, but tailed in the effort. If the right ot the majority to govern could be overborne in this way, the Evening Post considered the condition of things at Washington akin to revolution. It said : " There can be no Union without the rule of the majority, and under any suspension, or impairment, of that rule, the country must dissolve into its original parts. We say this not because the Silver Bill is the immediate subject of dis- cussion, but because the same result must come to pass when- ever the majority principle is broken down. If we have reached the point in our national existence where the obstruc- tion ot a minority cannot be overcome, then patriotic citizens must drop all other concerns and lay aside all other differ- ences until the rule of majority is reestablished. . . . The time for compromise is past. Better that we should meet national bankruptcy, inability to meet the interest on the public debt, or the salaries of Congressmen, judges. Cabinet officers, or pensions, or the cost of carrying the mails. Better that we should come to the silver standard and all that that implies, scaling down the wages ot workingmen and shaving the deposits in savings banks 35 per cent. Better any kind ot financial calamity than the overthrow ot the rule of the majority, on which our present and future national existence depends." On October 28 the minority stopped filibustering, and allowed a vote to be taken, but it remains doubtful to this dav whether they yielded in obedience to the spirit of Con- stitutional government and fair dealing, or because they had heard that Secretary Carlisle would not buy any more silver until the bill was voted on. There was a majority of eleven votes in favor of repealing the Sherman Act. The repeal of the Sherman Act did not put the Treasury in tunds, however. It did not choke the deficit caused by the repeal of the sugar duties, and the new Pension Bill. 78 THE EVENING POST There was a shortage of revenue to meet expenses during the three years i894-'95-'96 of ^137,8 1 7 ,730. This was addi- tional to the ^155,981,000 paid for silver purchased under the Sherman Act. These two sums, amounting to §29;), 792, 730, had to be borrowed during the Cleveland Administration. This Treasm-y deficit, threatening to overturn the standard ot value, was the main cause ot the panic and the subsequent commercial distress and of the labor troubles which broke out in 1894. Among these most conspicuous manifestations were the marching ot " Coxey's army " upon Washington and the out- break of the Debs riot at Chicago. The latter occurred in July, 1894. It took the form of a boycott of the Pullman Car Company. Eugene V. Debs was the President ot the so-called American Railway Union, an organization ot train- men, switchmen, and track employees. Neither Debs nor his men had anything to do with the Pullman Company or with car manufacturing. Mr. Pullman had been compelled, by the declining price of cars and by the lessened demand for them, either to reduce wages or to close his works and throw his men out of employment. He had reduced the wages to some extent. At the time when Debs entered upon the scene the Pullman Company was making and selling cars at less than actual cost in order to keep its men employed. At this juncture Debs, in behalf of the American Railway Union, demanded that the Pullman Company should either restore the former rate ot wages or submit the question ot doing so to arbitration. This demand was rejected by the Pullman Company. Then Debs ordered the members ot the American Railway Union not to " handle " Pullman cars — that is, to refuse to operate trains containing Pullman cars. Twenty- three railroads, mostly between Chicago and the Pacific Coast, were brought to a deadlock by this means. On the 8th of July, President Cleveland issued a proc- lamation commanding all persons who were engaged in HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 79 unlawful attempts to interfere with the movement of trains employed in interstate commerce to retire to their respective abodes. He gave an order simultaneously to the military authorities to disperse the crowds in the city of Chicago which were interfermg with such trains. The order was promptly obeyed, the rioters were driven away without bloodshed, and the Debs boycott came to an end even more sudden than its beginning. Congress was at that time m session, but as there was an election approaching, not a single member of the House of Representatives dared to utter a word in commenda- tion of the President's course. The Evening Post gave its opinion of their behavior in these words : " A disheartening effect ot this troublous time is the cowardice of Congressmen at Washington. A few Senators have spoken out like men, but it has been impossible to get a positive expression of opinion from any Representative of standing. While the respectable press of the country is a unit in applauding and sustaining the President, and while the great mass of the people are delighted and relieved by his firm attitude, Congress sits by shamefaced and cowering. The only resolutions introduced are firebrands of Populists, and it is only the rule requiring their reference to a committee which saves us from incendiary speeches by our lawmakers. If Congress had any men left in it, it would have passed ere this a joint resolution holding up the hands of the President and rebuking and warning anarchists. But the anarchists have votes, and the most valiant Congressman who remembers that election day is only four months off runs from the interviewer in a fright. It takes a purblind demagogue, in the Washing- ton haze which always distorts popular opinion, to think for a moment that there is a vote to be gained by anybody in crawling before the anarchists. Everybody with the cobwebs out of his eyes sees that the men like Senator Davis, of Min- nesota, and the President himself, are the men whom the nation delights to honor, and that there never before was so THE EVENING POST much public contempt for the trimmer, who haws and hums and dodges when a national crisis comes." The Evening Post supported the candidacy of Col. William L. Strong for Mayor of New York in the campaign of 1894, which resulted in his election by a plurality of about 45,000 over Hugh J. Grant, the Tammany candidate. It opposed the project of consolidating the cities now torming Greater New York, as it believed that such union would lead to a large increase m the cost ot the municipal government, with no im- provement in its quality, but probably a deteriora- tion ot It by extending Tammany misrule over a wider area. The Evening Post was deeply pained by Presi- dent Cleveland's warlike message to Congress in December, 1895, on the Venezuelan question. As the trouble has wholly passed away, there is no occasion for reproducing its comments on that episode, but a tew words may be reprinted which were called out by certain petitions otfered up to the throne of Grace by the Chaplain of the House of Representatives at that crisis, in one of which he prayed that " we might be quick to resent any in- sult offered to this our nation," and in another he besought the Almighty tor peace on condition that it should be honorable. WENDELL PHILLIPS CiARRISON Literary Editor ot The Evening Post and Editor ot thie Nation since I 88 I HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY Upon these remarkable adjurations the Evening Post re- marked : "We warn all fighting parsons that by no form of words can they conceal from the Deity what they are up to. The petitions reached the throne oi Grace stripped of all rhetorical drapery in their naked barbarity. Here is the torm in which their prayer arrives at its destination : ' O Lord, grant that we may be able to kill plenty of our enemies and destroy their property for any reason that may seem good to ourselves.' The ' patriotism ' and the ' self-respect ' and the ' honor,' and all the other tinsel and shabby finery in which these gentle- men invest their war-whoops never reach the upper air of divine peace and love. Nobody is imposed on by these blasphemous harangues, while many are deeply disgraced. But the chaplains are not wholly to blame. All Jingoes who try to clothe simple hatred of England, or ot any foreign nation, with the sacred name ot love ot country, or patriotism, are as great humbugs as the chaplain. A desire to invade Canada and kill Englishmen through simple dislike ditfers in no respect except intensity trom the feelmg with which the Iroquois used to start out on the war-path to kill the Mohawks. The patriotism of the modern man, and above all the American man, is a desire not to wade in enemy's blood, but to make his country preeminent in the arts of peace. It is one thing to defend one's house mantully it compelled, but quite another to wander about among the barrooms, in order to chastise anybody who seems likely to insult you." The Evening Post took an active part in the movement for a treaty of arbitration of future ditferences with Great Britain, which led to a great conference at Washington city, presided over by ex-Senator Edmunds, and which President Cleveland supported and promoted with so much earnestness that such a treaty was actually negotiated and sent to the Senate. The treaty failed of ratification, but the popular move- 82 THE EVENING POST ment which carried it forward smoothed the way to a peaceful settlement ot the Venezuela dispute, and was not without in- fluence in promoting the success of the Hague Conference. When William J. Bryan was nominated in Julv, 1H96, bv the Democratic party for President of the United States on a platform which demanded the tree coinage ot silver at the ratio ot 16 to i without reference to the action ot an\' other nation, the Evening Post said that this scheme, it carried into effect, would be equivalent to repudiation ot one-halt ot all debts, public and private, that this was the great and over- powering issue ot the campaign, and that it should gne its support to the Republican nominees, McKinlev and Hobart. When the campaign was ended the Kvening Post had this to say : " We have escaped trom what a large number ot people supposed was an immense danger, the danger ot having our currency adulterated and our torm ot government changed and a band ot ignoramuses and Populists put at the head ot the great American republic. Probably no man in civil lite has succeeded in inspiring so much terror without taking lite as Bryan. " The world has never before witnessed the spectacle ot an immense number of people drawing gold out ot solvent banks and locking it up lest the value ot their money should be reduced one-halt by the result ot an election — this, too, m a time ot profound peace. As election day drew nearer this movement became more pronounced, causing unexpected tightness in the money market. On Thursday call money touched 100 per cent., and it loaned at that rate on the fol- lowing day. It is the estimate of good judges that 540,000,000 was thus hoarded, most of it during the past thirty days." Events are now brought down to a period where they are within the recollection of nearly all persons who will read this review. Hence the remainder luay be briefly dismissed. The HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 83 Evening Post was opposed to war with Spain. It was not indifferent to the wrongs and sufferings of the Cubans, but it beheved that these were remediable without war. It held and expressed the opinion that the Government of Spain would concede everything that we demanded, even to a complete withdrawal from Cuba, if she were given a little time to reconcile her people to that policy and to show them the necessity of it. This opinion received ample confirmation afterward from Gen. Stewart L. Woodforci, our Minister to that country. The Evening Post did not believe that the destruction of the Maine was caused by any- body operating outside of that ship, but held that if it were so caused it did not follow that Spain was responsible for the act. After the war was ended, the Evening Post opposed the policy ot taking the Philippine Islands as a conquered province against the will of the inhabitants thereof It believed that such a policy was in contravention of the principles of free government, and that its tendency must be to lessen and eventually to uproot our reverence for the rights of man as affirmed in the Declaration ot Independence and enacted in the Constitution of the United States. Holding this opinion, which it considered fundamental, it could not support Mr. McKinley for reelection in the last Presidential campaign. It is needless to say that it did not support Mr. Bryan. It heartily commended Mr. McKinley's policy of humane treat- ment ot China in the deplorable eyents ot last year. It gave the full measure of praise to his speech at Buffalo in behalf of peace, the day before his assassination. When the Ship-Subsidy Bill was brought forward in the last Congress with the confident expectation ot Its promoters that it would be speedily passed, the Evening Post gave a large part ot its space and its utmost efforts to the exposure of the socialistic and fraudulent character ot the measure. It was the opinion of persons most closely conversant with the 84 THE EVENING POST progress ot that fight that the Evening Post contributed very much to the defeat of the Hanna-Payne bill. The Evening Post favored the election of Mr. Odell as Governor in 1900. His public acts and messages, thus far, have vindicated its judgment of his character and abilities. Although it neither tavored nor opposed the elevation of Mr. Roosevelt to the position which made him the Constitu- tional successor of Mr. McKinley, it has gladlv recognized the meritorious and conservative spirit with which he has entered upon an office which came to him under such dis- tressing circumstances. In the autumn of 1899 ^'^''- Godkin was compelled by tailing health to sever his connection with the P.vening Post, but continued tor some time to contribute articles to its col- umns signed with his initials. He was succeeded in the editorship ot the paper by Mr. Horace White. Staff Reminiscences — i. By William Alexander Linn, Managing Editor i8gi-igoo WHEN I accepted the city editorship of the Evening Post, in November, 1871, the paper was edited and pubhshed in the ramshackle old four-story building which then occupied the site of the present Bryant building, on the northwest corner of Nassau and Liberty Streets. That site had some advantages in those days which it would not now possess. The Post-office was then diagonally opposite, and, as there was no quick transit through the city, the nearness of the office assisted in the early delivery of the mails. The near- ness of the site to Wall Street was another advantage in those days. There were no " tickers " then, to announce the stock sales in the newspaper offices, and the Wall Street quotations were printed in the newspaper from the official sheet of the Stock Exchange, which was itself printed, as regards the closing quotations, immediately after the business ot the Exchange was concluded for the day. A messenger boy in waiting seized the first copy and rushed with it to the news- paper office, where it was cut into small " takes," and put into type with all possible speed. 'J'he hour of going to press with the last edition was then 4:15 P.M., an hour later than at present. As the editorial and composing rooms were confined to the third floor, the editorial accommodations were very restricted. Mr. Bryant had a little room, from which he could escape unwelcome callers by means of a rear staircase. 86 THE EVENING POST There were only three other editorial rooms, but, on the other hand, there were not many editors. When I joined the force, it consisted, besides Mr. Bryant, of Charlton T. Lewis, the managing editor; his assistant, Bronson Howard, the now famous dramatist; a telegraph editor, who also acted as dramatic critic ; the city editor, and the financial editor. Mr. Bryant was then only an occasional contributor to the editorial page. My city force consisted ot one salaried reporter and one reporter who was paid for what he wrote. A city news association lent some assistance. The smallness ot my reportonal force often caused per- plexity, and 1 was, in emergencies, compelled to enlarge it by calling for temporary assistance on any one within reach. I had the pleasiu'e of developing some good journalists in this way. The foreman of the composing room recommended one of his compositors to me as a bright young man who had editorial ambitions. I gave him some assignments, and he speedily made his mark as a political reporter, and has for more than twenty years filled the position of Washington correspondent ot the New York Times, K. G. Bunnell. Another young man in the ofiice, not connected with the editorial force, to whom I gave his first reportorial work, was K. A. Dithmar, who has since won a recognized position as a dramatic critic. The Evening Post at that time was a large four-page sheet. The first page contained a little miscellaneous matter, not much ot it original ; the editorials were printed on the second page ; the so-called first and second edition news (which went to the press at the same hour) occupied what space the advertisements allowed on the third page ; and the third and fourth edition news filled the space on the last page. The last eciition news ot the previous day was always reprinted in the earlier editions of the day following. In seasons of the year when the advertising was heavy the space allowed for edition news was very limited. