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NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 BRITAIN'S MAN 
 OF POWER 
 
 By WILLIAM E. CARSON 
 
 Former American Correspondent 
 of the Northcliffe Newspapers 
 
 NEW YORK 
 DODGE PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 33d St. - EIGHTH AVENUE - 34th St. 
 
Copyright, 1918, by Dodge Publishing Company 
 
 N 25 !9I8 
 
 ©G!.A499441 * ^/ . ^ 
 
CHAPTER 
 
 ' 
 
 PASS 
 
 
 Foreword 
 
 11 
 
 I 
 
 When England Awoke . 
 
 17 
 
 II 
 
 Genius in Training- 
 
 52 
 
 III 
 
 Success AT Twenty-four 
 
 89 
 
 IV 
 
 Dealing in Millions 
 
 115 
 
 V 
 
 A Wonderful Newspaper . 
 
 142 
 
 VI 
 
 Women and Pictures 
 
 169 
 
 VII 
 
 " The Thunderer " 
 
 . 196 
 
 VIII 
 
 Northcliffe at Work . 
 
 2S2 
 
 IX 
 
 Social Glimpses . . . . 
 
 257 
 
 X 
 
 American Experiences . 
 
 290 
 
 XI 
 
 At the Front 
 
 321 
 
 XII 
 
 The British War Mission 
 
 356 
 
 XIII 
 
 A Message to America . 
 
 385 
 
 XIV 
 
 What the Future Holds . 
 
 416 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACIMQ 
 FAeB 
 
 Viscount NorthclifFe Title 
 
 Alfred Harmsworth (1891) .... 72 
 Front Page of the First Harmsworth Paper ^ 
 
 (reduced) 90 
 
 Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth (1897) ... 94 
 
 Elmwood (1897) 106 
 
 Fleetway House 130 
 
 Alfred Harmsworth (1897) .... 154 
 
 Lord Rothermere 192 
 
 The Times Office * 226 
 
 Lady NorthclifFe * 260 
 
 Sutton Place ....... 268 
 
 The Hall, Sutton Place 282 
 
 An Exciting Moment . . . . . 292 
 A Snapshot (1901) . . . . .302 
 
 Fishing for Tarpon . . . . . 320 
 
 In Paris (1917) 362 
 
 * These illustrations are used through the cour- 
 tesy of Everybody's Magazine. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 An ancient saying, " The hand that wields 
 the pen holds the scepter of government," 
 has been strikingly illustrated in the career 
 of Lord Northchffe. Essentially a product 
 of this age, he represents that vast develop- 
 ment of modern times which controls gov- 
 ernments and sways nations, — the power of 
 the press. 
 
 A genius in business-building, world- 
 famous as a journalist and newspaper 
 owner. Lord Northcliffe has become the 
 most forceful and dominating figure in 
 British public life. He was, above all else, 
 the first man to arouse the Enghsh people 
 to the importance of strenuous and efficient 
 methods in conducting war. Defying a tem- 
 pest of execration, he has exposed abuses, 
 smashed cabinets, unmade and made prime 
 ministers, dethroned popular idols, and re- 
 lentlessly pursued and attacked the national 
 tolerance of muddling — at once the Eng- 
 lishman's habit and, strangely enough, his 
 
 11 
 
12 FOREWORD 
 
 boast. In short, anything that threatened 
 or interfered with an efficient prosecution of 
 the war has been a target for Lord North- 
 cliff e's deadly journahstic lance. Through 
 his great newspapers, especially The Times 
 and the Daily Mail, he has kept Britain 
 alert to all that menaces the nation's safety 
 and prestige. 
 
 When the real story of the war is written, 
 historians will probably call it a war of 
 highly organized armies, machine guns, and 
 artillery; but the men who have had to do 
 with the business of it will always know 
 that the leaders of the people who main- 
 tained efficiency behind the armies filled a 
 role as important as that of the ablest gen- 
 erals. For a leader to arouse public opin- 
 ion, and even oppose it, for the country's 
 good, has often needed a higher degree of 
 courage than to lead a regiment where 
 shells were falling. Such has been the mis- 
 sion of Lord Northcliffe, who, by his fear- 
 less efforts in promoting national efficiency, 
 has revolutionized the whole system of gov- 
 ernment in Great Britain, with far-reaching 
 effect on the destinies of the British Em- 
 pire. Through the power of his press he 
 
FOREWORD 13 
 
 convinced the nation that it was necessary 
 to discard old ideas and to adopt a new 
 system in which the business man would 
 take the place of the politician. The fact 
 that such a system was born amidst the 
 musty traditions of British statesmanship 
 makes it seem almost miraculous. 
 
 In this eventful revolution of war time 
 Lord Northcliife has taken the foremost 
 part. No other man has had so much to do 
 with the commercialization of government 
 and in bringing about a general recognition 
 of the theory that good government is 
 simply good business. Even while the war 
 is raging he has foreseen that a special 
 preparation is needed for the colossal ad- 
 justments of peace. He has also warned 
 the world that unprecedented social changes 
 are impending, and that the spread of So- 
 cialism is certain to cause vast upheavals in 
 which existing institutions will undergo 
 many alterations. 
 
 The achievements of Lord Northcliffe in 
 war time form only a part of his story. No 
 other man who has scaled the heights of 
 fame in this age has made the ascent so 
 quickly as he, and none has had such a mar- 
 
14. FOREWORD 
 
 velous career. Indeed, the story of his rise 
 from obscurity to eminence is so full of 
 strange experiences and amazing events that 
 it reads almost like fiction. From its begin- 
 ning to the present time it is a dramatic 
 blending of romance and hard facts. 
 
 Owing to his frequent visits to this coun- 
 try and the consequent publicity that he has 
 received, the name of this enterprising jour- 
 nalist, pubhsher, and public man has become 
 familiar to large numbers of Americans 
 who admire his versatility, originality, bril- 
 liant achievements, and efficient methods. 
 He is unique among Englishmen in having 
 a thorough knowledge of our national aims 
 and problems, his outlook being far more 
 American than English, although he remains 
 as British as ever and is the most ardent 
 of patriots. 
 
 As the head of the British War Mission 
 to the United States, Lord Northcliffe, in 
 1917, became even more widely known by 
 reason of the magnitude of his work. The 
 enormous expenditures that he supervised 
 totaled eighty million dollars a week, and 
 covered all commodities needed by Great 
 Britain for war purposes. Under his con- 
 
FOREWORD 15 
 
 trol were ten thousand men, engaged in buy- 
 ing war supplies. His efficient methods 
 made his work such a pronounced success 
 that on his return to England he was 
 thanked by the king and received the higher 
 title of viscount. 
 
 Such is the man whose services to his 
 country have been recognized the world 
 over and who is undoubtedly the most in- 
 teresting figure in public life at the present 
 time. His strenuous personality and stir- 
 ring deeds have incidentally created a wide- 
 spread demand for a complete account of 
 his eventful career. 
 
 While it is true that in recent years many 
 newspaper and magazine articles describing 
 this remarkable genius have appeared, yet 
 none has presented a correct picture of him. 
 The reason is that he is far too big to be 
 compressed into a single article, for volumes 
 could be devoted to his achievements. 
 
 In England the real Northcliffe is as lit- 
 tle known as in America, which probably 
 accounts for the conflicting views of him 
 that exist there. By his own countrymen he 
 has been called the most dangerous of men 
 and the sanest of men, an unselfish patriot 
 
16 FOREWORD 
 
 and a self-seeking egotist. He is to-day the 
 most admired and the most vilified man in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 The only way in which his true character 
 can be revealed is by relating what he has 
 accomplished and summing up the results. 
 When that is done, the real Northcliffe 
 emerges to replace the Northcliffe of imag- 
 ination. Such is the object of the present 
 volume, which tells the complete story of 
 Lord Northcliffe's career and enables him 
 to be seen as he actually is. 
 
 The author, it may be added, was associ- 
 ated with the great journalist for many 
 years, and belonged to the staff of his news- 
 paper organization. Before and behind the 
 scenes, the writer had an opportunity to 
 study this masterful man, and to observe, at 
 close range, his achievements in the business, 
 social, and political realms. The resulting 
 story reveals the true Lord Northcliffe, por- 
 trays his life of endeavor, and shows him 
 to be animated by patriotic motives and 
 high ideals in his public enterprises. The 
 career of Lord Northcliffe, in short, sup- 
 plies the best answer to all questions as to 
 his place in the world to-day. 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 
 
 " You shall not tell the people the truth," 
 the British censor had, in effect, declared. 
 The British press was muzzled. 
 
 Incompetency's idea was to lie smugly 
 behind a wall of secrecy. To tell the truth 
 to the people who were paying the price 
 of war with blood and treasure would be 
 treason. 
 
 It was England's darkest hour. 
 
 At that fateful time, in the spring of 
 1915, when the war outlook was serious and 
 the safety of the Allies trembled in the bal- 
 ance, one man in England had the courage 
 to speak out. But for this single fearless, 
 unselfish patriot, England's doom would 
 have been sealed because she would have 
 awakened too late from her torpor and 
 complacency. 
 
 While the British censor was suppressing 
 the facts and incompetency rejoiced, this 
 
 17 
 
18 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 man was preparing to attack the mighty 
 fortress of official incapacity, to scale its 
 walls, and to plant the standard of efficiency 
 on its highest tower. 
 
 The man who displayed this unflinching 
 courage was Lord Northcliffe, unquestion- 
 ably Britain's strongest man and a power 
 in the British Empire. As the owner of 
 The Times, — the famous " Thunderer," — ^the 
 Daily Mail, and other great English news- 
 papers, he represents the mightiest force of 
 the press. As a leader he represents the 
 great mass of the British people. 
 
 Undaunted by threats and unintimidated 
 by warnings from high officials, Lord North- 
 cliffe prepared to launch a swift attack and 
 reveal the truth about the war to the Brit- 
 ish public, which remained blissfully igno- 
 rant in regard to what was taking place at 
 the front. 
 
 On May 20, 1915, Lord Northcliffe called 
 his editors together at the Daily Mail office 
 in London, to discuss this momentous ques- 
 tion. 
 
 As they assembled in the council room, 
 he entered briskly and took his seat at the 
 head of the table. A determined-looking 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 19 
 
 man of middle age, heavy shouldered and 
 strongly built, with massive head pushed 
 forward aggressively, his keen eyes took in 
 every one at a glance. His greeting was 
 terse. Even a stranger would have instantly 
 perceived that this forceful man whose mag- 
 netic personality filled the room was a 
 leader of men. 
 
 In his hand Lord Northcliffe held a dis- 
 patch that contained alarming news from 
 the front. Before him was spread an edi- 
 torial based on this dispatch. When he had 
 read both to his editors, it was necessary to 
 decide whether the news should be pub- 
 lished. To submit it to the censor would 
 mean its suppression. To publish it with- 
 out the censor's permission would be a seri- 
 ous offense, as Lord Northcliffe very well 
 knew. Anything, in short, that might tend 
 to unsettle public confidence and give com- 
 fort to the enemy, would be practically 
 equivalent to treason. 
 
 It was a tense and dramatic moment. 
 While consternation reigned among his 
 staff. Lord Northcliffe rose and paced the 
 room, swiftly reviewing the situation. The 
 risk, he knew, was great. Could he face a 
 
20 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 possible accusation of treason by publish- 
 ing the truth, and at the same time with- 
 stand the consequences of daring to attack 
 the idol of the British public — Kitchener of 
 Khartoum? Northcliffe, who looked grave 
 and felt even more grave than he looked, 
 realized that it would be taking desperate 
 chances, but his sense of patriotism out- 
 weighed all other considerations. 
 
 Somewhat brusquely he asked his experi- 
 enced colleagues for their opinions and lis- 
 tened to what they had to say. It was a 
 daring move that he had in mind, and as 
 they expressed their views, they watched his 
 face anxiously to see which way he would 
 decide. Was Northcliffe strong enough to 
 make the great decision which might lead 
 to the most brilliant achievement in his 
 career? Was he willing to risk going down 
 himself that Britain might be saved? 
 
 Lord Northcliffe paced the length of the 
 table and back once. His mind was made 
 up. He wasted no words in argument. 
 
 Turning tp his editors, he said firmly and 
 decisively: "That news must go into the 
 paper. We have got to save England; the 
 people must know the truth." 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 21 
 
 One of his editors, a veteran journalist 
 whom he esteemed highly, ventured to sug- 
 gest that a delay might be advisable, that 
 there was great personal risk attached to 
 this action. 
 
 " There is no other alternative," reiterated 
 Northcliflfe, " the people must have the 
 facts." 
 
 Addressing his managing editor, he gave 
 his final instructions. " The editorial is 
 right," he said. " Send the paper to press." 
 
 The next day, May 21, the British public 
 was astounded when the Daily Mail pub- 
 lished an editorial entitled: "The Tragedy 
 of the Shells; Kitchener's Grave Error," in 
 which were embodied the main facts con- 
 tained in the news dispatch. It was fear- 
 lessly declared that Lord Kitchener, the idol 
 of the nation, then absolute czar of the 
 War Department, was sacrificing thou- 
 sands of British soldiers by supplying the 
 army with shells which were almost useless 
 in fighting the Germans. Despite repeated 
 warnings, he had persisted in sending out 
 shrapnel when what was vitally needed was 
 high-explosive shells that would blast a pas- 
 sage through the German trenches and en- 
 
22 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 tanglements and enable the British troops 
 to advance. 
 
 The editorial declared, moreover, that 
 while huge explosive shells fired from the 
 German " Big Berthas " and wide-mouthed 
 howitzers plowed their way through the 
 British defenses, causing frightful slaughter, 
 the British were compelled to reply with 
 shrapnel, which was almost as ineffective as 
 blowing peas against a concrete wall. 
 
 All England was in an uproar when the 
 Daily Mail editorial appeared. Rival news- 
 papers attacked Lord Northcliffe with great 
 bitterness, declaring that the statements con- 
 cerning Kitchener were maliciously false. 
 The government was urged to suppress the 
 offending newspaper and arrest its editors, 
 who were declared to be guilty of treason. 
 So great was the nation's faith in its idol. 
 Kitchener, that the general public refused 
 to believe the charges, and Northcliffe found 
 himself, for the time being, the most detested 
 and execrated man in England. 
 
 A mob in a London street howled at the 
 Daily Mail and shouted for vengeance; 
 members of the London Stock Exchange, 
 to show their indignation, ceremoniously 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 23 
 
 burned copies of the " scurrilous sheet," as 
 they termed the newspaper. Meetings were 
 held all over England, at which people 
 solemnly pledged themselves never again to 
 read any of the Northcliffe journals. Feel- 
 ing rose to such a pitch, that threats were 
 made against the newspaper owner's life, 
 and an armed guard was found necessary 
 for his protection. 
 
 Through all this commotion, however, 
 Lord Northcliffe did not lose his head, but 
 remained cool and undaunted, because he 
 knew that his statements were based on 
 facts. He was also sustained by a high 
 sense of duty and patriotism; for if there is 
 one dominating impulse in the character of 
 this man, it is his intense love for England. 
 With him it masters every other considera- 
 tion. That is why he had determined to 
 speak out when he discovered that Kitch- 
 ener's policy was bringing his beloved coun- 
 try to the verge of defeat, regardless of the 
 attacks which he knew would follow. 
 
 At that critical time, when an avalanche 
 of censure and abuse was sweeping down 
 on the Daily Mail and its owner. Will 
 Irwin, the American correspondent, called 
 
24 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 on Northcliffe and found him grave but 
 resolute. " How is the circulation of the 
 Daily Mail? " asked Irwin. " It's increas- 
 ing," replied Northcliffe; and he added iron- 
 ically: "I suppose they're buying copies to 
 burn them." 
 
 But the situation was serious. Adver- 
 tisers began to drop off, rival newspapers 
 increased their attacks, and Northcliffe was 
 urged to retract his statements. Instead of 
 doing so he caused the charges made by the 
 lyaily Mail to be repeated in The Times. 
 Replying to his critics, he declared in the 
 Daily Mail: "All that we have hitherto 
 written will be justified in the near future." 
 Meanwhile, the government, realizing that 
 what the Daily Mail had said was perfectly 
 true, took no action toward punishing its 
 fearless owner for having published the 
 truth. 
 
 To understand the precise state of affairs, 
 it is necessary to get an idea of the war 
 situation in May, 1915. At that time the 
 Allies were in a serious predicament. The 
 French had been forced back at several 
 points, and a break followed by another and 
 possibly a successful drive on Paris seemed 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 25 
 
 inevitable. All hopes of holding Gallipoli 
 were being abandoned by the British, the 
 Turks, under German leadership, having 
 rendered the campaign there abortive. On 
 the eastern front the Russians were in re- 
 treat at some important points, their forces 
 badly disorganized. Modern strategy, as 
 carried out by the Germans, had thus chal- 
 lenged the highest skill of the generals who 
 led the armies of France and Russia. 
 
 But to the British public this dishearten- 
 ing array of facts seemed of minor impor- 
 tance, because the London newspapers were 
 continually filled with reports of British vic- 
 tories in Belgium. " British Forces Ad- 
 vance " ; " Huns in Retreat " — so read their 
 headlines from day to day. The French 
 might retire, likewise the Russians, but what 
 mattered that as long as one British soldier 
 was a match for three Germans and the 
 enemy shrank from facing British bayonets? 
 
 It was such stuff as this that was fed to 
 the British public in the spring of 1915, 
 when the censor made everybody in Eng- 
 land happy by putting his blue pencil 
 through almost anything in the shape of 
 bad news. Thus the impression became gen- 
 
26 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 eral that the war would soon be over, that 
 the Kaiser, like Napoleon, would be shipped 
 to St. Helena, and that British " Tommies " 
 would be seen parading victoriously in the 
 streets of Berlin. 
 
 That was what the man in the street be- 
 lieved. But there were some people in Eng- 
 land who shook their heads and silently 
 doubted all these glowing stories. Men who 
 had returned from the front whispered that 
 all was not well. That there was some foun- 
 dation for this pessimism the sequel will 
 show. 
 
 In April, 1915, Lord Northeliffe received 
 a dispatch from a military expert, who rep- 
 resented his newspapers at the front, in 
 which it was stated that the British army 
 was endangered by an alarming shortage of 
 high-explosive shells. How this dispatch 
 managed to pass the French and British 
 lines has never been told. 
 
 A practical newspaperman and well quali- 
 fied to fill the position of " star reporter," 
 Lord Northeliffe sometimes investigates im- 
 portant matters himself instead of relying 
 on some one else for his information. On 
 this occasion the situation was so critical 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 27 
 
 that he decided, with his characteristic thor- 
 oughness, to ascertain the facts by acting as 
 his own reporter. With this object, he se- 
 cretly crossed the Enghsh Channel and 
 visited the British headquarters, where he 
 learned that the statements contained in the 
 dispatch were substantially correct. Hav- 
 ing secured this information he returned to 
 London, where he immediately held a coun- 
 cil at the Daily Mail office. Then followed 
 the publication of the news, with all the sen- 
 sational developments already described. 
 
 It was a daring feat to print the news 
 and to defy the censorship. It was even 
 more serious to defy British public opinion 
 by attacking Lord Kitchener, the grim, 
 taciturn hero of the nation, who allowed 
 no interference with the War Department 
 which he governed with absolute power. 
 And yet, much as he admired Kitchener, 
 Northcliffe had taken the right course. 
 
 The truth is that while Lord Kitchener 
 had done some magnificent work in raising 
 a great British army at the beginning of 
 the war and getting it over to France, yet 
 he was not a military expert versed in the 
 science of modern warfare. He was un- 
 
28 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 doubtedly a good business man and a won- 
 derful organizer, but he had gained most 
 of his experience in India and Egypt, and 
 his long absences from Europe had kept 
 him out of touch with the latest develop- 
 ments in arms and ammunition. 
 
 As time went on a realization of these 
 facts began to dawn in England. Protests 
 from the front regarding the deficiency of 
 high-explosive shells began to reach the 
 heads of the British government in such 
 volume that the truth could no longer be 
 suppressed, and the censorship was lifted. 
 It was then discovered that Lord North- 
 cliflfe had been right after all. Rival news- 
 papers at once learned the facts from their 
 own correspondents, and instead of continu- 
 ing to denounce the fearless journalist as a 
 traitor they repeated what the Daily Mail 
 and The Times had already said. 
 
 Whatever satisfaction Northcliffe might 
 have derived from this vindication did not 
 obscure his original purpose in making his 
 charges. While the British troops, as the 
 result of the outcry that was raised, were 
 promptly supplied with suitable munitions, 
 there still remained the difficulty that they 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 29 
 
 were not getting enough. Northcliffe at 
 once seized the opportunity to make himself 
 heard again. 
 
 The war, he declared, was being misman- 
 aged because the War Department was 
 conducted on inefficient lines. That depart- 
 ment, he insisted, should be restricted to its 
 proper military business of raising and 
 training soldiers, while the purely industrial 
 business of producing munitions should be 
 ►kept distinctly apart. And so it came to 
 pass. Stirred by the arguments of the 
 Northcliffe press, the British government 
 created a new cabinet post. Minister of Mu- 
 nitions, and David Lloyd George, a man of 
 the people and admired by the masses, a 
 practical man as well as a statesman, was 
 selected to fill the position. 
 
 Here again was seen how dominating is 
 Northcliffe's sense of patriotism. He had 
 ruthlessly attacked Kitchener, whom his 
 newspapers had once lauded as a national 
 hero, because the head of the War Depart- 
 ment had proved inefficient. He now gave 
 his utmost support to Lloyd George, the 
 Welsh radical, whose political ideas he had 
 bitterly opposed. As Chancellor of the Ex- 
 
30 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 chequer Lloyd George had done good work, 
 and ISTorthcliffe was ready to admit that he 
 was the right man to head the munitions 
 department. 
 
 Raising thie slogan, " Shells and More 
 Shells ! " Lloyd George, backed by the 
 Northcliffe press, speedily aroused the peo- 
 ple of England to the importance of supply- 
 ing what was needed, and in an inconceiv- 
 ably short time Great Britain was covered 
 with a network of arsenals and munition 
 factories. Northcliffe had correctly inter- 
 preted the spirit of the English people. 
 They were ready to make any sacrifice that 
 would lead to victory, but they required 
 direction. 
 
 Hundreds of thousands of girls and 
 women, drawn from all classes, including 
 school-teachers, stenographers, domestic serv- 
 ants, and salesgirls, and even the daughters 
 of the well-to-do, all anxious to "do their 
 bit," were soon engaged in munition manu- 
 facturing. They had to be taught the use 
 of deadly explosives. It meant the estab- 
 lishment of a new school of labor. To ac- 
 commodate these workers new towns of 
 temporary houses, similar to our military 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 31 
 
 camps, were put up in the country dis- 
 tricts. Huge government factories were 
 built in the important industrial centers, and 
 correlated industries were enlisted in the 
 work of supplying mimitions. In many 
 ways the whole face of England became 
 entirely changed. Efficient organization re- 
 placed haphazard effort, enthusiasm sup- 
 planted indifference, and for the first time 
 the people of Great Britain set themselves, 
 with heart and soul, to the big task of win- 
 ning the war. 
 
 Northcliffe had at last won his fight for 
 high-explosive shells. The factories, indeed, 
 were turning them out rapidly and in such 
 vast quantities that Britain was able not 
 only to supply her own army and heap up 
 reserves for any imaginable contingency, but 
 also to supply her allies. 
 
 This, in brief, is the story of the mo- 
 mentous decision made by Northcliffe on 
 the twentieth of May, 1915, which undoubt- 
 edly saved England from defeat. When 
 properly equipped the British army, instead 
 of remaining supinely on the defensive, 
 made a general advance, scattering the Ger- 
 man shock battalions and giving the cause 
 
32 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of the Allies a new impetus. The French, 
 taking heart again, drove back the Germans 
 at several points, while the Russians, catch- 
 ing the same spirit, cleared the enemy out 
 of the territories on the eastern front and 
 kept them out until the debacle of German 
 intrigue made chaos of Russia. 
 
 Momentous as Northcliffe's decision had 
 been to the Allied cause, it was of equal 
 importance to himself. His stand against 
 ojfHcial incompetency had been the supreme 
 test of his power. If he had failed he 
 would not only have met his Waterloo, but 
 would probably have sunk in influence and 
 reputation to the level of a common scold. 
 With success, however, there came the reali- 
 zation that this man, fearless of conse- 
 quences, had struck only because his coun- 
 try was in danger and that by his action he 
 had saved England. Northcliffe's power 
 was thus confirmed, and he came to the 
 front again as the unofficial spokesman of 
 the British people and the mandate of their 
 will. 
 
 How far-reaching Northcliffe's influence 
 ultimately became was strikingly shown in 
 the autumn of 1916, when he brought about 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 33 
 
 the most effective political revolution ever 
 wrought through a group of newspapers 
 — the overthrow of the Asquith govern- 
 ment. The story can be told in a few 
 words. 
 
 The Liberal party, which had been in 
 power under Mr. Asquith when war was 
 declared, and the coalition government which 
 succeeded it, under the same leadership, 
 were both found to be wanting in the 
 strength and energy required to pilot Great 
 Britain safely in a time of grave national 
 peril. A scholarly politician of the old 
 school, Mr. Asquith was clearly not an ideal 
 leader, and therefore when it became evi- 
 dent that the government was mismanaging 
 the war, Northcliffe, thundering with Jovian 
 authority, demanded the appointment of an 
 efficient, compact war cabinet that could 
 get things done. So great was the force of 
 public sentiment aroused by his newspapers 
 that Mr. Asquith was at last compelled to 
 retire, giving place to Lloyd George as 
 prime minister. 
 
 In accordance with Northcliffe's advice, 
 given editorially, the new premier at once 
 formed a cabinet of practical, self-made 
 
34 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 business men who were experts in their own 
 lines, such as Sir Joseph Maelay, the Ship- 
 ping Controller, once captain of a tramp 
 steamer; Lord Devonport, Food Controller, 
 who started life as clerk in a grocery and 
 now owns a chain of retail stores; and Sir 
 Albert Stanley, once an American citizen, 
 who became a traction expert in the United 
 States before retm^ning to England, the 
 land of his birth. 
 
 Even more interesting than these notable 
 men is Sir Eric Geddes, who was appointed 
 Deputy-General of Munitions. A self-made 
 man who had gained a variety of experi- 
 ences in all parts of the world, from rail- 
 road builder to business manager, he took 
 over the production of rifles, small arms, 
 transport vehicles, machine guns, and sal- 
 vage. He introduced a system by which 
 empty brass cartridge cases were used over 
 a dozen times. He reorganized and recon- 
 structed the railway system in northern 
 France, which required the building of a 
 terminal as large as the Grand Central Ter- 
 minal in New York City for the efficient 
 handling of trains. 
 
 Under Geddes' direction, lines were built 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 35 
 
 SO expeditiously that when the Germans re- 
 treated on the Somme in 1917 the railway- 
 followed right behind them. He also took 
 charge of the canals in northern France, 
 over which are moved each month hun- 
 dreds of thousands of tons of freight and 
 thousands of wounded men. He gath- 
 ered a corps of experts in all branches, 
 knowing that for an expert job it was requi- 
 site to get experts and leave them alone. 
 After the Battle of Jutland there was dis- 
 satisfaction with the management of the 
 British fleet and a demand for younger and 
 redder blood. Geddes was then made Con- 
 troller of the Navy, and subsequently he 
 was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. 
 The appointment of experts to manage 
 the various departments of the government 
 put an end to a system of compromise and 
 delay. Northcliffe himself regarded this in- 
 novation as the most sweeping change that 
 had taken place in British public life since 
 the passage of the Reform Bill in the reign 
 of William IV. Stripped of its glamour, 
 the whole episode was merely a translation 
 of efficient team work into terms of national 
 administration. In other words, it was the 
 
36 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 case of a practical man applying practical 
 methods during a national crisis. The re- 
 sult has been that to-day in no Allied coun- 
 try have business talents been so completely 
 commandeered as in England. With the 
 exception of the premier, — Lloyd George, — 
 Mr. Balfour, and a few other seasoned office 
 holders, the cabinet is practically a board 
 of directors that can deal with any problem 
 of cost and distribution that happens to 
 come up. 
 
 The remarkable achievement of North- 
 cliffe in saving England in the dark hours 
 of 1915, and his subsequent triumph in forc- 
 ing the retirement of a British prime min- 
 ister who had proved to be inefficient, were 
 only in keeping with the whole course of 
 his journalistic career. For the last twenty 
 years he has been at the forefront of every 
 national movement, some of the most im- 
 portant of which he started himself. In 
 looking backward no one can fail to be 
 impressed by the almost prophetic insight 
 that has characterized most of his agitations. 
 
 Probably the first of his important bat- 
 tles, and one which sounded the keynote of 
 his subsequent career, was in the days of the 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 37 
 
 South African War, when the embattled 
 Boer farmers were out-fighting, out-maneu- 
 vering, and out-generaling the British forces. 
 At that time, when he was plain Alfred 
 Harmsworth, the enterprising journalist, 
 through his newspaper, the Daily Mail, ham- 
 mered the incompetents in the War Depart- 
 ment and the incompetent generals in the 
 field until Lord Roberts, and then Lord 
 Kitchener, were sent out to South Africa to 
 bring victory. 
 
 With a broad vision of imperial unity 
 rivaling that of Cecil Rhodes, Northcliffe in- 
 sisted that the Boers, though beaten, were 
 not disgraced and must be welcomed into 
 the British family. With other far-seeing 
 men, he urged that the South African states 
 should be consolidated into an autonomous 
 colony, and assisted materially in bringing 
 about that magnificent result. To-day, with 
 minor exceptions, the Boers have become the 
 staunchest supporters of the British cause, 
 and General Smuts, once a bitter foe of 
 England, now sits in the War Council in 
 London. 
 
 The same vision of unity in its relation 
 to other British colonies has for years been 
 
38 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 a tenet of Northcliffe's faith. J'or the pur- 
 pose of strengthening the bonds of Empire 
 he has issued overseas editions of his news- 
 papers, which have had an enormous circu- 
 lation in all parts of the world. He has 
 also organized overseas clubs, for the pur- 
 pose of cultivating a spirit of fraternity 
 among all men of British descent, and these 
 have gained a vast membership. Whenever 
 opportunity has been afforded, he has raised 
 his voice in defense of the rights of the 
 British colonies, and in his newspapers and 
 periodicals has emphasized the wonderful 
 progress that is being made in all the self- 
 governing dominions. During the present 
 war he has been unstinted in his praise of 
 the heroism displayed by Britannia's sons 
 from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and 
 other parts of the Empire that fly their own 
 modifications of the Union Jack. 
 
 Northcliffe's prediction of the great war, 
 in a widely published interview in 1909, 
 would apparently endow him with seerlike 
 qualities were it not for the fact that his 
 prophecy was based upon information ob- 
 tained from his correspondents and confi- 
 dential agents. When he discovered that 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 39 
 
 Germany was preparing to strike more sud- 
 denly than in 1870, when France was drawn 
 into a disastrous war, he urged England to 
 get ready for the impending conflict. His 
 warnings, however, fell on deaf ears, with 
 the result that England, like America, was 
 unprepared when the crisis arrived. 
 
 When the war began he saw at once what 
 the British public did not realize, namely, 
 that it would be a long war, and that the 
 task of raising and equipping an adequate 
 army was gigantic. He saw, too, that com- 
 pulsory service must come, as he had in- 
 sisted for several years. The British peo- 
 ple, however, would have none of it, believ- 
 ing that conscription was undemocratic and 
 that a volunteer army would suffice. In 
 spite of opposition from a large element of 
 the public and the attacks of some influen- 
 tial newspapers, the undaunted advocate of 
 efficiency carried on his campaign for con- 
 scription, and eventually won the fight. 
 The result has been that Great Britain 
 to-day has an army of four millions on the 
 fighting line, while men unfit for service in 
 the field are engaged in some form of activ- 
 ity nationally beneficial. 
 
40 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Despite the pleas of pacifists for disarma- 
 ment, INTorthcliffe fought successfully for 
 the maintenance of the British navy at the 
 standard of twice the strength of its most 
 powerful rival. But for his continued pres- 
 sure, the German navy would have been 
 permitted to surpass that of Great Britain. 
 After the war began, his broom swept the 
 almost sacrosanct British admiralty clear of 
 various incompetents and brought about the 
 substitution of young and able efficients. 
 