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 87 In the earlier days, even in metropolitan newspaper offices, the foreman of the composing room was an autocrat in his department who brooked little interference even from the editors. The "make-up editor" was not then invented, and the foreman disposed of the copy and the type largely at his own discretion. The then foreman of the Evening Post, Henry Dithmar, was a man of education and good literary judgment. He spoke and wrote both English and German, and his long connection with the paper had given him a knowledge ot men and events which enabled him to correct many an error that had slipped through the editorial rooms. But his views of economy in his office were extreme, and I had many a half-in-earnest contest with him. If late news came in when he had enough matter in type to fill the news space, something like pressure was needed to induce K\m to set copy which would necessitate the " killing " of other matter already in type. He had his own views, too, about the handling of edition matter, and would often send back to my desk copy which. I wanted set at once, with a message that he already had enough to fill the space. But we were warm friends to the day ot his death, and when the office occupied its present quarters, there was no difficulty in ex- ercising a larger editorial supervision over his room. Mr. Dithmar afterwards was appointed United States Consul to Breslau, Germany, a position which he filled with much credit. There were many interestmg incidents connected with the inner political history ot the Evening Post during my connec- tion with it. The paper had supported the Republican party ever since that party was organized, never concealing, of course, its disapproval of a protective taritf. It seemed, however, in 1872, that there was to be a parting of the ways. The paper found much to criticise in General Grant's administration, and it looked with hope to the Independent Convention in Cincinnati for the nomination of a third ticket, which it could support with zeal, and which, even it not successful, would THE EVENING POST blaze the way for a movement that would succeed in later years. Naturally, on both general and personal grounds, the nomination of Horace Greeley by that Convention was a great blow to Mr. Bryant's hopes. He disliked Greeley as a man, and he had fought his tariff views too long to be willing to accept him in any circumstances as a Presidential candidate. 1 remember that on the day when the nomination was made, IV'Ir. Bryant was standing near my desk discussing the possible outcome with some of the editors, when a telegram was handed him from the news desk, announcing Greeley's nomination. Looking up, with a quiet twinkle in his eye, he remarked : " Well, there are some good points in Grant's administration, atter all." Mr. Bryant wrote an editorial headed," Why Mr. Greeley Should Not Be Supported for the Presidency," which was printed on May 4, 1872. It began as follows: " What was at one time regarded as a good joke, the nomination ot Horace Greeley for the position of President of the United States, has, by the recent act of the Cincinnati Convention, become sober earnest. It gives a certain air of low comedy to the election in which the country is about to engage, but, in spite of that, the subject is of such a nature, and the public interest is so deeply concerned in it, that we are torced to treat it seriously. We shall, therefore, put together a few reasons why the nomination of Mr. Greeley is unworthy ot support." The first of these reasons was stated as follows: "He lacks the courage, the firmness, and the consistency which are required of the^Chief Magistrate of the nation." As specifi- cations under this charge were cited his desire that the South- ern States should be allowed to depart in peace, and his peace negotiations with Saunders. The second reason given was : " Mr. Greeley's political associations and intimacies are so bad that we can expect nothing from him, in case, to his own mis- fortune and ours, he should be elected, but a corrupt HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 89 administration of affairs." The principal specification named in this connection was his association with Senator Fenton. The third allegation set forth was: "Mr. Greeley has no settled political principles, with one exception. . . . He is a thorough-going bigoted protectionist, a champion of one of the most arbitrary and grinding systems of monopoly ever known in any country." Mr. Bryant's personal objection to Mr. Greeley was very strong. He did not class him even in the list of gentlemen. His reference to this was thus stated in the editorial referred to : " The last objection to Mr. Greeley which we shall here mention is the grossness of his manners. General Grant is sometimes complained of as not filling the Executive Chamber with the decorum and dignity which properly belongs to the place ; . . . but he is never bearish or brutal, as Mr. Greeley so often is." The managing editor of the paper at that time was Sidney Howard Gay, who had occupied a similar position under Mr. Greeley, and had no liking for his former chief The editorial page was principally in Mr. Gay's charge during that year's political campaign, and he took no unimportant part in the attacks on the Liberal-Democratic candidate, which ended in his so disastrous defeat. There was a very interesting struggle, inside and out, over the position which the Kvening Post should take in the Hayes-Tilden campaign of 1S76. The paper had been an earnest and able advocate of the resumption of specie pay- ments ever since that question had become a practical one, Parke Godwin lending his energetic pen to the discussion with frequency. A Republican Congress had passed a re- sumption act, naming a day when resumption should take place ; but the subsequent Congresses had been criticised for failing to make that act effective, and the platform adopted bv the Republican Convention which had nominated Haves was not considered vigorous in dealing with this subject. Mr. 9° THE EVENING POST Bryant had long been a personal friend of Tilden, and ad- mired the part which he had taken in the overthrow of the Tammany ring and the exposure of the State Canal ring. The paper, too, had drifted into something like open opposi- tion to the Republican Administration at Washington. The use of United States troops in connection with the political BROAD STREET IN 1-96 (From ^^alencine's IVTanual) troubles in Louisiana had caused intense feeling in January, 1875. In New York city this teeling took shape in the calling of a mass-meeting in Cooper Union on January ii, to protest against such use ot the Federal forces. Although such Democrats as Manton Marble and August Belmont took part in this gathering, every eftort was made to give it an independent character, and Mr. Bryant and William M. Evarts were among the speakers. In the following month HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 9' President Grant astonished even radical Republicans by his proclamation asking tor the reinstatement of the Broolvs Government in Arkansas. Two Senatorial elections that winter gave the Independents in the Republican party some »?^^ THE BATTERY IN iSoo (From 'The New Meti-opolis.' Copyright by D, Appleton & Co courage, namely, the defeat ot Chandler in Michigan and of Carpenter in Wisconsin, although the latter had secured in his favor a renomination by the Republican legislative caucus. During all the year T875 ^^^- I'ilden's prominence as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency 92 THE EVENING POST was maintained, and he himself was too practical a politician not to value at its true worth such support as that ot the independent Evening Post. More than one effort was made to have it appear that Tiiden's nomination would gain the support ot the Kvening Post for the Democratic ticket, and in b'ebruary the newspapers printed a story to the effect that Mr. Brvant, during a recent visit in Albany, had toasted Mr. Tilden as the next Democratic candidate. Mr. Br\ant explained m the office that he had simplv said that TiJden would be a good man tor the candidacy. At that time many persons believed that Grant would be nominated again in 1876. Had he been the Republican candidate then, the Kvening Post doubtless would have supported his opponent. The State elections in the autumn of 1875 showed that the tinancial question would come to the front in the follow- ing year. The Ohio Democrats set the pace with an infla- tion platform, and the Pennsylvania Democrats followed their lead. Hayes's election in Ohio secured tor him the ''iepublican nomination tor the Presidency The position of the Evening Post during the previous tall and winter months was not clearly defined. I he office torce believed that the Democratic party would otter nothing satistactorv as regards the currency question, and that a tone should be maintained which would render it consistent tor the paper to support a good Republican candidate on a sound plattorm. I find the tollowing in my diar\' covering that period : " The Evening Post is in a very unsatistactory position on the State and cit\- political question. Mr. Brvant is the object ot ad\'ice trom this man and that. Sitting in his house uptown, and keeping entirely outside ot the current ot political news and its bear- ings, except as he reads it in one or two newspapers, he is easily influenced, and sends do\vn word that this or that is to be, or not to be, said." But the political outlook at that time was \'ery uncertain. Conkling and Morton were actual possibilities as the Repub- HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 93 lican candidates ; Bristow, by the following May, when the Fifth Avenue Hotel conference was held, was a possibility in the view of the Independent element, and it was not yet certain whether Tammany could defeat Tilden's nomination or, it he should be nominated, on what kind of a financial plank he would be placed, l^he result of the national conventions was the nomination of Hayes by the Republicans on a plat- form that was fairly satisfactory to the sound-money men, and of Tilden on a platform which denounced the resumption clause of the act of 1875 and demanded its repeal "as a hindrance " to resumption. Of the result at Cincinnati the Kvening Post on June 17 said: "The nomination of Ha\'es and Wheeler elevates and purifies the canvas beyond what could have been expected under any of the politicians of the Administration." The Democratic currency plan was a hard pill for any sound-money Independent to swallow. The New York World, then influential as the Democratic organ in this city, had told the Democratic Congressional caucus m the previous March : "' If the caucus decides to recommend the repeal of this promise [to resume] , there is no tongue so persuasive as to induce the people to believe the Democratic party sincere in Its demand for resumption." An effort was necessary to reconcile the demand for repeal with a zeal for actual resump- tion. Mr. Tilden made such an effort in his letter of accept- ance, saying : " It cannof be doubted that the substitution of ' a system of preparation ' without the promise of a day for the worthless promise of a day 'without a svstem of prepara- tion ' would be the gain of the substance of resumption in exchange for its shadow." Powerful influence was brought to bear on Mr. Br\'ant, as soon as the nomination was made, to have his paper sup- port the Democratic ticket. But it did not succeed. An editorial on the nomination, printed on June 29, waved aside all personalities in the campaign (Mr. l^ilden's personal 9+ THE EVENING POST character and some of his financial dealings were attacked at once in the Republican press), and rejoiced over the defeat of Tammanv at St. Louis, but said that, in the demand tor the repeal of the resumption clause, the Democratic Con\-ention had taken " a step backward," adding, " It demands the naked repeal ot the pledge to resume in 1879, and that is the only positi\'e fibre in the plank. . . . Already the people have no faith whatever in the sincerity ot the Democratic demand ot resumption. Mr. Tilden is reported to have said last night, ' We made a good fight in the Convention on the money plank, and we succeeded there.' This must be a mistake. Such a hard-money man as Tilden must tcel rather mortified that he is compelled to stand upon such a sott piece of timber." From that time the Evening Post continued to support the Republican candidate on the Republican financial platform, avoiding the personalities which marked the progress ot the campaign. I find the following in mv diary under date ot September 13, 1876 : " iVluch curiosity has been expressed about the Post's position by persons who knew Mr. Bryant's personal admiration tor Tilden. Mr. Bryant has recently written a private letter, saying that he tavors Hayes's election because he does not trust the party which supports Tilden. We have tried to have this published, but Mr. Br\ ant objects. He also writes the managing editor from Massa- chusetts, where he has been tor se\'eral \^eeks, that he thinks the Post is fairly and ably conducted." The actual parting ot the ways which was threatened in in 1872 came in 1884, when the paper supported Cle\-eland against Blaine. The ending of that campaign gave an inter- esting illustration of the influence ot an honestly conducted newspaper in times ot political excitement. The returns on the morning after election left the result somewhat in doubt, with a certainty that if Cleveland had carried New I'ork State he was elected. The Associated Press at once began announc- ing the probable result in that State as indicated by a system HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 95 of averages of returns by election districts, saving: " So many election districts indicate so and so ; if tliis ratio is maintained, the Republicans have carried the State by so and so." This system was eagerly accepted by the Blaine press, and the ex- citement was maintained for several days. The Evening Post headed its returns the day after the election : " Cleveland Probably Elected," and printed a table giving 213 electoral votes to Cleveland, I2'2 to Blaine, and leaving 66 doubtful. Dispatches were then sent to every disputed county in the State, asking for the most complete and trustworthy returns ot the vote in those counties. In this way the paper was enabled to head its returns the follow- ing afternoon : " Cleveland President — New York Gives Him Her Vote." Its table ot the electoral votes gave Cleveland 219, Blaine 150, and left 32 in the doubtful list. As late as noon of the following day the Associated Press sent out a statement ot returns of " missing districts " with this state- ment: "If the press footings are correct, and those ot the county clerks incorrect, the Republican plurality will be nearly 1,000 in the State." As an indication of the confusion pro- duced by the press returns, I may mention that an acc|Liaint- ance holding a responsible position in a Blaine newspa]ier office called at my desk one ot those days and said: " '] ell me what the actual election returns show. I cannot find out in our office." The editorial and publication rooms ot the Evening Post were moved to their present location in the summer ot 1875. Mr. Bryant's friends thought that he was too old to invest his money in the new building, and that structure was erected by Isaac Henderson, Mr. Bryant's partner in the ownership of the newspaper. Mr. Bryant, even m his older days, was a great walker, scorning to use a hack to ride trom the Long Island ferry to the office when he came in trom Rosslyn, and generally walking from the office to his house in Sixteenth Street when he was in the city. When we moved into the 96 THE EVENING POST new building he liked to show his independence of the elevator by walking all the way up to the ninth story. Finding one of the associate editors waiting for the elevator one morning, Mr. Bryant asked, " Do you ever walk up?" The much younger editor compromised in his reply by saving with much confidence, " I often walk do%vn!' Every department of the newspaper has grown enormouslv since 1871, and it a comparison were made with the amount of reading matter furnished m any one week now and then, the publisher ot to-dav would probably wonder how his pre- decessor of thirty \'ears ago induced anv one to bu\' the paper. As I look back over all these years I recall no disturbing element among the personal relationships ot the editors. As an editor-in-chiet, Mr. Bryant did not take active personal supervision, and he brought himselt very little in contact with the editorial corps. He had very strict ideas about pure English, and wanted his somewhat tamous Index Expurga- torius strictly observed. The various managing editors whom I worked under with him — Charlton T. Lewis, Sidney How- ard Gav, Albert G. Brown, and Watson R. Sperry — were ot course gentlemen ot education and refinement. The radical change in ownership ot 1881 gave me new acquaintances — Mr. Godkin, Mr. White, and Mr. Schurz — but under them the delighttul personal relations ot the past were always main- tained, and when I myself, in the spring of IQOO, tound it necessarv to release mvself from the exactions ot otfice duties, I had the pleasure of knowing that I had lett a triend in every one ot my associates. Staff Reminiscences — 1 1. By Jo/ni Kanken Towse, I^ramatic Critic and Former City Editor IN the gradual development of New York journalism during the last quarter of a century there is, perhaps, no more striking tact — at all events to the professional mind — than the gradual substitution of the evening for the morning paper as the chief purveyor of news, the reference being not only to local and domestic intelligence, but to a maiorit\' of the most important occurrences in all parts of the civilized world. The explanation of it, of course, is exceed- ingly simple, being found m the enormous nudtiplication in all directions of the facilities tor the collection and prompt transmission of every item affecting public or private interests, and the accident of geographical position, which, owing to differences of longitude, enables the afternoon paper here to report the happenings of most of the waking, that is to say, the busiest hours of Europe. So far as the eastern hemi- sphere is concerned, the New York morning paper has a monopoly only of the not very fruitful news period between lo P.M. and 6 A.M. The conditions were altogether difl-erent thirty-one years ago, when I first knew the Evening Post. The telegraphic service, even between the great cities, was in its comparative infancy ; telephones had not yet begun to disturb the dreams of inventors, and the transatlantic cable was an expensive luxury, which was used as sparingly as possible. On ordinary 98 THE EVENING POST days the total amount of news copy received from all sources was less than that which is now delivered every half-hour. The office was then in the old and rather rickety building at the northwest corner of Liberty and Nassau Streets. 'I'he publication department was on the first floor, the editorial rooms — five in number, and not very large at that — were on the third floor with the composing-room; a job-printing de- partment was overhead, and the newspaper presses were in the basement. In the composing-room were about twenty- five hands, a force deemed amply sufficient to set up the advertisements and all the other matter for the unwieldy four-page blanket sheet which was then published. This alone will give an idea, to the initiated, of the amount of news matter that reached the desk of the cop\-cutter. By com- parison the editorial force was large. At the head of it, of course, was William Cullen Bryant, with Charles Nordhoff as his right-hand man, general executive officer, and leader writer. Other editorial writers were Charlton T. Lewis, John R. Thompson, the literary editor, and one or two others, who need not be specified, as this was a period of change. Mr. Parke Godwin, at this particular time, was an infrequent con- tributor to the paper, although closely identified with it earlier, and again for many ^ears later on. Dr. A. C. Wilder, who IS still living at an advanced age, was political corre- spondent at Albany, and, when the Legislature was not in session, exercised some sort of supervision over local political news, and William Francis Williams attended to musical, dramatic, and artistic affairs. Augustus Maverick, whose later fate was tragic, had charge of the telegraphic desk, and there was a city editor, with a single reportorial assistant to look after the local news, most of which was furnished by one of two rival news associations, both of which long ago perished of inanition, complicated with incompetency. Of the outside force, the most notable figure was the financial editor, the late Newton F. Whiting, a man of remarkable ability, great HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 99 energy, acute judgment, and inflexible character, whose pre- mature death was not only a source of profound grief to his immediate associates, but called forth a rare tribute of respect from the magnates of Wall Street. In the light of modern developments, the news service of that not very remote day was shockingly devoid of initiative, enterprise, or imagination. Jt was conducted in narrow ruts, but it had the conspicuous merit of being fairly accurate. Much importance was attached to facts, but space was precious, composition slow, and the current arts of decorative lying were severely discouraged. The Herald's yarn about the escape of all the wild beasts in Central Park was regarded as a masterpiece of audacity, almost equal to the famous moon hoax. People were so unsophisticated as to discuss its morality. A story that would fill three or four pages to-day was dismissed in as many columns. No more was given to the Nathan murder, whose ghastly details set the whole city shuddering. Possibly, everything looked smaller then, when the dire tragedies of the civil war were still fresh in all men's memories. At all events, the sense of proportion was mani- fested in reporting, possibly because there was no great un- attached bodv of special writers, devourers of space, who could be procured at a moment's notice. It was only when there was some topic of overpowering public interest, such as a Black Friday crash in Wall Street, or the political earthquake which shattered the Tweed ring, that repetition and padding were tolerated to an unlimited extent. The "special article," except on some special occasion, was seldom seen, except in the Sunday editions, and the province of the magazines was still uninvaded. Interviews, except on financial or political topics, were rare, and the discussion of matters of minor interest was left largely to the occasional, and unpaid, corre- spondent. Routine ruled. Each paper had a man, or a part of a man, at the City Hall, to gather the dry details, which were published afterwards in the City Record, and another at THE EVENING POST Police Headquarters, where was a reportorial cabal, or Trust — contemptible, but potent anci by no means unskilful — to keep the news from journalistic rivals and further certain dark and paltry interests, personal and political. The reporter who was out of it, dependent solely upon the unilluminative police " returns," had a very hard road to travel. Delayed intorma- N. y. VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT, 1S40 (From \'alentine's Manual) tion was a serious matter betore distance was annihilated by the telephone, and horse-cars, as a rule, the only means ot transit. The police courts and the law courts were co\xred, after a fashion, by the news associations, and sometimes very noteworthy feats in long-hand manifold reporting were accom- plished, notably by Mr. Johns, a one-legged veteran ot the war, and a trained law\'er, who has never been excelled, it ever etjualled, for rapidity and accin-acy. Another center of information was the Coroners' office, a HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY very hotbed of political abominations, the fair haven of Tam- many heelers. A huge ruffian, known as " Soger Flynn," was one of the presiding geniuses, and he and his bodyguard, including the notorious " Dick " Enwright, and others, long since gone to their account, were the heroes of the First Ward toughs. All the work was done by deputies, while the Coroners heaped up fraudulent fees, revelled, like Anthony, late o' nights, and grew rich, even after paying their contribu- tions to the Tammany coi^-ers. The news of Brooklyn, except when some great event was impending — as, for instance, a combined hunt by police and military for illicit stills in the navy-yard district — was furnished by some of the local re- porters, and there were similar arrangements for Jersev City and Newark, Long Island City, and a tew other points. For many years, the veteran J. G. Towndrow, not very long dead, personally collected and retailed all the news ot Westchester County. It was only with the extension of the local telegraph service that a thorough system ot suburban reporting; was gradually developed. In the early days ot my apprenticeship Charles Nordhotf, following, ot course, the general directions of Mr. Bryant, was the active manager of the paper. He was then in the very prune ot life, and his well-knit, active fio;ure, his keen eyes glittering through spectacles, and his brusque, authorita- tive speech, constituted a striking personalit\'. He was a quick-tempered, emphatic, but thoroughly just and kindly man, intolerant only ot subterfuge or meanness. There was much ot the sailor in his tree and easy manner and his quick decision. He was an inveterate smoker of big and strong cigars, which he held in the center ot his mouth, and as he wrote — with characteristic, unhesitating energy — he used to envelop himselt in such clouds that it was a mar\'el some- times how he could see either pen or paper. His unatfected simplicity, his conspicuous honesty, and his sense of humor more than atoned for his occasional hastiness, and when he THE EVENING POST left the office, he carried with him the hearty good will of all his subordinates. Mr. Bryant was a man who commanded respect rather than affection. Studiously courteous in all his communications with the juniors ot his staff, he vet conveyed the impression of being cold and distant. In his address, as in his writing, he was a precisian. He prided himself, and with reason, upon his remarkable preservation of his physical powers. Long after he had passed the Scriptural limit of three score years and ten, he could run up stairs with the light step of youth, and it was onh' in his latest da\-s that his eyesight became impaired. His handwriting was minute and beautifully clear and firm, and he had a curious thrifty habit of utilizing old scraps ot paper tor editorial purposes. I received a note from him written on the flap of an envelope a few minutes before he left the office on the day of his fatal seizure. Possibly they were the last words he ever penned, but 1 threw them into the waste-basket after reading them, and so lost an interesting autograph. Dignified as he was, he coidd unbend upon occasion. I remember once seeing him seize the lintel of the door leading into his room and raise and lower himself several times by the arms to show the good condition in which he kept himself bv constant exercise. One of his occasional visitors was Peter Cooper, and as they talked together, they presented a striking illustration ot healthy old age. In strong and painful contrast with this hoary ^dgor was the fragile figure of John R. Thompson, a man still in early middle life, but in the last stages ot consumption. He fought his merciless malady with cheery patience and indomitable courage, sticking to his post until he was almost in extremis. He seemed rather to resent the popularity ot his ' Carcassonne,' not because he did not think well ot it, but because it mo- nopolized the attention which he thought ought to be bestowed upon some of his other poetical pieces. Another person who played an important part in the internal economy of the office HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 103 in those days was the foreman of the composing-room, Mr. Dithmar, who possessed considerable learnmg, a masterful temper, and marked executive ability. Proficient in several modern languages, he was a frequent contributor, principally of translated articles, and his large fund of general informa- tion and strong common sense made him a valuable counsellor. He retired from the office alter lone service to become United States Consul at Breslau. Death has carried off many of the habitual frequenters of those dingy old rooms, but some still survive. Among them are Dr. Field, formerly ot the Evangelist, Du Chaillu, of gorilla tame, Bronson Howard, who was an editorial writer in the first days ot his success with " Saratoga," Carl Schurz, Charlton T. Lewis, the Rev. Dr. Gallaudet, and a dwindling handtul ot Evening Post men. Thirtv \ears is a long time. Three Veteran Employees Meti Who Have Given Long ayid Faithful Service to The Evening Post Morris Van Vliet THE superintendent of the Evening Post composine;- room, which includes the stereot\'ping and proot- reading departments, IVlorris Van Vliet, was born in Saratoga Springs in 1839, and after a taste of farm Hfe as a bov began his apprenticeship as a printer in 1853 in the office ot the Wa\'ne Sentinel, ot Palmyra, N. Y. Atter working as jOLirnevman m several Western cities, he enlisted and ser\'ed two years in the Third New York Volunteer Infantry, Com- pany ¥,. His service ended, Mr. Van Vliet entered the well- known office of Weed, Parsons & Co., in Albany, N. Y., going trom there to the Corning (N. Y.) Journal as foreman. He served m the same capacity the Rochester Democrat (1871-78) and the Elmira Advertiser. In 1883 he took charge ot the Evening Post composing-room. Mr. \'an Vliet's son, Edward, is assistant superintendent of the com- posing-room, under his father. During Mr. \"an \'liet's connection with the E\'ening Post the revolutions effected by the stereotyping process and the linotype machines have been accomplished. The mechan- ical staff of the P'.vening Post is noted among printers as the most competent in the country. It comprises a number of men whose term of service exceeds thirtv years, two men who are approaching their half-centur\' mark, and one man, Mr. Robert Da\-is, who has been sixty years in the office. For character and skill there is no better body of men in the busi- ness than the mechanical staff of the Evening Post. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 105 / They not only represent the best type of the intelhgent, self-rehant American workman, but are fortunate in being free from any labor-union tyranny. The Evening Post office was for years the only non- union one in New York city. Every man in the composing-room is there because of his manifest fitness, and not because he is carried on the rolls of a union. Mr. Van V'liet took charge ot the Evening Post immediatelv atter the strike which resulted in the ousting ot Typo- graphical Union No. 6, and under his manage- ment the office has steadilv progressed in such a manner as to make Mr. Van Vliet pre- eminent in his occupa- tion, and known far be- yond the limits ot New York city. In addition, he has the warm regard of every man and boy connected with the Evening Post, which he has earned by his long and remarkably taithtul service. MORRIS VAN VLIET Superintendenr ot the Evening FosC Ci>m[iosinL;-roi>m John Young The foreman of the Evening Post press-room, John Young, has seen nearly forty years in this newspaper's io6 THE EVENING POST employ. Mr. Young was born in New York in 1839, and is still in the prime of life. His apprenticeship was served in the Sun office, whence he came to the Evening Post in 1862. In 1875, when the move was made from Liberty Street to Broadway, he was made foreman of the press- room. Mr. Young's ex- perience in the Evening Post office covers the revolution effected in the press-room bv the intro- duction of stereotyping and the web press. In 1875 ^^^ paper was print- ed upon the eight- der press, a monumental affair, nearly twice as big as the present presses used. It recjuired eight men and tour bovs to work, besides another machine to do the fold- ing. It printed 10,000 copies an hour of the old four-page blanket sheet, equivalent to the same number of our present eight-page papers. The modern web presses now in use, with the aid of four men and one bov each, print and fold 48,000 copies of the paper in one hour. JOHN YOUNG Foreman of the Press-Room Robert Davis The oldest employee upon the Evening Post in point of service is Mr. Robert Davis, for many years assistant foreman HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 107 of the composing-room, who has spent sixty years of con- tinuous work upon the paper. He entered the office as a boy of thirteen and is now in his seventy-third year. He has known no other employer, and, until the last few years or upon extraordinary occasions, has never been absent from office in business hours. While he now spends but half a day in the composing- room, leaving the office at noon, Mr. Davis is still hale and hearty, a man of kindly nature, re- spected and trusted by all who know him. One ot his sons and a grandson are now employed upon the Evening Post. In talking over his life, Mr. Davis said : " I was a New York boy, born November 26, i 828, in Hester Street, which was then quite a respect- able place. When I was thirteen I entered Mr. Bryant's employ as an apprentice in the press- room of the Evening Post. I was the ' fly-boy.' The paper was printed on a cylinder press worked by a man who turned a crank. The fly-boy took off each printed sheet from the press. So far as I can remember, we went to press about two o'clock. After the edition was worked off we apprentices had to deliver the papers. My route took me through Wall Street. The Evening Post office was then at No. 27 Pine Street. " The composing-room, into which I was graduated some- where about 1845, had a force of not more than ten men, but ROBERT DAVIS The Oldest Employee of the Evening Post io8 TH E EVENING POST the amount ot typesetting done for the daily papers then was insignificant as compared to later years. Most of our adver- tisements remained standing for months without a change. Everything was done in leisurely fashion. The rush and hurry ot recent years, due to Wall Street, was still unknown. Work began at seven A.M. and stopped at six, with an hour tor dinner. When I had a day off I used to walk out into the fields beyond Fourteenth Street. The city stopped there. When I delivered papers Wall Street had still a number ot private houses. I can remember well the large church that stood in Wall Street, be- tween Nassau and Broad- way, opposite N ew. Benedict's jewelr\' and clock store stood at the corner of New and Wall. "During my life I have seen the candles dis- placed bv gas and the gas bv electricitw The teleo;raph, telephone, the web presses, printing trom a roll ot paper, stereotvping, the linotype machines that enable one compositor to do the work of five men at the case — all these changes in the making ot a newspaper have been accomplished in mv day. I sometimes wonder whether my grandson, when he comes to give an account of his sixtv years upon the Evening Post, will have any such revolutions to review." -^.1|K*-J1*M« "^ BOGERT'S BAKERY Broadway and Cortlandt Street, 1801. (Present site ot" Benedict Building) THE LUNCHEON. In connection with the centennial of the Evening Post, the trustees of the New York Evening Post Company re- ceived and accepted the following invitation : "New York, October 28, 1901. "Wendell Phillips Garrison, Esq., Secretary The Evening Post and Nation. "Dear Sir: We learn that the Evening Post is preparing November 16th next to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of its existence and progress, and is making preparation therefor by publishing an extraordinarv issue of the paper, for the benefit and enjoyment ot its patrons and of the community. " We think that, in view of the record of the Evening Post, it is fitting that there should be some reciprocal action on the part of the communitv, in recognition of so interesting an event. "Desiring to give some expression of our appreciation of the zeal and efforts of the Evening Post in the interest of good government and good citizen- ship, its maintenance in journalism ot high moral and literary ideals, we beg to invite the gentlemen in the management of the Evening Post, its editorial stafi^ and officers, to a complimentary luncheon, to be given November i6th inst. at 1:30 P. M., at the Equitable Library Dining-Room, No. 120 Broadway. "Hoping to receive a favorable response to this invitation, we have the honor to remain, with great respect, " Yours, " Abram S. Hewitt, John G. Carlisle, Charles S. Fairchild, John A. Stewart, Levi P. Morton, Daniel S. Lamont, J. Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, James J. Hill, William B. Hornblower, Wager Swayne, Stewart L. Woodford, John S. Kennedy, William E. Dodge, Francis Lynde Stetson, James W. Alexander, D. O. Mills, Robert C. Ogden, John E. Parsons, John A. McCall, William J. Curtis, George G. Williams, James Speyer, Richard A. McCurdy, Joseph C. Hendrix, Wheeler H. Peckham, Franklin H. Gid- dings, Oakleigh Thorne, Edward L. Burlingame, William Nelson Cromwell, oore. no THE EVENING POST A. P. Hepburn, Charles H. Raymond, George F. Crane, |ohn Bassett Moc.^, James T. Woodward, George W. Young, John Crosby Brown, Charles Scribner, John J. M'Cook, Edmund Clarence Stedman, R. R. Bowker, George L. Rives, John Devvitt Warner, Morris K. [esup, Frank J. Mather, Hamilton W, Mabie, George Haven Putnam, [ames H. Hvde, E. M. Grout, Charlton T. Lewis, Robert A. Granniss, F. D. Tappen, Frederic Cromwell, James McKeen, S. D. Babcock, Samuel Thorne, Gustav H. Schwab, Alex- ander E. Orr, James H. Canlield, James Grant Wilson, Gustav Pollak, Charles Stewart Smith, Nelson Ta)dor, George A. Plimpton, James C. Carter, Robert Bridges, Charles A. Schieren, J. Armory Haskell, Hector C. Tindale, Frank H. Dodd, Everett P. Wheeler, Russell Sturgis, J. S. Billings, Edward Cooper, Anson Phelps Stokes, William W. Appleton, Gage E. Tarbell, William H. Mclntyre, Richard Watson Gilder, Edward M. Shepard, Vernon H. Brown, Frederick F. Cook, James D. Hague, Fabian Franklin, Austen G. Fox, Chauncev Depew, William H. Baldwin, Jr., Thomas L. Greene, Silas B. Browned, Robert W. De Forest, Edward Winslow." At the request of the hosts at the luncheon, the Evening Post printed the details in tuU. The presiding officer was the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, who opened the tormal proceedings with the following words : "The gates ot Heaven having been temporarily opened to allow the angels [the ladies had just entered] to pass out and pass in [applause], I proceed to perform a duty which has fallen to my lot — how, I know not, and why, I cannot tell. This tribute of affection and admiration for an institution is some- thing unprecedented in this city, and I think perhaps in the world. It is due to a spontaneous expression that no man organized and no man has formulated. When it was suggested to me that I should sign an invitation to the editorial staff ot the Evening Post to receive from their hosts an expression ot their love and affection, I confess it seemed to me as it a patent of nobility had been con- ferred upon me. [Applause.] And so it must be with ever\' gentleman wdio has received the honor of being permitted to be a host on this occasion. It seems to me that every one among them feels that he has a better tide to immor- tality by reason of the fact that the Evening Post has survived to celebrate, or have celebrated for it, its one hundredth anniversary. [Applause.] "I do not think that any of us have realized how large a part ot our daily life, of our domestic happiness, has been due to the existence ot this remarkable journal. I have known it personally for more than sixt\' ^'ears. I was not conscious that the Evening Post had, 1 am sorry to say, somewhat usurped the place of the Bible in mv daih' studies, but perhaps there is this HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY justification, that the Bible does not profess to be superior [laughter]', \vhereas the Evening Post comes to us daily in the attitude of an authorit\- which we are bound to respect, and, if we can, to obey. [Laughter.] " I know that this assemblage is chiefly made up of the friends of the Evening Post, and the reason I know it is this, that when I look in your faces, I see that every man here has, at one time or another in the course of his career, received its friendly chastisement. [Laughter and applause.] Whom the Evening Post loyeth it chasteneth. [Laughter.] This attitude of su- periority was modestlv disclaimed by the original founder of the Evening Post. He said that he made no claims to infallibihty. He did not know what he was saying. He could not look forward to one hundred years of such editorial work as the Evening Post has received at the hands of Coleman, Bryant, Leg- gett and Godkin, and now in the hands of our good friend, Mr. White. [Applause.] It ever there were a body ot men who had an\" right to the claim oi intallibility, sureh' it is the gentlemen whom I have named, and that fact will be recognized by every inhabitant of the cit\' of New York. [Ap- plause.] "But a paper so constituted could not have existed one hundred years it there had not been an audience ot superior persons who received its admoni- tions and sustained it in its career ot independent criticism. Hence, looking around, J think I can sav that this audience represents — and I think I can say it without yanit\" — it represents the best elements of this great citv. [Ap- plause,] Yes, we are permitted to belong to a mutual admiration society, for there is not one ot us who has not in the course of the last thirty or fortv years had occasion to bolt trom his party. We are the off horses of this great city, and we know it, and we are proud ot it, and the Evening Post has been our prophet. [Applause.] " Now I am admonished, not only by mv own ph\sical condition, but by the fact that there is a long list of speakers whom you wish to hear, that my own remarks must come to a termination. My triend Carnegie, who seems to have disappeared [he was sitting behind the speaker] , reminded me when I saw him of a song I heard in the Highlands of Scotland. J went to what thev call a cake-and-wine testival, and it was a rather dreary affair; hut at length some one was asked to sing, and he sang a Highland song that I never heard before, and have never heard since, and never want to hear again. [Laughter.] But there was one line in it that constantly recurred. I see my friend Kennedy knows what is coming — one line which always came up : ' Mic, Mac, Methuselaii, is a very superior person.' Now I think that expresses more clearlv than anything I can sav of the Evening Post, in whose honor we have met here to-day. Mic, Mac, Methu- selah, one hundred years — tor the Post is a verv superior person. And I say THE E VENI NG POST that with the full knowledge that persons in the individual sense grow old and untortunately have to pass away; but we are here to congratulate the Post, not on having grown old, but on having grown young and vounger and younger every day since we have known it, until now, having passed hv all the perils of infancy and all the trials of a rather lusty and rapid bovhood, it stands before us in the maturity of its powers, with the greatest possibilities of useful- ness in the future, which other newspapers may envy, hut none can ever hope to rival. "Those of the gentlemen present into whose hands the custody of this great — I was going to sav propertv, but I will not use the word — into whose hands this great responsibilifi- has fallen (tor it is a tremendous responsibility to occupy the position of the Post in this country, with its record on the side of truth and justice and public order and sound government), must keep the standard high. The banner which was raised by William Coleman, which was sustained by William C. Bryant, which has had the cooperative aid of Godkin and Bigelow and Leggett — above all, has been held aloft by the hands of these gentlemen — must never be allowed to trail on the ground, so tfiat when our posterity come together a hundred years hence they may sa\', ' Vou are worthy sons of worthy sires; you have brought no disgrace upon the struc- ture they built up, which has commanded the admiration not only of this, but of ever\- countr^■ in the world where truth and justice and liberty are loved.' These gentlemen ma\" pass their responsibility to their successors with the proud consciousness that the\' live in a community and country where every good deed, every noble thought, every inspiration of honor is recognized, and the spontaneous tribute of admiration will be brought to them and their successors as it is now brought to the altar of the men who founded and have conducted the Evening Post to this dav. [Applause.] " Gentlemen, in behalf of the hosts who are here assembled I give you the toast: Congratulations to the Evening Post on its vigorous majority at the age of lOO, support in every good work which it may hereafter undertake, and the certainty that the Evening Post will continue to be, in the future as in the past, the bulwark of order, liberty, truth, and justice. " J call upon Mr. Horace White to respond for the Evening Post." Mr. White said i?i response : "Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: When my associates and myself heard that a movement was on foot in the highest professional and business circles of New York to do honor to the Evening Post on the occasion of its hundredth anniversary, we were equally surprised and gratified. We realized that such a tribute was an expression of vour approval of the general character and history of the journal which is temporariK- in our charge. We knew that it was a HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 113 testimonial of your regard tor tlie illustrious men who have preceded us, and that we share in it only because, in your opinion, we haye been true to their ideals and to the principles ot journalism which they espoused. Coleman, Br\ant, Leggett, Bigelovy, Godwin, Schurz, and Godkin sought, first of all things, the public good, as they understood it. It is not given to all men to be as brilliant with the pen as they, but others can be as true as they to public interests. What the Evening Post has been in the past you know, and vour presence here testifies. All that I need to say of the future is that if we fail to keep it at the level where its founders placed it, and where their successors kept it during the whole of the nineteenth century, you, gendemen, will be quick to discern the change, and we shall forfeit \'our confidence. That will be our deserved and suiEcient punishment. " Now I am far from supposing that you agree with all that the Evening Post has said in the past. I know that mistakes have been made, and that I have made mistakes. I am one of those who are willing, and glad, to correct errors when convinced that they are errors. I am equally willing to change a policy on concrete public questions when convinced that it is a wrong policy. And in this particular my associates are of one mind with myself. I cannot conceive of independent journalism on any other basis. Pride of opinion should always yield to the dictates of reason and conscience. But in taking a survey of journalism for fifty years, which my age enables me to do, I think that the Evening Post has had as little need to alter its judgment on broad questions of policy as any newspaper in the world. " You may ask what I mean by independent journalism. That phrase has more than one signification. It is sometimes used to signify mere neutrality between political parties. A newspaper of this kind aims to offend neither party, so that it may gain patronage from both. That is not independence. An independent journal must offend both parties, and all parties, or must hold itself ready to offend when they go wrong. A political party is composed of men who have joined together for various reasons and purposes — some to pro- mote public interests, others to get office, others to get jobs and to plunder the taxpayers. There is a tendency in political parties to fall under the control of the office-seekers and the jobbers and robbers, because they give all their time to party management. Such a condition may exist while the mass of the party is as upright as the twelve apostles. Indeed, the masses of all politi- cal parties are upright. They are the public, and they seek the public wel- fare. Most commonly, however, thev believe that their own party cannot go wrong, or at any rate cannot go so wrong as the other party certainly will, if it comes into power. This is party spirit. It has existed in all ages and in all countries, and has by no means been restricted to the uneducated classes. Even Dr. Johnson, in defining the word Whig in his dictionary, said that 'the Devil was the first Whig. ' THE EVENING POST " Now, it is the duty of an independent journal to tell the public what the party leaders are doing, both when they are doing well and when they are doing ill, and to point out the consequences of their acts. And here let me read you a few words clipped from an old editorial of the Evening Post, which I judge from its consummate st\le was written by mv predecessor, Mr. Godkin: " 'Nothing does more to diminish the influence of the press and to enable even knaves to despise its criticisms than the too common editorial practice of agreeing beforehand, in return for circulation, to eat everv dish, however nauseous or injurious, a political convention may prepare. It is, ot course, open to any man to decide for himself that he will, on grounds of public safety or expediency, vote for a candidate who does not come up to his standard either of integrity or capacity, provided he does it in silence, or, it he defends it, defends it on true grounds. A public journal, however, can dis- charge no duty in silence. Its function is to talk about what men are thinking most about, and, above all, to furnish its readers with reasons for doing this or leaving that undone. When a nomination is made, it has either to commend or condemn it, and its first duty to its readers is to make its commendation or condemnation sincere and truthful. This it cannot do if it be under any sort of obligation to applaud the action of a party convention under all circum- stances. This it must do if its applause is, in the long run, to be worth much. A journal which is known to be ready to eat its own words, to make black appear white, and white black, to recommend in the strongest terms tor the highest office this year a man whom it last \ear described as unfit for even the lowest, cannot render a party much service. Its opiinion can hardh' have anv great influence on the fortunes of a canvass. Readers who seek from a news- paper any assistance in forming a judgment on public affairs are generally among the first to be disgusted by undisguised unscrupulousness, tergiversation, or venality. ' " An independent journal, if it is true to its calling, will offend all polid- cal parties by turn — will offend them more or less — but it will find compensa- tion in the existence of a growing body of independent citizens, both men and women. Independent citizenship may exist without an independent press, but without that daily stimulus its growth will be slow and ils existence precarious. Do you ask for an illustration of the value of independent citizenship ? No more splendid one could be toimd than the recent municipal campaign in New York, and I am not sure but the best part of it was the nomination of Edward M. Shepard by Tammany Hall. There is such a thing as 'pandering to decent public opinion,' but you may he sure that Tammany would never have pandered in that way, and to that extent, if there had not been a great and growing mass of independent citizenship in Ne\v York, to the growth of which Mr. Shepard has himself so largely contributed. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 115 " But independence of party is not tlie only marlc and sign of an inde- pendent newspaper. The proximity of Wall Street leads me to sav that it must be independent ot financial influences also. It must have no pecuniary interest to warp its judgment, either in the stock market, or in the broader public affairs which have to do with money. People who do business in Wall Street are quick to detect in a newspaper the existence of a pecuniary influence. They can judge pretty accurately whether the opinions it expresses in its editorial columns are paid for or not. They can generally tell whether the conductor of its financial columns is speculating or not. I know that if the Evening Post were under any suspicions of this kind, no such testimonial as the present could have taken place, and that the faces I see before me would not be here. "Independence ot Wall Street suggests independence ot cash in general. A newspaper should be as independent ot its own counting-room as of other people's. This is the severest test of independence, because the temptation to swerve from it is ever present, and the forms of temptation are extremely in- sidious and of almost infinite variety and shading; because, also, it frequentlv happens that the ownership of the paper is not identical with the editorship. The owner of a newspaper, if he is not the editor, will generally expect a cer- tain amount of income from it, and will be apt to find fault with any manage- ment of the columns which offends either subscribers or advertisers. I have been in positions of editorial responsibility, here and elsewhere, tor thirty years, and have never been obliged to argue a question ot ne^'spaper ethics with the business manager. That has been m\' good fortune. But I know many editors who have been, and are, daily subjected to that grind. Thev are not free agents. Such a man works with a rope around his neck. The business manager in such a case is not generally a bad fellow. He is not a tvrant or a miser. He does not consciously go wrong. He sees things through glasses different from those of the editor. It has been his calling, his training, his trade, to look at the cash-box as the main thing in the newspaper, and very often the same rope that is around the editor's neck is around his also. "I allude to these things not for the purpose of blaming or fault-finding, but to point out a tendency of the times. The tendency is tor newspapers, especially the prosperous ones, to pass into the hands of men who look upon them as money-making ventures merely — a condition not favorable to inde- pendence, since independence is a faculty ot the brain, not of the pocket. Yet there has been a counter-current running in the opposite direction all the time, and it is certain that independent journalism has gained rather than lost ground during the past quarter ot a century. The number of newspapers which may be fairly classed as independent is greater now than at any other time in our history, and the degree ot independence is higher now than ever before. I believe, too, that tor every newspaper which passes under the ii6 THE EVENING POST domination of party power, or ot the money power, a new one will be found to take its place in the ranks of the independent press. At all events, gentle- men, vou can always have such newspapers as you prefer. There will always be good papers and bad ones, and indifferent ones; there will always be indepen- dent journals and party journals and yellow journals for you to choose from, and vou will find that the independent ones are just as good newspapers as their com- petitors in the same field. It is the condition of existence with the independent press, as of every other kind, that it shall keep up with the procession. How- ever wise, logical, moral, and high-toned a journal may be, unless it is abreast of the times in the collection and arrangement of news, it will be a dead failure. No human being will buv a dailv newspaper merelv because it has a fine his- tory, or merely to keep it alive. I would not do so myself. The present managers of the Evening Post realize that neither its past record nor its present character will be of anv use to itself, or to the public, unless the paper is worth the full price asked tor it. " Now, m the name ot all who are associated together in the offices ot the Evening Post, and of those still living who have been so associated in the past, and ot those who have gone over to the majority, I give vou heartv thanks for this unexpected demonstration of approval and good will — un- paralleled, I think, in the annals of the American press." At the close of Mr. White's address, Mr. Hewitt said : " There is only one phrase which meets the case: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Propter hoc is, however, on the other side of the East River, and is rep- resented by a paper which is treading very close upon the heels of the Evening Post in pomt of age, and has always thought itself a little more independent and slightly superior to the Evening Post. Mr. McKelwav we all know — the representative of the competing press. He will now express his opinions on the subject." Mr. McKelway replied : "Mr. President and Friends : Mr. Hewitt has said that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth; and that the Evening Post does the same. I wish to report from Scripture the result of the policv on those subjected to it : ' No\v no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.' [Laughter.] " It is true that I do represent a paper on the other side of the East River, but there the accuracy of Mr. Hewitt's statement ceases, and the liveli- ness of his imagination and the lovableness of his heart begin. We have never HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 117 claimed to be superior to the Post. We knew, before newspapers were, the penalty ot a too arrogant claim to superiority, which resulted in the writing of ' Paradise Lost. ' [Laughter.] We were content to follow afar off, not as having attained, but as • would-be ' attainers, in the security of distance, under the inspiration of example and by the encouragement of unity of motiye affected by a relation to the inequality of ability on our part. [Applause.] "It is a fact that the paper ot which I have the happiness and the honor to be editor, the Eagle, not long ago passed and celebrated its sixtieth anni- versary. The New York Evening Post to-dav celebrates its one hundredth anniversar\'. Were age excellence, the claim of either paper to excellence would be established. But age is only a term ot duration, and a relative term at that. Sixty years stupid instead of sixt\' years old or sixty \'ears excellent, could be affirmed of some institutions. A hundred years dull, instead of a hundred )'ears old or a hundred years excellent, could be affirmed ot other in- stitutions. In the newspaper business, however, age must signify something more than mere or sheer duration. A printed thing that can live tor a hun- dred years must indeed have life in it. A printed thing that cannot onl\' live for a hundred years, but can appear in daily renewal all that time, must not only have life in it, but must also have strength, a reason for being, a de- mand for itself, a function, a purpose, a mission, a justification in the \vorld. [Applause.] " This is especially so \vith a daib' newspaper. There is no fortune on earth that could stand the strain of a losing daily for a century. The fortune, if enormously great, might not be exhausted bv such a strain, but it would be so depleted, and the depletion would not only be so weakening, but so mortifying, that three or tour generations ot the holders of such a fortune would get tired, and they would stop carrying the load. I say this v\dth becoming caution (turning to Mr. Carnegie) in the presence of monumental plutocracy contem- poraneoush' ameliorated bv monumental philanthrop\'. [Loud applause.] The mere fact that the Evening Post has lasted a hundred years is in itself a proof of its excellence, of its power, ot the need ot it, and ot the field it found, made, and increased for itself. Bv a paradox in journalism venerableness is vigor, age is youth, to be old is to be young, the first is the weakest, the last is the strongest, and the latest is the best. Histor\' in the case ot a newspaper is not the taking on of decrepitude, with its pathetic or repulsive incidents. It is the constant renewal of youth, the perpetual increase of strength, the per- ennial increment of power, tacult\', usefulness, influence. [Applause.] " Those who think that what is new and bad would be praised, were it old and no better, and those who think what is old and good is praised only because it is old, and not also because it is good, were rebuked by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his Preface to his Shakespeare, in language with which I propose to paralyze the ablest stenographers present. Said Dr. Johnson : ' That praises THE EVENING POST are without reason lavished on the dead, and that the honors due only to excellence are paid to antiquity, is a complaint likel\- to be always continued by those who, being able to add nothing to truth, hope for eminence from the heresies ot parodox ; or those who, being forced by disappointment upon consolatory expedients, are willing to hope from posterity what the present age refuses, and flatter themselves that the regard, which is vet denied bv envy, will be at last bestowed by time.' [Laughter and applause.] " And this is not contradiction or sophistry or mvsterv. It is simply due to logical causes. The newspaper is the monitor, the mirror, the microcosm of its centur\-, of its half-century, of its quarter-century, of its decade, ot its lustrum, of its year, of its month, of its day, of its hour. That is why world, church, science, art, business, education, philanthropy, culture, being more and meaning more now than thev were and meant before, the newspaper reflecting them all, ministering to them all, and itself minister- ing to all in turn, is better, broader, stronger now than it was before. That is why old is young, and age is youth; and a century is an evidence not of senility, but of lusty juvenescence in journalism. For that reason the sixty-one years' voung Eagle salutes the one hundred vears' voung Evening Post and wishes to it innumerable renewals of an everlasting lite. [Applause.] " The Eagle is able to do this, not merely from the standpoint of its own length and strength ot da\s, but also from the fact that the Evening Post and itselt are more really in sympathy than their frequent controversies would superficially indicate. Between the two papers have been differences of views, but the outlook has always been on the same road. Between them have been almost quarrels about methods, but the objects each has sought have been spiritualh' the same. Between them have been variances of estimate ot parties and of personages. But that has been due more to the many sides which such parties and personages have presented to observation than to any serious dis- agreement about the essentials of character, or of policy, or of purpose to be considered. Colonel Damas, by the pen of Bulwer, said : ' I alwavs like a man after I have fought with him.' The rest goes without saving. [Laughter and applause.] " From the first year of the Presidency of Jeiferson to the first year of the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt is a long crv. In all that time the Evening Post has been a newspaper and an opinion paper. In all that time statesmen, scholars, moralists, and divines have been di\ided concerning the Evening Post into two classes : those who agreed with it and those who disagreed with it. Quite often the same man has belonged to both classes, for he would agree with the paper in part and disagree with it in other part. That indi- cates strong writers and strong readers. [Applause.] The first make the second. A constituency which merely echoes an oracle were better made up HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 119 ot marionettes than ot men. A constituency tliat an oracle merelv echoes is better represented bv a phonograph than a paper. The robustness of the Evening Post has been its power. The robustness of its readers has been in turn the inspiration the Evening Post has drawn from them. And among its readers have been about all the editors of light and of leading in the English- speaking world. It the editor is a schoolmaster, the Evening Post has been the schoolmaster of schoolmasters. It a newspaper is a college, the Evening Post has been the instructor in post-graduate journalism of its century. It may be even anathematized in the otEces of many organs, but it is unread in none. [Laughter.] It may be abused, scorned, and hated by every opportunist, trimmer, or plunderer in public lite, but he tears its censure and he is rebuked by its conscience in the very marrow of his soul and in the thoughts and intents of his heart. The Evening Post mav be criticised, quarrelled with, and even denounced bv its tellow-retormers, tor it never sleeps, and even when it goes to bed it keeps one e\'e open, and has both spurs on. But, all the same, its tellow-reformers and itselt soon get together again, each realizing that Jordan is a hard road to travel, and that while it is given to good men to wish alike and to hope alike and to work alike, it is not given to them to see and to think alike. | Applause.] " One need not call the roll ot the great men gone who made the Evening Post and whom in large part the Evening Post made. They are a precious posses- sion, and they will receive appropriate honor in our contemporary records and in history. Nor need one recall the great men still living, but only in retire- ment, who have sustained relations ot service to the Evening Post and to the Government. Thev can speak for themselves ot the past which thev represent to the men ot the present who uncover in honor before them. Nor need one speak of the men of the Evening Post ot to-day, tor their work speaks for them, and their work is their crown, their screen, their justification, and their delight. To-day the Evening Post of the century, epitomized, aggregated, indicated, and vindicated by the Evening Post ot this afternoon, is the result to con- gratulate, and its roll ot names, living or dead, is a common roll of uncommon honor. The Eagle knows that it speaks tor all its brethren in respectable jour- nalism when it wishes for the Evening Post, and tor the men and women of the Evening Post, that satisfaction in their work which the fourth estate as a whole takes out of their work. Such a satisfaction will be more than compen- sation for all sorrows ot misinterpretation. It will be more than inspiration for the duties always confronting the earnest press. It will be renewed dedi- cation to those duties. And that is surely where the conscience of writers, the culture, and the learning, and the courage ot writers, the rights and needs of public servants, and the ideals ot public life meet and mingle in a goodly and glorious fellowship. That fellowship is attested bv the concurrent congratula- tion and jubilation ot all the press to-day concerning the Evening Post. To- THE EVENING POST morrow the press will re-address itself to its niLdtiform functions, but it will take from to-day a spirit into those duties that should ne\'er be lost. The Eagle, h'om the baptism ot a solemnizing anniversary, extends the right hand of help and ot hope to a contemporary which can dedicate the moral and mental wealth of its first century to the destinies and to the duties of its second." [Applause.] Mr. Carl Schurz was then called to the chair and spoke as follows : " Ladies and gentlemen : Mr. Hewitt has been unfortunately obliged to leave, and the charge he had among \'ou has fallen upon m\' unworth\" shoulders. I have now the honor ot introducing to vou a gentleman who has achieved high merit in conducting the literary department ot the E\"ening Post, and who has thus done great service to the literature ot the coiintrx', Mr. Wendell Phillips Garrison." Mr. Garrison's remarks were as follows : " Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : Mv father, on a memorable occasion when he was presented with a gold watch before a company resembling the present, but not so respectable, because in those da\"s ' respectability ' \yas pro-slaverv — my father said that if it Iiad been a brickbat, he should have known exactly how to behave; and Mr. Schurz's compliment inflicts upon me a similar embarassment. " If I had any general observations to make at this late hour, I tear I could not avoid repeating what has been so well said, and, I mar add, what was so obviousb' to be said. If, on reflection, it should seem to me to be worth while, pierhaps I ma\' ask the Congressional 'leave to print.' As it is, I shall confine mvselt to the one theme which makes me at all content to be heard on this occasion. " You have, gentlemen (to speak only of the li\ing), missed from the board one figure that shines by its absence. For the larger part ot the twenty years of the piresent ownership of the Evening Post, Mr. Edwin Lawrence Godkin was the man who was emphaticalb' the paper. Infirmity has over- taken him, and he now seeks health and repose on that shore ot England which faces America, and from which in his early manhood he crossed to this coun- try, to become one of us, not onh' through the form ot naturalization, but in the sense in which Washington, fetferson, and Lincoln would have recognized him as a birthright American. It was m\- singular good fortune to be his partner and associate in the Nation and the Evening Post tor thirty-five years, and it seemed to me a private dut\' to speak here the word of admiration and HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY affectionate remembrance which some one should utter. I believe it is the opinion of all competent critics that not in our day, or even in the whole range of American journalism, has a leader-writer appeared so independent, so sane in judgment, so forcible and philosophic in discussion, so formidable to political cant and humbug, so quickening to the conscience of his habitual readers. Mr. Godkin's style will always remain a model for the aspiring journalist, but it was permeated with a humor, unparalleled in kind and extraordinarily effective, which was the gift of nature. Hammering incessantly on practicallv one theme, that public oiEce is a public trust — that politics must be divorced from the spoils system — his writing was nevertheless distinguished by incredible freshness and variety, the marvel of those who dailv worked beside him. To him more than to any other man we owe the measure of civil -service reform which has been attained in State or nation. [Applause.] In the recent defeat of Tammany he claims a share through his lifelong teaching that democracy cannot exist if party names are allowed to shelter combinations for public plunder for which the only fit designation is brigandage. [Applause.] "It is true, gentlemen, that Mr. Godkin's labors have ended in dis- appointment. The American people are far from adopting his standard of Americanism; the cause for which he contended so persistently and so ably is still militant, not triumphant. The reason is that its goal was not simply a change in laws or in institutions, but in the soul of man. The abolition of slavery must have seemed infinitelv more hopeless than civil-service reform, but, after all, it was the easier task. Men who had begun it lived to see it achieved. Mr. Godkin's Thirty Years' War bids fair to outlast another generation. Let those who witness its conclusion not forget his mighty efforts to purify and redeem the form of government to which he was unalterably attached." [Applause.] Mr. Schurz again took the floor with the following words : " I shall now have the honor to introduce one of the representative readers of the Evening Post, and one of the chief illustrations of the legal profession, not only in the City and State of New York, but of the United States of America, Mr. James C. Carter." [Applause.] Mr. Carter replied : ' ' Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen : I feel very proud of the honor of being on this occasion one of the entertainers of the editorial and pub- lishing corps of the Evening Post. I feel in that that I am really entertaining an old and highly valued friend, for such, indeed, the Evening Post has been to me. When I came, nearly half a century ago, to establish myself in the city of New THE EVENING POST York, I came in company