 In the early days of the war, when stories 
 of sacrifice and slaughter were partly con- 
 cealed by the censorship, the Northcliffe 
 newspapers presented the facts instead of 
 attempting to evade them. When the dire- 
 ful retreat from Mons occurred, these papers 
 were the first to relate how narrowly the 
 Allied troops had escaped worse disaster. 
 Instead of keeping quiet and pretending that 
 each successive mistake that England made 
 was another " strategic retreat," as decent 
 Englishmen were expected to do, North- 
 cliffe constantly pointed out the blunders 
 and insisted upon their being remedied with 
 all possible speed. Though not in the thick 
 of the fighting, he was kept informed of 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 41 
 
 every important development, and was ready 
 at all times to expose incapacity in high 
 circles. The record of this power behind 
 the army is a narrative of unflinching brav- 
 ery which has been a means of bringing 
 about a high state of military efficiency. 
 
 An embargo on exports to Holland and 
 the Scandinavian countries that were sup- 
 plying Germany with food and other com- 
 modities — a plan which the United States 
 eventually adopted — was another policy for 
 which NorthcliflPe fought. 
 
 He has also been the greatest advocate 
 of the freedom of the British press. From 
 its inception the censorship in England was 
 his target, his assertion being that it was a 
 device to mask inefficiency and conceal the 
 truth. His barbed arrows at last compelled 
 the government to modify its restrictions. 
 
 The progress of this resourceful man, 
 however, has not been along a rose-strewn 
 path of public applause. In fact, no man in 
 England, in recent years, has been the tar- 
 get of more bitter abuse. His enemies are 
 legion, particularly among his newspaper 
 rivals and the official inefficients. But much 
 as he is hated, he is feared still more, be- 
 
42 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 cause no one knows where his lightning will 
 strike next. Hence, incompetency shud- 
 ders, while competents in the war game are 
 constantly kept up to the mark. Alone 
 among English citizenry he has refused to 
 permit his countrymen to maintain their 
 complacent torpor of superiority and the 
 hereditary belief that they are immaculate 
 and unconquerable by virtue of being Eng- 
 lish. Such heresy could have but one re- 
 sult, an utter detestation of Northchffe by 
 a certain proportion of the English upper 
 classes. 
 
 This may possibly serve to explain why 
 he has been so persistently loaded with 
 honors. It is an old formula with the gov- 
 erning classes in England that whenever a 
 man becomes dangerous to the established 
 order of things, the best way to keep him 
 quiet is to give him a title. This plan, how- 
 ever, proved a wretched failure in North- 
 cliffe's case. 
 
 In 1904, when he was Mr. Alfred Harms- 
 worth, he was made a baronet — a sort of 
 hereditary knight — and was transformed into 
 Sir Alfred Harmsworth. When he became 
 more persistent than ever in his attacks on 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 43 
 
 the old school of politicians, it probably oc- 
 curred to the higher powers that perhaps 
 the title was not big enough. In 1906, 
 therefore. Sir Alfred was honored with a 
 peerage, receiving the title of baron and a 
 seat in the House of Lords. As Lord 
 Northcliffe the versatile journalist proved 
 to be even more energetic in stirring up 
 trouble for the clique of elderly politicians 
 in the official circle. Presumably as a last 
 resort, he has recently been created a vis- 
 count, but his enemies already opine that 
 even a dukedom would furnish no curb to 
 his activities. 
 
 From even this brief review it can be 
 readily understood why Northcliffe's appeals 
 to the public have assumed all the force and 
 meaning of a national message, and have 
 made him far more powerful than any Brit- 
 ish statesman of the present era. And what 
 is more, the people of England regard him 
 with confidence, because he invariably sees 
 dangers ahead and warns the government 
 how to avoid them. Amidst the perils of 
 war he has acted as Britain's national pilot, 
 and his advice has usually been followed 
 whenever it has become necessary, for the 
 
44 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 safety of the ship of state, to jettison an 
 incapable cabinet or to drop incompetent 
 heads of departments. 
 
 In attempting to describe Lord North- 
 cliffe most writers have found themselves 
 at a loss for words to make his amazing 
 personality known to the world. Searching 
 for appropriate terms, they have called him 
 "The Colossus of the Press," "The Na- 
 poleon of Journalism," " The Modern War- 
 wick," and " The Goad of Empire." They 
 have described him as the personal director 
 of democratic Britain, the champion of war, 
 and the dare-devil leader of British public 
 opinion. 
 
 All these phrases, however, are too mildly 
 insufficient to portray the self-made man 
 who has risen from obscurity to giant emi- 
 nence, whose magnificent achievements are 
 written on history's pages, and who to-day 
 is unquestionably the most commanding 
 figure in the British Empire. Such is Lord 
 Northcliffe, a public man who has no paral- 
 lel in the United States or any other 
 country. 
 
 Modern history contains no such charac- 
 ter as this forceful man who holds no 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 45 
 
 public office, and yet is able to make or un- 
 make governments by welding millions of 
 supporters together in carrying out his 
 great enterprises for his country's welfare. 
 Through his extraordinary genius and abil- 
 ity, as the facts have shown, he has unified 
 British democracy, which, under his guid- 
 ance, has transformed Great Britain into a 
 single-minded, purposeful nation whose con- 
 stant aim is efficiency. 
 
 The leader of the British press and un- 
 doubtedly the most influential journalist in 
 the world. Lord Northcliffe, through his 
 newspapers, especially The Times and the 
 Daily Mail, reaches every grade of Britain's 
 population from proletariat to prince, with 
 the result that he has built up a following 
 more permanent and powerful than that of 
 any statesman. Whenever he agitates for 
 a change in the government or launches any 
 other great movement, a large proportion 
 of the British public follows his leadership. 
 Thus he has become the unofficial spokes- 
 man of millions of British voters just as 
 surely as if he were their chosen prime 
 minister. 
 
 While he possesses all the power of a great 
 
46 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 politician upheld by the votes of a nation, 
 Northcliffe's power, unlike that of even the 
 greatest politician, is continuous and un- 
 trammeled because it is derived from the 
 newspapers that he owns and directs. No 
 American newspaper owner has ever had 
 such enormous power as this world-famous 
 journalist possesses, nor has any group of 
 American newspapers ever exerted a na- 
 tional influence comparable with that of the 
 Northcliffe press. The main reason is to 
 be found in the material differences between 
 the social conditions of Great Britain and 
 those of the United States. 
 
 While this country is a huge melting pot 
 for many races fusing together to make a 
 nation, the British pubhc, on the other 
 hand, is a coherent public with a common 
 language, a common heritage, and common 
 ideals. In other words, the people of Great 
 Britain are all British and are influenced by 
 whatever appeals to Britons. 
 
 There is still another point of difference. 
 Because of the vastness of the United 
 States, even an important newspaper can 
 influence only a comparatively small part of 
 the country. A New York newspaper, for ex- 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 47 
 
 ample, has little or no influence on the public 
 of San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, or even 
 Philadelphia. In Great Britain, on the con- 
 trary, the great mass of its forty-six mil- 
 lion people are concentrated within two 
 small islands and the Northcliffe newspapers 
 reach every corner of the United Kingdom on 
 the day of publication. The people of Great 
 Britain, moreover, take more seriously than 
 we do the editorial utterances of important 
 newspapers, and this explains why it is that 
 a great newspaper, such as the London 
 Times, commands a national following and 
 when it calls for action can count on a sub- 
 stantial response. 
 
 Given these fundamentals, plus the gift 
 of leadership, the well-nigh superhuman 
 energy, and the almost psychic instinct for 
 public needs which Lord Northcliffe pos- 
 sesses, it can be readily understood how he 
 has been able to weld his newspapers into a 
 national force that can make or unmake gov- 
 ernments and formulate policies to an ex- 
 tent unknown in the United States. Through 
 them he has become one of the most domi- 
 nating figures that Great Britain has ever 
 seen. At his command forces are arrayed 
 
48 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 that sway elections and enhance or destroy 
 political reputations. 
 
 The policy of the Northcliffe press, it may 
 be added, has been wholly constructive, and, 
 as Lord Northcliff e has never sought a pub- 
 lic office, whatever appeals he may make 
 are clearly not inspired by any desire for 
 political honors. His newspapers, which ex- 
 press his vivid ideas and reflect his remark- 
 able personality, have in the face of abuse 
 and every accusation up to treason twice 
 undone and remade the high councils of 
 England at war. 
 
 To-day there is no man in Great Britain, 
 and certainly but few in the world, more 
 conspicuous than Lord Northcliffe or so 
 vitally interesting to the public. His career 
 has proved in many ways that the big things 
 of the world are always done by individuals 
 and that one-man power is the principal 
 thing that counts. That is why some of his 
 admirers have described him as the biggest 
 man in the world. 
 
 Perhaps one of the best summaries of 
 Northcliffe's personality, his marvelous com- 
 bination of pluck, originality, endurance, 
 and perseverance, has been given by Isaac 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 49 
 
 F. Marcosson, an American writer, who has 
 made a careful study of the Northcliffe 
 press and its enterprising founder. 
 
 " Whether," says Marcosson, " Northcliffe 
 is a crisis-monger or merchant of clamor, 
 prophet of panic and depression (as his 
 enemies make out), or whether he is the 
 voice of democracy, the safeguard of public 
 liberty, and the custodian of the nation's 
 welfare (as his friends and supporters at- 
 test), one fact is certain: he is the liveliest 
 and most vital entity in England, a man 
 alternately praised and damned, who by the 
 changes he has wrought must be regarded 
 as the Warwick of the war. If he lived in 
 America he would be a President maker." 
 
 To use American terms, Northcliffe is 
 Britain's exponent of " the big stick," " the 
 man with the punch," and " the apostle of 
 efficiency." A still better epitome of his 
 character is contained in the phrase of an 
 English admirer, " The man who gets things 
 done." 
 
 Northcliffe's value as a national asset to 
 England has not been overlooked by the Ger- 
 mans. " Strafe Northcliffe ! " has long been the 
 cry of the subsidized German newspapers, 
 
50 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 some of which have declared that hanging is 
 too good for Germany's most persistent 
 enemy. Since the war began he has been a 
 relentless foe of German propaganda, and 
 has ceaselessly called attention to the impor- 
 tance of fighting this subtle influence which 
 the Teutons employ to misinform neutrals 
 and, if possible, to cause dissension among 
 the Allies. 
 
 Realizing that while Northcliffe and his 
 newspapers are on guard a powerful influ- 
 ence against Germany exists in England, 
 the Kaiser, it is said, has actually offered 
 the title of baron and the iron cross to any 
 of his officers who succeeds in keeping the 
 eminent newspaper owner quiet for all time. 
 That some efforts have been made to earn 
 this reward was evidenced some months ago 
 when Northcliffe's country house on the 
 coast of Kent was bombed by aeroplanes 
 and shelled by a destroyer. On the latter 
 occasion the famous editor narrowly escaped 
 with his life. 
 
 The achievements of this man of destiny 
 in recent years form a suitable climax to his 
 past career. No man ever had a more 
 eventful life; none has had a greater variety 
 
WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 51 
 
 of experiences. That being the ease, it fol- 
 lows that his life story is one that abounds 
 with lights and shades, with humor and 
 pathos. Let us now proceed to follow that 
 story from the beginning to the present 
 day, and to learn from it how Alfred 
 Harmsworth, an obscure writer, became a 
 celebrity with the title of Viscount North- 
 cliffe. 
 
II 
 
 GENIUS IN TRAINING 
 
 It is an interesting fact that ancestry has 
 much to do with the making of character, 
 and that whatever is great in a man may 
 be the result of certain inherited traits. All 
 that is needed for their development is a 
 suitable environment and a touch of inspi- 
 ration. 
 
 JBuffon, who took this view, has defined 
 genius as patience which requires the elec- 
 tric spirit to arouse it into power. Those 
 who agree with the theory and believe that 
 talent is hereditary, will find that Lord 
 Northcliffe's parentage affords convinc:"::g 
 proof that his genius was, in a measure, due 
 to happily balanced qualities inherited from 
 his father and mother. He is, in short, that 
 rare and perfect mixture of Irish and Eng- 
 lish which successfully combines the virtues 
 of the two divergent races. He has all the 
 vision, humor, initiative, aggressiveness, and 
 electric spirit of the Celt, tempered with the 
 
 62 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 53 
 
 patience, bulldog tenacity, persistence, cour- 
 age, and practicability of the Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 The world-famous journalist was born 
 July 15, 1865, at Chapelizod, County Dub- 
 lin, Ireland, and received the name of Al- 
 fred Charles William Harmsworth. His 
 father, Alfred Harmsworth, who belonged 
 to a branch of the Harmsworth family long 
 settled in Yorkshire, was a barrister of 
 some distinction. In London, where he 
 practiced, he was regarded not only as a 
 brilliant lawyer, but as a man of rare judg- 
 ment, quick perception, tact, and versatility. 
 During his career he was counsel in a num- 
 ber of important cases, one of his greatest 
 legal triumphs having been achieved in con- 
 nection with a celebrated libel action. 
 
 The destined leader of the British press 
 was equally fortunate in having a mother 
 who possessed more than ordinary attain-^ 
 ments and force of character. Mrs. Ger- 
 aldine Mary Harmsworth was the daughter 
 of William Maflfett of County Dublin, and a 
 member of an Irish family which has been 
 distinguished for centuries. Many army 
 officers and members of the British civil 
 service have borne the name of Maffett. 
 
54 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 With an Irish mother and an Irish birth- 
 place, Great Britain's strong man is usually 
 regarded as more Irish than English. 
 
 Ireland, it has been said, is a good coun- 
 try to be born in, but a good country to get 
 out of, although at times it may be a good 
 country to go back to. However this may 
 be, the fates d,ecreed that Alfred Harms:- 
 worth, the future genius, should be brought 
 up in England. When he was scarcely a 
 year old, his father, who had been engaged 
 in some important Irish htigation, returned 
 to London to resume his ordinary legal 
 practice. A home was established in Hamp- 
 stead, a well-known suburb of north Lon- 
 don. There the other members of the family 
 were born, three daughters and six sons. 
 
 No better place than Hampstead could 
 have been found in which to rear a future 
 editor and publisher. It is a quarter of 
 London which abounds in literary associa- 
 tions, having been frequented for two cen- 
 turies or more by artists and men of let- 
 ters. The reader who is familiar with the 
 careers of English novelists will recall that 
 Wilkie Collins was a resident of Hamp- 
 stead, and it was there that George du 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 55 
 
 Maurier wrote his famous story " Trilby." 
 Rose Cottage, in which the Harmsworths 
 lived, had once been tenanted by Leigh 
 Hunt, the poet and essayist, friend of Keats 
 and Shelley, Charles Lamb and Lord 
 Byron. 
 
 As they grew up, the Harmsworth boys 
 developed into stalwart, athletic, typically 
 English lads, with a great liking for cricket 
 and other outdoor sports. Near their home 
 was Hampstead Heath, an open space of 
 two hundred and fifty acres, well wooded, 
 diversified with several sheets of water, and 
 to a great extent left in its natural state. 
 It was a fine playground, and also a suitable 
 place to arouse an interest in the picturesque 
 life of the past. In the early coaching days 
 the Heath was the haunt of such celebrated 
 highwaymen as Dick Turpin, Claude Duval, 
 and Jack Sheppard, who have figured in 
 many a novel. As may be surmised, such 
 an environment was well calculated to stir 
 a youthful imagination. 
 
 At an early age, Alfred Harmsworth was 
 sent to a private school in Hampstead. 
 From all accounts there was nothing of the 
 model boy in his behavior at that period, 
 
56 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 nor anything from which highly moral les- 
 sons for the young might be derived. He was 
 not particularly studious; he seems to have 
 been quite as mischievous as any of his school- 
 mates, and to have gone through the usual 
 boyhood experiences of playing and fighting, 
 and the minimum amount of studying. Never- 
 theless, those who knew him as a boy assert 
 that he was usually at the head of his class, 
 and without any special effort on his part. 
 He did not excel in arithmetic, but seemed 
 to have a pronounced aptitude for English 
 composition, history, and geography. Out 
 of school he was a daring lad, full of high 
 spirits, and much addicted to practical jok- 
 ing. He is described as having steel-grey, 
 searching eyes, hair of the peculiar shade 
 sometimes termed " mouse colored," a fair 
 complexion, and striking features, the au- 
 dacity which lurked within being concealed 
 by a thoughtful expression. 
 
 According to his schoolfellows, Alfred 
 Harms worth was a " bear " for asking ques- 
 tions of all sorts and conditions of people 
 on every conceivable subject. He was for- 
 ever investigating the whys and wherefores, 
 soaking up information as a sponge soaks 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 57 
 
 up water; later in life he astonished people 
 by his encyclopedic knowledge of the most 
 out-of-the-way subjects. 
 
 It was at this interesting period that the 
 Harmsworth family left Hampstead and 
 settled in St. John's Wood, another London 
 subrrb, also famous as a literary and artistic 
 center. Here the boys grew up and re- 
 ceived part of their education, three of them 
 having attended the Marylebone Grammar 
 School, an excellent institution, correspond- 
 ing in some respects to an American high 
 school. 
 
 While living in St. John's Wood the fu- 
 ture celebrity is said to have figured as the 
 hero of a romance. The story, as related 
 by an old resident of the district, is as fol- 
 lows: The Harmsworths lived in a detached 
 house with a large garden, on one side of 
 which there was an unoccupied house, while 
 on the other side there was a select seminary 
 for girls from twelve to sixteen. After 
 school hours the Harmsworth boys were 
 continually playing cricket, and the ball was 
 often sent flying over one of the garden 
 walls. In the case of the garden of the un- 
 tenanted house it was easy enough to recover 
 
58 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the ball, but when it went into the school 
 garden the situation was different. Naturally 
 enough, the Harmsworth boys were a thorn 
 in the side of the prim old maid who con- 
 ducted the seminary. If she took her young 
 charges out for a walk, going or coming 
 they were sure to meet the attractive Al- 
 fred or his younger brother, the burly 
 Harold, and discipline was much upset. If 
 two or three young ladies retired to a se- 
 cluded corner of the garden for a ladylike 
 game of croquet, before long the wretched 
 cricket ball would make its appearance, 
 causing them to flee in terror. 
 
 The irate school principal sent many 
 sharp notes on the subject to Mr. Harms- 
 worth, who remonstrated with his boys 
 without effect, and sometimes even took a 
 hand in the game himself. Mrs. Harms- 
 worth, like a good mother, was even more 
 lenient. She wanted the boys to have not 
 only the back garden to play in, but the 
 whole world. Napoleon, she argued, had 
 made the world his playgroimd; why should 
 not Alfred do the same? Even in those 
 early days she perceived her son's capabili- 
 ties and placed no limitations on the possi- 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 59 
 
 bilities of his career. She sent polite notes 
 to the school principal, but made no guar- 
 antees that the cricket should be stopped. 
 
 In these circumstances, the principal or- 
 dered the offending ball to be confiscated 
 the next time that it made its appearance. 
 It is said that when the ball was again sent 
 flying over the wall, a graceful little girl 
 of thirteen, with large, dark eyes, took pos- 
 session of it. Harold was sent over to nego- 
 tiate for its recovery and demanded the 
 ball in rather a peremptory English man- 
 ner. The little girl refused to give it up. 
 Alfred made the next attempt, and by em- 
 ploying a skillful combination of tact and 
 Irish blarney he not only succeeded in get- 
 ting the ball, but made an ally of the little 
 girl, who promised that thereafter she would 
 throw it back herself. Tradition says that 
 six years later the little girl with the dark 
 eyes became Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth. 
 
 Some good Irish fairy must surely have 
 substituted ink for water at the baptism of 
 Alfred Harmsworth. His ambition to be- 
 come a writer and publisher was clearly 
 shown at the grammar school at Stamford, 
 Lincolnshire, to which he was eventually 
 
60 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 sent. While there he started a printed 
 magazine that dealt with happenings of in- 
 terest to the boys and their teachers. It 
 was brightly written and remarkably well 
 edited. Even then, although he was only 
 fifteen years old, the youthful genius dis- 
 played the courage and optimism which have 
 been his guiding stars through life. The 
 first number of his magazine contained the 
 naive announcement: " I have it on the best 
 authority that this paper is to be a marked 
 success." Thus early in life the boy pub- 
 lisher discovered for himself the blessed 
 uses of advertisement and foreshadowed the 
 policy that eventually made the name of 
 Harmsworth a household word in England. 
 In the second number he published this : " I 
 am glad to say that my prediction as to the 
 success of my magazine has proved correct." 
 This attraction to journalism, however, 
 was not at all to the liking of Mr. Harms- 
 worth, who wanted Alfred to become a 
 lawyer. He decided to put a check on his 
 youthful ambitions, and to this end arranged 
 for a practical object lesson, calculated to 
 work a cure by showing the dark side of 
 newspaper life. A friend of the family was 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 61 
 
 induced to take the aspiring youth to the 
 offices of a London evening newspaper, one 
 afternoon, to see the first edition printed. 
 On the way this friend, who was himself in 
 the newspaper business, dilated on the hor- 
 rors, perils, temptations, evils, and poor 
 earnings of newspaper folk. 
 
 Gloomy and depressing, this description 
 of a journalist's life was a fitting introduc- 
 tion to the offices of the newspaper, which 
 were in an old, dilapidated building that 
 reeked with the combined odors of well- 
 oiled machinery and newly printed paper. 
 But the sight of the busy reporters and 
 copy readers, the copy boys, running hither 
 and thither, the mysterious offices of the edi- 
 tors, and the roar of the whirring presses, 
 fairly entranced young Harmsworth. " Why, 
 this is ripping!" he exclaimed enthusias- 
 tically, and added, " I should just like to 
 work here." The next moment he was in- 
 terviewing a printer's devil and discovering 
 how the ink-smudged boy earned his living, 
 afterwards picking up some information 
 from a pressman as to how many copies an 
 hour the big press could turn out. Before 
 he left the place he had become infected 
 
62 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 with that subtle atmosphere of a printing 
 plant which appeals to every born news- 
 paperman and, once felt, is never over- 
 come. From that moment Alfred Harms- 
 worth resolved to make his way in the world 
 as writer, editor, and newspaper owner. 
 
 It was in vain that his father took him 
 to the law comets to witness the trial of some 
 important cases, in the hope of curing his 
 newspaper obsession. The dignified judges 
 and counsel in their wigs and gowns ap- 
 pealed to the youth from a picturesque point 
 of view, and he could see the possibilities 
 of some good " magazine copy," but noth- 
 ing could induce him to begin the study of 
 " Blackstone's Commentaries " and " Chitty 
 on Pleadings." When his father presented 
 him with the two volumes nicely bound in 
 calf, Alfred's pubhsher-Uke comment was: 
 " They've got jolly fine covers." History, 
 however, does not record that he ever looked 
 into their pages. 
 
 So strong was his determination not to 
 follow the law that at last parental objec- 
 tions were overcome, and on leaving school 
 he was allowed to try his hand at writing. 
 In 1881 young Harmsworth, then sixteen 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 63 
 
 years old, was introduced to a shrewd old 
 Scotchman, James Henderson of Red Lion 
 House, Fleet Street, London, a man of no 
 great literary capacity but of much percep- 
 tion. Among a number of weekly papers 
 that he published was one called the Young 
 Folks' Budget As Alfred had edited a 
 printed school journal, there were no mys- 
 teries of type or proof for him, and he could 
 write interestingly. Much impressed by his 
 ability, Henderson engaged the youthful 
 aspirant to write short stories and articles 
 for the Budget. His contributions soon 
 made a hit, and what is more, they attracted 
 the attention of Sir William Ingram, owner 
 of the Illustrated London News, who pub- 
 lished a boys' paper called Youth, He in- 
 vited the young writer to send stories to 
 that periodical, and Alfred was thus kept 
 busy writing for Henderson and Ingram. 
 
 It was at this time that the future pub- 
 lisher first made the acquaintance of writing 
 folk, some of whom afterwards became fa- 
 mous in the literary world. Several writers 
 whom he met were visitors at Red Lion 
 House, where Henderson served a luncheon 
 at one o'clock every day, to which members 
 
64 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of the staff and outside contributors were 
 invited. 
 
 On one of these occasions Henderson 
 introduced the youthful Harmsworth to 
 another guest, a rather eccentric-looking 
 young man, with a pale, oval face and won- 
 derful eyes. Although the visitor wore a 
 velvet coat, usually regarded as a sign of 
 affectation, his manner was friendly and 
 unassuming. After the introduction, while 
 Alfred was trying to make up his mind as 
 to what sort of man the wearer of the vel- 
 vet coat might be, Henderson remarked ad- 
 miringly, in an undertone, " Yon body can 
 write." The "body" was Robert Louis 
 Stevenson. It was Henderson, by the way, 
 who suggested for Stevenson's great story 
 the title " Treasure Island," used by the 
 author in place of " The Sea Cook," which 
 he had originally selected. 
 
 A year after Alfred entered the writing 
 business, Sir William Ingram, impressed by 
 his energy, industry, and versatility, en- 
 gaged him as assistant editor of Youth at 
 a salary of twenty-five dollars a week. It 
 was in this way that he gained his first 
 practical lessons in journalism. 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 65 
 
 While holding this position the youthful 
 sub-editor was suddenly called upon to help 
 his- mother, who was left in rather strait- 
 ened circumstances by the death of his 
 father. There was a large family to pro- 
 vide for, and the younger children had to 
 be reared and educated. The older boys 
 were therefore obliged to give their assist- 
 ance; two of them obtained employment in 
 government offices. Young as he was, Al- 
 fred took the lead in directing the family 
 affairs. 
 
 At the age of eighteen, young Harms- 
 worth, eager to see more of the world, left 
 home and shared a room with another youth 
 who lived in Battersea, one of the working- 
 class quarters of London. His experiences 
 at this formative period were of great value 
 in after years. A close observer, he began 
 to find out what sort of reading matter was 
 needed by the people among whom he lived. 
 He soon discovered that their demands were 
 not being met by the publishers of that 
 time. 
 
 Those were the early days of the wood- 
 pulp industry, which enabled paper to be 
 produced at a remarkably low cost. Photo- 
 
66 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 engraving had also been introduced, and 
 this cheaper process was supplanting hand 
 work to a great extent. The observant 
 Harmsworth, who was well informed on 
 these subjects, was quick to perceive that 
 cheap paper and cheap illustrations would 
 mean a new era of cheap periodicals in 
 which large fortunes would be made, and 
 he foresaw that he might make a fortune 
 himself. 
 
 The youthful editor's appetite for any- 
 thing novel in the shape of literature was 
 then insatiable. At the Illustrated London 
 News office he could see papers from all 
 parts of the world; nothing worth noticing 
 escaped his attention. He devoted his 
 evenings to studying the pubhcations of 
 various English towns and cities, to reading 
 the magazines of continental Europe, and 
 especially to watching the development of 
 publications in America, ever the leader in 
 the publishing industry. The more he 
 worked and studied the more he became con- 
 vinced that England, as far as journalism 
 was concerned, was much behind the times. 
 In other words, the English people were 
 getting not only what they did not want. 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 67 
 
 but what they had to take because there 
 was nothing else. 
 
 English journalism in 1883 was of the 
 same dull, lifeless, old-fashioned type that 
 had existed in England in the 'fifties, but the 
 English people had moved far ahead. Not 
 only had the educated classes increased enor- 
 mously, but a sort of public school system 
 had been established throughout the United 
 Kingdom. For years the public schools, at- 
 tended by the children of the lower middle 
 class and the working people, had been 
 turning out bright boys and girls with eager, 
 receptive minds. They were developing an 
 appetite for something new in the shape of 
 reading matter. 
 
 In spite of this, most of the English news- 
 papers were edited for what might be termed 
 the " high-brow " classes and were not in- 
 teresting to the masses. The periodicals 
 were in much the same position. With few 
 exceptions the monthly magazines were old- 
 fashioned in appearance and contents, most 
 of them appealing to only the high literary 
 classes. The cheap weeklies, such as story 
 papers and humorous sheets, were far be- 
 hind the times, and for that reason had com- 
 
68 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 paratively small circulations. In the matter 
 of popular reading matter the requirements 
 of the great mass of the English people, as 
 Alfred Harmsworth perceived, were ig- 
 nored. 
 
 With a desire to get a still wider expe- 
 rience, as well as a chance to earn more 
 money, the restless genius left the Ingram 
 firm at this stage of his career and found 
 work elsewhere. After filling some minor 
 editorial positions, he obtained employment 
 as private secretary to a wealthy business 
 man, with whom he traveled extensively on 
 the Continent, and thus gained some valu- 
 able knowledge of foreign conditions. Later 
 on he joined the editorial staff of Iliffe & 
 Sons in the old city of Coventry. 
 
 At that time Coventry was the center of 
 the English cycle trade, and Iliffe & Sons' 
 business was mainly connected with that in- 
 dustry. Besides printing nearly all the 
 catalogues and other advertising matter for 
 the bicycle manufacturers in Coventry, the 
 firm published the Cyclist and Bicycling 
 News, both weeklies, and the Cyclist Touring 
 Gazette, a monthly magazine and organ of 
 the Cyclist Touring Club, an international 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 69 
 
 organization. At that time the big-wheel 
 bicycles were in use; the modern " safeties " 
 had not been invented. 
 
 Thorough in everything that he under- 
 took, Alfred Harmsworth not only became 
 an expert bicycle rider, but also familiarized 
 himself with bicycle construction. Having 
 read everything on the subject that he could 
 find, he visited the factories and saw bicycles 
 made. This gave him a wide knowledge 
 of the cycle industry. Incidentally he 
 formed an extensive acquaintance among 
 professional bicyclists. With this training 
 he was not only able to discuss bicycling 
 matters from the standpoint of an expert, 
 but he scored many a " beat " for Bicycling 
 News, the paper which he edited, and in- 
 creased its circulation. 
 
 While thus employed he did a good deal 
 of free-lance work, contributing articles on 
 sport and other topics to newspapers and 
 magazines. He also became a writer for 
 Tid'Bits, This paper, it should be ex- 
 plained, was really the pioneer of modern 
 English popular journalism. The way in 
 which it came into existence forms an inter- 
 esting story. 
 
70 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 In the early 'eighties a Manchester man 
 named George Newnes made clippings from 
 newspapers and magazines — short stories, 
 jokes, and other things — ^which he pasted in 
 scrapbooks. A large part of his collection 
 was clipped from American Sunday news- 
 papers. He was the proprietor of an eating 
 house largely patronized by cab drivers. 
 The scrapbooks were put on the tables, to 
 entertain customers, and they proved to be 
 immensely popular. 
 
 IVewnes was not slow to notice that his 
 clippings had made a great hit, and this 
 gave him the idea of starting a weekly 
 paper composed of similar scraps. In 1884 
 he published the paper, which he called 
 Tid-Bits, To push its sale, he tried various 
 guessing competitions and awarded liberal 
 prizes. The paper also carried a standing 
 notice that a thousand pounds ($5000) 
 would be paid to the heirs of any reader 
 who happened to be killed in a railway acci- 
 dent, providing that the victim had a copy 
 of the current issue in his possession. 
 
 At first Tid-Bits was published in Man- 
 chester, but it proved so successful that 
 Newnes soon moved to London. The enter- 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 71 
 
 prising publisher had a knack of getting 
 clever young men to write for his paper, 
 for he eventually abandoned the idea of 
 having it made up entirely of clippings and, 
 instead, printed original matter such as 
 bright, snappy articles, and stories of a 
 column or more. He was quick to notice 
 the genius and versatility of young Harms- 
 worth, who became a regular contributor of 
 articles, always gladly accepted, which made 
 an instantaneous hit. 
 
 In course of time Newnes started other 
 weekly and monthly periodicals, including 
 the Strand Magazine, the circulation of 
 which reached over a quarter of a million 
 in 1888, owing to the publication of the 
 Conan Doyle detective stories, in which 
 Sherlock Holmes, the scientific unraveler of 
 mysterious crimes, figured so prominently. 
 Later on the business was organized as a 
 stock company, Newnes became a baronet, 
 and when he died in 1910, at the age of 
 fifty-nine, he was a millionaire, the pioneer 
 fortune maker in this new field of literature. 
 
 Young Harmsworth's work as a free-lance 
 proved so remunerative that eventually he 
 resigned the editorship of Bicycling News 
 
72 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and returned to London, to be nearer the 
 publishers. In those early days he lived at 
 Hampstead with Max Pemberton, the nov- 
 elist, who had recently left college and had 
 married a member of the Tussaud family, 
 proprietors of the well-known London wax- 
 works exhibition. Max was free-lancing 
 himself at that time, and the two young 
 men often walked to Fleet Street together 
 to sell their articles and stories. 
 
 In 1887, at the age of twenty-two, Alfred 
 Harmsworth entered into partnership with* 
 an Irish journaHst named Carr, and a busi- 
 ness was started under the firm title of Carr 
 & Co. The young men arranged to pub- 
 lish an Enghsh edition of Outing, the 
 American sporting magazine ; they also pub- 
 lished an educational paper of small circu- 
 lation, the Private Schoolmaster, and a 
 weekly cycling paper. They had taken two 
 small offices in an old-fashioned three-story 
 building in Paternoster Square, the center 
 of the London book-publishing district. 
 
 To add to his income, the industrious 
 Harmsworth continued his free-lance work, 
 including his contributions to Tid-Bits. He 
 was greatly interested in the progress of 
 
Alfred Harmsworth, 1891 
 
 The youthful publisher at Elmwood 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 73 
 
 that publication, which in many ways em- 
 bodied ideas that had been latent in his own 
 mind about papers for the masses. Newnes' 
 success, in fact, had stimulated his own am- 
 bition. What Newnes had accomplished he 
 believed that he could accomplish himself, 
 and he resolved to start a paper of his own, 
 an undertaking for which he was thoroughly 
 well equipped. 
 
 It was at this interesting stage that an 
 American newspaperman had the good for- 
 tune to become acquainted with the youth- 
 ful writer and publisher and to gather some 
 impressions which are now recorded for the 
 first time. They are of peculiar interest, 
 because they give an accurate pen picture 
 of Lord Northcliffe in the days when, as 
 Alfred Harmsworth, he was preparing to 
 launch his first weekly publication. Since 
 he became famous, the great journalist has 
 figured prominently in newspaper and maga- 
 zine articles, and some of the misstatements 
 concerning his early life, which have been 
 made by highly imaginative writers, must 
 certainly have astonished him, if brought to 
 his attention. Therefore, the following 
 story, compiled from notes that were made 
 
74 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 over twenty years ago, form a notable addi- 
 tion to this chapter. 
 
 * * * 
 
 To those who look backward, London in 
 the 'eighties of the last century seems to 
 have been rather a depressing, miprogres- 
 sive city. Electric lighting was not general, 
 modern hotels had only just been started, 
 and the various improvements that have 
 transformed the Enghsh metropolis were 
 then unknown. Although it is only thirty 
 years ago, it is difficult to imagine London 
 without modern buildings, elevators, auto- 
 mobiles, taxis, motor busses, rapid-transit 
 subways, electric traction, moving-picture 
 theatres, telephones, gramophones, and suf- 
 fragettes. Even the London fogs of the 
 " pea soup " variety seemed to be darker, 
 thicker, and more sulphurous than they are 
 to-day; 
 
 It was on one of those depressing, foggy 
 days in February, 1888, that I first met 
 Alfred Harmsworth. Although a mere 
 youth at the time, I had gone from New 
 York to London as the representative of 
 some trade journals, with the object of 
 sending them news and special articles. Like 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 75 
 
 Harmsworth, I had worked my way upward 
 as cub reporter and editorial assistant and 
 had set out to see the world. 
 
 Some weeks after my arrival in London, 
 the manager of a typewriter company, with 
 whom I had become acquainted, suggested 
 that I might increase my slender income by 
 writing articles on American topics for some 
 of the English weekhes. Forthwith he gave 
 me a letter of introduction addressed to 
 " Mr. Alfred Harmsworth," who, he as- 
 sured me, was the English equivalent of an 
 American " live wire." " What Harms- 
 worth doesn't know about the writing busi- 
 ness isn't worth knowing," remarked the 
 typewriter man. " He can tell you what 
 to do." 
 
 With the letter in my pocket, I groped 
 my way through the fog to the office of 
 Carr & Co. in Paternoster Square. Mount- 
 ing one flight of stairs in an old building, I 
 entered a diminutive office, where I handed 
 my letter to the sole occupant, a handsome, 
 tall, broad-shouldered, smooth-faced young 
 man with " mouse-colored " hair combed in 
 a long lock over the right side of his fore- 
 head. He wore a suit of light-grey Eng- 
 
76 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 lish tweed, made extremely loose after the 
 fashion of the time. Somehow he reminded 
 me of portraits of Napoleon in early youth 
 — striking, keen-eyed, and evidently full of 
 enthusiasm. When I inquired for Mr. 
 Harmsworth, he admitted that he was the 
 man for whom I was looking. 
 
 On reading the letter of introduction and 
 learning that I had recently come from 
 New York, he gave me a hearty shake of 
 the hand and told me to take a seat by the 
 fireside. There was an open-grate fire in 
 the ofiice, and the warmth was acceptable 
 after a walk through the cold, penetrating 
 fog. Harmsworth seemed to radiate cheer- 
 fulness. When I mentioned the weather, he 
 remarked humorously, " Why, this is only 
 a mild specimen. Wait till you see one of 
 our black fogs; that's where we hold the 
 world's championship." 
 
 Then we settled down to talk. Without 
 any ceremony, he asked me what had 
 brought me to London, what papers I was 
 representing, what the publishers paid me, 
 and how much they made themselves. " What 
 sort of pay do their editors get? " he asked. 
 When I told him that some of the editors 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 77 
 
 were paid five thousand dollars a year, 
 which was considered a good salary in New 
 York, he remarked: " Some of our head 
 clerks over here get more than that. A 
 thousand pounds ($5000) a year is not a 
 great salary." He added : " From what I 
 have heard, I am convinced there are better 
 chances to make money in England than in 
 America. We have the money here, more 
 of it than America has, and if a man has 
 brains enough he can get his share of it. I 
 have never had any inclination to emigrate. 
 In fact^ I believe with Tennyson that if you 
 would have money you must go where 
 money is. When we have plenty of it here, 
 what's the use of running away from it? " 
 After we had talked for a while, I could 
 see plainly that although Harmsworth had 
 an English accent and appearance, his tem- 
 perament was decidedly American. He had 
 none of the reserve of the average English- 
 man, but was ready to talk with any man 
 who had anything worth saying. He fired 
 a volley of questions at me regarding myself 
 and what my experience had been, asked 
 how much I earned and how much I wanted 
 to earn, and what I expected to do with 
 
78 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 myself. Sometimes, during our conversa- 
 tion, I dropped a remark that attracted his 
 attention to a marked degree, " That's a 
 good idea for an article," he would observe 
 as he made notes on a pad, or " That's 
 something we ought *to adopt over here." 
 
 We discussed the American newspapers 
 and magazines, their circulation and rates 
 of payment to writers. " How do you think 
 English magazines compare with Ameri- 
 can? " he asked, and without waiting for a 
 reply, he added, "Very badly, of course." 
 Then he proceeded, " Have you seen Tid- 
 Bits? " I said that I had. " Is there any 
 paper like that in the United States?" he 
 inquired. I told him there was not, because 
 the Sunday newspapers published articles, 
 stories, and jokes such as appeared in Tid- 
 Bits, " That's true," observed Harmsworth. 
 " Our papers have been deadly dull, but 
 the English people are demanding some- 
 thing better and they will have to get it 
 before long." 
 
 Our conversation took place in the larger 
 of the two offices, but even there space was 
 limited, and one had to dodge piles of Out- 
 ings and Private Schoolmasters in moving 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 79 
 
 about. I happened to stumble over a stack 
 of cycling papers. " I know it's a bad 
 paper," remarked Harms worth ironically, 
 " but you needn't kick it so viciously." In 
 one corner of the room there was a Reming- 
 ton typewriter. "You see," he observed, 
 " we can't get along without American in- 
 ventions. We also have a mimeograph for 
 duplicating, and if our people were suffi- 
 ciently advanced we might have a tele- 
 phone.'" In those days telephones were com- 
 paratively scarce in London, and were sel- 
 dom seen excepting in large business estab- 
 lishments. 
 
 We talked about papers and circulations, 
 free-lancing and schemes for money making, 
 for over an hour, and at last I rose to go, 
 fearing to outstay my welcome, but Harms- 
 worth stopped me. " You can't escape just 
 yet," he exclaimed. " I've got to pump 
 some more out of you." Then he invited 
 me to lunch, telling me that he had his mid- 
 day meal brought in from a restaurant a 
 few doors away. We lunched together in 
 a little private office, a third as big as the 
 outer office, our talk going on meanwhile. 
 Harmsworth was extremely frank. He told 
 
80 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 me that he was making about $2500 a year 
 from his interest in the business and his 
 free-lance work. In addition to Carr, a bar- 
 rister named Markwick had an interest in 
 the publishing enterprise. 
 
 For an Englishman who had never been 
 in the United States I found Harmsworth 
 to be remarkably well informed. He had 
 gathered a mass of ideas about the United 
 States from Americans whom he had met 
 and also from his extensive reading, and 
 while some of his notions were remarkably 
 accurate, others were just as erroneous, 
 which of course is not surprising. He 
 thought, for example, that New York at 
 that time was far behind London in many 
 ways, although he admitted that in the mat- 
 ter of telephones and other labor-saving de- 
 vices, as well as modern office buildings, 
 New York might be ahead. From a social 
 point of view, however, he imagined New 
 York in 1888 to be at about the same stage 
 of development as London had been in 
 1850 — a dull, depressing sort of place. 
 From what he said, he evidently considered 
 American men, as a rule, to be far behind 
 Englishmen in the matter of general educa- 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 81 
 
 tion, while American women, he thought, 
 were superior in this respect to the average 
 Englishwomen. 
 
 American newspapers and magazines, 
 Harmsworth admitted, were wonderful, and 
 were far ahead of anything that Europe 
 had ever produced. He asked me about 
 American boys' papers and their circula- 
 tions. I mentioned the Munro papers, 
 the Fireside Companion and Family Story 
 Paper; the Street & Smith publications; 
 Frank Tousey's Boys of New York; and 
 Frank Munsey's Golden Argosy. He had 
 seen some of these, and was anxious for in- 
 formation about their circulation and profits. 
 Even after lunch I was not allowed to 
 escape, for as he was going out, he asked me 
 to take a walk with him, and we strolled 
 along for about half an hour discussing the 
 subjects uppermost in his mind — ^news- 
 papers and magazines. 
 
 Some days later I happened to call at the 
 office again, and was introduced by Harms- 
 worth to his partner, Carr, a genial Irish- 
 man, who had just a trace of a cultivated 
 Irish accent. I also met Markwick, the 
 barrister, who was what might be termed an 
 
82 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 outside partner. On this occasion, Harms- 
 worth, who had already told me about his 
 work for Tid-Bits, mentioned that he had 
 written a small book on English railways 
 for Newnes, which was sold for a shilling. 
 " I am now writing another book," he 
 added, " and I should like to have you come 
 in every day and give me a hand with it. 
 The book will be called, ' A Thousand Ways 
 to Earn a Living,' and as you have been 
 in a good many lines in the United States, 
 and have kept your eyes open, you can un- 
 doubtedly tell me a few things that I don't 
 know. What do you say?" I replied that 
 I would accept his offer. 
 
 The next day we met at the office and 
 went to work on the book. I operated the 
 typewriter and made suggestions, while 
 Harmsworth planned and dictated. I found 
 him to be a wonderfully fluent and ready 
 writer, quick in perception and remarkably 
 witty, always seeing the humorous side of 
 things and the bright side as well. In fact, 
 he was a pronounced optimist. As we 
 worked together, however, I could see that 
 in many ways his mind had a decidedly 
 practical bent, and that beneath his out- 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 83 
 
 ward gaiety there was a solid substratum 
 of keen business shrewdness and editorial 
 ability. 
 
 The little book which we produced was 
 eventually published in Newnes' Popular 
 Shilling Series. It was full of information 
 about various trades and professions, alpha- 
 betically arranged from " Accounting " to 
 " Yacht Building." It told the reader how 
 to enter these callings, the salaries received, 
 and the general prospects. Here is what 
 young Harmsworth had to say about jour- 
 nalism : 
 
 " It is impossible to hide successful newspaper 
 work under a bushel. Rival newspaper proprietors 
 are ever on the lookout for smart men, and are loath 
 to lose a valuable assistant, for it is a well-known 
 fact in the newspaper world that the majority of 
 new ventures are promoted by newspapermen who 
 have been underpaid or harshly dealt with by their 
 employers. A good man has therefore excellent 
 prospects of advancement." 
 
 In the course of our talks at this time, 
 Harmsworth confided to me that he in- 
 tended to start a weekly paper to be called 
 Answers to Correspondents, He explained 
 
84 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 that it would be full of interesting questions 
 and equally interesting replies. " If the 
 paper pays," he explained, " and I know it 
 will, I shall rent several rooms in some 
 building, and will have experts there to 
 answer questions. On payment of a shilling, 
 anybody will be entitled to ask a question 
 and get a reply. I believe that such a place 
 would be packed all day with people in need 
 of information. What do you think of 
 these ideas?" he asked. 
 
 I replied that I was imable to pass judg- 
 ment on the idea of a question bureau, but 
 as to the paper I did not think it would 
 succeed. I pointed out that there already 
 existed in London a weekly paper, which 
 was made up entirely of questions and 
 answers, but it had only a small circulation. 
 " Yes," he answered, " that is true, but it's 
 a dull publication, consisting of fossilized 
 information for the benefit of old fossils. 
 My paper will be a live weekly like one of 
 the American papers. I have noticed that 
 the questions sent to Tid-Bits are always 
 interesting, and people like to read the 
 answers. I won't publish dull questions or 
 answers, and if our supply of questions runs 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 85 
 
 short I'll manufacture them myself." I re- 
 marked that in England, as well as in 
 America, many newspapers had questions 
 and answers columns which were hardly 
 noticed by readers excepting those who had 
 put the questions. He insisted, however, 
 that the reason was that the questions and 
 answers were not interesting. Our argu- 
 ment left me with plenty of faith in Harms- 
 worth's ability but not much faith in his 
 idea. 
 
 His optimism and belief in himself at this 
 time were unbounded. For example, one 
 evening as we were passing the Houses of 
 Parliament, I calkd his attention to the 
 Clock Tower, where an illuminated device 
 above the dial indicated that the House of 
 Commons was in session. " I expect to be 
 in there some day," he replied thoughtfully. 
 " I haven't quite made up my mind whether 
 it will be the Commons or the Lords. I 
 rather think I shall go into the House of 
 Lords, because there would be more scope 
 there." 
 
 Another prophetic remark that I recall 
 was made by him one day as we were pass- 
 ing the Times building. The older part, a 
 
86 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 quaint, red-brick structure built in the form 
 of a square, dates from the middle of the 
 last century. " Isn't it a funny-looking 
 old building for a newspaper?" observed 
 Harmsworth. " That is one of our great 
 British institutions, and the building is typ- 
 ical of John Bull's conservatism. I shall 
 probably own a daily newspaper some day, 
 and may even get The TimeSj but if I do 
 I shall never transform it into a yellow 
 journal. That would be sacrilege, and the 
 British public wouldn't stand it." 
 
 On a public holiday — Easter Monday, I 
 think it was — we went out to Hampstead 
 Heath to see the historic houses, including 
 Rose Cottage, the former home of the 
 Harmsworths. We saw the holiday crowds 
 from the East End amusing themselves on 
 the Heath, and afterwards had lunch at an 
 old inn, Jack Straw's Castle, a popular bo- 
 hemian resort in those days. Some writers 
 and artists were lunching there, and among 
 them was Seymour Lucas, a well-known 
 portrait painter. " I mean to have Lucas 
 paint my portrait some day," said Harms- 
 worth, which I thought rather an astonish- 
 ing remark to be made by a young man 
 
GENIUS IN TRAINING 87 
 
 >— — — — I ——————— ^ 
 
 earning about fifty dollars a week. Some 
 years later, however, Lucas did paint his 
 portrait, and it was exhibited at the Royal 
 Academy. 
 
 Near proximity to the great, or even to 
 the future great, is said to be infectious in 
 some cases. That Alfred Harmsworth's am- 
 bition did much to inspire others one inci- 
 dent will serve to show. The only employees 
 that the struggling firm of Carr & Co. 
 could afford were an advertising canvasser 
 and an office boy. One day, when I called 
 at the office, I found the latter, a youth 
 named Norton, executing some fancy steps. 
 He told me that he had a great desire to go 
 on the variety stage and make a name for 
 himself. A few years later Norton and his 
 brother made their debut as professional 
 dancers, appearing as the " McNaughton 
 Brothers." They met with great success at 
 the English music halls and have occasion- 
 ally toured in this country. 
 
 Harmsworth was preparing to start his 
 new paper when I left England in the 
 spring of 1888. Eventually I returned to 
 New York, and did not revisit London for 
 three years. What happened in the mean- 
 
88 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 time forms another story, and one so un- 
 paralleled that it reads almost like a ro- 
 mance. 
 
 * * * 
 
 With this chapter the account of Alfred 
 Harmsworth's early training comes to an 
 end. Although he was only twenty-three 
 years old, he had laid the foundations of 
 future success by careful study, persistent 
 hard work, and ceaseless observation, which, 
 added to genius and ambition, supplied 
 qualities that invariably win. He was thus 
 well prepared to start upon the great ven- 
 ture that was destined to bring him fortune 
 and fame. 
 
Ill 
 
 SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 
 
 Making a start in any business is usually 
 a hazardous proceeding when capital is 
 limited and much competition has to be 
 faced. This is especially true of starting a 
 new paper. There is, in fact, probably no 
 line of endeavor in which money can be lost 
 so quickly in case of failure, and without any 
 return for hard work and the capital in- 
 vested. 
 
 Alfred Harmsworth knew this to be true 
 when he started his first paper, for brief 
 as his career had been, he had seen many a 
 wreck in the London publishing world. He 
 knew, moreover, that not only would he be 
 obliged to compete with Newnes, the suc- 
 cessful publisher of Tid-Bits, but that sev- 
 eral imitators of Newnes, reinforced by a 
 large amount of capital, were already pub- 
 lishing weeklies. To any one less deter- 
 mined than the ambitious young man who 
 
90 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 originated brilliant ideas in a small office 
 in Paternoster Square the outlook would 
 have seemed hopeless, but his determination 
 to succeed was overwhelming. 
 
 Heedless of all warnings from well-mean- 
 ing friends who feared disaster, Alfred 
 Harmsworth completed his plans, made up 
 his paper, and sent it to press. It was 
 issued on June 2, 1888, a weekly periodical 
 of twenty-four pages, printed on cheap 
 paper, without illustrations and without a 
 cover. On the first page was its title: 
 Answers to Correspondents. It was sold 
 for one penny (two cents). 
 
 In addition to a variety of interesting 
 paragraphs, written in the editorial office, 
 the new paper contained a selection of 
 short articles, supplied by the editor and 
 some of his free-lance friends. The rest 
 of the pages were filled with bits of humor, 
 some really good short stories, and three 
 columns of brightly written editorial chat, 
 in which the youthful pubhsher discussed 
 his new enterprise and asked for public sup- 
 port. 
 
 Here are the titles of some of the articles 
 that appeared in the first number: " A Liv- 
 
iHTEt^ESTmO. 
 
 EXTt^AORDirlAHY. 
 
 Rmusmo. 
 
 ^!l 
 
 ON EVERY SUBJECT UNDER THE SUN. 
 
 No 
 
 JUNE 2nd, 1888. 
 
 [European Postai^e. Jd.] 
 
 Price Id. 
 
 "ANSWERS" IS PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAV MORNINB 
 
 28, Paternoster Square, 
 
 A LIVING CLOCK. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 HOW DO YOU DO 7 
 
 Dr Willis mentions an idiot, who was accus- 
 tomed to repeat the strokes of a clock near which j Ass drawing water, 
 he lived, uitb a loud voice. Afterwards having ,,,,»,— «, «-^„ 
 
 been removed into a parish where there was no A LIVING CLOCK. 
 church clock, he continued as before to call the Qm^ stockings. 
 hours successively , and this with so great accu- 
 
 racy, both as to the number of tolls, which he HAIR POWDER- 
 pretended (o count, and as to tbe lencth of the , ^ •. . _ _ 
 inlervjuing hours, that the family where he Origin of grog. 
 boarded conducted all their businets by bis prO' 
 claniation cf time. 
 
 ASS DRAWING WATER. 
 
 SuMF veara a^oaD ass was employed at Caris- 
 brooke Cattle, in tbe Isle of Wight, in drawiog 
 water by a large wheel from a very deep well, 
 supposed (o have been sudW by the Romacs. 
 Wlitn his keeper wanted water, he would say 
 to the ass, " Tom, my boy, I want water; get 
 into Ihe wheel, my good, lad," which Thomas 
 'iniffiediately performed with an alacrity and 
 sagacity that would have done credit to a nobler 
 animal ; and no doubt he knew the precise num- 
 ber of tioies necessary for the wheel to revolve 
 upon its axis to complete bis labour, because 
 ever)- time he brought the bucket to the surface 
 of the well, he constantly slopped and turned 
 round his head lo observe the moment when bis 
 master laid hold of the bucket to draw it towards 
 him. because he bad then a nice evolution to 
 make, either to recede or advance a little. 
 
 8ILK STOCKINGS. 
 
 MEZblvvY, the French historian, acquaints us 
 that in 1559 Henry II. of France was the first 
 who wore silk stockings in that country, at the 
 marn.ice of his sister with the Duke of Savoy 
 _ They are nevertheless said to have been worn 
 in this country earlier, both by Henry VIII. and 
 EduardVl. The latter was presented with a 
 pair of long Spanish silk stockings by Sir Thomas 
 Gresham 
 
 Huwell relates in his " History of the World " 
 thai Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her 
 'ficn, 1561. was presented with a pair of black 
 jtnil silk itockioKS by her silk.woman. Mrs. 
 .viunlaeue. and thenceforth she never wore cloth 
 ones any more. 
 
 ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 Then and now. 
 
 DEATH FROM IMAGINATION. 
 
 Forests under the sea. 
 
 RICHARD WHITTINCTON. 
 
 Elwes the miser 
 
 VAILS TO SERVANTS. 
 
 The Earl of Leicester. 
 
 ANCIENT LONDON. 
 
 A fortnight at Brighton 
 
 FOSSIL BACON 
 
 A terrible time with a cobra. 
 
 ARTIFICIAL MEMORY. 
 
 Stones from the heavens. 
 
 CHARLES FOX AS A GAMESTER. 
 
 About horse racing. 
 
 QUEEN CAROLINE. 
 
 Living on nothing a year. 
 
 RIGHT AND LEFT BOOTS. 
 
 George III. at home. 
 
 WHERE HE HID IT. 
 
 An experimental dinner. 
 
 JOKES. 
 
 Interesting answers are inserted in the 
 paper; others fio 'ny post. 
 
 ORIGIN OF GROG 
 
 Tke British sailors had always been accos- 
 tomed to drink their allowaDce of brandy or rum 
 clear, till Admiral Vernon ordered those under 
 his command to mix it with water. The innova- 
 tion gave great offence to tbe sailors, and, for a 
 time, rendered the commander very unpopular 
 among them. The Admiral, at that time, wore a 
 grogran coat, for which reason they nicknamed 
 him " Old Grog," etc., bence, by degrees, the 
 mixed liquor he constrained them to, universally 
 obtained among them the name of ' Grog,' 
 
 HAIR POWDER. 
 
 Hair powder was introduced by some ballad 
 singers at the fair of St. Germains, in 1614. Ic 
 the beginning of the reign of George I. only two 
 ladies wore powder in their hair, and they were 
 pointed at for their singularity And at the coro- 
 nation of George II. there were only two hair- 
 dressers in London. But in 1795,1! was calcu- 
 lated that there were in the kingdom of Great 
 Britain fifty thousand hairdressers ; and aup- 
 posiug each of them to use one'pound of flour 10 a 
 day, this upon an average amounted to 18,250,000 
 pounds io a year, suf^ciect to make 5,314,280 
 quartern loaves. 
 
 ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Hagamore, of Calshoge, Leices- 
 tershire, was a very singular character. He died 
 the ist of January, 1776. possessed of the follow- 
 ing effects, viz. — if7oo per annum, and £j,cxx) in 
 money, which (he dying intestate) fell to a ticket- 
 porter in London. He kept one servant of each 
 sex, whom he locked up every night. His last 
 employment of an evening was to go round his 
 premises.^ let loose his dogs, and nre his gun. 
 He tost his life as follows: Going one morning to 
 let out his servants, the dogs fawned upon him 
 suddenly, and threw him into a pond, where he 
 was found breast high. His servants heard bis 
 call for assistance, but being locked up could not 
 lend him any. He had 30 gowns and cassocks, 
 icHj pair of breeches, 100 pair of boots, 400 pair 
 of shoes, 80 wigs (yet always wore bis own hair), 
 58 dogs, 80 waggons and carts, 80 ploughs (and 
 used none), 50 saddles, and furniture for the 
 mlnagi, 30 wheelbarrows, so many walking-sticks 
 that a toyman in Leicester Fields offered £S for 
 them, 60 horses and mares, joo pickaxes, 200 
 spades and shovels, 74 ladders, and 249 razors. 
 
 Front page of the first Harmsworth paper 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 91 
 
 ing Clock," " Hair Powder," " An Eccentric 
 Character," " Silk Stockings," " Ancient 
 London," " Fossil Bacon," " Right and Left 
 Boots," "George the Third at Home," 
 " Death from Imagination," " Forests under 
 the Sea," " Artificial Memory," " Living on 
 Nothing a Year," " A Terrible Time with a 
 Tiger." 
 
 The new paper failed to make an imme- 
 diate hit, the sale of the first issue amount- 
 ing to only 13,000 copies. Contrary to the 
 expectations of its promoter, readers failed 
 to send interesting questions to be answered, 
 so that the original idea had to be abandoned. 
 Realizing that he had been mistaken in his 
 opinion concerning the British public's thirst 
 for information, Harmsworth soon dropped 
 the words " to Correspondents " from the 
 title of his paper, leaving the word "An- 
 swers." Then he decided to use matter 
 similar to that which appeared in Tid-BitSj 
 while introducing some new features. 
 
 To save expenses the hard-working editor 
 wrote most of the articles himself, and used 
 matter from American newspapers to fill 
 some of the pages. He also acted as his 
 own circulation manager and personally 
 
92 NQRTHCLIFFE 
 
 visited the principal news dealers to call tHeir 
 attention to his paper. Still it moved very 
 slowly, the monetary returns barely covering 
 the cost of printing. 
 
 Although he was an optimist from the 
 start, there were times when Alfred Harms- 
 worth must have had some gloomy moments. 
 In spite of all his efforts, the circulation of 
 the paper remained small, and advertising 
 was difficult to get. All things considered, 
 the chances of success were not encouraging. 
 A young man with less faith, less patience, 
 and less enthusiasm would have given up the 
 task. 
 
 During all those critical months, however, 
 his mother never wavered in her belief in 
 her son's genius. When nearly all his 
 friends had lost confidence, she encouraged 
 and inspired him, urging him to keep on and 
 win success. Her judgment was excellent, 
 and the young publisher relied upon her 
 counsel. Abraham Lincoln once said : " All 
 that I am, all that I ever hope to be, I owe 
 to my mother." When he had conquered 
 failure and achieved success, Alfred Harms- 
 worth could say the same. 
 
 But even while he was passing through 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 93 
 
 this crisis, he never once lost his undaunted 
 self-confidence and belief in the future. So 
 great was his conviction that he would even- 
 tually win out, that he married his fiancee, 
 Miss Mary Elizabeth Milner. She was a 
 typical English beauty of nineteen, highly 
 talented and broadly educated. Her father, 
 who lived at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, had 
 business interests in the West Indies. After 
 marriage, the youthful couple lived in a 
 small, old-fashioned house in Hampstead. 
 
 Young Mrs. Harmsworth, herself an opti- 
 mist, was delighted at the courage with 
 which her husband was making his fight 
 for success, and her encouragement was at 
 that time vitally important to him. She 
 took an active part in his work and shared 
 the struggles of the first year, going to the 
 office every day to assist in reading manu- 
 script, chpping newspapers, and typing the 
 correspondence. Having unusually good 
 powers of observation and possessing excel- 
 lent judgment in literary matters, she was 
 a great help, especially in giving hints con- 
 cerning stories and articles that would inter- 
 est women readers. 
 
 In spite of much hard work and constant 
 
94, NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 inspiration, however, Harmsworth was un- 
 able to effect much increase in his paper's 
 circulation. For this he was not to blame, 
 because the best paper in the world cannot 
 succeed without capital with which to adver- 
 tise it, and capital was needed to make 
 Answers sl success. As it was not forth- 
 coming, the ingenious editor did what he 
 could to advertise the paper himself. Among 
 other plans that he devised, a letter in fac- 
 simile handwriting was printed by thousands 
 for distribution. It had the appearance of 
 having been written by a young woman to 
 a friend, and described the wonderful stories 
 appearing in Answers. Men were hired to 
 drop these letters in the letter boxes of 
 private houses, mostly in London. The 
 scheme had some success, and gained many 
 readers. 
 
 Just at this critical stage, when capital 
 was so urgently required, an old family 
 friend, a retired army officer, came to the 
 rescue like the good genie in the " Arabian 
 Nights." Having faith in Harmsworth's 
 ability, he decided to back Answers to the 
 extent of twenty-five thousand dollars. 
 
 With this help the young publisher was 
 
Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth 
 
 (In 1897) 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 95 
 
 able to improve his paper by starting com- 
 petitions and offering prizes as Newnes had 
 done, while travehng readers were given the 
 benefit of $5000 insurance. Among the first 
 prizes were free trips to Paris. In spite of 
 this, and the fact that the paper was well 
 advertised, success was not achieved, and in 
 June, 1889, one year after its first appear- 
 ance, the weekly circulation was only 48,000. 
 
 But the skill, judgment, and tenacity 
 which have distinguished Lord Northcliffe 
 in recent times were just as pronounced in 
 the days when he was Alfred Harmsworth 
 and was struggling to make his first success. 
 He would not give up the fight; and for- 
 tune, which ever favors the brave, at last 
 bestowed her rewards. The story is soon 
 told. 
 
 In October, 1889, when the outlook 
 seemed discouraging, the resolute editor 
 evolved a brilliant idea which was destined 
 to make Answers a success. He lost no time 
 in putting it into operation. At the begin- 
 ning of November all England was aston- 
 ished by the appearance of huge posters in 
 lurid colors, displayed on walls and fences, 
 bearing the magic words: "£1 a Week for 
 
96 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Life!" Harmsworth had offered the un- 
 precedented prize of £1 a week for life to 
 any person who made the nearest guess to 
 the amount of money in the Bank of Eng- 
 land on a certain date. He staked every- 
 thing on the enterprise. 
 
 At that time the buying power of £1 
 ($5) in England almost equaled that of $10 
 in the United States. It was therefore a 
 tempting offer. Each competitor was 
 obliged to cut a coupon from Answers, and 
 have it attested with the names and ad- 
 dresses of four friends. The coupons were 
 then forwarded to Answers' office for regis- 
 tration. News of the competiton spread 
 like wildfire, and its success was instanta- 
 neous. At last the number of competitors 
 reached the amazing total of 718,000, so 
 that the paper, through the names on the 
 coupons, was brought to the attention of 
 between three and four million people. 
 When seen, it was taken regularly by thou- 
 sands. So great was the interest aroused 
 that, day after day, the newspaper reports of 
 the Bank of England's balances were dis- 
 cussed on every side, while men in all ranks 
 of life were caught in the excitement. 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 97 
 
 The circulation of Answers now mounted 
 upward at a rapid pace, and before long it 
 had reached 200,000 a week. Advertising at 
 high rates was thus easily obtained, and 
 money literally poured into the publishing 
 office. From barely paying expenses the 
 paper, in a few months, was showing a profit 
 at the rate of over $50,000 a year. Six 
 years later the annual profits had leaped to 
 $300,000. Alfred Harmsworth now realized 
 that his dreams had come true, and that at 
 last he was on the road to fortune. As to 
 the competition, that was won by a soldier 
 in the British army, who guessed within £2 
 of the actual balance in the Bank of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Answers had been started in the diminu- 
 tive office of Carr & Co. in Paternoster 
 Square, rented for $3 a week. As the paper 
 became a big success through the competi- 
 tion, it was necessary to rent offices in the 
 next building to accommodate the clerks 
 employed in checking coupons and otherwise 
 coping with the large circulation. As soon 
 as prosperity was assured, the enterprising 
 pubhsher was joined by three of his brothers, 
 Harold, Cecil, and Leicester, the first acting 
 
98 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 as business manager and the others assisting 
 editorially. As head of the business depart- 
 ment Harold Harmsworth showed remark- 
 able ability, and helped to make the paper 
 a still greater success. In fact, the rapid 
 growth of the business was entirely due to 
 Alfred Harmsworth's genius as an editor 
 and an originator of ideas, coupled with his 
 brother's business skill. The importance of 
 the latter quahty may be understood from a 
 brief explanation, which is essential at this 
 point. 
 
 In the United States, as is generally 
 known, the subscription system is in common 
 use among magazines, and the bulk of their 
 circulation is obtained by this method. A 
 yearly subscription is sent to the publisher 
 and the magazine is mailed regularly. In 
 towns and cities, of course, there are news 
 dealers who sell the standard magazines, but 
 even with that assistance, most of the cir- 
 culation is obtained through readers who 
 subscribe direct. The minor periodicals are 
 entirely dependent on the subscription sys- 
 tem. 
 