with a very dear friend and classmate, long since deceased, William Sidney Thaver, who would be afFectionately remembered by Mr. Bigelow and Mr. Godwin if they were here, and who went at once on the editorial staff of the Evening Post; and from that day to this I have been a constant and daily reader of the paper and more or less intimate and familiar with all its editors. I have generally concurred in its opinions. I have almost let it do my thinking for me, and have been, perhaps, too servile a follower. [Applause.] " But I am here, nevertheless, to-day to acknowledge fifty years of the deepest moral and intellectual indebtedness to it. [Applause.] It is a great record that it has made for this last century, a great and glorious record. It was called by Mr. Hewitt an institution ; but let me add that it was an insti- tution that was composed of men, and never could have been built up except by men of something like the same temper and quality with those who have been at the head of it. It was the enterprise and intelligence of Mr. Coleman that commenced it. It was the ardor of Mr. Leggett, and the fine intellectual taste, the high moral elevation, and the perfect fearlessness of Mr. Bryant that established it. [Applause. | That work was noblv and grandly carried on bv Mr. Godwin, by Mr. Bigelow, and Mr. Schurz himself had a hand in it; and it was carried forwaid and advanced, as I think, very greatly, for I concur entirely with Mr. Garrison, bv Mr. Godkin, His disciplined intellect, his lofty purpose, his brilliant wit, his biting and cutting irony and sarcasm, his rich humor, alternately grave and gay — all exhibited in an English style of unrivalled clearness, purity, and power, and always employed in the advocacy of the noblest causes — these qualities would have made any newspaper in any country great; nor can we forget the preeminent place which the masterly work of Mr. White on financial and economical questions had won for it. "There was in our friend Hewitt's observations — he touched a sen- timent to which this audience was very responsive — something about the assumption of superiority by the Evening Post. Well, that may be so; and it may have excited much antipathy against the paper. I have often heard it said, ' We love a man for the enemies that he has made,' and I think we may say that we love the Evening Post for the enemies that it has made; but it is true of the Evening Post in a little different sense from that in which the observation is ordinarily made. When we say we love a man for the enemies he has made, the enemies are commonly among the bad men, and in the case of the Evening Post the enemies it has made are often among good men, and it is a more sig- nificant proof of its independence and its virtue. "I rejoice to say that when anv man in public life in xAmerica has gone into public life with high ideals, lofty aspirations, great expectations in the minds of the people, and, after he has got there, begins under a variety of influences to temporize, to lower his standard because he thinks it necessary in HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 123 order to enable himself to do some great good or in consequence of the presence and the pressure ot emergencies — in every such instance as that, that man has received instantly the lash of the Evening Post, and I am glad of it. [Ap- plause.] Such men are not bad bv an\' means; they are not conscious of doing anything that is wrong; they are good men striving to do good; tempted perhaps imduly, sometimes by personal ambitions, sometimes by the over- whelming pressure of emergencies, but tempted or moved by one reason or another, they lower the standard which they had originallv raised, and it has been the business ot the Evening Post, during the fifty years that I have known anything about it, to uphold and to maintain the highest standards and to require an obedience to them. It may not be always possible in public life, I am quite well aware of that, to always act up to the very highest standard — the circumstances are often very embarrassing; concessions must be made, com- promises must be made, but still there must be somebody somewhere, a power somewhere, and a force somewhere, charged with the duty of maintaining those standards. [Applause.] That has been the business and the function of the Evening Post for a century, and nobly has the work been performed; but those good men upon whom its criticism sometimes falls wish tor its approval, think they are entitled to it, and are disappointed and irritated when it is withheld and almost hostile to it. This is the highest tribute to its inde- pendence and honesty. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the time is waning and I must not protract these remarks. I can only join in the hope that has been expressed that, for the century to come, the prosperity ot the Evening Post may equal, may exceed, that which it has been in the past." [Great applause.] Ill introducing the next speaker Mr. Schurz said : " It may not be esteemed presumptuous in a presiding officer it he adds one single word more to the eloquent speech ot Mr. Carter. One of the principal virtues of the Evening Post has been its courage, its fearlessness — that is to say, it has not only not been afraid of its opponents, but it has not been afraid of its friends. [Applause.] And now I have the honor to introduce, after we have heard from the old and the present generation of the conductors of the Evening Post, to introduce a gentleman who represents the future, and who I have no doubt will in the time to come uphold the great ideas which have prevailed in the time past, Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard." Mr. Villard responded : " Mr. Chairman : I welcome the opportunity to speak for the younger men of the Evening Post, and to express for them our deep gratitude tor this astounding tribute to the work of the men who have gone before. For some ot [24 THE EVENING POST us, tor two or three ot us here, this tribute has especial significance and meaning. We would be so bold as to appropriate a little of it for one who is no longer here, but one who made the reorganization of the paper possible in 1881 (Mr. Henrv Villard). He first showed his patriotism for his adopted country upon the first field ot Bull Run, upon the shot-swept bridge ot Fredericksburg, and upon the blood-stained deck ot the Ironsides, and later took the opportunity to which I have already reterred to give proof of his undying and unbounded love for his adopted country. [Applause.] "I, like Mr. Garrison, would take this opportunity to pav mv small tribute to Mr. Godkin. It was my fortune to be in the ottice for but a short part of the time of Mr. Godkin's editorship, hut, though it was short, it was precious beyond words. For what memories could a young man engaged in journalism take through life with him which would be more inspiring than those of Mr. Godkin's splendid courage, his unswerving fidelity to his ideals, and his splendid abilities t I well remember with what zest and keen humor he used to repeat a story that at one time went the rounds of the press from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again; that in the morning, when he called the editorial staiF together to consult as to the day's editorials, he opened the proceedings by making them sing 'God Save the Queen.' I do not think that anything said about him in his whole career amused him so much, or amused the staff more, who knew that the only thing which actuated Mr. Godkin in his editorial policy throughout his career was his desire to be of service to the United States [applause] and to keep it true to its highest and best ideals, to make it a country to be proud ot at any and all times. " Mr. Garrison has said that Mr. Godkin was the Evening Post, but, though a great editor may be essential to a great newspaper, I would ask you to give part of your kindh' thoughts to-day to the men under the great editor, without whose loyalty and devotion a great newspaper would, I think, not be possible. I wish that you might all be with us this evening at the dinner to the employees of the Evening Post, to see what a splendid set ot men they are. We think that they are as self-respecting, etBcient, self-reliant, and manly American workmen as can be tound anywhere. There is no page in our anniversary number which is more interesting than that which bears the pictures of three of the oldest and most valued employees of our composing-room; one who has been with us sixty years, and there are two others, not pictured, who are now near the fiftieth year ot their continuous service on the Evening Post. [Applause.] " Without such loyalty, without such devotion, surely the Evening Post could not have been the consistently conscientious newspaper which it has been for one hundred years. And the same is true ot the junior editors, and I may say this without immodesty, because, with one exception, I am the youngest on the staff in point of service here to-day, and what I have done is so far too HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 125 little to mention. With hardly an exception these junior editors have upheld the hands ot the men whose names you have heard — Mr. Coleman, Mr. Leggett, Mr. Godwin, Mr. Godkin, and Mr. Schurz, and all the rest, and I am sure that I am not going too far when I ask you to think of them also on this memorable occasion. " He would be rash indeed who would prophesy the future of a news- paper. But as Mr. Schurz has said that I would speak for the younger element and for the future, I would simply give expression here to the feeling ot confidence in the future which we have, and which has been so greatly strengthened by this magnificent assembly. It is not only that the political conditions of the city and State are so hopeful, and that the growth of the independent spirit has been so remarkable, as was demonstrated by the last elec- tion. There is a public readiness to consider questions apart from party interests greater, I think, than could have been noticed by any of the previous editors of the Evening Post, and this state of affairs is in itself an incentive to the con- ductors of the Evening Post when thev face towards the future. The Evening Post recognizes, too, the great opportunities which the present situation affords for constructive criticism. There never was, we believe, a time when more could be done to advance the genuine interests of the city than at the present moment. The Evening Post has never lost its abiding faith in American insti- tutions, and I can say for the present management that, so long as it is in con- trol, it never will lose that faith in the inherent righteousness of the American people and in the lasting nature of their institutions. [Applause.] "As in the past when it has discussed public issues, it will be as ' harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice,' but it will strive, as it is striving to-day, not to confuse measures and motives, and to be as judicial and as im- partial as possible, in accordance with its traditions to which you have done honor to-dav." Mr. Schurz then introduced Mr. Andrew Carnegie, as follows : "I have now the honor to introduce a gentleman well known to you all, who has, indeed, not invented the art of making money, but who has invented the art of spending money on the greatest of scales, who is in a fair way ot making an incredulous public actually believe that he was in earnest when he said it was a disgrace to die rich — a gentleman who has already made himself a benefactor of the age, and, I may add, the chief librarian of the universe." Mr. Carnegie replied : " Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Evening Post : The pen is not only mightier than the sword, and destined to supersede it, but the one is 126 THE EVENING POST modest in the extreme, while the other is ever vainglorious. It is to all ot your admirers here, I am sure, an extreme pleasure to have an opportunity lace to face to express their grateful thanks to you, the unheralded, unsung, and pub- licly unknown soldiers of the pen, who so completely merge vour individualitv in the great campaign you courageously lead against all that debases and in sup- port of all that elevates human society. To whom among you and in what measure we who have read the Evening Post from youth to age are indebted for the good fruits ot its various fields we can never know, for while you are always willing and even anxious to advertise the works of others, the staff never advertises itself — so different this from the military spirit exemplified by Hot- spur, who could pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon only ' if he might without co-rival wear all its dignities.' You care not for these baubles, but find your noble reward in the knowledge of useful work performed. " I know of no calling, not even the highest, more truly sanctified by the supreme virtue of self-abnegation, or where there is more of the spirit of the devotee — ' Whether I stand or crownless fall, It matters not, so good work be done ' — than that of the staff of a newspaper like the Evening Post. " To its owners we desire also to express our gratitude in no stinted terms. I am glad to hear the names of Garrison and Villard here to-dav — worthy sons of worthy sires. Through good and ill, from the start till now, the pecuniary results of the work have never been allowed to dominate, but ever held subordinate to the duty of upholding what was seen to be right; no pandering to the popular phrases of the day to increase the profits. In the whole range of philanthropy there is nothing more truly beneficent, nothing done in the truer sense for the good of others, no greater service possible to render man, than to stand unflinchingly for the right, or what seems to be the right, regardless of pelf. The sacrifice made by the owners of the Evening Post in this direction ranks with any gift for public ends made by any citizen of New York during these years, and I hail the fortunate and patriotic pro- prietors as philanthropists of the first rank. " There are, broadly, two classes of newspapers. The London Times represents one, which plays the part ot a political barometer, and, whatever government is in power, as long as it has overwhelming public opinion behind it, we see the Times its powerful organ. Its name describes it. The other class aims to form and lead, and not to follow, public opinion; to lead it and keep it in the path which carries man upward, preaching always that righteous- ness which alone exalteth a nation. " We all have reason to know to which class belongs the great organ of public opinion which we are met to honor. It has been, and it is, and we fondly trust always will be, to us and to all the country, not a barometer, but HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 127 a compass pointing steadily to the true path which points to the shining stars ot higher civilization — to an improved human societv. " Nor must we forget what we all owe to it tor its immaculate purity. Not the least important of its many precious services has lain in this, that to the depraved curiosity which seeks gratification in groping among the putrid stuff of the gutter, the Evening Post is no ministrant, its columns being filled with pure and higher matter. " In its literary department the Evening Post has been true to its pros- pectus of this day, I 80 1. It promised to devote itself to the spread of sound literature. Probably no newspaper in our country has exerted so great and so beneficent an influence in this branch as it has, and here again the trashy, immoral, vile, but fortunately ephemeral stuff, which is such a demoralizing agency ot our day, is eschewed by it as unworthy ot its columns. For this genuine service to the community, thanks. " We ask ourselves from whence comes the position occupied by the Evening Post, and the answer is, because of the men, our guests, before us. They write what they feel to be true; they are honest and speak their own sentiments; and the air of earnest sincerity exerts a power which nothing else can give. We see behind every article a personality, a man speaking, not what is popular or profitable to write, but what he believes, and the man behind the gun is not relatively more important than the man behind the pen. " We celebrate to-day the first century of this honest, pure, and fearless organ ot public opinion. What it was at first it is now, and what it is now we trust it is to be upon the second centenary; and while the tribute similar to this which will be given on that occasion may exceed this in numbers as much as this does its jubilee meeting, yet I make bold to say, gentlemen of the Evening Post, a more truly representative meeting of New York's best citizens, or one more deeply appreciative or more grateful for vour labors, cannot pos- sibly be assembled a century hence in your honor. Nor can the Evening Post then deserve a greater tribute, for the highest truth it has seen it has clearly proclaimed, knowing thereby that it does its best in this world; it has stood, and to-dav stands for whatsoever things are true, tor whatsoever things are pure, for whatsoever things are of good report. " A higher standard than this it is impossible to attain. " Receive, then, our renewed deep and heartfelt thanks, with our earnest wish for a continuance over successive centuries of your past career of fruitful usefulness and untarnished honor." Mr. Schurz then said : " I have in my hand a card from Professor Moore, ot Columbia Univer- sity, formulating a dispatch to Mr. Godkin in England. It reads : ' Represent- 128 THE EVENING POST atives of divers and important interests of tlie country, asseinbled to c the I ooth anniversary of the Evening Post, send cordial greetings o p and friendship.' It has been suggested that this cablegram be sent ° " Godkin to inform him of the esteem and admiration of the guests assembled here. All those in favor of such a telegram being sent will signity it by saving ave." It was unanimously carried. Mr. Schurz then resumed: " Mr. White has spoken of the financial interests. I shall now call upon Mr. Joseph C. Hendrix, a representative banker, to express his sentiments upon that point." Mr. Hendrix spoke as follows : " Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : I am sure it will gratifv vou at this hour to reflect that the banking vocabulary is a limited one. We cannot use language like the devotees ot literature and of law and of journalism. It seems in the presence of Scotchmen like Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Kennedy- to be wasteful. We can simply sav, ves and no. The important part which the banking interests ot the city ot New York, and, indeed, of the whole countrv, have played in the constituency of the Evening Post has been indicated by a very emphatic 'Yes.' Whatever differences the readers ot the Evening Post may have with the editors, thev are all resolved into harmony when they come to the financial page. There it is ajwavs afternoon. The quotations are accurate, the transcripts of the market are carefully made; there is no color, no influence. There is no point about yvhich to differ, tor it is all simply a taith- fi.ll chronicle of the times. With that tribute it is fitting to close, and so I will, with one additional thought. Mr. Garrison has very eloquently alluded to the thirty years' war which Mr. Godkin conducted on behalf of civil- service reform. We of the commercial world would add laurels to Mr. E. L. Godkin; we admire him; we consider that he was a great meteor passing across the sky to become a fixed planet forever, to beam upon all those who love literature and good English. We honor the history of ^^'illiam Cullen Bryant, and of the great editors like Bigelow and Schurz, and, in the older days, Cole- man. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is easy to write epitaphs; a great many men are anxious to write epitaphs; in tact, epitaphs would come easy to the pen of a great many of these editors. As Mr. Hewitt suggested while he was here, with his usual incandescence, we want to preserve Mr. Carnegie from his epitaph until his last cent expires. But eulogy, the opportunity for eulogy is yet present, and I want to speak it for just a moment. While Mr. Godkin's strife in the thirty years' war tor ci\'il-service reform is very laudable, let me HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 129 say from the banking world, from that dry and serious plane of life, which is not phosphorescent and very rarely takes a chance to say anything, that we recognize and appreciate the service to this country of the luminous editorial writer in all of the fight for the preservation and final adoption, and the perfect maintainance of the gold standard in this country — Mr. Horace White. [Applause.] " There has never been such turbulent economic thinking in the course of the world's history as that which we have known in the past two genera- tions. We have seen a whole nation — a free, independent, vigorous, self- assertive people — attacking an economic question, and with the bravery and audacitv with which the American people take up great questions. First, the question of the greenbacks; then in all its collateral issues the depreciated silver dollar, then international bimetallism, and various suggestions of ratios, until finallv the victory was won in behalf of the gold standard, bringing us into relation with all of the civilization of the earth; and throughout all these davs we had the patient schoolmaster, who without harangue, without anv attempted eloquence, sat upon his editorial tripod, and attacked one tallacv after another, as it made its appearance in public debate and public discussion, and saw the full effulgence of the victor^', and did not once sav, ' Throw a rose at me.' [Applause.] '' It has been mv fortune, ladies and gentlemen, to know of the value of this gentleman's work, and to be able to measure it. It is mv privilege and my honor to be able here in behalf not only of the bankers of New York, but in behalf of the bankers of the United States, to testify [turning to Mr. White] to your splendid services in the final establishment of the gold standard in this country." [Applause.] Mr. Schurz again took the floor : " We have among us one of the highest spiritual dignitaries in this country, whose presence may be esteemed an especial distinction. I have the honor of caUing upon his Grace, Archbishop Corrigan." [Applause.] Archbishop Corrigan responded : "Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen; I thank you cordially for the honor of sharing in vour commemoration of so interesting an event as the Hundredth Anniversary of the founding of the Evening Post. In our young Republic an existence for a hundred years is a notable span of life, especially in a case like this which records the wondrous growth of that century and the gigantic development of the power of the Press. To estimate this growth, we must bear in mind the almost incredible advance both in the increased facilities I30 THE EVENING POST ot printing, as in tlie means ot attaining news bv wire and telephone, in addi- tion to tlie case and rapidit\' ot communication b\" ^teanl with the entire world. It is not so long ago — before the la\'ing of the Atlantic cable — that we used to be regaled with the gratit\ing intelligence of' Five da\s' later news from Europe.' " Nowhere in the world has the Press found a larger or more receptive audience than on our shores. Here everv one reads; everv one, even the poorest, is rich enough to buv the daih papers; here more than elsewhere, in our characteristic hurr\" to save time and labor, we are willing to allow others to do our thinking, and to serve us not onlv with the dailv historv ot the world, but with lines of thought and suggestions of conduct readv tor instant use. As there is to-dav no po\ver on earth like the power of the Press, so the tempta- tion to abuse that tremendous torce, or to use it less wiselv, must of necessitv often present itself", and even at times, in most alluring and seductive mien; and consequentlv so much the greater is the praise and merit of those who, having the power to do both good and evil, strive to use it onh" tor beneficent pur- poses and for the advancement and welfare of their tellow-men. "It is greatlv to the credit of the Evening Post that such high aims have been its inspiration; that, avoiding the siren voice of sordid gain and sensation- alism, it has ever kept before its view the motto of our Empire State, 'Excelsior ',- that, courteous in dealing with those who hold different views, and willing to hear their reasons, it has constantly endeavored to promote moralit\", good citizen- ship, and good government; and therefore let us cordiallv trust that the first centar\" ot its existence is but the prelude to a still brighter era ot usefulness and prosperitv; let us hope and trust that Providence mav bless its everx" etFort tor good, and the old Horatian wish, expressed in his centurv ode, ma\" be verified in its regard : * Afterum in lujcrum, meliusque semper, Prorogat aevum.' Mr. Schurz here called upon the Secretary, Mr. Frank J. Mather, to read some ot the letters which had been received. Mr. Mather said : " There \vas one name which perhaps more than an^" other touched the hearts of everv member ot the Committee and ot everv member of the stafi", the name ot the gentleman whose personalit\" and career had done as much as anv other in this great community to justifv the existence of the Evening Post, and to illustrate the force and power of its teachings; and ^vhen this list was made up it was considered that that name, notwithstanding some recent events in which there have been some frank differences of opinion, was indispensable to this list. It was the name of Edw^ard M. Shepard. I \vish to read a letter from Mr. Shepard. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 131 " ' No. 172 Congress Street, " ' Brooklyn, November 15, 1901. "'Dear Mr. Mather: I am ver\' glad to join with vou and the others in the invitation to the Evening Post editorial staff". 1 should have communi- cated with you earlier but for my absence from town during a week past. My engagements are such as to make it impracticable for me to be present at the luncheon, although tor man\' reasons 1 should have rejoiced to be there. " 'I shall alwavs be glad to express, as in the past, and even during wide differences between the E\'cning Post and myself, 1 have expressed mv appre- ciation of the extraordinar\- service it has rendered to American public life. No account of New York, and, indeed, no account of the United States, would be complete without a tribute to the steadfastness of the Evening Post in holding up a high standard, both morally and intellectually — not only ,to those who directly read it, but to the far larger number to whom its light came through the medium of other journals. Its services in the very early days of the anti-slavery movement when William Leggett -was its editor, its services during the civil war, and since then to the civil-service reform cause — all of these ser\'ices, so conspicuous and fruitful, \N'cre but illustrations of its benehcent work. Other great services were in causes \N'ith \vhich we are less familiar or causes which are stiil the subject ot political differences among admirers ot the Evening Post. Like the rest of us, the Evening Post has, no doubt, some- times rejoiced to be in majorities; but it has yerv many times and far more often than the rest of us showed undoubted courage when such courage was rare in facing popular hostility, or what is still more difficult to face, that hostility of men who in general sympathies belong to our own class. I shall read it, I fancy, as long as I live, though I shall probablv wish in the future as I have wished in the past to have power to alter or temper some of its utterances. But even if in the future, more often than in the past, to read it sliall be to me a shirt of Nessus, I hope and trust, and with the utmost earnestness, that it may, nevertheless, persist, and resoluteh', in the same general course of editorial comment which has been so tonical to the intellectual and moral life of our country and so helpful to its best interests. " ' Very truly \'ours, (Signed) " ' Edward M. Shepard.' " Mr. Mather then read three letters more: " ' No. 48 West Fifh'-ninth Street, " ' October 28, 1901 . " ' Dear Mr. Mather : I am sorr\' 1 cannot promise myself the pleasure of coming to the Evening Post dinner. The Evening Post people are all my 132 THE EVENING POST very good friends, and I honor their ^'irtuc and integrit\'. But J cannot make a speech, and public dinners al\va\s spoil one ot m\ precious rest days, now growing fewer and fewer. Yours sincere) v, " ' W. D. HOWELI.S.' " ' New York, Novemlier 16, 1 90 1. " ' IVI-i" Dear IVIr. White ; 1 am sincerelv sorr\- to lind at the last moment that, through a confusion of dates, I am engaged at the same hour to-morrow for the luncheon in honor of the Evening Post and at a luncheon for a consideralile number of guests at inv own house in the countr}- I " ' The thirty-five or forty years during which you and 1 have rubbed along in political disagreement and personal regard make so considerable a part of the period during which the Evening Post and the Tribune have sustained similar relations, that it is a serious disappointment to me to find that I cannot properly be with \-ou to-morrow. I wanted to show by personal presence my high esteem for the great services and noble record of the Evening Post. " 'Under \^'illiam Cullen Br\"ant I knew it well, and I was proud in those da\s to be honored with his friendship, and that ot his associates, John Bigelow and Parke Godwin. When you and \'illard and Schurz came in, the old traditions were safe. From my point of v!e\y, \"0U were pretty sure to be often perversely and pertinaciousU- wrong on non-essentials; but ivhen it came to the greater matters, we couldn't have helped being together if we had tried. " ' I am glad you are here to celebrate the hundredth anniversary, and onl\- w'lsh poor \'illard were with you. May you live as long as you can enjoy it; and, if it still makes \'0u happy, mnv you continue to preach Free Trade ever\' da\- to the end ! " ' Wuh cordial regard, and all good wishes, I am, " ' \^er\' sincerely vours, " ' Whitelaw Reid. ' " ' November 12, 1901 . " ' Dear Sir: I regret that nw engagements make it impossible tor me to take part in the complimentary luncheon to be given to the editors, officers, and trustees of the Evening Post, in celebration of the one hundredth anniversar)- ot the foundation of that journal. "'I hope, however, that I ma\' be permitted to convey, through }0u, my congratulations to these gentlemen upon the long, useful, and honorable career of the Evening Post. In particular, 1 should like to recognize in the fullest maimer the yer\' effective and admirable service it has rendered in the municipal campaign just closed. 1 trust that the future of the paper may be HUNDREDTH A N N I \' E R S A R Y 133 worthy ot its past, and that it mav enter with the new century upon a career ot still greater usefulness. " ' Yours verv truly, " ' Seth Low. " ' Mr. F. J. Mather, Secretary, No. 67 Wall St., New York.' " President J. G. Schurman, ot Cornell University, was next introduced, and spoke as follows : " Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : So much has already been said, and so admirably said, in appreciation and praise ot the spirit and work ot the Evening Post, that I belieye it almost impossible to add anything to the general summary. 1 thought, however, that, instead ot making any formal address on the topics which, so far as I am concerned, have already been exhausted, you would permit me at this late hour to record one or two impressions which the Evening Post makes upon me, an old and constant reader. "I am struck when I read the Evening Post — and I count no day com- plete when 1 do not read the Evening Post — I am struck with an intellectual quality in its articles, which, however ably other papers be conducted, I find nowhere else. I ask myself what it is, and I perceive that the style is admir- able; that the writers are steeped in literature, and have the gift ot expressing themselves with force, grace, and eloquence; but that does not seem to exhaust the analysis. Somehow the editorials of the Evening Post remind me ot the investigations of the historian or the experiments of the scientist; the writer is in the pursuit of truth, he is not retailing what is already established because his paper is committed to it, nor is he praising some popular idol, who leads some triumphant party; he is, as Carhde would sa}", in quest of ' the everlast- ing truth.' "And the Evening Post brings to bear upon this operation the methods of the investigator and of the experimenter. It insists On studying causes and tracing their effects; and it works back from effect to cause. It, as Mr. Hendrix has said this afternoon, and said truly, the editorials in the Evening Post have been the most valuable contribution made to the literature of the currency issue, it is because the currency question was taken back to such ulti- mate facts as the nature of the crust of the earth, the character ot man, and the present industrial and financial development of the United States. You ma)- find these characteristics to some extent in other papers, but nowhere do I find them so admirably developed and illustrated as in the Evening Post. [Applause. I " Then, again, I am always impressed with the fact that the Evening Post stands for principles and ideals, and recognizes principles and ideals as the supreme thing in life. This is a matter of the first importance in an age of colossal wealth, illustrations of which, sir, we have had in this room to-day. 134 THE EVENING POST The Evening Post has always insisted that life, whether in its individual or national character, consists not in the abundance ot possessions, but in moral and intellectual aspiration and achievement. The Evening Post's idols have not been men of wealth or men of power; its heroes have been the brave, the true, the honest, the valorous. 1 esteem it, sir, an inestimable boon, not only to this city and to this State, but to this nation, that we have a paper which so conspicuously illustrates the supremacy ot moral ideals and intellectual attain- ments. And what the Evening Post has done for the individual lite, it has done on a grand scale tor the national life. Others have clamored for increase of territory, tor enlargement ot army or nav\' — the Evening Post has preached that righteousness which alone exalteth a nation. [Applause. J And, superior even as the Evening Post has been, it has never lost taith in the essential good- ness ot humanity. It has appealed from the passion of to-dav to the sounder brain ot to-morrow; it has known and tislt that the heart of man was deeper than the purse ot man. [Applause.] "I don't say, sir, that in m}' opinion the Evening Post has been alwavs right. Sometimes I have presumed to differ from it, and, like others who have spoken to-day, I have at such times sutFered chastisement at its hands, whether righteous or not it would scarceh' be becoming in me to saw But all institutions have their impertections, and even the Evening Post has the defects ot its qualitv. " Dr. Johnson said: ' I love a good hater.' How that elephantine, tea- drinking Englishman would have clasped to his bosom the author of some of the fierce articles I have read in the Evening Post I [Applause.] "In my opinion, the Evening Post has not at all times done perfect jus- tice to all the men whom it criticised in its columns. In its admirable devotion to ideals and principles of the highest kind, I think it has sometimes tailed to realize the impossibility ot carrying them out immediatelv. Still it is a great thing, as our friend Mr. Carter has said, to have in the communitv an organ which stands for principles. And I want to bear testimon\' to the tact that even when I have thought the Evening Post somew hat premature in laving dou'n principles, its criticisms have helped none the less in effecting reforms. Take one example. The E\'ening Post has insisted in the past that football was a brutal game and should be abolished. Now if I had not been here to-day I should have been watching the game between Columbia and Cornell up-town. But I want to say, Mr. Chairman, that it is because the Evening Post did denounce so unsparingly the roughness and even the brutality ot what it used to call 'these gladiatorial contests,' that it lias been possible for our colleges and universities to effect the reform that has been effected in recent years and make the sport one for gentlemen. Or I will take a more serious example. I believe that there is not now, and there never was, an\' individual or set of individuals in the Philippine Islands to whom the United States could HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 135 have delegated the sovereignty over that archipelago which devolved upon us as a result of the war with Spain; but while I believe that to be the fact, I want to say that the opposition of the Evening Post to expansion in Asia has been productive ot great good, and will undoubtedly help to save us, it we are in danger, from the disasters which overtook the Roman republic when it began to govern distant colonies by pro-consuls. And so I mav sav that so sound and true are the principles of the Evening Post, that, even when they are infected with too much disregard of existing facts and conditions, and while, perhaps, not contributing to the solution of the problem in hand, they are valuable lor admonition and discipline, and mav be valuable even for in- spiration and encouragement. "I find fault with the Evening Post, Mr. Chairman, because it is too good. I hear ' Oh, oh,' but more than one speaker has said here to-day that the Evening Post did his thinking, and he was allowing his cerebral functions to fall into desuetude. That is a calamity. But seriously the Evening Post is too good. Its work is so well done that we are all too ready to look up to it and let it do our thinking for us, and, if perchance we sometimes think for ourselves — well, I know the educated men of the countrv, and I say they are really afraid of the Evening Post. [Applause.] When we agree with it it is all right, but if an educated man differs from the Evening Post, he is afraid of his life that he has gone wrong. " So we meet to celebrate a centennial. All readers of the Evening Post in our several lines, we have come to wish it Godspeed. The friend alike of the thinker, the scholar, and the teacher; the fellow-laborer with the preacher and the prophet and the seer; the standard-bearer of justice and liberty and civic righteousness; the instructor of the educated men who shape public opinion, whereby the republic is ruled: may the Evening Post, rich in a cen- tennial harvest of splendid service to America, continue to instruct, aye, and to exhort and admonish, our children and our children's children, and remain alwavs what it is to-day, a leading and illustrious organ and exponent of Amer- ican ideals, American civilization, and American institutions." [Applause.] Mr. Schurz said in introducing Dr. Patton : " Ladies and Gentlemen: We shall hear a voice from New jersey, from a gentleman who stands at the head of an institution which is one ot the prin- cipal honors of that State, Dr. Patton, President of Princeton University." President Patton responded : " Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I prize the distinction of being allowed on this occasion to say just a single word in honor of a great newspaper 136 THE EVENING POST whose journalistic career is to-dav one hundred years old. In the field of in- fluence open to it there is a place, and I suppose, perhaps, a legitimate place, tor different kinds of newspapers. As has been already said, there are partisan papers, and then there are independent papers; there are papers that accuratel}' record the fluctuations of public opinion, and there are those which seek to shape public opinion; there are those which adapt themselves to the public taste, and there are those which strive to elevate that taste; there are papers which know what the public likes and which trv to suit it, and there are papers which think the\' know wliat the public ought to like and which trv to teach it. [Applause.] And so we are in this way brought face to face \vith a contest which presents itself so often in life between the actual and the ideal. Living in a world of ideals is hard business. Virtue's reward, as expressed in the current coin of the republic, is, I regret to sav, quantitativelv less sometimes than we could desire. Still, I imagine that there is a certain degree of satisfaction in feeling that one is leading a forlorn hope, conscientiously willing to occupy a lonelv place, courageously saving one's sa\-, regardless of consequences. I do not suppose that our presence here this afternoon implies that we agree in ever^• respect with all the utterances of the Evening Post. When it talis to the Evening Post to tell its side, we are sure that it will speak with clearness and with cogencv. The Evening Post, whether we agree wiih it or w^hether we differ with it, we must always recognize and honor for the dogged determination with which it maintains its own convictions, tor the relentless logic and tor the masterful knowledge of the facts ivith which it defends them. Men of this world, and communities too, are too apt to follow the line of least resistance, too apt to consider gain and glorv rather than right and dutv. It is a very hard thing for the individual to sacrilice advantage, personal advantage, tor public welfare, and it is, perhaps, still a harder thing for the man who has succeeded in making that sacrifice to realize that it is onlv a doubtful public welfare after all uhich is promoted at the cost ot fundamental moral principles; but unless all standards are worthless, unless all law is custom, unless all moralitv resolves itself into etiquette, unless good form be understood as the ideal of social existence, there must be somewhere an obligatory ideal, and, although it mav sometimes seem as though that ideal had to succumb under the pressure of hard fact, as though the imperious ought was obliged to capitulate to the mighty is, unless conscience remains a factor in human life, and while she keeps her place, the newspaper which is \villing to speak with Nathan-like directness and plainness of speech and sav, ' Thou art the man,' is a moral power of inestimable value to any community. " Now I verilv believe that there is no correct art of living unless there be a true theorv of living. Public morals and pure politics are at bottom matters of philosophy — I would not hesitate to go further and sa)- matters of metaphysics. Intellectual enlightenment and moral quickening are the con- HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 137 ditions precedent of anv reform. I venture to say that the public agencies for moral regeneration are conspicuously the university, the pulpit, and the press. I will not undertake to dictate to the pulpit or the press its duties, but I do venture the assertion that the university, however great or old or wealthy it may be, which does not lay broadly and deeply the foundations for a sense of civic responsibility in ample historical knowledge and profound philosophic reflection is not doing its duty b\' the State. [Applause.] Whether it be the duty of the university to discuss, and then enunciate, and whether it be the dutv ot the pulpit and the press afterwards to apply to practical issues, I do not attempt to say, but I do believe that there never was a greater demand for both theory and practice, for both principle and its practical appli- cation to moral issues, than at this present moment. We are face to face with certain social conditions. I believe that it is the dutv ot the press to help us to deal with these conditions, both in the matter ot diagnosis and in the matter ot therapeutics, to tell us exactly what is the matter, to put its finger on the place and say. Thou ailest here and here, and having rightly diagnosed the dithculty, to proceed at once to its treatment, and when that treatment is decided upon, I imagine it will be found to reside not in indiff^erence, not in a laissez-faire willingness to tall back upon the rude surgery of nature, not in rash resort to organized authority trom legislation and paternalism; nor is it to be tound in a contagion, a spasmodic contagion, ot moral earnestness now and then, but it is to be found in clear, discriminating thinking, in constant vigilance, and in the practical application on the part ot the individual ot moral principles to the issues \\'ith which we have to deal. It is in the light ot such considerations as these that I have great pleasure in joining those who have already spoken this afternoon in extending congratulations to the Evening Post on its century ot successful work and service, and in the expression of the turther hope that its future may be characterized bv that high intellectual ability , that unshaken courage, that unswerving devotion to what it believes to be right, which have been the conspicuous attributes of the past." [Applause.] Mr. Schurz said : " It is my very pleasant duty to ask a vote ot thanks to the Committee who have arranged this tribute for this centennial anniversary, and tor the successtul conducting of it." The motion was unanimously carried. Mr. Brownell then addressed the Chair : " Mr. Chairman, some of us silent worshippers ot the Evening Post ask leave to join with Mayor Hewitt in the expression which he has made ot the 138 THE EVENING POST feelings of the guests assembled here, and I offer a resolution, if I may be heard: " Resolved, That the thanks of the hosts and guests on this unique occa- sion be presented to the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, our chairman and speaker, for his kindly and genial expression of the sentiments and feeling represented bv this testimonial." The motion was seconded and unanimously carried. Mr. Schurz closed the meeting as follows : " Now it is mv dutv to adjourn this meeting, which I have no doubt we have all enjoved to the bottom of our hearts. It was a great privilege to pay this tribute to a century of honorable and useful achievements, and to express the wish that the institution whose birthdav we celebrate will continue in its beneficent career for more centuries to come. We separate with the feeling that this occasion has been an inspiration to all ot us tor all our days to come." The following letters were also received but not read : November 12, 1 90 1. F. J. Mather, Esq., New York City. My Dear Sir: Highlv esteeming the opportunity to be one ot the guests at the luncheon, and to assist in paying a proper tribute to the very extraordinarv, perhaps unparalleled, career of the Evening Post, a paper that I have read regularlv for more than a third of its existence, I regret to have to say that an engagement in the West, which begins before and does not conclude until after the date set, will prevent me from being present. Trulv vours, 1. M. Buckley. 29 Lafavette Place, New York, November, 8, 1901. F. J. Mather, Esq. My Dear Sir: On the date named in your note of the 6th instant I shall be absent on duty in Ohio. I beg vou to accept mv heartv congratulations tor those whom you represent, and all good wishes for the future. Sincere!)- yours, H. C. Potter. HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 139 St. Bartholome^v's Rector\', No. 342 Madison Avenue, November 8, 1 901 . Mr. F. |. Mather, Secretary. My Dear Sir: It is witii tlie greatest regret that I find myself unable, because ot a previous engagement, to accept the Icind invitation of yourself and others to be present at the complimentary luncheon to be given to the editorial staff and officers of the Evening Post, on November 16, at i ;30 o'clock. I would be glad, indeed, to show by my presence on that occasion my appreciation of the good work which the Evening Post has done throughout its whole career, for ethics and civics, as well as for its high literary standard. It certainly deserves recognition and encouragement from all who appreciate high ideals in journalism; and it is, as I have said above, with the greatest regret that an imperative engagement prevents me from accepting the kind invitation ot the Committee. Very truly \'ours, Da\id H. Greer. President's Office, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, November 8, igoi. President Remsen regrets that he will be unable to avail himself of the courteous invitation ot the Committee to be present at the complimentary luncheon extended to the Evening Post, Saturday, November 16. He would be glad to join the Committee in doing honor to those who, thiough simshine and through storm, hold alott the standard ot clean journalism. Cambridge, Mass., November 9, 1 901 . F. f. Mather, Esq., Secretary, New York. Dear Sir: I gready regret that a long-standing engagement prevents me from accepting the invitation with which 1 have been honored by the Committee in charge to be present at the complimentary luncheon, to be offered to the conductors of the Evening Post, on the i6th of November. I should be glad, were I able, to join in this testimonial to the service which the Evening Post has rendered during the past century to civilization in America. Faithfully yours, Charles Eliot Norton. November 8, 1901. Mv Dear Sir: It will give me great pleasure, it in\- health per- mits, to take part in the reception to be given to the managers ot the Even- 1 40 T H E E Y E N I N G P O S T ing Post. That journal, by the fidelity with which it has adhered to the principles ot policy laid down bv its greatest editor, Mr. William Cullen Bryant, and the ability and character which it has brought to its discussions highly deserves the admiration and gratitude ot the community. Yours truly, Parke Godwin. November i 6, i 901 . My Dear Mr. Mather: Most newspapers are like "revolving lights " — every now and then they leave us in the dark. The Evening Post, for a full century, has shone clear. My personal sense of obligation to the Post is very real and deep, and I wish that I could testif' it bv being present at the luncheon this noon. Unfortunately, the invitation did not reach me until late \'esterday, and I find it impossible to revise plans previously formed tor to-da\'. Yours taithtidb', W. R, Huntington". Pine Street, corner of Pearl Street. Mr. F. [. Mather, Secretary, No. 67 Wall Street. Dear Sir: 1 have \'our invitation to attend the complimentar\- luncheon which is to be tendered to the Evening Post on Saturday next. I should be delighted to take part in this testimonial to the Evening Post, and, therefore, regret ver\' much that 1 shall not be able to be present on that interesting occasion. Yours ver\' truh', William B. Dana. November 8, i 901 . New York, November 12, I 90 1. I ^3 East Thirt\-fitth Street. Mr. F. |. Mather, Secretary. Dear Sir: 1 have tried to arrange to accept the courteous invitation ten- dered me tor the 1 6th inst., but am unable to accomplish it. I regret this deeph', tor I would have been glad to emphasize fvV'<; coiY what I put upon paper a tew days ago tor the centennial issue ot the Evening Post. ^ ours \'er\" sincerely, C. H. Parkhurst. November 9, 1 901 . Dear Mr. Mather: 1 am much gratified to be included among those who are invited to the luncheon which is to be given next Saturda\". I cannot HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 141 positively promise to be present, but I expect to be in New York Friday night and it I can I will go down to the luncheon. With continued regards, I am, Yours sincerely, D. C. GlI.MAN. No. 25 West Fortv-seventh Street, November 10, 1 90 i . My Dear Mr, Le«is: I regard it as a privilege to join in the compli- mentary luncheon to the F.\"ening Post. I have always known and experienced that the E\-cning Post could be depended upon to champion the right on all public questions. It has never sought the roads that lead to preferment. It has at all times sacrificed large personal interests and upheld principle. It is fitting to honor the brave men connected with the Evening Post. Hastily yours, Charles Stewart Smith. The following trustees, editors, publisher, and counsel of the stafi- of the Evening Post were the guests of honor at the luncheon : Horace White, Wendell Phillips Garrison, Charles A. Spofford, Harold G. \'illard, Oswald G. Villard, Edward P. Clark, Rollo Ogden, J. Ranken Tovvse, F. J. Mather, Jr. , H. Parker Willis, Hammond Lamont, Edward Payson Call, William |. Boies, Henry T. Finck, Arthur F. J. Crandall, Alexander D. Noves, Franklin Clarkin, Josiah T. Newcomb, Francis E. Leupp, Philip G. Hubert, |r., Lawrence Godkin. The invited guests were the following : Rev. Francis L. Patton, President of Princeton University, Hon. 1. G. Schurman, President ot Cornell University, Archbishop Corrigan, Rev. Theodore L. Cuvler, D. D., Adolph S. Ochs, Edward Cary, St. Clair McKehvav, (ohn W. Dodsworth, Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D., Hon. lohn Bigelovv, Hon. Carl Schurz, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Daniel C. Gilman, LL. D., Hon. Seth Low, Parke Godwin, Rev. David H. Greer, Prot. Chas. Sprague Smith, Arthur T. Hadle\', President of Yale Universit)-, Ira Remsen, Presi- dent of Johns Hopkins University, Charles Eliot Norton, Rev. lohn W. Chadwick, [ames B. Reynolds, Rev. James M. Buckley, D.D., William A. Linn, Philip McK. Garrison. 142 THE EVENING POST MR. GODKIN'S GRRRTING. "I regret that I cannot do more than send this line of Godspeed to the paper into wliich I put so many of the best years and best endeavors of my life. Mv recollections of the Evening Post go back to the da\s of the ad- ministration ot Mr. lohn Bigelow, when I wrote one or t\NO articles for it — one, I remember, upon the East India Company, which was then expiring. The press was then very different from \vhat it has since become. But that the Evening Post has, through all its changes ot ownership, stood for righteous- ness and decency is my recollection, and that it mav so continue, mv hope. " Eowm L. GorjKiN. "Torqua\', England, November I." Siffi