 The subscription department of an impor- 
 tant magazine is a highly organized and 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 99 
 
 expensive part of the business. It requires 
 much bookkeeping and correspondence, while 
 the wrapping and maihng necessitates the 
 employment of a large staff of girls — hun- 
 dreds in some cases. Then comes the cost of 
 postage, which is a heavy item. 
 
 In Great Britain the system is entirely 
 different. Owing to the small area of the 
 United Kingdom, as explained in the first 
 chapter, the people are all gathered com- 
 pactly within a radius of a few hundred 
 miles. Even in a village of any size there 
 is usually a news dealer, while Smith & Sons 
 have a news stand at every important rail- 
 way station. The English people have thus 
 become accustomed to buying their papers 
 from a news dealer or ordering them through 
 a news dealer instead of subscribing by the 
 year. This does away almost completely 
 with the subscription business, so that a 
 magazine with a big circulation needs only 
 a comparatively small staff. From this it 
 can be understood why Answers could be 
 published from a small office. 
 
 A point of equal interest is that in Eng- 
 land a periodical or newspaper can be made 
 to pay on its circulation alone, regardless 
 
100 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of advertising, while in this country adver- 
 tising is essential. This is because of the 
 lower cost of production and a cheap method 
 of distribution. It may be added that while, 
 in this country, the American News Com- 
 pany has almost a monopoly as a distribut- 
 ing agent, in England there are a large num- 
 ber of wholesale dealers, all of whom are 
 naturally interested in pushing the circula- 
 tion of periodicals in order to increase their 
 own profits as middlemen. This, of course, 
 helps the pubUshers. 
 
 It did not take Alfred Harmsworth long 
 to grasp the fact that the future success of 
 his business depended on buying cheap paper 
 and keeping down the cost of production to 
 the lowest point. In other words, he was to 
 be in the position of a manufacturer of peri- 
 odicals. He bought a certain quantity of 
 white paper at 2^ cents a pound, and by 
 editing and printing turned it into 200,000 
 copies of Answers which retailed for two 
 cents each. Eight copies of Answers 
 weighed a pound, and while the white paper 
 had cost only 2J4 cents these copies could be 
 sold for sixteen cents. Even after the cost 
 of production and the discount to wholesale 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 101 
 
 )■ ■ 
 
 dealers was deducted, a big profit was left. 
 This principle eventually enabled the 
 Harmsworth business to become the largest 
 publishing business in the world. The whole 
 fabric rested on the system of buying white 
 paper cheaply and transforming it into 
 copies of a periodical, the retail price of 
 which yielded a large profit. Advertising 
 was simply an additional bonus, and was not 
 primarily essential. 
 
 It was here that Harold Harmsworth's 
 ability was displayed. He bought paper at 
 the lowest market price, and superintended 
 the cost of production so carefully that no 
 waste occurred. As the business grew, his 
 skill as the financial head became increas- 
 ingly important. 
 
 The success of Answers had become so 
 great by the beginning of 1890 that larger 
 quarters were needed for the editorial staff. 
 Accordingly two floors were leased in a Fleet 
 Street building. Soon after this move oc- 
 curred, Harmsworth issued two comic papers 
 for the masses, Chips and Comic Cuts, which 
 had some resemblance to the comic supple- 
 ments of American Sunday newspapers, ex- 
 cepting that they were printed solely in black 
 
102 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and white, and in addition to comic matter 
 they contained exciting serial stories and 
 some editorial chat. These papers sold for a 
 halfpenny (one cent) each, and both were 
 pushed by means of competitions. 
 
 There was this essential difference, how- 
 ever, about the Harmsworth comics, that 
 whereas the American comic supplement 
 leaves something to the intelligence of the 
 reader, the Harmsworth papers did not. For 
 instance, in a series of pictures conveying 
 an obvious joke which, in America, would 
 have required nothing more than an exclama- 
 tion mark and an interrogation point, the 
 same pictures in the English joke sheets 
 would be accompanied by elaborate ana- 
 lytical explanations. For instance, some 
 comic pictures representing the adventures 
 of a man and a bull would probably have 
 required such an elementary diagnosis as the 
 following: 
 
 " The bull sees the man. What ho ! He chases 
 him. Eh, what? Will he catch him? Just wait. 
 Ah, the tourist prudently sprints for the nearest 
 tree and shins up it like a streak of greased light- 
 ning, while the baffled bull paws viciously below. 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 103 
 
 Ha, ha! The man has the laugh this time. But 
 how is he going to get out of the field? " etc., etc. 
 
 Harmsworth was determined to drive the 
 point of his illustrated jokes into the heads 
 of his English readers with a hammer, if 
 necessary. The plan was thoroughly suc- 
 cessful, for the comics eventually gained 
 huge circulations, the weekly issue of Comic 
 Cuts exceeding half a million. Each paper 
 helped to advertise the others. Answers call- 
 ing attention to the comics, while the latter 
 urged readers to buy Answers. This plan 
 was adopted from the start and was con- 
 tinued as the papers increased in number. 
 At the end of 1890, Answers, which had been 
 much improved, appeared in an orange- 
 colored cover, and in this form it is still 
 published. From the tint of its cover the 
 paper was popularly termed " the golden 
 one." It certainly proved to be golden for 
 the Harmsworths. 
 
 Among various competitions which were 
 employed at this time, the "Answers Puz- 
 zle " was introduced, and this alone netted 
 a fortune. It consisted of a box about the 
 size of a match box, containing small balls 
 
104 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of different colors. The object of the puz- 
 zle was achieved by shaking these in such a 
 way that they would divide into appropriate 
 colors and spell the word " Answers." This 
 puzzle made as big a hit in England as the 
 " 15 Puzzle " or the " Pigs in Clover Puz- 
 zle " did in this country. Nearly a milUon 
 were sold in a few weeks. There was a com- 
 petition to see who could get the balls into 
 position in the shortest space of time, and 
 at least two hundred persons came from all 
 parts of the United Kingdom to try for the 
 handsome prizes offered. 
 
 In the early days of Answers its enter- 
 prising founder had paid almost the equiva- 
 lent of a year's profits for a serial story by 
 a famous author, and Fleet Street critics 
 then declared that he was headed straight 
 for ruin. Now that Answers was prosperous 
 he caused further astonishment by paying 
 the highest prices for articles and other con- 
 tributions. This not only enabled the paper 
 to obtain the best material, but the circula- 
 tion of the report did much to increase its 
 popularity. 
 
 The success of the young publisher, his 
 ability as an editor, and his ingenuity in 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 105 
 
 bringing his papers to the attention of the 
 public soon caused the name of Harmsworth 
 to become well known. People of impor- 
 tance began to take an interest in this bril- 
 liant young man who was already amassing 
 a large fortune, a fact which was not over- 
 looked by the editors of London society 
 journals. 
 
 When his papers were well established, 
 Alfred Harmsworth decided to become the 
 owner of a home in the country where he 
 could work and rest far removed from ex- 
 citement. With this object, in 1891 he 
 purchased an estate named Elmwood on the 
 coast of Kent, about seventy miles from 
 London, and not far from Broadstairs, a 
 popular seaside resort. The house, a typical 
 Enghsh mansion, over a century old, had 
 been called Elmwood from a grove of an- 
 cient elms that surrounded it. The grounds 
 were extensive and had been attractively 
 laid out. That the new owner of Elmwood 
 was to be included among the local celebri- 
 ties was attested by the county guide book, 
 which in its next edition added the following 
 passage in its ponderous, highly respectable 
 style: 
 
106 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 " A notable feature of the village of St. Peter's 
 is Elmwood, the seat of Alfred Harmsworth, Esq., 
 who has done so much to improve the tone of our 
 cheaper periodical literature." 
 
 In September, 1891, the American news- 
 paperman whose early impressions of Alfred 
 Harmsworth were recorded in the preceding 
 chapter, visited London after an interval of 
 three years. In the meantime he had himself 
 risen in the world, having become the editor 
 of a New York magazine. A month's vaca- 
 tion enabled him to cross the Atlantic again. 
 Naturally he had a strong desire to learn 
 how fortune had treated the optimistic pro- 
 jector of Answers to Correspondents and 
 its proposed adjunct, the inquiry bureau. 
 Once more the newspaperman will tell his 
 
 own story. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The day after I arrived in London I hap- 
 pened to walk along Fleet Street, where I 
 noticed a number of street hawkers selling 
 a paper with an orange-colored cover bear- 
 ing the significant title Answers, Although 
 I had heard nothing from Harmsworth, I 
 decided at once that this must be his paper^ 
 
o 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 >^ 
 
 o 
 
 s-i 
 
 '^ 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 107 
 
 and that judging by the way it was selling 
 it had made a hit. In fact, a news dealer 
 from whom I bought a copy told me that it 
 was not only one of the best sellers among 
 the penny papers but that its publisher had 
 already cleared a fortune. The Answers 
 offices were not far off, so I decided to call 
 there. 
 
 Alfred Harmsworth was in when I called, 
 and I was given a cordial greeting. The 
 three years that had passed since our last 
 meeting had not made any appreciable 
 change in his appearance. He was then 
 twenty-six years old, looked as youthful as 
 ever, and was as full of enthusiasm as in 
 the days when we had discussed money-mak- 
 ing schemes in the little office in Paternoster 
 Square. 
 
 Although Answers was going to press 
 when I called, Harmsworth was perfectly 
 cool and smiling; for while he was a born 
 hustler, yet he never seemed to hustle. 
 When I made a remark to that effect, he 
 replied: " The reason is that I direct every- 
 thing and leave the carrying out to others. 
 The secret of success, I have already dis- 
 covered, is to originate, direct, and scrutinize. 
 
108 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 but to do nothing which can be done just as 
 well by assistants." 
 
 From the start he had been a believer in 
 young men, and even then it was noticeable 
 that some of his sub-editors were scarcely 
 more than boys. " Yes/' he said, when I 
 mentioned this, " they are young; but young 
 people know best what young people want, 
 and a large number of the readers of our 
 comic papers are young folks." 
 
 Even on my first examination of Answers 
 and the other papers which he showed to me, 
 I could see that their success was largely 
 due to the fact that he put his personality 
 into them. He wrote a good deal of edi- 
 torial chat, and each paper, from beginning 
 to end, had a personal touch that made it 
 different from rival publications. 
 
 During my stay in England I accepted 
 an invitation to spend a week at Elmwood. 
 The old mansion had been furnished with 
 rare taste, and it was in an ideal spot for a 
 vacation. In a corner of the grounds, at 
 some distance from the house, a frame 
 bungalow, consisting of one large room, had 
 been erected, which served as an editorial 
 sanctum and working place. 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 109 
 
 From the day of my arrival I was pressed 
 into service, Harmsworth's secretary having 
 gone away for a two weeks' vacation. Con- 
 sequently there was a lot of manuscript to 
 read, proof to revise, and letters to answer. 
 " You'll have to work for your board," re- 
 marked my host, in his usual breezy style. 
 "As we haven't got a woodpile, you can 
 read some proof." 
 
 Most newspapermen, in spite of what they 
 may say to the contrary, really enjoy talking 
 shop, so I was glad to lend a hand as edi- 
 torial assistant. Once more we worked to- 
 gether and discussed publishing schemes. 
 Again I was subjected to a volley of ques- 
 tions regarding the progress of American 
 magazines and newspapers. Incidentally, I 
 was told the story of Answers^ success and 
 what had taken place subsequently. 
 
 Harmsworth's former partner, Carr, it ap- 
 peared, had retired from the business in Lon- 
 don, and had gone to live in Dublin, where 
 he became the Irish agent for the Harms- 
 worth publications. As the business in- 
 creased this position yielded a large revenue. 
 The army officer who had helped to back 
 Answers at the start had sold out, receiving 
 
110 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 several times over the amount he had origi- 
 nally invested. 
 
 The success of Answers and the comic pa- 
 pers, which were constantly increasing in 
 circulation and yielding larger profits, only 
 served to whet the ambition of their ener- 
 getic founder. Harmsworth, in fact, had 
 just begun to lay the foundations of what 
 was destined to become the biggest publish- 
 ing business in the world. His three broth- 
 ers who assisted him were already deriving 
 substantial returns from their interests. In- 
 cidentally, I learned that several bright 
 young men were being trained to take 
 charge of new periodicals which were 
 planned. So optimistic was Harmsworth in 
 regard to the future, that on my return to 
 New York I was appointed literary agent, 
 for the purpose of keeping him closely in 
 touch with American publishing develop- 
 ments. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The progress of the Harmsworth business 
 from 1891 onward was remarkable. It was 
 in 1891 that its tireless promoter hit upon 
 the idea of issuing two papers for young 
 women, on entirely new lines. He called 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 111 
 
 them Forget-Me-Not and Home-Sweet- 
 Home. These papers, attractively designed 
 and illustrated, were made up of interesting 
 stories, fashion hints, answers to correspond- 
 ents, advice to the lovelorn, etc., and were 
 sold for a penny each. Some young women 
 assisted in the editing and were trained in 
 Harms worth methods. So successful were 
 these papers that they soon had circulations 
 of over 200,000 weekly. They were followed 
 by Home Chat, a pretty little magazine for 
 women, costing a penny, which repeated the 
 success of the other papers and reached over 
 250,000 readers. In this country such a 
 pubhcation as Home Chat could not have 
 been sold for two cents, owing to the higher 
 cost of production. 
 
 In those days the "penny dreadfuls" — 
 the English equivalent of the American dime 
 novel — sold largely among boys and un- 
 doubtedly did much harm. Preachers de- 
 nounced them in vain. Wouldn't it be pos- 
 sible, Harmsworth thought, to destroy the 
 popularity of the " dreadful " by providing 
 something that would be as popular with 
 boys, and yet would be without its unhealth- 
 ful features? As the result of this idea, he 
 
112 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 started a weekly series of halfpenny stories 
 for boys, tales of adventure, etc., which were 
 issued under the title of the "Union Jack 
 Library." These met with instant success. 
 A hundred thousand English boys were soon 
 reading them regularly. 
 
 Other boys' papers, which sold for a 
 penny, were next brought out, and these also 
 became immensely popular. From the start 
 these journals aimed at the encouragement 
 of physical culture and patriotism, interest 
 in travel and exploration, and pride in the 
 British Empire. An outgrowth of this de- 
 partment was the establishment of the Union 
 Jack Club, which has a large membership in 
 Great Britain and the British colonies. 
 
 The success of the Harmsworths inevi- 
 tably brought a number of additional rivals 
 into the cheap-periodical field. Imitations 
 of Answers continually appeared, the ma- 
 jority of which were started by men with 
 little or no experience and did not last long. 
 Alfred Harmsworth, on the other hand, had 
 behind him several years of hard, practical 
 work in every branch of the periodical-pub- 
 lishing business. Hardly one of the imita- 
 tion papers survived more than a few 
 
SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 113 
 
 months, in spite of insurance schemes, prize 
 competitions, and other devices which were 
 used to gain circulation. 
 
 Among these new ventures, however, there 
 was one success, the promoter of which was 
 Cyril Arthur Pearson, a plodding, ambitious 
 young man, who had been a free-lance 
 writer and had afterwards held an important 
 position in the office of George Newnes, the 
 publisher of Tid-Bits. Pearson wanted to 
 start a paper of his own, and enlisted the 
 support of Sir Wilham Ingram, proprietor 
 of the Illustrated London News, in whose 
 office Harmsworth had gained his first maga- 
 zine experience. 
 
 In 1890, with the backing of Ingram, 
 Pearson started Pearson's Weekly. His 
 paper was on the same general lines as 
 Answers J and to push it he employed vari- 
 ous competitions and offered large prizes. 
 Backed by ample capital, and well adver- 
 tised, the paper soon gained a big circula- 
 tion. Pearson adopted Harmsworth meth- 
 ods from the start. When Answers was 
 clothed with an orange-tinted cover, Pearson 
 immediately arrayed his paper in a crimson 
 cover. When the Harmsworths started 
 
114 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 comic papers, boys' papers, and women's 
 papers, Pearson followed suit. 
 
 Eventually he built up a large business 
 and brought out some publications of a 
 higher class, including the Royal Magazine 
 and Pearson's Magazine, Although he 
 cleared a fortune from his interest in the 
 stock company which he organized, he was 
 never a serious rival of the Harmsworths. 
 
 In 1894 three firms practically controlled 
 the cheap-periodical field in England — the 
 Harmsworths, Newnes, and Pearson, and 
 the Harmsworths were already in the lead. 
 
IV 
 DEALING IN MILLIONS 
 
 The youthful prophetic instincts of Al- 
 fred Harmsworth did not prove false. " I 
 mean to have the largest publishing business 
 in the world some day," he had remarked to 
 a friend in the jfirst years of Answers^ suc- 
 cess, and now his ambition was in a fair way 
 to be realized. 
 
 The reward of all good work is not rest, 
 but more work and harder work. At least, 
 that was the case with Alfred Harmsworth. 
 He had kept his mind fixed on the splendid 
 things that he intended to do, and as the 
 days slipped by he found himself either con- 
 sciously or unconsciously seizing upon oppor- 
 tunities that led to the fulfillment of his de- 
 sires, just as the coral insect takes from the 
 running tide the elements needed for its 
 building. 
 
 Success, indeed, seemed to be in the youth- 
 ful publisher's blood. He was apparently 
 
 115 
 
116 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 one of those men who are determined to 
 march cheerfully forward, alert and alive to 
 whatever opportunities are encountered, and 
 thus able to turn them to profitable account. 
 
 In 1894 the Harmsworth business had in- 
 creased so rapidly that it was necessary to 
 find larger quarters. Accordingly, an old- 
 fashioned four-story building (24 Tudor 
 Street) was purchased. The new home of 
 the Harmsworth publications was just off 
 Fleet Street — London's " newspaper row " 
 — and therefore on historic ground. Within 
 a stone's throw, in Gough Square, Dr. John- 
 son compiled his famous dictionary and, sub- 
 sequently, was often interviewed by the talk- 
 ative Boswell. Interviewing by modern 
 Boswells, however, was never tolerated by 
 Alfred Harmsworth, who persistently 
 avoided time wasters whose ability to talk 
 exceeded their ability to work. 
 
 Under its new owner, the old building 
 was soon transformed into a modern-looking 
 structure. It was renovated from top to 
 bottom, painted a dazzling white, and sur- 
 mounted with a huge sign, "Answers," in 
 gilt letters. At the same time the Harms- 
 worths decided to do their own printing. 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 117 
 
 An adjacent building was leased, presses 
 were installed, and in order to cope with the 
 large circulation of the various papers it 
 became necessary to employ day and night 
 forces. The presses were constantly at 
 work. 
 
 Alfred Harmsworth's ofBce on the first 
 floor, a small, artistically furnished sanctum, 
 was at that time a favorite resort for writ- 
 ers and magazine artists who had contribu- 
 tions to offer. Among the former were 
 several producers of fiction who afterwards 
 became well known as novelists. Even then 
 the energetic publisher was a conspicuous 
 figure in London journalistic circles, and 
 among the rank and file in Fleet Street he 
 was familiarly referred to as " Alfred," or 
 sometimes admiringly as "Alfred the 
 Great." 
 
 With the growth of the business the staff 
 constantly increased, and at the same time 
 Harmsworth began to rear a brood of under- 
 studies to carry on his work. All his as- 
 sistants were young men and women — the 
 younger the better — capable of receiving im- 
 pressions and at the same time ambitious and 
 full of initiative. They were trained in what 
 
118 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 might be termed the " Harmsworth School 
 of Journalism," and they gradually imbibed 
 the style and spirit of their preceptor. They 
 also became specialists. For instance, a 
 young man would concentrate all his atten- 
 tion on supplying matter for a boys' paper, 
 another would edit a comic sheet, while still 
 another would devote all his thoughts and 
 energies to keeping Answers to the front. 
 
 Young women were trained to write en- 
 tertainingly for Home-Sweet-Home and 
 other papers that appealed to feminine read- 
 ers. Some of them became editors. They 
 were encouraged, by means of attractive re- 
 wards, to originate new ideas for making 
 the papers more popular and to invent 
 schemes for increasing circulation. 
 
 Thus, in course of time, Alfred Harms- 
 worth gathered about him a staff of highly 
 specialized young editors and writers who 
 gave such a distinct and personal tone to 
 his publications that whenever a new paper 
 was issued from 24 Tudor Street his increas- 
 ing thousands of readers knew at once that it 
 would have what they liked — the Harms- 
 worth touch. 
 
 From the start, the young publisher be- 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 119 
 
 lieved in paying liberal wages to the members 
 of his staff. Cheap men, he often declared, 
 could take care of only cheap jobs, and he 
 wanted no cheap men around him. Long 
 before Henry Ford introduced the high- 
 wage system in Detroit, Alfred Harmsworth 
 had it in full operation in his London offices. 
 He also adopted a system of profit sharing 
 which is still unexampled in the publishing 
 business in England or in any other country. 
 
 Whenever he selected a man to take 
 charge of one of his papers he agreed to 
 pay him, in addition to a good salary, a 
 liberal percentage on the circulation above 
 a certain figure. If the circulation increased 
 imder his management, he made money for 
 himself and the firm; if he failed, he was 
 soon replaced by a more capable man. 
 
 The result was that the young men who 
 conducted the Harmsworth papers took as 
 much interest in the business as if it had 
 been their own. In fact, the chief difficulty 
 was to prevent them from overworking them- 
 selves in their eagerness to become rich. 
 There were no " clock watchers " in the 
 Harmsworth offices, everybody was well sat- 
 isfied, and even the sub-editors had monetary 
 
120 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 inducements to exert their energies and 
 originate ideas. By this method of profit 
 sharing Harmsworth transformed an able 
 employee into a master, while the fact that 
 the man had an interest in the business made 
 it impossible for a rival publisher to get him 
 away by offering a larger salary. This plan 
 was continued and extended as the business 
 grew, and it had much to do with the ulti- 
 mate success of the firm. 
 
 The rapidity with which new papers were 
 originated and developed in the early days 
 is strikingly shown in the case of the Harms- 
 worth religious pubhcations. The story of 
 how this branch of the business was estab- 
 lished is interesting in many ways. It serves 
 to show that Alfred Harmsworth was a thor- 
 ough expert in the art of advertising. 
 
 The first Harmsworth religious weekly, a 
 paper of an entirely new type, called the 
 Sunday Companion, appeared in 1894. 
 Heralded by all the profuse and sensational 
 publicity methods that had been used suc- 
 cessfully in pushing the other papers, it at- 
 tracted widespread notice and made a 
 decided hit. The truth is that its ingenious 
 promoter had discovered — long before Billy 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 121 
 
 Sunday made the same discovery on this 
 side of the Atlantic — that religion stands in 
 as much need of advertising as any secular 
 commodity. That is why illustrated posters 
 of an unusually startling description were 
 used in boosting the new weekly. One in 
 particular, inscribed " In that Great and 
 Terrible Day," depicted the dome of St. 
 Paul's Cathedral surrounded by aircraft 
 which were dropping bombs, while fire and 
 devastation reigned below. 
 
 This picture might have served as an illus- 
 tration of what happened during the first 
 year of the war, when Zeppelins actually 
 dropped bombs within a few hundred yards 
 of the Cathedral square. It was, moreover^ 
 intentionally prophetic, as it used to adver- 
 tise the fact that the Sunday Companion 
 was making a feature of a blood-curdling 
 story based on the Book of Daniel and 
 Revelation, in which the horrors foreshadow- 
 ing the end of the world were vividly de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Harmsworth's wonderful insight into the 
 psychology of the masses was shown in start- 
 ing this publication at a time when English 
 religious papers were mostly uninteresting, 
 
122 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 their contents being made up of religious 
 news, heavy sermons, and dreary articles. 
 From his own investigation the sagacious 
 publisher was convinced that thousands of 
 Enghsh families were literally pining for 
 some bright Sunday reading matter, and his 
 new paper was designed to supply this want. 
 The Sunday Companion was unsectarian, 
 and it consisted of cleverly written illus- 
 trated articles, short stories, and thrilling 
 serials. The heroes of the serials were as a 
 rule exponents of muscular Christianity. 
 
 Like every master business man, Alfred 
 Harmsworth had a positive genius in select- 
 ing men, and this was plainly shown in his 
 choice of a religious editor. The man se- 
 lected for the position knew nothing what- 
 ever of rehgious journalism, but he had 
 shown great ability in conducting a popular 
 weekly paper for Newnes, the publisher of 
 Tid-Bits. He displayed equal talent as a 
 producer of religious papers, and soon made 
 a success of the Sunday Companion. 
 
 Prize competitions with a decidedly reli- 
 gious flavor were lavishly employed in adver- 
 tising and increasing the circulation of the 
 new weekly, large cash prizes being offered. 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 123 
 
 In addition, the enterprising editor started 
 an organization, somewhat on the hnes of the 
 Christian Endeavor Society, which was called 
 the Bible Band of Britain. Every member 
 wore a celluloid badge with the initials " B. 
 B. B.," and was pledged to fight pernicious 
 literature, spread Bible truths, and inciden- 
 tally make known the merits of the Sunday 
 Companion, In course of time this organi- 
 zation gained nearly 100,000 members. 
 With the assistance of the Bible Band and 
 various other methods of pubhcity, the Sun^ 
 day Companion's circulation increased rap- 
 idly. Three years after it was started it 
 had over 350,000 readers, and the profits 
 were fully $100,000 a year. Five other re- 
 ligious weeklies, consisting of home papers 
 and story magazines, were ultimately started 
 and pushed in the same way, and all of them 
 attained circulations of over 200,000 weekly. 
 Aside from supplying the masses with 
 wholesome reading matter for the home, the 
 Harmsworth religious weeklies accomphshed 
 a great deal of good in other directions. 
 Atheistic attacks on religion that were flour- 
 ishing in England at the time, were vigor- 
 ously answered, and these answers were read 
 
124 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and digested in the homes of the masses, 
 many of whom had previously been un- 
 reached by rehgious pubhcations. By means 
 of prize competitions Sunday schools were 
 helped, church-building funds were raised, 
 and large numbers of religious workers were 
 given free vacations in the summer time. 
 
 The terrible condition of poor boys and 
 girls in the slums of London, who were 
 obhged to go barefooted and insufficiently 
 clad in the bitter winter months, gave these 
 papers another opportunity for charitable 
 work. Appeals were made for clothing, 
 boots, and stockings, and these poured into 
 the Sunday Companion receiving station in 
 such large quantities that the staff was un- 
 able to cope with the details of checking and 
 distribution. Eventually this department 
 was transferred to the London City Mis- 
 sions, which has since carried on the work. 
 
 The skill of the versatile religious editor 
 in devising circulation schemes attracted 
 much attention in those days. On one occa- 
 sion he obtained several tanks of water from 
 the river Jordan, the fact that it came from 
 the sacred river being certified by a British 
 consul and some Turkish officials. A cut- 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 125 
 
 glass flask filled with this water was pre- 
 sented to any reader who bought a certain 
 number of copies of the religious weekly 
 which was being pushed, and who otherwise 
 helped the paper. " Christen your Babies 
 with Jordan Water " suggested the astute 
 editor as the coupons poured in. " Earth 
 from Bethlehem," " Gold, Frankincense, and 
 Myrrh," and a weird musical instrument 
 called the " Harp of David " were also used 
 as premiums. 
 
 Several children's magazines next made 
 their appearance — illustrated penny papers, 
 some of them containing colored pictures, 
 and all of them so well adapted to the needs 
 of English children that they were at once 
 successful. Later on the Harmsworths en- 
 tered the magazine field and issued the ZjOU- 
 don Magazine, an English adaptation of the 
 American ten-cent magazine, which was so 
 popular from the start that it soon had a 
 circulation of 50,000 a month. It was sold 
 for sixpence (twelve cents). 
 
 Another profitable branch of the business, 
 subsequently started, was the educational 
 department, which issued educational works 
 for home instruction in bi-monthly parts, at 
 
126 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 sixpence a copy. At the end of the year 
 cloth covers for binding were suppUed. 
 Among the works issued in this manner was 
 the " Harmsworth Self -Educator," which 
 gave instruction in a large variety of arts, 
 crafts, sciences, and languages. Then fol- 
 lowed " Popular Science," a " History of the 
 World," a " Natural History," the " Harms- 
 worth Encyclopedia," and the " Children's 
 Encyclopedia." The work last named, which 
 was lavishly illustrated, contained interesting 
 answers to hundreds of questions that a child 
 would be likely to ask, covering a wide range 
 of subjects. It had an unusually large sale 
 in Great Britain and was afterwards revised 
 and published in book form by a New York 
 firm. The " part " system, it may be added, 
 while successful in England, has never been 
 popular in this country, the subscription 
 book plan being preferred by the reading 
 public. 
 
 This brings us to another stage in the 
 career of Alfred Harmsworth. In 1895, al- 
 though scarcely seven years had passed since 
 he had started his first paper in the small 
 ofiice in Paternoster Square, his business 
 had reached such large proportions that it 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 127 
 
 already held the front rank in the English 
 publishing world and defied all competition. 
 At the age of thirty he had become a mil- 
 lionaire, his wealth having continued to pile 
 up so rapidly that it must have been a source 
 of astonishment e -en to himself. 
 
 The business, however, had not grown of 
 its own accord. It had to be built up from 
 the foundation and demanded foresight, en- 
 terprise, energy, diplomacy, patience, perse- 
 verance, and the most scrupulous fair deal- 
 ing. At each stage of its development the 
 editorial ability and originality of Alfred 
 Harmsworth were strikingly displayed, to- 
 gether with the skill of his brother Harold, 
 who proved to be an ideal executive. In 
 editorial matters Alfred hstened, weighed, 
 sifted, sorted, and then decided, and when- 
 ever his decision was made the case was 
 closed. 
 
 The rapid growth of the business had been 
 largely brought about through the adoption 
 of novel ideas, which members of the staff 
 and others were encouraged to present. 
 Whenever a scheme was submitted, with the 
 declaration that it would make millions for 
 the firm, the schemer was referred to Harold 
 
128 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Harmsworth, who, with pencil and pad, soon 
 found out whether it was a money maker. 
 If there were possibiUties of its yielding a 
 good profit, a liberal price was paid for it. 
 
 A constant succession of new ideas put 
 into practical operation by a highly organ- 
 ized and efficient staff enabled the business 
 to expand until the Harmsworth papers 
 were taken by practically every member of 
 the average British household, from mother, 
 father, son, and daughter, down to the 
 youngest reading child. Alfred Harms- 
 worth became, in fact the universal periodi- 
 cal provider. His publications catered to 
 every taste. There were magazines that 
 highly educated people could enjoy, and 
 there were halfpenny comic sheets that would 
 interest the most illiterate reader. 
 
 In 1897 the firm of Harmsworth was 
 recognized as one of the wealthiest and most 
 successful publishing houses in England. In 
 that year the business was organized as a 
 stock company with a capital of £1,300,000 
 (about $6,500,000). Alfred Harmsworth 
 and his brothers retained a controlling inter- 
 est in the new company, which was incorpo- 
 rated as Harmsworth Brothers, Ltd. Some 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 129 
 
 years later the company, with increased 
 capital, was re-incorporated as the Amalga- 
 mated Press, Ltd., and mider this title the 
 business is conducted at the present time. 
 
 When the company was originally incor- 
 porated, the preferred and ordinary (com- 
 mon) shares were offered at <£l ($5) each, 
 and thousands of people, largely readers of 
 the Harmsworth papers, became stockhold- 
 ers. Since then, the ordinary shares have 
 risen as high as $40 a share, and at the 
 present time are selling somewhere near $25. 
 Many of the original shareholders made for- 
 tunes through the advance. Forty per cent 
 annually has been regularly paid on the 
 ordinary shares, and five per cent on the 
 preferred. 
 
 The continuous growth of this great pub- 
 lishing enterprise has been evidenced by a 
 corresponding increase in the size of the 
 company's business quarters. In 1898 the 
 editorial offices were moved to a large new 
 building in Carmelite Street, near the 
 Thames Embankment, now known as Car- 
 mehte House. In 1912 this was replaced 
 by a still larger building, Fleetway House, 
 in Farringdon Street, which was erected at 
 
130 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 a cost of $675,000, and is said to be the finest 
 editorial building in Europe. Since then it 
 has been found necessary to lease offices in 
 other buildings to accommodate the various 
 offshoots of the business. 
 
 The plant of the Amalgamated Press has 
 developed into one of the largest printing 
 establishments in the world, the small quar- 
 ters in Tudor Street having been replaced, 
 many years ago, by extensive works in 
 Lavington Street, South London. Here are 
 printed the fifty publications owned by the 
 company. Some years since, it was found 
 that economy could be effected by making 
 ink, and the company started an ink factory. 
 
 A still more important development oc- 
 curred in 1902, when the far-sighted found- 
 ers of the business decided to make their 
 own paper. At that time the Amalgamated 
 Press was buying more paper than any other 
 pubhshing house in the world, and it was not 
 considered a good policy to allow the supply 
 of raw material to be controlled by outside 
 sources. Although the initial expense was 
 great, future requirements made it essential 
 for the company to control a supply of wood 
 pulp, and thus insure a constant stock of 
 
Fleetway House 
 
 Editorial and business offices of the Amalgamated Press 
 
 Courtesy of MacmiUan Co. 
 
IS 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 131 
 
 cheap paper, by establishing a paper milL 
 With this object a thorough investigation 
 of timber properties in Canada was made, 
 and after expert advice on the subject had 
 been received, a tract of pine timber land, 
 embracing about 3400 square miles, was 
 purchased in Newfoundland, the oldest of 
 the British colonies. Here, in 1906, one of 
 the largest pulp and paper making plants in 
 the world was completed, at a cost of over 
 $6,000,000. 
 
 The plant includes two private railways, 
 steamers which carry the stock to England, 
 and trunk telephone lines of over 100 miles 
 in length. In the course of a year 1,500,- 
 000 trees are felled and 4,500,000 logs are 
 driven down the river. Running full time, 
 the paper-making machines can turn out 200 
 tons of paper every day. They are among 
 the largest paper-making machines in exist- 
 ence. Sixty thousand tons of paper are 
 made every year, besides 25,000 tons of pulp. 
 More than 2500 tons of paper and between 
 1000 and 2000 tons of pulp are shipped to 
 England every three weeks. 
 
 The power for the mill is supplied by the 
 great falls of the Exploits River, which flow 
 
132 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 for nearly half a mile over a series of de- 
 clivities. The fall is 120 feet. At the 
 highest point a solid concrete dam, 882 feet 
 long, has been built, making possible the 
 generation of 2500 horse power. The paper 
 business has been incorporated as a separate 
 company, the Newfoundland Development 
 Company, Ltd., with a capital stock of 
 $7,000,000 in $5 shares. The Amalgamated 
 Press, Ltd., and the Associated Newspapers, 
 Ltd. — the latter an associated company — 
 — are heavily interested. 
 
 At Botwoodville, in northern Newfound- 
 land, the paper company has a port, whence 
 the paper is shipped to England. The com- 
 pany employs nearly 2000 workmen, and 
 three communities peopled by them and their 
 famihes have sprung up in what was re- 
 cently a primeval forest. Of these the prin- 
 cipal one, Grand Falls, with a population of 
 3000, has become the second town of im- 
 portance in Newfoundland. A flourishing, 
 up-to-date place, it is supplied with well- 
 paved streets, electric lights, churches, 
 schools, a public library, a bank, a theatre, 
 "movies," and all the other adjuncts of 
 civilized life. No expense has been spared 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 133 
 
 in making the dwellings of the workers as 
 comfortable as possible, and well-designed 
 houses have also been erected for members 
 of the staff. 
 
 Only newspaper stock is manufactured in 
 Newfoundland; the finer grades of paper are 
 made at Gravesend, about thirty miles from 
 London. There the companies interested 
 have erected the Imperial Paper Mills, cov- 
 ering seventeen acres and constituting one 
 of the largest paper mills in the world. Pulp 
 from Newfoundland is transferred from the 
 steamer to the mill, which faces the Thames. 
 Large motor trucks, capable of hauling sev- 
 eral tons, convey the paper from the mill to 
 the printing works. 
 
 It may be added that the Newfoundland 
 company has proved a highly profitable 
 enterprise. A year or so before the war, 
 when business was normal, the Amalgamated 
 Press received about $250,000 as its share 
 of the annual profits. At that time the 
 yearly profits of the Amalgamated Press 
 amounted to £263,283 (about $1,315,000), 
 dividends of forty per cent were paid on the 
 common stock, while £25,000 ($125,000) 
 additional was added to the reserve fund. 
 
134 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 In spite of the war, which caused a short- 
 age of print paper and thus had a deterrent 
 effect on the publishing business, the prog- 
 ress of the Amalgamated Press has been 
 highly satisfactory. New magazines, appeal- 
 ing to a great variety of readers, have been 
 brought out from time to time, and all have 
 proved to be money makers. As in former 
 times, no expense has been spared in keep- 
 ing all the papers to the front by means of 
 prize competitions and other devices. Cir- 
 culation experts are constantly traveling 
 about the United Kingdom, investigating 
 conditions and ascertaining demands in the 
 shape of reading matter. On the mechanical 
 side, every novelty of merit is carefully 
 scrutinized. Men travel in all progressive 
 countries to obtain fresh ideas for the com- 
 pany. While it is gratifying to have built 
 up the greatest periodical business in the 
 world, those responsible for the welfare of 
 the Amalgamated Press fully realize that 
 even the greatest success can be maintained 
 only by constant watchfulness. 
 
 Some idea of the work entailed in print- 
 ing the fifty publications of the Amalga- 
 mated Press may be gathered from the 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 135 
 
 following facts extracted from the company's 
 souvenir book: 
 
 Fifteen million words are checked in the course 
 of a year by the reading department. 
 
 The number of letters cast by the linotype and 
 monotype machines in the course of a year is 
 700,000,000. 
 
 If all the pages of the publications printed dur- 
 ing a year were placed side by side to make a con- 
 tinuous strip, the length of the strip would be 
 nearly a million miles. 
 
 Twelve million inches of cuts are made by the 
 photo-engraving department in the course of a 
 year. 
 
 The paper bill amounts to $5000 a day. 
 
 At the present time at least 50,000 news 
 dealers handle the fifty publications of the 
 Amalgamated Press, which have grown out 
 of the little weekly paper. Answers j which 
 Alfred Harmsworth started so unpreten- 
 tiously less than thirty years ago. The 
 weekly publications alone have a circula- 
 tion of eight milhons, while the monthly 
 magazines have large and increasing circula- 
 tions. 
 
 In recent years the name Harmsworth 
 
136 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 has been almost entirely dropped in connec- 
 tion with the business, while the Amalga- 
 mated Press has become increasingly promi- 
 nent as the publisher of what were formerly 
 called the Harmsworth publications. It 
 should be stated, however, that the founder 
 of this great periodical company, who be- 
 came Lord Northcliffe in 1906, has con- 
 tinued to take a deep interest in its progress. 
 
 The circulation of the publications of the 
 Amalgamated Press is not confined to Great 
 Britain, but extends to Australia, Canada, 
 South Africa, India, and other parts of the 
 British Empire. As in the early days. Lord 
 Northchffe still uses his influence in keep- 
 ing these periodicals intensely British in tone, 
 appearance, and make-up, and this largely 
 contributes to their success. 
 
 Here it may be remarked that in spite 
 of the close relationship that exists between 
 the United States and Great Britain and the 
 fact that the two countries speak the same 
 language, their taste in reading matter is 
 widely different. Lord Northcliffe knows 
 that his papers would not succeed in the 
 United States, and he also knows that 
 American papers would have no success in 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 137 
 
 England. With few exceptions American 
 publications have failed when introduced 
 there. Even American advertising matter 
 cannot be used in England without consider- 
 able revision. British and American national 
 temperaments, in short, are so diverse that 
 what makes an instantaneous hit in one 
 country falls flat in the other. This may 
 be a cause of surprise when it is remem- 
 bered that the works of such American writ- 
 ers as Mark Twain and Bret Harte are as 
 firmly enthroned in England as in this coun- 
 try; but the explanation undoubtedly is that 
 their appeal is not merely national but inter- 
 national. 
 
 The Amalgamated Press still adheres to 
 the plan adopted in the days of Harmsworth 
 Brothers, of employing young men and 
 women — almost youths and girls, in some 
 cases — to edit certain papers. In this way is 
 carried out the original idea of the founder^ 
 that young people know best what young 
 people want. The directors, it may be added, 
 are all employees of the company, and are 
 thus able to conduct the business in a prac- 
 tical and thoroughly efficient manner. 
 
 The profit-sharing plan, which produced 
 
138 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 such excellent results in the early days, is 
 still continued, and the head of each depart- 
 ment profits as his department grows. A 
 system of pensions has also been established, 
 so that old or ailing employees who retire 
 from the business, after faithful service, may 
 be suitably provided for. At the present 
 time the pension fund amounts to over $300,» 
 000, and it is constantly growing larger. 
 
 A believer in high wages and the principle 
 that the efficient laborer is worthy of his hire. 
 Lord Northcliffe has caused the workers in 
 many departments of the Amalgamated 
 Press to be paid much above the market 
 price. This enables the company to obtain 
 the highest skill. Not long ago a London 
 printing firm complained that the Amalga- 
 mated Press had secured the pick of the 
 printing trade by means of "extravagant" 
 wages paid to compositors and pressmen. 
 
 To get the best work out of people Lord 
 Northcliffe believes that rest and recreation 
 are essential. With this object in view, the 
 offices of the Amalgamated Press are closed 
 at six o'clock every Friday evening and are 
 not opened until business hours on Monday 
 morning. At present nearly 3000 persons 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 139 
 
 are employed in the editorial, business, and 
 printing departments. Prior to the war the 
 employees had formed a militia regiment. 
 They had also two bands, and cricket, foot- 
 ball, and golf clubs, as well as various social 
 organizations. 
 
 Although an ardent believer in hard work. 
 Lord Northcliffe is a strong advocate of 
 vacations. The heads of departments are 
 therefore obhged to take an occasional holi- 
 day, preferably out of England, in order to 
 get a change of scene and interest. North- 
 chffe himself plays the game of business for 
 all that is in it, but while he exacts the same 
 toll from his employees he also realizes that 
 the best results are obtained from men in 
 good condition, and it is his constant en- 
 deavor to keep all his workers mentally and 
 physically fit. 
 
 Unique among millionaire publishers. 
 Lord Northchffe has raised a goodly brood 
 of wealthy men among his helpers, and has 
 followed the example of Andrew Carnegie 
 by sharing a part of his riches with those 
 who assisted him in building up his great 
 business. His brother Harold, the financial 
 genius, whose skill as a business manager 
 
140 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 largely contributed toward the transforma- 
 tion of a small enterprise into what has be- 
 come the gigantic Amalgamated Press, is 
 now a multi-millionaire himself. A few 
 years ago he was raised to the peerage with 
 the title of Lord Rothermere. Two other 
 brothers, Cecil and Leicester, ceased to take 
 an active part in the business some years be- 
 fore the incorporation of the Amalgamated 
 Press, but have derived large fortunes from 
 their interests in the company. Both are 
 now Members of Parliament, and are promi- 
 nently identified with English political life. 
 Three younger brothers who were also ex- 
 tensive shareholders, were placed in posses- 
 sion of big incomes. 
 
 Some of the young men who became con- 
 nected with the business in the early days 
 and grew up with it earned from ten to 
 twenty thousand dollars a year in editorial 
 positions. Several left the firm with a hun- 
 dred thousand dollars or more. One mem- 
 ber of the staff, who entered the business in 
 1895 at a salary of $15 a week, was eventu- 
 ally promoted until he became editor-in- 
 chief of Answers and other papers, his salary 
 and commissions amounting to $50,000 a 
 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 141 
 
 year. Some years ago, when a change was 
 made in the management, he accepted half 
 a miUion dollars to cancel his contract. The 
 only member of the original staff still con- 
 nected with the company is George A. Sut- 
 ton, who began his career as a stenographer, 
 afterwards became secretary to Lord North- 
 cliffe, and is now general manager of the 
 Amalgamated Press. He is said to receive a 
 larger salary than that of the President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Thus ends the story of the periodical busi- 
 ness of Alfred Harmsworth, started in so 
 small a way and transformed, through his 
 genius, into a vast industry. Even the wild- 
 est dreams of his youth were more than 
 realized when he became the head of the 
 greatest publishing business in the world, 
 founder of one of the largest paper-making 
 companies, and a Croesus in point of wealth. 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 
 
 In presenting the story of Lord Northcliffe the 
 facts concerning his periodical business and his 
 newspapers have been kept apart, for the reason 
 that his activities in these fields of endeavor form 
 distinct phases of his career. The two depart- 
 ments, moreover, have always been kept separate^ 
 and are managed by different companies. There- 
 fore, an account of how he became the world's fore- 
 most newspaper owner has been given in the three 
 following chapters, each of which forms a special 
 narrative. 
 
 From the time that he started out as a 
 journalist, Alfred Harmsworth had been 
 inspired with the ambition to own and edit 
 an important London newspaper. He had 
 kept that goal in view, and was determined 
 not to be satisfied until he had reached it. 
 Visionary as this idea might have seemed 
 when he was struggling to earn his living as 
 a free-lance writer, nevertheless his ambition 
 
 142 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 143 
 
 was destined to be realized while he was still 
 youthful. 
 
 The career of Alfred Harmsworth had 
 proved, even then, that to the man with see- 
 ing eyes and well-trained mind opportunity 
 comes, not once, but many times in a life- 
 time. Therefore, when the goddess of op- 
 portunity sought for a purchaser for the 
 London Evening News she went straight to 
 the door of the young publisher at 24 Tudor 
 Street. 
 
 In October, 1894, when he was twenty- 
 nine years of age and had established his 
 periodical business so successfully that it 
 had already brought him a fortune, Alfred 
 Harmsworth astonished London by announc- 
 ing that he had bought the Evening News. 
 The manner in which he became owner of 
 this newspaper formed another remarkable 
 incident in his eventful hfe, and it also con- 
 tained certain elements of the picturesque 
 which, it has been said, should form the 
 background of every great business. 
 
 The Evening News had been started in 
 London in 1881 to support the Conservative 
 party, but had never been a success. Al- 
 though money had been lavished on the 
 
lU NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 paper, and the Conservatives had dug into 
 their pockets to the extent of over two mil- 
 lion dollars in their efforts to bolster it up, 
 the unfortunate sheet had gone from bad 
 to worse. It was badly edited, changes of 
 management were frequent, and in 1894 the 
 circulation was racing toward the zero point. 
 Facing a big deficit, the directors of the 
 stock company which owned the paper be- 
 came thoroughly dissatisfied, and at last de- 
 cided to sell out. 
 
 Just at that time there happened to be a 
 shrewd young Scotchman named Kennedy 
 Jones employed as a reporter on the London 
 Evening Sun, then owned by T. P. O'Con- 
 nor, M.P. Opportunity knocked at his door 
 also, as the sequel will show. 
 
 A native of Glasgow, Jones was a husky, 
 alert, clean-shaven young man with a slight 
 Scottish accent, who had gained his first 
 newspaper experience in Edinburgh and 
 Manchester. Later on, with a wife and an 
 increasing family, he had migrated to Lon- 
 don, where he soon made a name as a re- 
 porter, particularly in the line of sporting 
 news. " K.J.," as he was popularly termed, 
 knew everybody about town, especially at 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 145 
 
 the music halls and race tracks. He was a 
 born hustler for news, and his beats were 
 innumerable. Although his salary on the 
 Sun was only twenty-five dollars a week, he 
 had started life with an abnormal supply of 
 energy, ambition, and grit, the qualities 
 which enable a man to overcome all diffi- 
 culties and even to rise above an unfavorable 
 environment in achieving success. 
 
 In his youthful days Jones had bought 
 groceries from an enterprising storekeeper 
 in Glasgow named Lipton, who was 
 strangely ambitious. This man, Lipton, 
 continually surprised the lad by declaring 
 that he meant to become a millionaire, which 
 inspired him to become ambitious also. 
 Eventually, when the ambitious grocer de- 
 veloped into a multimillionaire and became 
 Sir Thomas Lipton, head of one of the great- 
 est businesses in the world, Jones was con- 
 vinced, more than ever, that there was some- 
 thing in ambition. 
 
 When, therefore, Jones the reporter hap- 
 pened to hear one day that the ill-fated 
 Evening News was for sale, and recalled 
 that it was Alfred Harmsworth's ambition to 
 become a newspaper owner, he realized that 
 
146 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 he was facing the great opportunity of his 
 life. What followed would be impossible to- 
 day in either London or New York, but it 
 happened in London in 1894. 
 
 With nothing but an astonishing amount 
 of self-assurance, Jones called on the direc- 
 tors of the Evening News and told them 
 that if they would give him an option on the 
 paper for one week he would find a pur- 
 chaser for it. His manner was so convincing 
 that the directors, ready to clutch at any 
 hope of even a partial salvage, actually 
 came to terms, and Jones walked away with 
 his option. Here is the rest of the story, 
 as it was related some years later by Jones 
 himself to an intimate friend: 
 
 "When I had obtained the option, the 
 next thing was to interview Alfred Harms- 
 worth. At that time I was a hard-working, 
 hustling reporter, and was not particularly 
 well dressed or impressive in appearance. 
 Accordingly, I decided to send a deputy to 
 24 Tudor Street, and for this purpose 
 selected my friend, Louis Tracy, the novel- 
 ist, who was then writing stories for the 
 Evening Sun. Unlike myself, Tracy always 
 looked impressive, and wore the conventional 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 147 
 
 frock coat and silk hat which then distin- 
 guished the soHd citizen of London. When 
 I broached the subject to him and promised 
 him a share in the enterprise, he agreed to 
 assist me in putting through the deal. With 
 this object he went round to Answers' office 
 at once, and submitted the offer to Alfred 
 Harmsworth, who was favorably impressed, 
 although he seemed to suspect that Tracy 
 had not originated the idea. 
 
 " * Is this your own scheme, Mr. Tracy? ' 
 he asked. Tracy explained that it was I 
 that had obtained the option. 'Then,' re- 
 phed Alfred Harmsworth, ' Jones is the man 
 I want to see.' The result was that I called 
 at 24 Tudor Street myself, and after some 
 consultation with Alfred and Harold 
 Harmsworth, a meeting was arranged with 
 the directors of the Evening News. The 
 books were examined, the plant was in- 
 spected, and ultimately the paper was bought 
 by the Harmsworths for £25,000 ($125,- 
 000)." 
 
 Having acquired the paper, Alfred 
 Harmsworth saw that Jones, who not only 
 was a journalist of wide experience but had 
 proved that he was original and enterpris- 
 
148 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ing, was just the sort of man to edit and 
 manage it. So, from twenty-five dollars a 
 week as a reporter, Jones stepped into the 
 position of managing editor of the Evening 
 News at a salary of five thousand dollars a 
 year, with an eighth interest in the paper as 
 well. Mr. Tracy also received liberal com- 
 pensation for his assistance in arranging the 
 affair. 
 
 At first sight, the Evening News, as a 
 property, looked far from promising. The 
 offices were in an antiquated building in 
 Whitefriars Street, the presses were old and 
 worn, and about the whole establishment 
 there was that atmosphere of decay which 
 pervades decrepit businesses as well as senile 
 human beings. When, therefore, it became 
 known in Fleet Street that Alfred Harms- 
 worth had bought this unlucky paper, men 
 shook their heads and declared that he had 
 been " bimcoed." In fact, Harold Harms- 
 worth, who accompanied his brother and 
 Kennedy Jones on their first visit to their 
 new property, laughingly remarked to an 
 acquaintance they met : " We are on our way 
 to see our gold brick, and," indicating Jones, 
 " there is the man who planted it on us." 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 149 
 
 In building up and transforming the Eve-^ 
 ning News, however, Alfred Harmsworth 
 displayed the same tireless energy that he 
 had shown in making a fortune out of his 
 periodicals. He went to the office every day 
 and worked there until late at night, sug- 
 gesting new features and introducing novel- 
 ties, his intensely practical and businesslike 
 mind sifting every detail and intuitively 
 separating the relative from the inconse- 
 quential. 
 
 Jones, with his wide experience in every 
 branch of newspaper work, now proved to be 
 invaluable. He knew what the masses 
 wanted, and also the weak spots of the old- 
 fashioned evening newspapers. He em- 
 ployed the best men for the sporting depart- 
 ment, with the result that the racing, foot- 
 ball, and cricket reports, which make or mar 
 an evening paper in London, soon put the 
 Evening News in the lead. 
 
 Within a few weeks, by effectively admin- 
 istering his own brand of the elixir of life 
 to the tottering paper, Harmsworth revital- 
 ized it and made it a money maker. With 
 its smart headUnes, snappy news stories, 
 bright special articles, women's column, joke 
 
 i 
 
 J 
 
150 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 column, serial fiction, and other features, the 
 modernized Evening News became the talk 
 of the town, and by the end of the first year 
 it had not only repaid the original invest- 
 ment, but was in a position to pay six per 
 cent on its shares. At the present time the 
 circulation is over a million daily. 
 
 With all its brilHant success, however, the 
 Evening News was, for Alfred Harmsworth, 
 merely in the nature of a trial horse in daily 
 journaUsm. It was an experiment or, as a 
 miner would term it, a prospect in the do- 
 main of newspaperdom. There was still the 
 same craving of the masses for a bright 
 morning newspaper to be satisfied. Con- 
 vinced by the success of the Evening NewSj 
 in a single year, that he had struck a mine 
 of virgin gold, the far-seeing young publisher 
 decided to start what had long been in his 
 mind, a morning paper conducted on entirely 
 new lines. 
 
 In America we have come into an era 
 when the afternoon newspaper is the swift, 
 rapid-fire distributer of news, with a follow- 
 ing that constantly increases, but in Eng- 
 land the morning paper still remains the 
 heavy gun. Alfred Harmsworth was well 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 151 
 
 aware of the latter fact when, in the spring 
 of 1896, he prepared to launch his new 
 daily, and invested over two and a half 
 million dollars in the enterprise. 
 
 With his characteristic thoroughness, he 
 made sure that the machinery of organiza- 
 tion would be in working order on the day 
 of pubhcation by having the paper issued 
 daily, for private examination, during a 
 period of three months. Although not a 
 single copy of the paper was circulated, 
 every issue was subjected to the same rigor- 
 ous criticism that it would have received had 
 it already been placed in the hands of the 
 pubhc. In those three months Alfred 
 Harmsworth was appraising material, sound- 
 ing tendencies, examining, changing, improv- 
 ing, criticizing, and gathering a staff of the 
 ablest and most progressive newspaper men 
 that he could find. 
 
 When at last, one morning in May, 1896, 
 the new morning paper, the Daily Mail, was 
 presented to the British public, it had a real 
 individuality which could be summed up only 
 in that comprehensive phrase, the Harms- 
 worth touch. It was, moreover, the first 
 morning paper to be issued in Great Britain 
 
152 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 for a halfpenny, or one cent. The price was 
 a radical departure, but one which made an 
 instant appeal to the masses, as its founder 
 had expected. Not only was the style and 
 appearance of the new daily entirely different 
 from that of the other morning papers, but 
 the whole spirit of the newcomer was thor- 
 oughly in accordance with modern ideas. 
 Widely advertised, as it had been, through 
 the Harmsworth weekly periodicals, the 
 Daily Mail proved an immediate success. 
 It started on its wonderful career with a cir- 
 culation of over a quarter of a million. 
 
 The lines on which the new daily was man- 
 aged, as well as the novelty of its appear- 
 ance, caused much astonishment among the 
 editors of the old-fashioned London dailies, 
 the majority of whom lived in antiquated 
 seclusion, their intercourse with members of 
 their staffs being usually conducted by let- 
 ter. In some cases, if a reporter did not 
 receive an assignment by the first mail in 
 the morning he was not expected to go to 
 the office. 
 
 ( To these editors of the old school the mere 
 {suggestion of liveliness in a newspaper was 
 
 anathema. From the normal, everyday in- 
 
 \ 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 153 
 
 terests of average men and women they stood 
 far apart. Enterprise was considered by them 
 the deadUest of sins. They ignored the en- 
 tire change in the educational system of Eng- 
 land that had taken place with the estab- 
 lishment of a public school system, and the 
 development of a new generation of thinking 
 masses, while they also failed to notice the 
 progress that had been made in the indus- 
 trial and economic life of llie nation. Not 
 only were the venerable and highly respect- 
 able newspapers which they edited ponderous 
 in tone, but they contained, day after day, 
 profound essays on foreign topics, scientific 
 papers which nobody but a scientific man 
 could understand, and editorials of four thou- 
 sand words or more on high politics. There- 
 fore it is not surprising that their aggregate 
 circulation was small. 
 
 Into this antiquated, easy-going, compla- 
 cent journalistic world, the Daily Mail sud- 
 denly burst with all the force of a high- 
 explosive shell. In marked contrast with the 
 conventional English newspaper methods, 
 Alfred Harmsworth and his editors kept 
 themselves in personal touch with the mem- 
 bers of the staff, watched their work, and 
 
154 NORTHCLIFFB 
 
 drilled them into a high degree of efficiencyo 
 The system adopted was, in fact^ much the 
 same as that which is followed in any well- 
 regulated American newspaper officCo 
 
 Compact in size — a pigmy compared with 
 the blanket sheets of the other London 
 dailies, and smaller than any of the New 
 York papers — the Daily Mail consisted of 
 eight pages, the news being condensed into 
 the smallest space so that it could be read 
 quickly. The fourth page was devoted to 
 short editorials and special articles. On the 
 sixth page were magazine features and a 
 serial story. 
 
 The British public liked the new paper. 
 It was a success from the start, and in less 
 than a year its circulation was over three 
 hundred thousand. By the end of the sec- 
 ond year this had increased to half a million, 
 and during the Boer War, in 190Q, it reached 
 the million mark. At present the normal 
 circulation is somewhere about 1,500,000. 
 
 An examination of the early numbers of 
 the Daily Mail shows, curiously enough, that 
 the paper, from an American point of view^ 
 was quite conventional in almost everything 
 except its condensed news and the introduc- 
 
Alfred Harmsworth in 1897 
 
 Reading his newspaper, the Daily Mail 
 
/ 
 
 A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 155 
 
 tion of some new features. The truth is that 
 Alfred Harmsworth, above all else, was 
 afraid of alarming the British public, which, 
 as he knew, objected to being Americanized. 
 Suspicions were allayed by the conventional 
 appearance of the new paper. Once sure of 
 a steadily increasing circulation, however, 
 the discerning publisher began to brighten 
 his paper. Additional novelties were intro- 
 duced, headlines were given more " punch," 
 editorials were cut down, and signed articles 
 on popular subjects appeared on the fourth 
 page. For breadth of interest nothing has 
 ever equaled these articles, which cover a 
 wide variety of topics and from the start 
 have constantly maintained a high standard 
 of authority and distinction. 
 
 From the outset the motto for Daily Mail 
 representatives was : " Get the news and get 
 it first." No effort or expense was spared 
 in hving up to this commandment. Eminent 
 writers and correspondents, at high salaries, 
 were sent to all parts of the world in which 
 events of importance were occurring. 
 Shortly after the paper was started, for ex- 
 ample, the late George W. Steevens was 
 sent with General Kitchener's army to Khar- 
 
156 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 toum, where Gordon was avenged and the 
 Khalifa's power in the Sudan was shattered. 
 
 When the South African War broke out 
 in 1889, the magnificent organization which 
 Harmsworth had established enabled the 
 Daily Mail to get ahead of the British gov- 
 ernment in respect to news from the front, 
 and the War Department was often obliged 
 to acknowledge the receipt of information 
 supplied by the enterprising paper. 
 
 It was during the Boer War that the 
 Daily Mail proved itself to be unrivaled as 
 a money raiser. Upon the purchase by the 
 paper of " The Absent-Minded Beggar " by 
 Rudyard Kipling, this famous poem was 
 published in pamphlet form and also set to 
 music. The proceeds of copyright fees and 
 incidental contributions, which eventually 
 amounted to five hundred thousand dollars, 
 were expended in providing ambulances and 
 comforts for soldiers, while the surplus that 
 remained was large enough to cover the cost 
 of building a hospital for wounded veterans. 
 
 Possessing a remarkable news sense, Al- 
 fred Harmsworth always grasped the pos- 
 sibilities of a big story with the quickness 
 that characterizes the born newspaperman, 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 157 
 
 and like a " star " reporter he delighted in 
 going after an important story himself. 
 
 In the early days of the Daily Mail he 
 added greatly to the reputation of the paper 
 by two important beats. One was an inter- 
 view that he obtained with the late Cecil 
 Rhodes regarding the situation in South 
 Africa preceding the Boer War. The " Co- 
 lossus of South Africa," as Rhodes was 
 popularly termed, had persistently refused to 
 be interviewed, but the enterprising owner of 
 the Daily Mail managed to see him and laid 
 the case frankly before him. " I have just 
 started a morning paper, Mr. Rhodes," he 
 said, " and to present your own story to the 
 public, fully and correctly, would be a great 
 advantage to you and would be a great 
 achievement for me." Rhodes was so much 
 impressed by the grit of the youthful pub- 
 lisher that he forthwith gave him a full and 
 exclusive story which made a great sensation 
 in England and was published throughout 
 the world. 
 
 Later on, when the Conservative govern- 
 ment was getting shaky and all sorts of 
 rumors were afloat, Alfred Harmsworth 
 again acted as a reporter, and scored another 
 
158 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 beat through interviewing Arthur James 
 Balfour, then British prime minister, and 
 obtaining from that statesman the first news 
 of his resignation, the downfall of the Con- 
 servative government, and the plans for a 
 general election. 
 
 Even in these days, as Lord Northcliffe, 
 the famous journalist still preserves the 
 reportorial habit, and in situations of great 
 importance he has occasionally acted as his 
 own reporter. For instance, during the 
 Home Rule agitation in Ireland in 1914 he 
 made a first-hand study of the problem in 
 Ulster and interviewed the leaders on both 
 sides. Since the present war began he has 
 on several occasions visited the front. 
 
 From the beginning American news was 
 featured conspicuously in the Daily Mail. 
 An ofiice was opened in New York, with an 
 experienced correspondent in charge, and 
 direct cable communication with the London 
 office was established. Before that time the 
 London newspapers had seldom printed 
 more than an occasional paragraph of Amer- 
 ican news, usually obtained from Renter's 
 Agency and headed "American Intelli- 
 gence." The Daily Mail began to pubhsh 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 159 
 
 items of popular interest cabled from New 
 York and sometimes devoted a colimin or 
 more to accounts of sensational murder 
 trials, fashionable weddings, new inventions, 
 and social movements of a novel char- 
 acter. 
 
 During the McKinley-Bryan campaign 
 in 1896 two or three columns daily were 
 cabled to the paper, and at that time George 
 W. Steevens wrote a series of articles en- 
 titled " The Land of the Dollar." This es- 
 tablished a precedent for American election 
 news, which, since then, has been allotted a 
 large amount of space in the Daily Mail. 
 A special news service was maintained dur- 
 ing the Spanish- American war in 1898, when 
 Charles E. Hands was sent to Cuba with 
 the American army. In recent years the 
 paper has made a feature of direct Wash- 
 ington news. 
 
 Aroused by the competition of the Daily 
 Mailj the managements of the other London 
 daihes began to change their business meth- 
 ods. A more up-to-date appearance was 
 given to these older papers, and their pres- 
 entation of news was improved. Some of 
 them opened New York offices and competed 
 
160 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 > ——————— ^— II — — — I 
 
 with American news, so that in course of 
 time the British pubKc was made more fa- 
 miliar with American affairs, to the manifest 
 advantage of Great Britain and the United 
 States. 
 
 Although the Daily Mail had at first a 
 clear field, a rival paper soon appeared. 
 Within a year Harmsworth's persistent 
 competitor, Pearson, started a morning 
 paper called the Daily Express, which re- 
 sembled the Daily Mail in make-up and con- 
 tents. Pearson even went a step further 
 than the Daily Mail by presenting the news 
 on the first page of his paper, while Harms- 
 worth had followed the English custom of 
 devoting the outside page to advertising. 
 Eventually the Daily Express became a 
 good property, and at the present time it 
 has a large circulation, although its success 
 was never so pronounced as that of the 
 Daily Mail, 
 
 In building up the enormous circulation 
 of his paper Harmsworth displayed his 
 genius as a publisher in a striking way. 
 Among other things, he solved the problem 
 of placing the Daily Mail so promptly in the 
 hands of readers throughout Great Britain 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 161 
 
 that it became a national organ and not 
 merely a local newspaper. At Manchester, 
 two hundred miles north of London, he 
 opened a branch office with a printing de- 
 partment, and there an exact duplicate of 
 the London edition is produced every morn- 
 ing, the entire contents of the paper being 
 telegraphed every night over private wires. 
 By means of special trains the Manchester 
 edition is able to reach Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 Aberdeen, and other distant places in time to 
 be placed on the breakfast table with the 
 local newspapers. The London edition has 
 its radius to the south, covering the country 
 as far as Cornwall. It is therefore correct to 
 say that the Daily Mail is obtainable every 
 morning from Land's End to John o' 
 Groat's House. 
 
 In order that English people traveling or 
 residing on the Continent may be kept in 
 touch with home and world affairs, a smaller 
 yet satisfactory edition of the Daily Mail 
 is published in Paris and is distributed in 
 most parts of Europe. Until the outbreak 
 of the war a Riviera edition was printed at 
 Nice during the winter season, thus supply- 
 ing the needs of thousands of English read- 
 
162 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ers at Monte Carlo and other resorts on the 
 Mediterranean coast. 
 
 In recent years the headquarters of the 
 Daily Mail have been at Carmehte House, 
 near Fleet Street, formerly the home of the 
 Amalgamated Press, where the Evening 
 News also is published. The building is full 
 of mechanical wonders, including the Hoe 
 presses, the largest in England. In the edi- 
 torial department an instrument called the 
 " electrophone " is occasionally employed 
 when important speeches are delivered at 
 some distance from London, which enables 
 them to be instantly recorded by stenogra- 
 phers in the Daily Mail office, and to be set 
 up in type without delay. Late news is tele- 
 phoned direct to the Paris office. In the 
 foreign department a tape machine de- 
 livers news direct from New York. The 
 circulation department has a great array 
 of motor wagons, trucks, and bicycles to 
 facilitate delivery of the paper to local 
 dealers. 
 
 Through the enterprise of its management, 
 the Daily Mail has entered intimately into 
 the social and business life of Great Britain, 
 a fact which can be demonstrated by a re- 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 163 
 
 cital of just a few of its achievements in 
 recent years. 
 
 This paper was the first Enghsh daily to 
 reahze that the automobile was not merely 
 a toy or a luxurious convenience but fore- 
 shadowed a complete transformation in meth- 
 ods of land transportation. The publicity 
 and encouragement it gave to the industry 
 did much to stimulate English automobile 
 manufacturers in catching up with their 
 French rivals. 
 
 Realizing from the start the possibilities 
 of aviation, the Daily Mail has offered, in 
 all, the sum of two hundred thousand dol- 
 lars in cash prizes to encourage flying con- 
 tests. It has done more than any other sin- 
 gle agency to popularize the sport and to 
 equip the British army and navy with what 
 the present war has proved to be an indis- 
 pensable weapon. 
 
 Among the interesting events of early 
 days was the award of a prize of five thou- 
 sand dollars to Bleriot, who first succeeded 
 in crossing the English Channel on a trip 
 from Paris to London. Another long-dis- 
 tance prize was awarded for a flight from 
 London to Manchester — about the same dis- 
 
164 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 tance as from New York to Boston. !iS 
 prize was offered, later on, for a flight from 
 London to Scotland and back, a distance of 
 one thousand miles. The Daily Mail now 
 has a standing offer of fifty thousand dol- 
 lars to the first aviator who succeeds in 
 crossing the Atlantic, the prize being open 
 to aviators of all nations. 
 
 A few years ago this enterprising journal 
 was the promoter of a movement to check 
 the alarming decline in British agriculture. 
 As an object lesson a small farm was stocked 
 and equipped and a tenant selected, for the 
 purpose of proving that any person of intel^- 
 ligence, by adopting the right methods, could 
 make a small farm yield a good profit. The 
 entire country became interested in the ex- 
 periment, which was remarkably successful. 
 
 Another useful project was the evolution 
 of the Daily Mail loaf. The idea was to 
 show that modern systems of milling were 
 producing a flour which lacked the nutritious 
 elements of wheat. Accordingly, three thou- 
 sand dollars was spent in an effort to pro- 
 duce a standardized loaf for the British pub- 
 lic, containing at least eighty per cent of 
 the wheat. As the result of this agitation a 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 165 
 
 distinct and permanent improvement in the 
 bread of the nation was brought about. 
 
 In recent years the EngHsh love of gar- 
 dening was stimulated by prizes offered by 
 the Daily Mail, amounting to five thousand 
 dollars, for the finest bunches of sweet peas 
 raised in home gardens, while another large 
 sum was offered for a new variety of rose. 
 
 Among other things, the Daily Mail has 
 carried on a campaign for pure milk; it has 
 awarded prizes for the best designs of cot- 
 tages and other small houses; and it has paid 
 out thousands of pounds in conducting a 
 plan of insurance by which readers of the 
 paper are indemnified for accidents occur- 
 ring in public vehicles. A brokerage ex- 
 change, which has been established, enables 
 readers to buy or sell stocks without the red 
 tape and heavy charges that usually char- 
 acterize stock-exchange transactions in Lon- 
 don. 
 
 When taxi cabs were introduced in Lon- 
 don and horse cabmen were thrown out of 
 employment in large numbers, the Daily 
 Mail raised nearly forty thousand dollars in 
 a few days for their relief. At the same 
 time a pension scheme for the older men was 
 
166 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 arranged, and over five hundred cabmen were 
 trained as motor drivers. 
 
 Impressed by the difficulties of the bhnd 
 in keeping in touch with passing events, a 
 weekly edition of the Daily Mail in Braille 
 type was started a few years ago. 
 
 In recent times the power of this live daily 
 as a money raiser has frequently been evi- 
 denced. In 1912, for instance, over three 
 hundred thousand dollars was raised for the 
 relief of the Titanic victims, the money be- 
 ing contributed exclusively by women read- 
 ers of the paper. During the war eighty 
 thousand dollars was raised in four days 
 for the purpose of establishing a Union Jack 
 Club for soldiers and sailors. 
 
 Viewed from a strictly commercial point 
 of view, the various enterprises and achieve- 
 ments of the Daily Mail have proved a source 
 of great profit, by indirectly increasing cir- 
 culation. This, in turn, has made possible 
 the securing of an abundance of advertising, 
 at rates that range from fifteen hundred to 
 twenty-five hundred dollars a page. The 
 outside page, which is naturally the preferred 
 position, has been at times in such demand 
 that advertisers desiring it have been put on 
 
A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 167 
 
 a waiting list. From a broader standpoint 
 the Northcliffe policy of anticipating the de- 
 mands of the British people has given the 
 Daily Mail national prestige, and has made 
 the paper an almost inspired chronicler of 
 Great Britain's political, social, and commer- 
 cial needs. 
 
 As Alfred Harmsworth, and to-day as 
 Lord Northchife, the guiding spirit of the 
 Daily Mail has proved himself to be the 
 most influential newspaper proprietor in the 
 British Empire. Much of his success has 
 been attained by keeping abreast of popular 
 movements, and never being afraid to change 
 his policy in order to be in harmony with the 
 spirit of the masses. Whenever he has seen 
 the waves rising from the level of the popu- 
 lace, he has preferred to go with the current 
 rather than be overwhelmed by it. His suc- 
 cess has often been due to his cutting away 
 from old moorings. Through his ability to 
 look into the future and anticipate coming 
 events, which has sometimes been remark- 
 able, he has surprised the public by his 
 knowledge of affairs, and this has done much 
 to increase his following. 
 
 So deeply has his popular newspaper be- 
 
168 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 come interwoven with the fabric of British 
 social life that when it agitates for any re- 
 form the public response that follows is usu- 
 ally too great to be ignored. Holding itself 
 clear outside the humdrum game of politics 
 as played by other papers, and viewing is- 
 sues from a non-partisan standpoint, Lord 
 Northcliffe's Daily Mail has become a me- 
 dium by which its owner's piercing insight 
 into the heart of things, and his courage to 
 express himself regardless of the views of 
 others, have made his pen the lash that has 
 driven muddlers and incompetents from 
 office and enabled him to dethrone popular 
 but inefficient idols, even when they were in 
 the form of prime ministers and govern- 
 ments. 
 
VI ^ 
 
 WOMEN AND PICTURES 
 
 " Cherchez la femme " is the advice given 
 by the French whenever an explanation of 
 most human mishaps is demanded. And, 
 strange as it may seem, woman, who brought 
 our first parent so much disaster, was des- 
 tined to cause the first halt in Lord North- 
 cliffe's successful career. 
 
 Until that time the versatile publisher's 
 judgment of the British public's needs and 
 desires, as far as newspapers were concerned, 
 had been almost infallible; but when he en- 
 deavored to gauge correctly the mysteries of 
 the feminine mind he failed, as some of the 
 greatest figures in history failed, thus prov- 
 ing that even the most brilliant of men has 
 his limitations. How it all happened forms 
 a most interesting story. 
 
 Following the success of the Evening 
 News and the Daily Mail, Northcliffe, or 
 Alfred Harmsworth as he was then, became 
 
 169 
 
170 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 imbued with the idea that women did not 
 read ordinary daily papers with deep inter- 
 est because the reading matter appealed 
 chiefly to men. Thus he reached the con- 
 clusion that there was a distinct need for 
 a women's newspaper, written and edited by 
 women, and giving news that would interest 
 women exclusively. As the result of this 
 decision, he started such a paper in October, 
 1903, having chosen the attractive title. The 
 Daily Mirror. 
 
 Summed up in a few words, this enter- 
 prise proved to be an utter failure. And 
 yet, by abandoning his original idea and 
 bringing into play his undaunted genius, 
 Harmsworth actually turned the paper into 
 a gigantic success. When he had overcome 
 failure he made a clean breast of his first 
 defeat. 
 
 In an article entitled, " How I Lost a 
 Hundred Thousand Pounds" ($500,000), 
 he said: " Having for many years fostered a 
 theory that a daily newspaper for women 
 was in urgent request, I started one. This 
 belief cost me one hundred thousand pounds. 
 I found out that I was beaten, that women 
 did not want a paper of their own. It was 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 171 
 
 simply another instance of failure made by 
 mere man in diagnosing woman's needs. 
 Some people say that a woman never really 
 knows what she wants. It is certain that she 
 knew what she did not want. She did not 
 want the Daily Mirror as it first appeared." 
 
 As a woman's paper the Daily Mirror 
 was about the size of Collier's Weekly, It 
 was unillustrated, it gave a condensed sum- 
 mary of the world's news, and devoted a 
 large amount of space to social gossip, 
 fashions, home chats, and other topics sup- 
 posed to be of foremost interest to women 
 readers. 
 
 The employment of a staff composed en- 
 tirely of women led to some of the most 
 amusing incidents in the whole range of mod- 
 ern journalism. In addition to the ladies of 
 the staff — editors, copy readers, and report- 
 ers — two or three men were stationed in the 
 office in an advisory capacity. The latter 
 soon discovered that the Mirror was a " live " 
 paper in more ways than one. 
 
 The truth is that, at that time, the woman 
 journalist was comparatively new in Eng- 
 land, and the ladies of the Mirror seemed 
 unable to separate their social life from their 
 
172 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 business duties. In this country, of course, 
 the newspaper woman is a recognized insti- 
 tution, and the women of the press have 
 proved themselves to be fully as capable as 
 the men. But in England, when the Daily 
 Mirror was started, the situation was dif- 
 ferent. 
 
 A member of the original staff, who is 
 now engaged in American newspaper work, 
 has given an amusing account of what was 
 witnessed in the Mirror office in the early 
 days. In relating his story, he says : " When 
 the paper was first started, the editorial de- 
 partment was the scene of much comedy, 
 with an occasional touch of tragedy. Every 
 moment there was wrangling between the 
 lady reporters and editresses, who bounced in 
 and out of the rooms like the funny charac- 
 ters in an English pantomime, more intent 
 on squabbling than on working. Amidst the 
 banging of doors would be heard such epi- 
 thets as ' creature,' ' impossible person,' or 
 * cat,' intermingled with angry commands, 
 such as, ' I say you shall,' followed by the 
 defiant retort, ' I say I won't.' 
 
 " That wasn't the worst of it, however. 
 The poor males about the place were turned 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 173 
 
 into messenger boys and were kept running 
 errands. One thoroughly disciphned and 
 subdued married man was actually enlisted 
 to do shopping, even to the extent of match- 
 ing ribbons. All the ladies stopped work to 
 have their tea at five o'clock every afternoon, 
 no matter how exciting the news might be. 
 Sometimes one of the men would be sent out 
 to buy them cakes and other eatables. Then 
 the ladies divided themselves into little 
 cliques and one set wouldn't speak to another 
 set. 
 
 " One afternoon, at tea time, the city 
 editress rushed into the reporters' room and 
 announced that there was a big fire near the 
 Mansion House (the ofiicial residence of 
 London's Lord Mayor) . ' One of you ladies 
 will have to cover the story,' she said. The 
 lady reporters took no notice of the inter- 
 ruption beyond remarking that the editress 
 was ' a most extraordinary person,' and went 
 on discussing their social affairs. When, at 
 last, the editress returned and raised a rum- 
 pus, each reporter declared that she couldn't 
 possibly go to the fire because she had an im- 
 portant engagement elsewhere. One of the 
 men had to cover the assignment. That was 
 
174 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 a typical incident. The lady reporters had 
 absolutely no news sense. All they could 
 talk about was dress, social functions, and 
 women's wrongs." 
 
 Among the men who kept an eye on the 
 Mirror was an able journalist named Bolton, 
 who usually had charge of the paper at night 
 when it went to press. Among other duties, 
 he was authorized to settle disputes among 
 the women and preserve order. To have 
 filled such a position satisfactorily would 
 have required the cunning of Machiavelli, 
 the grace of Don Juan, and the wisdom of 
 Socrates, a combination of qualities which, of 
 course, no man on earth ever possessed. 
 The result was that purgatory itself would 
 have been a paradise in comparison with 
 what Bolton had to endure. There were, 
 for instance, frequent disputes among the 
 ladies as to assignments, and the space that 
 stories should fill. Rows on these subjects 
 were constantly in progress. One evening a 
 friend of Bolton's, who happened to call at 
 the Mirror office, found him surrounded by a 
 phalanx of angry women. 
 
 " Do you realize, Mr. Bolton," exclaimed 
 one of them, " that I have been working for 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 175 
 
 hours on this story, and it ought to fill at 
 least two columns; but that indescribable 
 person over there (indicating the city edi- 
 tress) has actually cut it down to two 
 inches? " 
 
 " My dear madam," replied Bolton, " I 
 have been a reporter myself, and sometimes 
 when I had worked a whole day on a story 
 it never appeared at all." 
 
 " That may be true," retorted the lady 
 reporter icily, " but my story is a good 
 story." 
 
 Several other ladies, holding proof sheets, 
 then broke into the discussion with various 
 complaints, all talking at once. In the midst 
 of the altercation the managing editress burst 
 through the group like a human cyclone, re- 
 marking excitedly: "Now, Mr. Bolton, 
 you'll have to decide what to do." 
 
 Here was a highly modernized version of 
 that classic fiction, the judgment of Paris, 
 but poor Bolton was hard pressed in at- 
 tempting to follow the precedent. " I shall 
 have to refer these matters," he groaned eva- 
 sively, as he rubbed his aching head. He 
 knew only too well that there was no one to 
 whom he could refer the disputes. When 
 
176 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 his friend left he was still arguing, and there 
 seemed to be no end to the discussion. 
 
 It is not surprising that, some months 
 later, Bolton, a complete nervous wreck, re- 
 tired to a farm to raise poultry and follow 
 other restful pursuits. His experience on 
 the women's paper had been too much for 
 him. He never returned to journalism, and 
 in his household the Daily Mirror is a sub- 
 ject tabooed. 
 
 The wrangling of the women editors and 
 reporters was not occasional but continuous; 
 harmonious cooperation was found to be im- 
 possible, and personal animosities and petty 
 rivalries held sway. In fact, the Mirror office 
 was distinguished by much the same lack of 
 a definite policy as distinguished the Bandar- 
 log in Kipling's " Jungle Book." 
 
 The box office receipts furnish the best 
 evidence of a theatre's prosperity; in the 
 newspaper world circulation is the test of 
 popularity. Judged from this standpoint, 
 the outlook for the Daily Mirror was far 
 from encouraging. The paper had started 
 with a circulation of nearly half a million, 
 but each day witnessed a greater falling off, 
 until the profits were swept away like leaves 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 177 
 
 I—— ■■■■— ^™ 
 
 in a wintry blast. This was serious. For 
 while a successful newspaper can soon 
 build up a fortune for its owner, a fail- 
 ure has a prodigious faculty of devouring 
 money, and can gobble down thousands of 
 golden coin with the same ease that a 
 Broadway spendthrift gets rid of a ten- 
 dollar bill. 
 
 It was undoubtedly a unique and dis- 
 agreeable experience for Alfred Harmsworth 
 to be dipping into his exchequer in response 
 to the unceasing cry from the Daily Mirror 
 for money and still more money. It was, 
 however, a demand that continued for only 
 a short time, for the shrewd publisher speed- 
 ily came to the conclusion that, for the first 
 time, he was beaten. 
 
 "How is the patient?" Harold Harms- 
 worth was asked, one day, by a friend who 
 thus jokingly referred to the Mirror, 
 
 "Very low, indeed," he replied, adapting 
 his answer to fitting similes. " Her circula- 
 tion is very bad, it's constantly getting worse, 
 and I'm afraid she's going to die." 
 
 " She won't die," Alfred Harmsworth 
 broke in, pugnaciously. " There must be 
 some cure, and we shall find it yet," he 
 
178 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 added, showing in a phrase his great quali- 
 ties, optimism and determination. 
 
 Then again there came to his rescue that 
 sixth sense, — if so it may be termed, — the 
 instinct that had been his since he started his 
 first paper. He put to himself the question 
 he had so often asked and answered: What 
 do the people want in the way of news- 
 papers? The Daily Mail supphes the morn- 
 ing news, and the Evening News covers the 
 later happenings. A morning or evening 
 newspaper would naturally compete and thus 
 divide the field and profits. Now, what is 
 there that we haven't already got? 
 
 As he surveyed the situation closely, the 
 big idea suddenly occurred to him, that peo- 
 ple hke pictures! 
 
 Beyond an occasional portrait, the London 
 dailies seldom contained any illustrations. 
 The Daily Mail had owed part of its suc- 
 cess to having illustrated some of its articles. 
 The continuous success of the Illustrated 
 London News and the Graphic had shown 
 that a big demand existed for weekly illus- 
 trated papers. There was also, at that time, 
 an illustrated daily paper, the Daily 
 Graphic^ which had been running for several 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 179 
 
 years with moderate success. That paper, 
 however, used line drawings instead of re- 
 productions of photographs, so that its 
 novelty was slight. Elaborating this idea, 
 Harmsworth decided, at last, that he would 
 change the Daily Mirror into an illustrated 
 paper, using halftone reproductions of photo- 
 graphs, and in supplying its contents would 
 make use of the cameras of photographers 
 instead of the pencils of reporters. 
 
 His next idea was to use halftone illus- 
 trations on almost every page, and to con- 
 dense the reading matter — the ordinary news 
 of the day — into the smallest possible limits. 
 The policy of getting the first news, which 
 had been followed with such success in the 
 case of the Daily Mail, would be adopted in 
 obtaining Daily Mirror illustrations. The 
 editorial staff would be ordered to get the 
 first photographs illustrating important 
 events. 
 
 When these ideas had been worked out, 
 Harmsworth reorganized the Daily Mirror 
 ofiice. The lady editresses and reporters de- 
 parted, and their places were taken by a 
 staff of live young men. At the same time, 
 photographic and photo-engraving depart- 
 
180 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ments were started, and presses of a special 
 type were installed to print the new illus- 
 trated paper. Instead of employing a num- 
 ber of writers and reporters, the energetic 
 publisher organized a corps of photographers 
 to cover events in Great Britain, while in 
 place of correspondents, photographic repre- 
 sentatives were appointed in all parts of the 
 world. JThus it was impossible for an im- 
 portant event to occur anywhere without the 
 Mirror being in a position to obtain the first 
 and best pictures. 
 
 The illustrated Mirror, somewhat reduced 
 in size, but with more pages, was issued at 
 the end of 1903. It proved an immediate 
 success. When the change was made the 
 circulation had dropped to 20,000, but the 
 new paper started off with a circulation of 
 60,000, which was soon increased to 100,000. 
 As a woman's paper the Mirror had cost a 
 penny (two cents). As a picture paper the 
 price was reduced to a halfpenny. 
 
 Once the paper was started and meeting 
 with encouragement, no expense was spared 
 in making it a success. For the first time 
 in British journalism, or in the journalism 
 of the world for that matter, photographic 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 181 
 
 beats became as important as news beats. 
 Nothing was thought of hiring special trains 
 to get a handful of pictures to the Daily 
 Mirror office in time to illustrate some im- 
 portant news story. Photographers were 
 dispatched to all parts of the world on spe- 
 cial missions, just as newspaper correspond- 
 ents are sent to write descriptive articles. 
 When, for example, the situation in China 
 seemed to be precipitating trouble, a few 
 years ago, a Daily Mirror photographer was 
 sent there to snap everything of interest and 
 await results, so that the Mirror was not 
 only supplied with a complete set of photo- 
 graphs of Chinese scenes and notables, but a 
 man was on hand with his camera, ready for 
 action if anything important happened. 
 
 When Colonel Roosevelt went on his Afri- 
 can hunting trip, a Daily Mirror photogra- 
 pher accompanied his expedition, and the 
 American newspapers were dependent on the 
 enterprise of the London paper for their pic- 
 tures of the mighty hunter in the depths of 
 the jungle. 
 
 The first bulletin of the Messina earth- 
 quake had no sooner reached the Mirror 
 office than a staff photographer was rushed 
 
182 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 to the scene of the disaster. So quick was 
 the action of the Mirror that it not only- 
 printed the first photographs showing the 
 effects of the earthquake, but it actually 
 cleared eight thousand dollars by selling 
 duplicate sets to continental newspapers, 
 even including some of the Italian journals. 
 
 During the Turkish-Italian War, a Daily 
 Mirror photographer chartered an ocean 
 steamer, the only vessel obtainable in Italian 
 wafers, to take him to Tripoli. He was the 
 first to arrive there, and established a historic 
 precedent by leaping ashore, hiring a cab, 
 and giving the order: " Drive me to the bat- 
 tlefield." 
 
 When King George went to India to hold 
 a durbar and assume the crown as Emperor 
 of India, a Mirror photographer was sent 
 ahead to make arrangements for getting a 
 complete set of pictures illustrating this im- 
 portant ceremony. 
 
 During the present war the photographic 
 beats of the Mirror have been innumerable, 
 the camera men having been stationed on all 
 parts of the fighting line. Some of them 
 have taken photographs at the risk of their 
 lives, and have outrivaled newspaper corre- 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 183 
 
 spondents in their efforts to record important 
 events. 
 
 When the Mirror was first changed into 
 an illustrated paper, various ingenious de- 
 vices were employed to increase its circu- 
 lation. Here again Alfred Harmsworth 
 showed that his skill in promoting novel 
 " boosting " schemes was as great as ever. 
 Among other things, a special performance 
 was given at the Crystal Palace, a huge 
 amusement building on the outskirts of Lon- 
 don, to which free admission was obtained 
 by presenting coupons clipped from the 
 Daily Mirror, To carry out this idea cost 
 less than five hundred dollars, but the effect 
 on circulation was incalculable. Widespread 
 interest was also aroused by the first non- 
 stop automobile test of two thousand miles 
 on a course around Great Britain, which 
 was conducted by the paper. This lifted the 
 circulation still higher. 
 
 A year after the paper was reorganized, it 
 was announced that Mirror photographers 
 would appear at various seaside resorts and 
 at each place a group of people on the beach 
 would be photographed. To every person 
 whose face appeared in the published photo- 
 
184 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 graphs the Mirror would present five shil- 
 lings ($1.25) and a silver-mounted fountain 
 pen. The result was that the photographers 
 were literally mobbed by people anxious to 
 be photographed, and in some instances were 
 badly bruised. At Ramsgate, on one occa- 
 sion, the camera man was pushed into the 
 sea, washed away with his camera, and al- 
 most drowned. 
 
 Beauty contests, with big money prizes, 
 which gave opportunities for theatrical 
 preferment, were also introduced with great 
 success. 
 
 Like the clever diagnostician that he was, 
 Harmsworth had discerned just what the 
 public wanted. Promoted by a corps of ex- 
 pert circulation men, who traveled all over 
 Great Britain, the Daily Mirror was at last 
 made a tremendous success. Within a year 
 the paper which, in a few months, had cost 
 its founder five hundred thousand dollars, 
 and had once been at the point of death, was 
 showing a profit of over seven thousand dol- 
 lars a week and increasing daily in popu- 
 larity. 
 
 It is a curious and interesting psychologi- 
 cal reflection that the women who had shown 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 185 
 
 so plainly that they would not have the origi- 
 nal woman-made and woman-conducted 
 Daily Mirror now formed the bulk of the 
 supporters of the picture paper. At the 
 present day any observer who travels in the 
 London subway trains or on the motor busses 
 during the morning hours will invariably no- 
 tice that half the women passengers carry 
 copies of the Mirror, and while most of them 
 pay little attention to the reading matter 
 every one of them takes an obvious delight 
 in the pictures. 
 
 In the case of the Daily Mirror Harms- 
 worth's strong common sense was shown by 
 his realization that, figuratively speaking, the 
 way to get past a stone wall is not by at- 
 tempting to break through it but by finding 
 a way over or around it. He displayed the 
 same good judgment in his method of deal- 
 ing with a Sunday edition of the Daily Mail. 
 
 At that time the Enghsh Sunday news- 
 papers, although prosperous enough and hav- 
 ing fairly large circulations, were mostly 
 wretched affairs, consisting chiefly of a re- 
 hash of the week's news, while special features 
 were provided by stories of crime and reports 
 of unsavory divorce cases. Alfred Harms- 
 
186 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 worth decided to present something better by 
 issuing a Sunday edition of his popular daily. 
 As soon as this appeared, however, a great 
 outcry was made against it by religious peo- 
 ple all over the country, largely abetted by 
 rival newspapers. " The Daily Mail is 
 desecrating the Sabbath," it was declared. 
 Furthermore, it was shown that while the 
 Harmsworth periodicals included certain 
 religious publications that advocated the ob- 
 servance of a Christian Sabbath, a Harms- 
 worth newspaper was actually breaking the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 It was in vain that the publisher pointed 
 out that the existing Sunday papers were 
 printed on Saturday night, and that the 
 Daily Mail was merely following the same 
 course. Opposition increased, and the con- 
 troversy became so embittered that, acceding 
 to the public's verdict, Harmsworth stopped 
 the publication of the Sunday edition. 
 
 Some time later, he succeeded in his pur- 
 pose of issuing a modernized Sunday edition 
 when he purchased and transformed the 
 Weekly Dispatch, a Sunday newspaper that 
 had been founded in 1803. Like the Eve- 
 ning News before its revitahzation under 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 187 
 
 Harmsworth management, the Weekly Dis" 
 patch had experienced frequent changes of 
 ownership and its circulation had been de- 
 creasing for several years. As soon as 
 Harmsworth took it in hand it was changed 
 into a live, successful paper, while all objec- 
 tionable features were eUminated. Thus it 
 found its way into the homes of people who 
 had hitherto objected to reading a Sunday 
 edition. 
 
 In this way Harmsworth gained his point, 
 and not only obtained his Sunday news- 
 paper, but at the same time overcame the 
 bitter antagonism which had been aroused 
 by his endeavor to publish a Sunday edition 
 of the Daily Mail, Furthermore, his wide 
 vision had foreseen the difficulties of Sunday 
 distribution and he had prepared to meet 
 them. On week days special newspaper 
 trains carry the London newspapers to all 
 parts of the United Kingdom, but on Sun- 
 days the rigorous blue laws, framed long ago 
 by the preservers of the sanctity of the Brit- 
 ish Sabbath, prevent the running of such 
 trains. To overcome this obstacle. Harms- 
 worth immediately organized a system of 
 distribution by means of swift motor trucks. 
 
188 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 which covered a wide radius in supplying the 
 Weekly Dispatch to news dealers. 
 
 This attention to important matters on the 
 part of Alfred Harmsworth had always been 
 typical of his working methods, his habit be- 
 ing to concentrate his mind on the big things 
 while leaving the minor details to subordi- 
 nates. To-day, as Lord Northcliffe, he has 
 been enabled to retain his energy and capa- 
 city for work even with the increasing de- 
 mands upon his business hours. Each new 
 child of his creation has in turn received his 
 parental care as if it had been his only off- 
 spring, and yet, at the same time, he has 
 never neglected any member of his brood, 
 no matter how thriving it might be. Neglect, 
 as he knows, might cause one of his charges 
 to drift into bad habits, and bad habits natu- 
 rally result in deterioration in periodicals and 
 newspapers just as they cause the downfall 
 of human beings. Northchffe, therefore, has 
 given his closest attention to all his impor- 
 tant publications, with that cosmic grasp of 
 the essential which distinguishes the man who 
 is really great. 
 
 In the case of the Daily Mirror he was 
 a stern censor of the photographs that were 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 189 
 
 ill . I i I 
 
 presented for publication, and insisted on the 
 highest standard of morahty being observed. 
 The idea of gaining circulation by appeals to 
 the morbid or abnormal was, therefore, 
 strictly condemned by him. How closely he 
 kept watch on any tendency in this direction 
 one instance will suffice to show. 
 
 The editor of the Daily Mirror had ar- 
 ranged, at great expense, to get by special 
 messenger photographs of the championship 
 fight between Jeffries and Johnson at Carson 
 City, Nevada. In the meantime the British 
 news dealers, having been informed of this 
 impending feature, ordered over 1,250,000 
 copies of the prize-fight edition. Just as the 
 paper was going to press Lord NorthcUffe 
 sent for the proof sheets and examined them 
 carefully. Then he reached an unexpected 
 decision. "Don't print one of those fight 
 photographs," he Jold the editor. " I don't 
 think it is wise to glorify the victory of a 
 negro over a white man, and besides the pic- 
 tures themselves are likely to prove offensive 
 to our decent women readers." 
 
 At the last moment the whole paper was 
 changed, and it appeared the next day with- 
 out a single fight picture. The disappoint- 
 
190 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ment to news dealers, the temporary loss of 
 circulation, and the futile expense incurred 
 in obtaining the photographs were, however, 
 minor incidentals to the owner of the Daily 
 Mirror, Whether Northcliff e's prophetic in- 
 tuition discerned the wretched career of 
 Johnson in after years, his escape from this 
 country to avoid prosecution, and his flight 
 from England since the war, under threats 
 of deportation, it is impossible to say, 
 but in this case the great journalist's edi- 
 torial judgment proved to be remarkably 
 sound. 
 
 As explained in a previous chapter. Lord 
 Northcliife, from the start, arranged for the 
 complete separation of his periodical and 
 newspaper interests. The former, it will be 
 recalled, was incorporated as a hmited com- 
 pany known as the Amalgamated Press. 
 The Daily Mail, the Evening News, and the 
 Weekly Dispatch (which are popularly 
 termed the " Northcliff e press") are also 
 controlled by a stock company entitled the 
 Associated Newspapers, Limited, while the 
 Daily Mirror forms a separate organization 
 called the Pictorial Newspaper Company. 
 After the newspaper companies were organ- 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 191 
 
 ized, members of the staffs were given an 
 opportunity to buy shares at attractive prices 
 on the instalknent plan. 
 
 In this connection it is of interest to add 
 that the system of profit sharing which 
 Northchff e, as Alfred Harmsworth, had in- 
 troduced so successfully into his periodical 
 business, was continued with equal success in 
 the direction of his newspapers. Among the 
 instances of men who became wealthy as the 
 result of this system the following may be 
 mentioned : 
 
 Lord Rothermere, as Harold Harms- 
 worth, was associated with his brother's news- 
 paper business from the start. To-day he is 
 reputed to be the wealthiest member of the 
 Harms worth family. Some years ago he be- 
 came a newspaper owner on his own account, 
 and he now owns several important provin- 
 cial journals, such as the Sheffield Mercury 
 and the Glasgow Record, 
 
 Kennedy Jones, or " K. J.," as he is still 
 popularly known in London newspaper cir- 
 cles, was also favored by fortune. After 
 obtaining his interest in the Evening News 
 and the editorship of that paper, as related 
 in the preceding chapter, he became associ- 
 
192 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ated with Alfred Harmsworth's other ven- 
 tures in the newspaper world, and thus ac- 
 quired interests in the Daily Mail:, the Daily 
 Mirror, and the Weekly Dispatch, A few 
 years ago he retired from newspaper life 
 after disposing of his various interests. To- 
 day he is a man of millions. 
 
 Thomas Marlowe, editor of the Daily 
 Mail, who has directed the paper for many 
 years, is said to enjoy an income, through his 
 salary and bonuses, in comparison with which 
 the much-discussed salary of Arthur Bris- 
 bane would appear small. 
 
 Alec Kenealy, who was appointed editor 
 of the Daily Mirror when the paper was 
 changed from a woman's daily into a picture 
 paper, displayed great ability as a jour- 
 nalist, having been trained in American 
 newspaper methods. When he died a few 
 years ago he had accumulated a large for- 
 tune. 
 
 Pomeroy Burton, another American news- 
 paperman, who took charge of the business 
 department of the Daily Mail in recent 
 years, also became a millionaire. 
 
 As a sequel to the incidents recorded in 
 this chapter it may be added that the Weekly 
 
Lord Rothermere 
 
 (Harold Harmsworth) 
 
 A power in the financial world, brother of 
 
 Lord Northcliffe 
 
1 ■-' 
 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 193 
 
 Dispatch is published at Carmelite House, 
 the headquarters of the Daily Mail and Eve- 
 ning News. By a strange coincidence, the 
 Daily Mirror^ although a great success, has 
 its offices in a building which was associated 
 with a journahstic failure. The Mirror 
 Building in Bouverie Street, a few doors 
 from Fleet Street, was erected about ten 
 years ago by the promoters of a new morn- 
 ing paper, the Daily Tribune, which proved 
 to be a losing venture. The owners of this 
 paper unwisely failed to profit by the experi- 
 ence of the Daily Mail and, instead of issu- 
 ing a paper of compact size, adopted the 
 blanket-sheet style and antiquated make-up 
 that distinguished the old-fashioned London 
 dailies. As might have been expected the 
 paper failed to make a hit, and after a brief 
 and unprofitable career it ceased publi- 
 cation. 
 
 The fact that the Daily Mirror is pub- 
 lished in what was once the home of the ill- 
 fated Tribune has had no evil effect on its 
 fortunes. Its popularity has steadily in- 
 creased, while its circulation, at times, has 
 exceeded a million. In recent years the 
 paper has experienced a change of owner- 
 
194 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ship, which occurred when Harold Harms- 
 worth desired to become a peer, an honor 
 that had already been conferred upon his 
 brother. Harold Harmsworth had long been 
 known as an enthusiastic Liberal, while Lord 
 Northcliffe is an equally staunch Conserva- 
 tive. There was consequently some difficulty 
 over the bestowal of a peerage on Harold 
 Harmsworth by the Liberal government, as 
 long as he held a large interest in the Daily 
 Mail, which is nominally Conservative in 
 tone. To overcome this objection, so the 
 story goes, Harold Harmsworth disposed of 
 his interests in the Daily Mail and purchased 
 the Daily Mirror from his brother, possibly 
 with the idea of making it a Liberal 
 organ. 
 
 Under its new ownership, the paper has 
 maintained its popularity as well as the high 
 standard of its contents. Since the begin- 
 ning of the war a Sunday edition has been 
 issued, entitled the Sunday Pictorial, and so 
 eager is the British public to get war news 
 and war pictures that no objection to its 
 publication has been raised. The same is 
 true, however, of most of the London news- 
 papers, which, owing to the demand for war 
 
WOMEN AND PICTURES 195 
 
 news, have issued Sunday editions regularly 
 during the last three years. It seems quite 
 possible that when the war is over the Sun- 
 day newspaper will have been established in 
 England as a permanent institution. 
 
VII 
 "THE THUNDERER" 
 
 When Alfred Harmsworth as a youth of 
 twenty-three had confidently predicted that 
 some day he would be at the head of a large 
 periodical business and own a daily news- 
 paper, besides having a seat in the House of 
 Lords, he could scarcely have imagined that 
 in less than nineteen years his ambitions 
 would be realized. And yet, in 1906, he had 
 become Lord Northcliffe, he was at the head 
 of the largest pubHshing business in the 
 world, and he owned some highly successful 
 newspapers. Nevertheless, he still lacked 
 the crowning realization of his early dreams, 
 the ownership of the London Times. 
 
 At that time it would have seemed impos- 
 sible for Northcliffe to gain control of the 
 world-famous newspaper. In spite of his 
 wealth and success, he appeared to the con- 
 servative classes in England to be identified 
 with yellow journalism, and for that reason 
 
 196 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 197 
 
 the possibility of his becoming the owner of 
 The Times would have been regarded by 
 them as nothing less than a national calam- 
 ity. For over a hundred years The Times 
 had remained in the possession of the Walter 
 family, descendants of the founder, and the 
 mere suggestion of changing its ownership 
 would have appeared hardly less starthng 
 than a proposal to change the reigning house 
 of Britain. 
 
 Great was the astonishment, therefore, 
 when the newspapers one day, toward the 
 end of 1906, announced that Lord North- 
 cliffe had purchased The Times and was 
 preparing to take an active part in its man- 
 agement. The manner in which the enter- 
 prising publisher obtained control of the 
 paper which Abraham Lincoln once declared 
 to be " the most powerful thing in the world 
 excepting the Mississippi " furnishes a strik- 
 ing illustration of the relentless persistency, 
 shrewdness, and subtlety which have en- 
 abled him to achieve most of his aims. 
 
 Probably no man in England had realized 
 more thoroughly than Northcliffe himself 
 the antagonism with which he was regarded 
 by the so-called conservative classes, and that 
 
198 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the mere rumor that he was planning to get 
 control of The Times would have been suf- 
 ficient to array powerful influences against 
 him and render the feat impossible. 
 
 It was known in 1906 that members of the 
 Walter family, who headed a private syndi- 
 cate which controlled The Times, were de- 
 sirous of finding a suitable purchaser. 
 Shortly afterwards the announcement was 
 made that Cyril Arthur Pearson, North- 
 cUffe's plodding rival, had obtained control 
 of the paper. Here it may be explained that 
 although Pearson also was regarded as a yel- 
 low journalist by the ultra-conservatives, he 
 was admitted to be of a milder type than 
 Northcliife, and therefore, while the elect 
 regretted exceedingly that The Times should 
 have fallen upon such evil days, yet their 
 regret was tempered with the satisfaction 
 that Pearson's acquisition of the paper had, 
 at least, prevented Northcliffe from becom- 
 ing its owner. 
 
 How did it happen, then, that North- 
 cliffe was able to emerge triumphantly after 
 all? The answer is that unknown to Pear- 
 son, or even to the owners of The Times 
 themselves, he had quietly purchased, through 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 199 
 
 a confidential agent, a majority of the Times 
 stock, which was in the hands of sixty-eight 
 holders. Pearson had obtained a certain 
 amount of stock and supposed that the re- 
 mainder was practically in his hands. At 
 the last moment, however, he was check- 
 mated by the wily Northcliffe. 
 
 During his negotiations for the purchase 
 of the stock Northchife, apparently to con- 
 ceal his moves, let it be announced that he 
 had left for the Continent. He went, in 
 fact, to Boulogne, where he met Moberly 
 Bell, the general manager of The TimeSj 
 who was assisting him to get control of the 
 paper. The scene of the conference was the 
 Hotel Christol. In referring to the incident 
 in recent times, Northcliffe said: "I am at- 
 tached to the old hotel because of the fact 
 that it was there, far from the madding 
 crowd and the observant eyes of Fleet Street, 
 that Mr, Bell and I concluded negotiations 
 by which I became associated with The 
 Timesf' 
 
 It may be added that Pearson's attempt 
 to get possession of The Times, and his sub- 
 sequent failure, marked the end of his rivalry 
 with Northcliffe. At that time he owned 
 
200 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the Daily Express, He had also become 
 owner of the Standard and the St, James* 
 Gazette, the latter an evening newspaper. 
 Under his management the Standard, which 
 was one of the old London dailies, was mod- 
 ernized and advertised, but it failed to be- 
 come a money maker, and ultimately went 
 out of existence. In recent years Pearson, 
 having lost his eyesight, disposed of his 
 newspaper interests. During the war he 
 has headed a movement for the aid of 
 blind soldiers. As a recognition of his 
 public services he was given the title of 
 baronet. 
 
 The rivalry between Northcliff e and Pear- 
 son, it should be explained, was always of 
 the friendliest character, their competition in 
 business having aroused no ill feeling. This 
 fact was mentioned by Lord Northcliffe in 
 an interview two or three years ago, when 
 he spoke of the loss British journalism had 
 sustained through Sir Arthur Pearson's re- 
 tirement. " He has been one of the great 
 vitalizers of the profession to which he and 
 I belong," added Lord Northcliffe. " His 
 staffs have always been cheery and optimistic 
 and devoted to him. We have been in good- 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 201 
 
 natured conflict most of the time since he and 
 I as boys first knew each other, but we have 
 always remained the best of friends." 
 
 Returning to the main subject, North- 
 eliflPe's ownership of The Times, it may be 
 asked why he should have regarded the ac- 
 quisition of this paper as his supreme tri- 
 umph. To the average American the term 
 " London Times " has a comparatively 
 uncertain meaning. Americans know, of 
 course, that The Times is a great newspaper, 
 but they do not realize that it is far more 
 than a newspaper, that it is, in fact, almost 
 as much a British institution as the British 
 constitution itself. 
 
 The very name, " The Times!' appears to 
 strike awe into the hearts of English people, 
 who have been taught to regard this paper 
 as the representative of public opinion. " I 
 shall write to The Times" was once the fa- 
 vorite threat of Britons traveling abroad, 
 when any incident occurred to disturb their 
 equanimity or which was contrary to their 
 insular experience. In America if a great 
 man has anything to say for publication he 
 has himself interviewed or, at least, con- 
 trives to convey his views to all the papers 
 
202 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 at once. In England he "writes to The 
 Times/' 
 
 Why, it may be asked further, is this 
 paper so great and powerful, and in what 
 respect does it differ from any important 
 American journal? The answer is that not 
 only is it 130 years old, but from the start 
 it has been unique in standing above its con- 
 temporaries and coming into close association 
 with the British government, and while it 
 has remained an independent newspaper, it 
 has gained all the power and prestige of an 
 official organ. 
 
 The story of The Times is a story of the 
 evolution of the English people for a century 
 or more. From the beginning of its career 
 it has stood for great journalism and abso- 
 lute independence in demanding efficiency on 
 the part of the government, the very quali- 
 ties that in later years, under changed social 
 conditions, have given Northcliffe his suc- 
 cess. During the course of a century this 
 paper has become interwoven with the whole 
 fabric of English life. 
 
 The Times, it has been said, is the most 
 English thing in the world — English in its 
 foibles as well as its strength, English in its 
 
"THE THUNDERER ' 203 
 
 independence of all excepting its customers, 
 English in its strange capacity for accepting 
 changes that are most vital and events of the 
 highest moment as simple and natm*al con- 
 sequences not deserving that much fuss 
 should be made over them. The English 
 alone revolutionize a suffrage or annex an 
 unknown and vast state as part of the busi- 
 ness of the year. The Times regards such 
 things as the English think of them, with 
 pleasure it may be or pain, but without a 
 trace of emotion, much less of hysteria. The 
 Times has been English in its fortitude 
 under trouble, English in its occasional bru- 
 tality, more than English in its persistency, 
 while occasionally it has displayed unmistak- 
 able wrong-headedness. It has even been 
 English in its method of expression. 
 
 The Times has linked the British Empire 
 together. It forms a tie between Great 
 Britain and Canada, Australia, South 
 Africa, India, and other British dominions. 
 In every quarter of the globe where the 
 British flag is flying The Times is to be 
 found. The daily and weekly editions are 
 always on file at British clubs and libraries, 
 to be read by those who wish to keep in 
 
204 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 close touch with the mother country. As a 
 newspaper the word of The Times is taken 
 as authoritative in all parts of the world. 
 Whenever important events are occurring, it 
 is almost impossible to look through an 
 American newspaper without seeing a quo- 
 tation from a Times editorial. 
 
 From this it can be easily understood that 
 the man who owns the London Times not 
 only gains an enviable amount of political 
 and social prestige but has the means at his 
 disposal of wielding a tremendous power. 
 This serves to explain why Lord North- 
 cliffe considered that he had reached the 
 summit of his ambition when he secured pos- 
 session of the world's greatest newspaper. 
 
 To the astonishment of the conservative 
 element in England, Northcliffe did not alter 
 the tone of The Times or introduce the 
 slightest tinge of yellow into the columns of 
 the venerable daily. On the contrary, while 
 he gradually modernized its appearance and 
 put new life into it, he maintained its dig- 
 nity and integrity, its authority and power. 
 That he intended to follow a conservative 
 pohcy was made clear by a statement which 
 he made soon after taking possession of the 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 205 
 
 t— — — — — — — i I ——11 1— — ^—1 M^M I I I 
 
 paper. " It is my highest ambition," he said, 
 " to maintain the traditions that The Times 
 has held for over a hundred years — traditions 
 of great aim and breadth of view with regard 
 to literary, scientific, and artistic matters and 
 the higher progress of the nations outside of 
 England." As the result of adhering to 
 this policy The Times, under Northcliffe, has 
 gained more prestige than ever. 
 
 No account of The Times would be com- 
 plete without an outline of its remarkable 
 history, however slight. As a story it is 
 full of interest. The paper was started in 
 an eventful period — toward the close of the 
 eighteenth century, when George the Third 
 was King of England, when Louis the Six- 
 teenth and Marie Antoinette reigned in 
 France, and four years before George Wash- 
 ington became President of the United 
 States. At that time Belgium was part of 
 the Netherlands, Greece part of Turkey, 
 Italy a collection of independent states, Ger- 
 man unity had hardly any more reality in 
 men's minds than a nursery rhyme ; less than 
 one page of a textbook told all that was 
 known of Africa. The Young Pretender 
 was living in Rome, Warren Hastings was 
 
206 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 awaiting trial, Lord Howe was the first lord 
 of the admiralty, and Sir William Herschel 
 was completing his great telescope. Every 
 year of that era was so full of events that 
 appear remote in modern eyes that it seems 
 an anachronism to bring an existing morn- 
 ing newspaper on the stage in their com- 
 pany. 
 
 It was in 1785 that John Walter, a Lon- 
 don bookseller, issued a daily paper which 
 he called the Universal Register, changing 
 the name three years later to The Times, 
 The new daily consisted of a small double 
 sheet of coarse paper printed in small type, 
 and it sold for threepence (six cents) . There 
 were no editorials in it, and none appeared 
 for some years afterwards; but in that re- 
 spect The Times was not different from other 
 London newspapers of the period. Their 
 principal features were ponderous special 
 articles, correspondence, and hterary contri- 
 butions. They contained only a small 
 amount of news. 
 
 The Times, however, was diflferent from 
 its rivals. In the first place it had a good 
 deal of news, considering its limited size, 
 and the news, moreover, was well selected. 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 20T 
 
 It also contained a number of small para- 
 graphs, written in lively style, relative to 
 events in high life, some of which were almost 
 libelous. 
 
 John Walter was an uncompromising 
 man — a sturdy Briton, who would not be 
 browbeaten by even an English king. He 
 had strong convictions, and he did not fear to 
 give them expression. He printed news in 
 The Times of his day which would now be 
 considered as the yellowest of the yellow. 
 In fact, the original paper was a yellow 
 journal of the purest type, and being out- 
 spoken and fearless, and even a little broad 
 at times — in an era when newspapers were 
 invariably suppressed — it became an immedi- 
 ate success. 
 
 Ever alert for news, Walter employed 
 men to gather the gossip of the coffee-houses, 
 then frequented by men of high standing, 
 and these reporters brought in good 
 stories. They made a hit with the pub- 
 lic, and the circulation of the paper in- 
 creased. 
 
 About five years after it was started The 
 Times came to grief through its enterprise. 
 In those days, to avoid the English libel 
 
208 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 laws the newspapers were accustomed to 
 skeletonize the names of important people 
 when they were mentioned. Apparently the 
 editors of that time originated the " missing 
 letter " puzzles which were used so profitably 
 by English periodicals in after years. Fol- 
 lowing this custom, The Times printed a 
 spicy item criticizing the Duke of York, one 
 of the sons of George the Third, who filled 
 most incompetently an important position in 
 the British army. " A gentleman of qual- 
 ity " had been heard to remark, in the hear- 
 ing of a Times reporter, that unless the 
 D-k- of Y--k was removed from his high 
 command the army would be in a bad 
 plight. 
 
 To criticize a member of the royal family 
 when George the Third was king was equiva- 
 lent to lese-majeste in Germany in these 
 days, and there was a heavy penalty for the 
 offense. The English public guessed The 
 Times' missing letter puzzle at once, and so 
 did King George and the duke. As a result 
 the audacious publisher was arrested and 
 convicted of libel. For this crime he was 
 sentenced to pay a fine of <£50 ($250), to 
 stand in the pillory for an hour, and to be 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 209 
 
 imprisoned for a year. He was excused 
 from the pillory but was sent to Newgate, 
 where he continued to give directions for 
 the management of his paper. 
 
 Soon after Walter was sent to prison, two 
 other libels appeared in The Times, On 
 this occasion the Prince of Wales and the 
 Duke of Clarence, two other sons of King 
 George, were the victims. Although the 
 prince and duke were referred to as the 
 "P-— e of W— s" and the "D-k- of 
 Cl---n-e," everybody guessed the puzzle and 
 Walter was again brought before the court. 
 The judge fined him £200 ($1000) more and 
 increased the term of imprisonment. He 
 paid the fines, and through the influence of 
 political friends he was released after serv- 
 ing four months. 
 
 When the first John Walter retired from 
 business in 1803, at an advanced age, he 
 transferred The Times to his son. Although 
 the founder had regarded the paper, when 
 it was first started, simply as an adjunct to 
 his printing establishment, it had already be- 
 come the most important part of his business 
 and had taken second rank among the jour- 
 nals of the day. John Walter the second. 
 
210 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 who succeeded his father, concentrated all 
 his energies on the paper. 
 
 Like his father, the second Walter was 
 fearless and uncompromising, a stern, 
 thoughtful, strenuous man of great intellec- 
 tual capacity. At a time when the laws 
 against newspapers were severe, he boldly 
 exposed official inefficiency. He also pub- 
 lished accounts of parliamentary proceed- 
 ings, although reporters were not allowed to 
 take notes. In the early years of the nine- 
 teenth century, when Napoleon Bonaparte 
 ruled the destinies of France, The Times 
 established a wonderful news service, con- 
 sidering the conditions in those days. In 
 1805 it published one of the best accounts 
 of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of 
 Nelson. 
 
 When The Times criticized the govern- 
 ment of the time for the manner in which 
 the war with France was conducted, the gov- 
 ernment retaliated by stopping all mail ad- 
 dressed to the editor, while newspapers which 
 supported the government were not inter- 
 fered with. Foreign correspondence and 
 other matter thus failed to reach the Times 
 office. Walter was then informed that if he 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 211 
 
 would promise to change the tone of his 
 paper and support the government, he could 
 have his mail promptly. He refused, and 
 made arrangements to get his information 
 through channels that the government could 
 not reach. Among other plans, a swift cut- 
 ter was kept running backwards and for- 
 wards across the English Channel, by means 
 of which French newspapers, then contra- 
 band in England, were surreptitiously ob- 
 tained. In this way The Times was enabled 
 to supply interesting news to its readers 
 and also received the first information of im- 
 portant happenings. In 1809, for instance, 
 it announced the surrender of Flushing 
 twenty-four hours before any other report 
 reached London. 
 
 During the war at that time, as in later 
 years. The Times was noted for its patriotic 
 tone. It was also conspicuous for its bitter 
 attacks on the Emperor Napoleon. Dr. 
 Stoddart, who afterwards became Sir John 
 Stoddart and Governor of Malta, was then 
 editor, and he wrote in a most abusive style. 
 " Corsican pirate, infamous despot, murder- 
 ous ruffian," were among the mildest epithets 
 that he used, even when France and Eng- 
 
212 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 land were at peace. Napoleon winced so 
 much under these attacks that he consulted 
 some eminent English counsel to ascertain 
 whether he could sue the paper for libel in 
 an English court and get a verdict against 
 its publishers. He was advised not to bring 
 his action. The Times, however (possibly at 
 the government's request), moderated its 
 attacks. 
 
 In the early days The Times took the 
 position it has always since maintained, of 
 demanding that the British navy should be 
 twice the strength of its most powerful rival. 
 During the War of 1812 between Great 
 Britain and the United States, its editorials 
 severely criticized the government for allow- 
 ing British warships to be captured by 
 American frigates. It was the first London 
 paper to announce the result of the historic 
 fight between the Shannon and the Chesa- 
 peake in 1813, when the fortunes of war 
 were reversed. In 1815 it published the best 
 account of the Battle of Waterloo. 
 
 So great was the circulation of The Times 
 during the war between Great Britain and 
 France, in the time of Napoleon, that the 
 mechanical resources of the paper were found 
 
" THE THUNDERER " 213 
 
 to be inadequate to meet the demand, and al- 
 though the presses were kept in operation 
 throughout the day the sale of thousands of 
 copies was lost. The printing was then done 
 by means of hand presses, which turned out 
 450 copies an hour at most. The consequence 
 was that before three or four thousand copies 
 were printed the news would be compara- 
 tively old. Walter the second therefore 
 turned his attention to improving the print- 
 ing plant. 
 
 On the 29th of November, 1814, The 
 Times for the first time was printed by 
 steam. It was the first occasion in English 
 newspaper history that a steam press had 
 ever been used. This press, the invention of 
 a German named Koenig, was capable of 
 printing 1100 copies an hour. Later on an 
 improved type of press was substituted which 
 printed 2000 an hour. Thereafter improve- 
 ments were steadily made that enabled the 
 paper to be printed at much greater speed. 
 In 1848 the output was 4400 an hour, and 
 in 1857, 6000. 
 
 The appearance and make-up of the 
 paper also improved in the course of years. 
 In 1829 The Times appeared as an eight- 
 
214 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 page paper. In 1832 the circulation had 
 reached 12,000 daily, and in 1837, when 
 Queen Victoria ascended the British throne, 
 it had increased to 30,000, an enormous 
 figure in those days. 
 
 Walter the second kept pace with the 
 progress of the age. Even in the early days 
 he made The Times the most authoritative 
 journal in the world. He not only intro- 
 duced steam printing, but organized a com- 
 plete system of foreign correspondence 
 (afterwards vastly developed) and insisted 
 on the accuracy of every item of news being 
 proved before publication. All yellow- jour- 
 nal features having been eliminated. The 
 Times became a highly respectable news- 
 paper, solid and substantial, recognized as a 
 power by the government. 
 
 Thomas Barnes, who had been employed 
 on the staff as a reporter, succeeded to the 
 editorship in 1817 when Dr. Stoddart re- 
 tired. He was an able man, and did much 
 to improve the news service and the tone of 
 the paper. Under his management The 
 Times, in 1834, established a system of ex- 
 presses covering all parts of Great Britain, 
 regardless of expense. There were few 
 
" THE THUNDERER " 215 
 
 railways at that time, and some marvelous 
 beats were made by using relays of horse- 
 men when important speeches or famous 
 trials were reported. On one occasion, when 
 the British prime minister delivered an im- 
 portant address in Glasgow, four hundred 
 miles from London, The Times express cov- 
 ered the distance at a speed of fifteen ^niles 
 an hour, an achievement which created a 
 great sensation. 
 
 During his editorship Barnes kept a sharp 
 watch for unknown writers possessing the 
 sort of fitness that would contribute to the 
 popularity of the enterprising daily, and 
 when possible employed them as salaried 
 staff writers or occasional contributors. It 
 was at this period that The Times not only 
 aimed to be considered the leading journal 
 of Europe but was universally admitted to 
 have claim to that high distinction. Walter, 
 as a rule, insisted on the paper supporting 
 the government of the day, a policy which 
 has been consistently followed ever since. 
 
 From the time that editorials appeared 
 the views of The Times carried much weight, 
 and, furthermore, its editorial writers were 
 invariably well paid. In the 'twenties the 
 
216 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 position of chief editorial writer was filled 
 by Captain Sterling, well known as an au- 
 thority on politics. It was Sterling who 
 originated the term " Thunderer," as ap- 
 plied to The Times, In one of his editorials 
 he remarked: " We thundered forth the other 
 day an article on the subject of — " Other 
 London papers, referring to this expression, 
 called The Times " The Thunderer." The 
 term is now almost obsolete in England, but 
 in this country, strangely enough, it has sur- 
 vived and is in common use. 
 
 It was in the 'thirties that The Times 
 excited much comment by its high rates of 
 remuneration for special articles. At that 
 time the paper conducted a crusade against 
 the election of Alderman Harmer as Lord 
 Mayor of London, on the ground that he 
 was owner of the Weekly Dispatch^ which 
 printed articles from a well-known radical 
 writer of the time, who was not only an in- 
 fidel but blasphemous. Ten special articles 
 on this subject were sent to The Times by 
 an outside contributor, and when the crusade 
 proved successful he received a check for 
 £200 ($1000), or £20 ($100) for each 
 article of the average length of a column — 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 217 
 
 a wonderful rate for those days. It estab- 
 lished a precedent, however, and since then 
 the paper has been noted for its high rate 
 of payment to the writers of special articles. 
 
 In 1837, when the Victorian age began in 
 England, The Times had recently cele- 
 brated the first half century of its exist- 
 ence. During that time the world had 
 undergone a complete change. The French 
 Revolution had come and gone, the wars 
 of Napoleon and the modernizing of Eu- 
 rope belonged to the past, democracy had 
 arisen, tyrannical governments had been 
 overturned, and the United States had be- 
 come a great nation. In the 'thirties the 
 Reform Bill was passed, which not only 
 gave the British people a broad measure of 
 liberty, but removed restrictions on the press, 
 while every facility was given for the report- 
 ing of parliamentary debates. From the 
 early days The Times had made a specialty 
 of parhamentary reporting, and in the mid- 
 dle of the last century it had eighteen par- 
 liamentary reporters, including two sunmiary 
 writers. 
 
 The third John Walter, who succeeded to 
 the ownership of the paper on the death of 
 
218 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 his father in 1847, continued the family 
 record of able journalism. At that time 
 Barnes had retired as editor, having been 
 succeeded in 1841 by the greatest editor The 
 Times ever had, John Thaddeus Delane, who 
 ruled the destinies of the great daily until 
 1877. Under his direction it gained remark- 
 able power, not only exercising an enormous 
 influence in England, but even attracting 
 the attention of foreign monarchs and their 
 prime ministers. During the editorship of 
 Barnes, Lord Durham called at The Times 
 office one day on behalf of King Leopold of 
 Belgium, whose complaints against the paper 
 had embarrassed the British ministry. In 
 1859, Napoleon the Third was the subject 
 of editorial attacks, which aroused so much 
 resentment in France that Lord Palmerston 
 requested the paper, for public reasons, to 
 moderate its tone. Similar cases have been 
 recorded in which the influence of The Times 
 was recognized by foreign governments. 
 
 Delane had been a close friend of the 
 third Walter at Oxford. He was a man of 
 good family, of high attainments, of extraor- 
 dinary grip, and a born journalist. He was 
 at once courted by fashionable society and 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 219 
 
 politicians, and from his influence he ob- 
 tained news that no other London paper 
 could get. His social position was remark- 
 able. He was the intimate friend of Lord 
 Palmerston and other statesmen, and his 
 sources of information were innumerable. 
 Through his high position he induced men 
 of eminence, such as Benjamin Disraeli, Sir 
 WiUiam Harcourt, and George Grote, the 
 historian of Greece, to write for The Times. 
 He also had wonderful skill in selecting men 
 for his staff and getting the best work from 
 them. 
 
 For over thirty years Delane dined out 
 every night in fashionable society, meeting 
 the leading people of England, ever honored, 
 ever feared ; and at eleven o'clock every night 
 he was at his desk in The Times oflice, dash- 
 ing off brilliant editorials with an old-fash- 
 ioned quill pen and laying down the law 
 with an authority that no one dared ques- 
 tion. In his day the " Thunderer " literally 
 formed English public opinion. 
 
 The great editor was the best-informed 
 man in England. Even Disraeli, when 
 prime minister, openly sought his advice and 
 support. By most politicians he was 
 
220 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 dreaded. When the Earl of Beaconsfield, 
 in 1876, asked Lord Granville what he 
 thought of Delane, the reply was : " I think 
 I would prefer not to answer until Delane 
 is dead." 
 
 The dramatic and tragic history of The 
 Times was imbued with the romantic under 
 Delane. When, for instance, the decision 
 of the Peel ministry on the Corn Law was 
 announced exclusively in the paper in 1842, 
 it was instantly suspected that a ministerial 
 secret of high importance had been betrayed 
 by one of the most fascinating women of the 
 period, and George Meredith has made this 
 incident the dramatic climax of his thrilling 
 story, "Diana of the Crossways." As a 
 matter of fact, however. The Times was used 
 by the ministry itself as the most effective 
 medium for breaking the news to the public. 
 Delane has figured in other novels, includ- 
 ing Anthony TroUope's great story, " The 
 Warden." 
 
 Like its famous editor. The Times has had 
 a conspicuous place in English Eterature. 
 Charles Dickens, Thackeray, and a number 
 of other writers have made the great daily 
 the subject of eulogy. In a speech in Par- 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 221 
 
 liament on one occasion, Bulwer Lytton said : 
 " If I desired to leave to remote posterity- 
 some memorial of existing British civiliza- 
 tion, I would prefer not our docks nor our 
 railways nor our public buildings, not even 
 the palace in which we hold our sittings — I 
 would prefer a file of The Times," 
 
 While The Times has never posed as a 
 journal with a particular mission, political, 
 social, moral, or intellectual, it has never 
 failed to voice public opinion and expose 
 whatever needed to be exposed. During its 
 early career it confined itself to being solely 
 a purveyor of news, aiming to get ahead of 
 its competitors and contriving to outdistance 
 the government. Later on its opinion had 
 weight. 
 
 In the 'fifties The Times exposed the 
 Crimean War scandals, when William H. 
 Russell, one of its greatest correspondents, 
 sent thrilling descriptions of the privations 
 and hardships of the British troops, due to 
 criminal negligence in the commissariat. 
 During the American Civil War, Russell 
 again represented the paper, but owing to 
 his partiality for the South and his criticisms 
 of the North, especially after the Battle of 
 
222 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Bull Run, he was recalled. In all the wars 
 since that time, The Times' news from the 
 front has been distinguished for its accuracy 
 as well as its speed in reaching the public. 
 
 From the start The Times was fortunate 
 in having the most able editors of the day. 
 Delane was succeeded in 1877 by his assist- 
 ant Chenery, and he, in turn, was succeeded 
 by his assistant Buckle, who filled the edi- 
 torial post in recent years. The Times was 
 equally fortunate in its selection of perma- 
 nent correspondents, among whom one of 
 the best known was de Blowitz, who repre- 
 sented the paper in Paris for many years. 
 He had the entree at most of the European 
 courts, and his beats were innumerable, 
 notably during the Franco-Prussian War 
 and the years of reconstruction that fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 After a century of achievement. The 
 Times, in 1889, received the greatest blow it 
 had ever sustained, when the Piggott for- 
 geries ended in the utter failure of the paper 
 to prove its case against Charles Stewart 
 Parnell, and were followed by the tragedy of 
 Piggott's suicide. Such a blow to prestige 
 would have crushed any other paper, but the 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 223 
 
 centenarian daily survived the storm. It 
 was shortly after this episode that the third 
 John Walter died, far advanced in years, 
 and was succeeded by a fourth Walter, who, 
 with other members of the family, controlled 
 The Times until it was acquired by Lord 
 Northcliffe. 
 
 Under its present owner this famous news- 
 paper has not only gained more influence 
 than it possessed in former years, but it is 
 better managed. With increased energy 
 and resources a remarkable improvement in 
 the technique of production and presentation 
 has been effected, and with this is combined 
 a wide knowledge of political events at home 
 and abroad, unwavering independence, and 
 measured sanity. The foreign service of 
 The Times is unrivaled, its special articles on 
 political and social happenings in all coun- 
 tries are unsurpassed, while its impartiality 
 in throwing open its correspondence columns 
 to argimients on all sides of public questions 
 makes the paper a national forum. As a 
 national journal The Times still remains 
 without a peer. It speaks for England as 
 no other paper speaks. 
 
 In the period of one hundred and thirty 
 
224 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 years that has elapsed since it was started, 
 not only has the paper undergone a remark- 
 able development in size and appearance, but 
 its machinery of production has kept pace 
 with this evolution. Instead of the printing 
 plant turning out 2000 copies an hour, — the 
 record figure in the early days, — the great 
 Hoe presses are able to print over 100,000 
 copies an hour. The circulation of The 
 Times has also shown a corresponding 
 growth, and while it is not as large as that 
 of some of the other London dailies, yet the 
 fact that the paper circulates chiefly among 
 people of the well-to-do classes, and also has 
 a world-wide circulation, enables it to com- 
 mand higher advertising rates than any other 
 English newspaper. 
 
 One of the early numbers of The Times 
 contained thirty-seven small advertisements, 
 for which extremely low rates were prob- 
 ably charged. Every decade since then, how- 
 ever, has witnessed a marked increase in 
 advertising space and a corresponding in- 
 crease in advertising rates. From the start 
 patent medicine advertisements were refused, 
 and this rule has always been maintained. 
 At the present time the advertising profits 
 
" THE THUNDERER " 225 
 
 are unusually large and would assuredly 
 surprise the early Walters, who could never 
 have dreamed what the future was destined 
 to bring forth. 
 
 The progress of the editorial branch of 
 the paper has been fully as impressive as the 
 growth of the business departments. As al- 
 ready mentioned, the news service, domestic 
 and foreign, is still unsurpassed. In the 
 early days The Times secured the first news 
 by means of sailing boats and horsemen. It 
 has witnessed the evolution of railways, 
 steamships, the telegraph, the cable, the tele- 
 phone, wireless telegraphy, and aeroplanes, 
 all of which figure in its news beats at the 
 present time. 
 
 Under the direction of Lord Northcliffe, 
 The Times maintains its precedence in the 
 newspaper world, and although not an offi- 
 cial organ its representatives are supposed 
 to have the entree in all departments of the 
 government and to receive the first news of 
 any important political event. It is, more- 
 over, still recognized as the most suitable 
 medium for official announcements. As an 
 instance of this, it may be mentioned that a 
 few years after Lord Northcliffe took pos- 
 
226 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 session of the paper, Mr. Asquith, then prime 
 minister, broke all precedents by sending it 
 an interview, which was the first time that a 
 British premier had ever done such a thing. 
 Although the interview appeared exclusively 
 in the highly respectable Times, the ultra- 
 conservatives in England made a great out- 
 cry, declaring that such a method of publicity 
 was unbecoming to the head of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 To-day, as in the beginning, The Times 
 is sold for threepence. A few years ago 
 Lord Northcliffe caused a sensation by re- 
 ducing the price to a penny, the first time 
 such a reduction had been made in the his- 
 tory of the paper. Since the beginning of 
 the war, however, the rising value of white 
 paper and the increased cost of production 
 have necessitated a return to the former 
 price. 
 
 The evolution of The Times is strikingly 
 portrayed by the building in which the paper 
 is produced. It is a somber, red-brick struc- 
 ture, made up of additions, which start from 
 an unpretentious section erected in the mid- 
 dle of the last century, spread round what 
 is called Printing House Square, and which^ 
 
a 
 
 
 4» 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
I 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 227 
 
 in comparatively modern style, have a front- 
 age on Queen Victoria Street, where the 
 principal entrance is situated. In the older 
 parts of the building there is a maze of cor- 
 ridors and staircases in which a visitor can 
 easily get lost. It was the old part of the 
 Times Building, in Printing House Square, 
 that the youthful Alfred Harmsworth de- 
 scribed as " a great British institution, typi- 
 cal of John Bull's conservatism," when he 
 predicted that he might some day own the 
 famous newspaper. 
 
 Impressive and somber outside, a great air 
 of mystery pervades the Times ofBce itself. 
 Callers seldom are permitted to see the edi- 
 tor. Inquiries are answered by uniformed 
 messengers, usually men of middle age, the 
 personification of dignity, silence, and mys- 
 tery. In one of the corridors of the central 
 wing there is a mahogany door inscribed 
 " Lord Northchife," which gives entrance to 
 the office of the owner. It is an impressive 
 sanctum, quiet and restful, with antique fit- 
 tings, and a heavy Georgian mantelpiece at 
 one end. From the windows can be seen the 
 huge grey and white dome of St. Paul's. 
 Here Northcliflfe, conserving his energies by 
 
228 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 his separation from noise and irritation, 
 meets his editors and receives important 
 visitors. 
 
 Adjoining this ofBce is a large, square, 
 high-pitched chamber known as the " council 
 room," and here the owner confers with his 
 editorial staff. Since the beginning of the 
 war this apartment has become almost a 
 part of the British government. The " con- 
 ference," essentially an American newspaper 
 institution which Northcliffe introduced into 
 England, is held in this room every afternoon 
 at a quarter to Bve. An American writer 
 who was present at one of these gatherings 
 has thus described the scene : " Around an 
 octagonal table sit the men who make The 
 Times and who also make history. At the 
 head sits Geoffrey Robinson, the editor, with 
 Northcliffe in the third seat from him. It 
 is really a cabinet meeting, for often The 
 Times gets later news than does the govern- 
 ment itself. At these meetings, especially 
 those held in crucial hours, you see North- 
 cliffe in action. It is a study in contrasts to 
 watch him. He crouches in his chair, an 
 intent listener, or else leans forward as the 
 gharp, pithy, and pointed interrogator. With 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 229 
 
 a single question at an expert he gets at the 
 heart of the whole business." 
 
 Such is life at the office of The Times, 
 which, as already explained, is not only a 
 newspaper but a British institution. In 
 fact, employment on the great daily is re- 
 garded by many English people in the higher 
 walks of life as equivalent to employment 
 under government. Many fathers have en- 
 deavored to find careers for their sons by 
 securing places for them in Printing House 
 Square in preference to the diplomatic serv- 
 ice. There is always a waiting list of appli- 
 cants for positions, sometimes five or six 
 years elapsing before an important place is 
 filled. It is said that the editor of a London 
 newspaper once received a letter from The 
 Times stating that he had been appointed 
 to a modest position at a small salary, his 
 application having been filed eighteen years 
 before. 
 
 While The Times to-day leads, in influ- 
 ence and importance, as the representative 
 of British public opinion, it has maintained 
 its popularity as the journal of the educated 
 classes, all of which is in striking contrast 
 with its humble beginning. In reviewing 
 
230 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the developments of a century or more, per- 
 haps the most astonishing of all is the fact 
 that a family which, originally, was hardly 
 ranked as belonging to the middle class, 
 should have seized and kept for over a hun- 
 dred years the function of expressing public 
 opinion in England, should have made of 
 a compound of reports and comments a 
 powerful factor in the government of an 
 empire that, during that time, has never 
 ceased to grow, and should have transformed 
 a paper which they neither directed nor 
 edited, although they governed it, into the 
 leading newspaper of the world. The con- 
 tinuous existence of any kind of newspaper 
 is a species of miracle, but in the case of 
 The Times it is unparalleled. 
 
 After a century or more, and the meeting 
 of boundless competition. The Times still 
 remains so completely the first English jour- 
 nal that no Englishman of position ever 
 thinks of quoting any other paper. Wher- 
 ever he may be, it is to this paper that he 
 sends the announcement of his marriage or 
 of his child's death. The journal of the 
 best elements of English society. The Times 
 has always been conducted on a high plane. 
 
"THE THUNDERER" 231 
 
 ever independent and courageous, and con- 
 sistently representing the dignity, secrecy, 
 and omniscience of the British press. These 
 have been its characteristics for over a cen- 
 tury, and they have placed it in the position 
 it holds to-day, in which it is supposed to 
 wield a power second only to that of the 
 English throne. 
 
 Such is the newspaper which Lord North- 
 cHffe acquired as the greatest prize of his 
 career, and through which he has become an 
 increasing power in the pohtical and social 
 life of Great Britain. 
 
VIII 
 NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 
 
 Having followed the career of Lord 
 Northcliffe from his unpretentious begin- 
 ning as an ambitious youth, Alfred Harms- 
 worth, to his highest point of achievement 
 as owner of The Times, the reader is likely 
 to wonder how the man himself has de- 
 veloped in the course of thirty years. The 
 question may be asked. What sort of a 
 man is this newspaper magnate at the pres- 
 ent time? 
 
 As a succinct answer, it may be stated 
 that while the years have naturally changed 
 the appearance of Lord Northcliffe, yet he 
 has lost none of the enthusiasm and love of 
 hard work that were his characteristics in 
 earlier days. He is still the chief inspira- 
 tion and motive force of his periodicals and 
 newspapers, with their millions of readers. 
 
 Physically, Lord Northcliffe fulfills the 
 picture of a big man. He is powerfully 
 
 232 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 233 
 
 built, rather thick set, and somewhat under 
 six feet in height. His rather florid face is 
 clean shaven. His well-shaped, massive 
 head and strong jaw combine the qualities 
 of thoughtfulness and combativeness, and 
 when in repose the head is thrust slightly- 
 forward. His steel-grey eyes are ever alert. 
 
 He gives one the instant impression of 
 possessing an enormous amount of vitahty 
 and reserve force, courage, capacity, imagi- 
 nation, and the ability to concentrate. Al- 
 though he is fifty-two years old, it is difficult 
 to guess his age from his appearance, for 
 he is one of those unusual men who seem to 
 be ageless, and whose actual age, in point of 
 years, is of secondary importance. He is 
 the embodiment of health. His muscles are 
 as hard as iron, and he takes care of himself 
 like an athlete in training. 
 
 In his youthful days Northcliffe was said 
 to have some resemblance to Napoleon, and 
 even now his resemblance to the Emperor is 
 striking. The profile of Northcliffe is much 
 the same as that of Napoleon in the prime 
 of hfe. There are the same characteristics, 
 the finely shaped nose, the determined chin, 
 and the same lock of hair straying negli- 
 
234 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 gently over the high forehead, which have 
 been made famiUar the world over by De la 
 Roche's celebrated snuffbox portrait of Na- 
 poleon. Other resemblances between the 
 two men have been noted, — their vivacity, 
 their eager, questioning manner, their curi- 
 osity about all new inventions, their versa- 
 tility, determination, and rapidity of 
 thought, the accuracy of their observations, 
 and their fondness for travel and compari- 
 son. The energy and quickness to see and 
 act, the resolute determination to push an 
 enterprise to success, which made Napoleon 
 famous — those are the quahties that have 
 landed Northchffe, in an astonishingly brief 
 period, on the pinnacle of success. 
 
 Northcliffe has a multiple personality. In 
 certain moods he is as tender as a woman, 
 with an almost feminine sense of kindliness 
 and sympathy, but in directing his big 
 moves or shaping some public policy he is 
 unyielding and ruthless. Like Roosevelt, 
 he has a magnetism that dominates any 
 gathering in which he may be found. 
 
 In a conversation with him on serious 
 topics one perceives at once that the bent of 
 his mind is toward great affairs, and his 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 235 
 
 way of handling them has in it more of the 
 statesman than of the journahst. His man- 
 ner is simple, direct, and sincere, his thought 
 original, individual, and far reaching. His 
 concentration as a thinker is shown in his 
 manner of speaking. He uses short sen- 
 tences and goes straight to the point with- 
 out unnecessary circumlocution. His voice 
 is low, pleasant, and cultivated. He uses 
 good English and occasionally employs some 
 apt American term. 
 
 Northcliffe made his way in the world 
 through ignoring the conventional and strik- 
 ing out on new lines. This disregard of 
 the commonplace is shown in his dress. In 
 summer and winter he invariably wears an 
 unstarched shirt with a soft collar, and a 
 subdued red tie, although such an attire is 
 not considered the best form in England. 
 He prefers comfort to good form, however, 
 and is therefore sensible enough to defy 
 convention. 
 
 In his working methods Northcliffe is a 
 lover of schedule and promptness. His way 
 of doing business is by means of a system 
 of appointments in which a certain number 
 of minutes are devoted to certain propo- 
 
236 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 sitions, and the discussions are sped up so 
 briskly that the day's work involves no 
 slack. Like most successful men, he always 
 finds time for everything. He is the per- 
 sonification of punctuality. When he says 
 that he will see you he means that you are 
 to be there when the clock is striking the 
 hour. This orderliness marks all his habits. 
 It represents a high degree of concentration 
 in business, and it also provides time for 
 home life, quiet study of big questions, exer- 
 cise, and travel. 
 
 Northcliffe has a large staff of secretaries 
 and experts in various branches of editing 
 and pubhshing, and these are called into 
 frequent consultation. Sometimes he has 
 quite a gathering of them at one of his 
 country houses in the summer time, when 
 all sorts of business matters are discussed. 
 He has three offices in London, — one in the 
 Times Building, one in Carmelite House, 
 and another in Fleetway House. He is 
 generally to be found at one of these during 
 working hours. As in former years, he 
 directs everything, leaving the execution to 
 subordinates, and does not waste time on 
 petty details. When he works he brings 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 237 
 
 all his energy into play. He has been called 
 a stern taskmaster by some of his English 
 critics, but even if that be true, it is also 
 a fact that he demands more of himself 
 than of any of his subordinates. Possess- 
 ing colossal energy, he regards it as a 
 treasure, and while he will spend it with 
 reckless prodigality to accompUsh definite 
 aims, he will not dissipate it for mere 
 pleasure. 
 
 A man who is closely enough associated 
 with Northcliffe to know his impulses says 
 that one of the causes of his decision to agi- 
 tate for the overthrow of a recent British 
 prime minister was the statesman's waste of 
 vitality at formal dinners, which rendered 
 him incapable of acting masterfully on im- 
 portant problems of the day. In marked 
 contrast to this, Northcliflfe reserves his 
 energy for useful purposes. Sir Thomas 
 Lipton, it may be added, has a motto hang- 
 ing over his desk in his London office, which 
 reads : " Work is my fun." That might be 
 Northcliffe's maxim, too, for he is undoubt- 
 edly the most energetic worker in England. 
 
 Before the average Englishman is out of 
 his morning tub, Northcliffe has done some 
 
238 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 hours' work. He rises at five o'clock in 
 the morning in the summer time and at six 
 in the winter. During most of the year his 
 working day is arranged as follows: Rising 
 at five, he has a cup of coffee at quarter- 
 past five and begins work at half -past. At 
 that time all the London morning news- 
 papers, including his own, are brought to 
 him for inspection. He glances through 
 every column in order to learn what is go- 
 ing on in the world, and also to see what 
 rival papers are doing. Incidentally he 
 compares them with his own papers. While 
 reading, he jots down notes and criticisms 
 on everything, from typesetting to sugges- 
 tions which may be useful to his editors. 
 These notes are embodied in letters to his 
 staff, which are written later in the day. 
 
 His vast store of energy enables him to 
 handle an immense amount of material con- 
 nected with the various subjects in which 
 he is particularly interested. Yet so great 
 is his power of concentration that he imme- 
 diately reduces a myriad of petty details 
 to definite impressions tersely expressed. 
 Oftentimes he makes a criticism of one of 
 his papers in a single word written on the 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 239 
 
 front page of a copy that is sent to the 
 editor. 
 
 Even during breakfast he gives orders to 
 one of his secretaries, dictates important let- 
 ters, and occasionally telephones. His mid- 
 day meal is usually devoted to conferences 
 upon important matters with people who 
 have been asked to luncheon for that pur- 
 pose. The business of the day is supposed 
 to end at half -past seven in the evening, but 
 during war time conversation invariably 
 drifts to topics connected with work. Re- 
 tiring at ten o'clock, Northcliffe is read to 
 for fifteen minutes, and is asleep by half- 
 past ten. Six and a half hours of sleep 
 suffice. Then at five o'clock he is at work 
 again. The war has not interfered with 
 this routine, which goes on week days and 
 Sundays and is only interrupted by an 
 afternoon's golf, an occasional visit to the 
 front, or a trip to l^ew York. 
 
 AH those who have come in contact with 
 Northcliffe receive the impression of tre- 
 mendous reserve force and dynamic aggres- 
 siveness lying alertly latent, and subsequent 
 meetings emphasize this impression. To 
 one visitor he seemed to be like a caged lion, 
 
240 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 not because he roared, for roar he never 
 does, but because it seemed as if his pent-up 
 energy were trying to break through in- 
 visible bars that intervened between him 
 and the immediate attainment of a multi- 
 tude of purposes. Walking back and forth 
 in a restricted alcove, he paused suddenly 
 from time to time to speak sharply and 
 briefly. Thus he settled three or four vital 
 matters every minute. As soon as there 
 was an instant's delay, one saw again the 
 caged-lion phase. 
 
 Yet all observers agree that Northcliffe 
 never gets flustered or beyond himself. It 
 is noticeable that whenever an atmosphere 
 of flurry surrounds him, it is caused entirely 
 by office boys, clerks, and other one-cylinder 
 subordinates, puffing and tearing to keep 
 up with his smooth-running two-hundred- 
 horsepower engine. It is impossible to enter 
 a room where he is working and not be 
 drawn irresistibly into activity. One of his 
 guests at a country house, after greetings 
 were exchanged, withdrew to a corner of 
 the work room, but within a minute he had 
 been dragged out and set to correcting 
 the proof of an article which Northcliffe 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 241 
 
 had written about the war. When that was 
 finished he was given a cablegram to an 
 American newspaper to revise. 
 
 In his letter writing Northcliffe's char- 
 acteristics shine brilliantly forth. Despite 
 the fact that the letters are dictated, and 
 are typewritten by competent secretaries, 
 he reads every one slowly and carefully be- 
 fore signing it. In a batch of letters that 
 he disposed of while a visitor was present, he 
 altered only a single word, which he crossed 
 out and replaced with a synonym. In al- 
 most every third letter, however, he under- 
 scored a clause or sentence. Each letter 
 was typewritten upon a single, medium-size 
 sheet of blue paper with " The Times " en- 
 graved at the top, and consisted of only a 
 few lines. The lines were single spaced, 
 and in most cases were in one paragraph. 
 This applied even to a letter to the prime 
 minister which touched upon three impor- 
 tant and separate topics. There was no 
 waste of words, no use of such bromides as 
 " I have received your letter," and never 
 the address of the recipient. The letters 
 began with " Dear So-and-So " and were 
 signed in the lower right-hand corner, usu- 
 
242 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ally in pencil, with the one word " North- 
 cliflFe " written at an oblique angle mounting 
 toward the right. 
 
 Even for a genius in journalism North- 
 cliffe is an amazingly prolific writer of good 
 stuff, throwing off signed interviews, arti- 
 cles, and essays with the speed of a rotary 
 plow. In the early days of his newspaper 
 ownership he occasionally wrote editorials 
 and other copy, and even in these days he 
 finds time to write many special articles. 
 He writes in the style in which he would 
 talk out of a buoyant and busy mind, dic- 
 tating clearly and rapidly, his copy need- 
 ing very little correction. 
 
 As in his earlier years, Northcliffe is still 
 a believer in the vigor and optimism of 
 youth. Consequently, in visiting his busi- 
 ness establishments one is impressed by the 
 youthfulness of the men who hold important 
 positions. The editor of The Times is 
 barely forty, and none of the directors of 
 the Amalgamated Press are over middle 
 age. That is part of the Northcliffe sys- 
 tem. Having managed a great business 
 himself before he was thirty, he knows the 
 value of the strength and resourcefulness 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 243 
 
 which accompany fruitful years. The first 
 two questions that he hurls at any appUcant 
 for employment are: "How old are you?" 
 and " What can you do? " 
 
 With all his mercilessness toward ineffi- 
 cients and incompetents, it is agreed by 
 nearly all who have been employed by 
 Northchffe that he is a delightful man to 
 work with. In spite of his vast and wide- 
 spread interests he will come into the re- 
 porters' room of the Daily Mail, sit on the 
 edge of a table, smoke cigarettes, and talk 
 to the men as if he were one of themselves. 
 He likes them and they like him. 
 
 Frank Dilnot, a former Daily Mail cor- 
 respondent, relates in his book on Lloyd 
 George an incident of a young writer who 
 was sent to investigate a series of happen- 
 ings in a Midland town, but was rather 
 badly hoaxed and was responsible for a good 
 deal of ridicule directed against the paper. 
 This, of course, is a deadly sin for a news- 
 paperman, and the chiefs of the office were 
 naturally severe about the matter. The 
 writer in question, feeling that his career 
 on the paper was over, went out of the office 
 to lunch, and as bad luck would have it en- 
 
244 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 countered Northeliffe's automobile drawing 
 up at the entrance. He knew that " Al- 
 fred," as Northcliffe is familiarly called, 
 would be fuming and was the last man on 
 earth whom it was desirable to meet in such 
 a mood. The young fellow braced himself 
 for the attack as Northcliffe beckoned him 
 forward. " What is this I hear? " exclaimed 
 the newspaper owner. " You have had your 
 leg pulled, haven't you? Don't take it too 
 much to heart. We all get deceived some- 
 times. I have had my leg pulled before 
 now. It's annoying, but don't worry about 
 it." 
 
 Northcliife frequently goes through his 
 editorial departments, making the acquaint- 
 ance of new men and exchanging a few 
 sentences of conversation with the estab- 
 lished members of the staff. Once he 
 stopped before the desk of a junior sub- 
 editor whom he had never seen before and 
 inquired: "How long have you been with 
 me?" 
 
 " About three months," was the reply. 
 
 " How are you getting on? Do you Uke 
 the work? Do you find it easy to get into 
 our ways? " 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 245 
 
 5> 
 
 " I like it very much.' 
 
 " How much money are you getting? 
 
 " Five pounds a week." 
 
 "Are you quite satisfied?" 
 
 " Perfectly satisfied, thank you." 
 
 "Well, you must remember this, that I 
 want no one on my staff who is a perfectly 
 satisfied man with a salary of five pounds a 
 week." 
 
 Members of any of the staffs who break 
 down are, when necessary, sent to recupera- 
 tive climates, their full salary and expenses 
 being paid until they recover. One of the 
 assistant editors who became afflicted with a 
 lingering malady was ill for three years be- 
 fore he died, but during that time he received 
 his salary, while his medical expenses also 
 were paid. Subsequently Northcliffe in- 
 vested a considerable sum of money for the 
 maintenance of his widow. This, however, 
 is but one instance of Northcliflfe's charities, 
 which are practically unending. His pri- 
 vate pension list, which is very large, not 
 only benefits the widows of deceased mem- 
 bers of his staff, but includes the names of 
 old and deserving workers who were with 
 him in the days of his early struggles. To 
 
246 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 what extent these charities reach no one 
 knows, for he never lets his right hand 
 know what his left hand does. 
 
 To the older of his men NorthclifTe to- 
 day is still affectionately known as " Al- 
 fred." He has a sense of humor, often 
 ironical, and likes to send little jabs that 
 will keep his employees up to the mark. 
 Just before the war began, for example, he 
 sent to some of his chiefs an illustration of 
 a beehive surrounded with bees, which con- 
 veyed the hint, " Be busy." One of the spe- 
 cial writers of the Daily Mail, the oldest in 
 point of service, received one day from 
 Northcliffe a magnificent gold-mounted 
 fountain pen. As the journalist in question 
 was rather inclined to take his ease when- 
 ever opportunity offered, he saw the point 
 at once. In showing his gift to a friend, 
 later on, he remarked : " Here's a nice gift 
 from Alfred. Evidently he wants me to do 
 some writing." " Well, have you done 
 any? " asked the friend. " Indeed, I have," 
 was the reply, " IVe just made out two 
 nice big expense accounts with my gold- 
 mounted pen." 
 
 In his office in the queer red-brick build- 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 247 
 
 ing which houses The Times, close by the 
 Thames with its grey fogs and orange- 
 colored mists, Northcliffe has a comfort- 
 able resting place, a sort of exaggerated 
 Morris chair, and in this he reclines 
 rather than sits. Yet he manages to ar- 
 range matters with his visitors on a basis 
 of intimacy sufficient to enable him to 
 recline without any one feeling ill at 
 ease. It is part of his system of conserving 
 energy. 
 
 His dynamic force, as already observed, 
 impresses every visitor who has the privilege 
 of seeing him in action. Will Irwin, the 
 American correspondent, who visited the 
 Times office, observed that while Northcliffe 
 greeted him with an approved Enghsh ac- 
 cent, its staccato style was almost American 
 in its nervous force. 
 
 " I noticed Northchffe's slight stoop, 
 which is characteristic," says Irwin. " It 
 does not suggest midnight hours over a 
 desk, but a kind of general peering curi- 
 osity about life. His smooth-shaven face 
 was in repose when I caught sight of it 
 first. It looked able and massive. It was 
 crowned with a thatch of brownish hair. 
 
248 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and there was about it a kind of propor- 
 tion and comeliness. As he advanced 
 toward me his prominent, broad, and rest- 
 less eye glanced sharply as he took me by 
 the hand. I can't recall the color of that 
 eye, for I was too much absorbed in its 
 expression of keen, live interest in every- 
 thing. He settled in an easy chair, rang 
 for tea, and started to talk. When I first 
 glimpsed his face I thought it massive. In 
 conversation it became boyish. His sharp, 
 straight nose, his crisp mouth, were as points 
 of light." 
 
 Irwin continues: "When I entered the 
 room Northcliffe had just settled an im- 
 portant point of policy for the Daily Mail, 
 Then his secretary announced the editor of 
 a comic weekly, one of the papers that he 
 controls. Before the editor could reach the 
 desk Northcliffe had the latest copy of the 
 comic spread out before him and started 
 the conversation. 
 
 " * Smith, sit down,' he began. ' Why 
 don't you put paunches on those policemen? 
 The public expects comic policemen to be 
 fat. And the persecuted husband must al- 
 ways be thin. That fellow doesn't look hen- 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 249 
 
 pecked; he looks as if she had fed him well. 
 Be careful or we shall get too refined.' 
 
 " With that joke he dismissed the editor 
 of the comic weekly, laughing. The next 
 visitor was one of the editors of the Daily 
 Mail, Again Northcliffe was deep in con- 
 versation before the visitor had taken a seat. 
 
 " ' Excellent article on page three,' he 
 said; 'I like the way it runs on from one 
 thing to another. But it should have been 
 on the editorial page. There is too little 
 news to it. People look for news on page 
 three.' On another page of the current 
 Daily Mail Northcliffe or his secretary had 
 marked an item from a continental corre- 
 spondent. 
 
 " ' That is good,' he said. * That man can 
 write. Watch him.' 
 
 " There entered presently the head of one 
 of the mechanical departments. Something 
 had gone wrong with a rotary press. 
 Northcliffe took this occasion to inquire into 
 the state of the presses in general. Number 
 three was below her guaranteed run the last 
 time he had heard from her. Had they 
 found out yet what was the matter? How 
 was the flying paster working? 
 
250 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 " Out of this talk grew the impression 
 that Northchffe knew every machine in. the 
 shop, with its powers and its latest improve- 
 ments. And he seemed to take as much 
 delight in his knowledge of his machinery 
 as in his understanding of European politics. 
 
 " In fact, when the session was done and 
 he looked across at me with that peering, 
 searching glance of his, I felt the Celt in 
 him coming to the surface. ' Oh, man, am I 
 no a bonny fighter? ' quoth Alan Beck in 
 his moment of triumph to David Balfour. 
 ' My boy, do I not know this business ? ' 
 Northcliffe seemed to say." 
 
 As explained in previous chapters, North- 
 cliffe is a strong believer in the maxim that 
 an efficient laborer is worthy of his hire. 
 " Make your employees contented," is his 
 rule. Adequate compensation, he is con- 
 vinced, is the secret of contentment, and he 
 has found that it is a good investment. Like 
 most successful employers he is deeply inter- 
 ested in those who work for him. On busy 
 mornings, when it is impossible for him to 
 glance through all his personal mail, he has 
 been heard to remark: "Run through it 
 quickly and see if there are any letters from 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 251 
 
 my work people." They always receive his 
 attention. 
 
 Personahty, it has been remarked, is a 
 very mysterious thing. A man cannot al- 
 ways be estimated by what he does. In 
 Lord Northcliife's case a very good idea of 
 him can be formed from what he says. 
 When interviewed he invariably speaks to 
 the point and says something that is worth 
 recording. He is, in fact, one of those for- 
 tunate people who talk well. In one of his 
 recent chats he discussed success in hfe and 
 the best means to attain it. His own suc- 
 cess he largely attributes to concentration, 
 the instincts with which he was born, and 
 good health. 
 
 " A good physical condition," he observed, 
 " is fundamental. Then comes regular liv- 
 ing. In my own case I manage my life, as 
 far as possible, with machine-like regularity. 
 I have regular hours set apart for exercise 
 and fresh air. Most business men spend too 
 much time at their desks, thus losing their 
 sense of proportion, their correct perspec- 
 tive, and become buried in details. I have 
 to leave England to see my business in its 
 true perspective. I do not follow the de- 
 
252 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 tails of my affairs, but I know them. Then 
 I put them into the hands of men I can 
 trust. My faculty for selecting the right 
 men is, of course, one of my most valuable 
 assets. I made some serious mistakes in 
 this respect when I was younger, but none 
 in late years. I select men entirely on my 
 own judgment, without reference to their 
 past records. Other things being equal, I 
 beheve that university men are the best." 
 The last remark is interesting because Lord 
 Northcliffe is not a university man. 
 
 On another occasion, the great publisher 
 again emphasized the importance of concen- 
 tration as the secret of success. " Men 
 fail," he said, " because they dissipate their 
 energies in pleasure or in meddhng with a 
 dozen different concerns. I have centered 
 myself on one thing, journalism. That is 
 my business, my recreation, my all. To 
 concentration, of course, must be added 
 other essential traits, but that alone will ac- 
 complish a great deal. As to the other 
 quaUties which bring success, I should place 
 first: industry, self -culture, cheerfulness, 
 self-reliance, determination, confidence, in- 
 itiative, ambition, and optimism. Then 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 253 
 
 come foresight, leadership, ability to select 
 and inspire, great mental and physical 
 stamina, superior judgment, willingness to 
 incur big risks, personal magnetism, dy- 
 namic force, imagination, and common sense. 
 Above all things, avoid worry, for that has 
 killed more people than hard work ever 
 killed." 
 
 In discussing his method of selecting effi- 
 cient subordinates Lord Northcliffe said: 
 " In our own case we place great value on 
 early training. We are even particular 
 about hiring our office boys, who may 
 eventually become department managers. 
 In Napoleon's army every private, figura- 
 tively speaking, had a marshal's baton in his 
 knapsack, and all our young men, on the 
 same principle, are encouraged to be am- 
 bitious. Their work speaks for itself, and 
 that enables us to make judicious selections 
 when important places have to be filled." 
 
 When anxious fathers come to the famous 
 journalist and ask him how their sons should 
 make a start as newspapermen, he invari- 
 ably says : " The first essential is the best 
 possible education, including a knowledge 
 of French and Spanish, then a period of 
 
254 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 initiation in a newspaper ofBce in a small 
 town." Such advice is eminently practical, 
 for the beginner who finds employment in 
 the office of a small-town daily undoubtedly 
 gets a better insight into newspaper making 
 than the young man who starts out as a cub 
 reporter on a newspaper in a large city. 
 
 As the result of his own experience, Lord 
 Northchffe has expressed the following 
 opinion in regard to some other requisites 
 for success in journalism and the publishing 
 business: " I believe in hard work," he says, 
 " but hard work is not enough. Many peo- 
 ple work with their eyes on the ground. I 
 believe in travel. Our young men don't go 
 abroad enough. I attribute our family suc- 
 cess in no small measure to the fact that all 
 my brothers and I have traveled extensively. 
 
 " Originality is important. I believe that 
 half the journahstic notions of what the 
 public wants to read are wrong. They are 
 largely based on old-fashioned tradition or 
 upon the journaUst's personal tastes. I be- 
 lieve the pubUc is a far better critic than is 
 usually imagined. And I do not believe 
 that any amount of advertising will keep up 
 a bad thing. The public does not care one 
 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 255 
 
 iota about size; if anything, a small jour- 
 nal is preferred to a big one. It is a broad 
 principle of our business never to compete 
 in size with anybody. More money has been 
 lost in journalism on the theory that the 
 pubhc wants bulk than on any other theory. 
 What the public wants is quality, character, 
 individuality." 
 
 Having chmbed from obscurity to fame 
 imaided. Lord Northchffe is well quahfied 
 to give advice to young men who wish to 
 rise in the world. When he was asked re- 
 cently to give some suggestions for the 
 guidance of other climbers, he said: "My 
 advice to every young man would be this: 
 Concentrate your energies and work hard. 
 SpeciaUze, be original, launch out on new 
 experiments, and be sure to have the courage 
 of your convictions. I think that special- 
 ization is the keynote of success, and this 
 principle will be even more essential in the 
 future. The world's effective workers are 
 constantly increasing in number. Competi- 
 tion is steadily growing keener. The man 
 who wins recognition in this twentieth cen- 
 tury will have to do some one thing ex- 
 tremely well. If I were giving just one 
 
256 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 word of advice to a young man I should 
 say — concentrate. When you have fixed 
 the lines on which you want to travel and 
 know that you are right, keep to them and 
 do not listen to what other people say. 
 Every young man has a chance to rise, but 
 it needs good judgment to know when to 
 seize opportunities, and persistence to keep 
 hold of them when they are caught." 
 
 World famous as he is to-day. Lord 
 Northchffe's advice is full of encouragement 
 to those earnest workers who have not yet 
 reached places of eminence. As he wisely 
 points out, if only the right kind of seed be 
 planted the fruit will ripen by and by. Nor 
 are results always attained in a hurry. In- 
 deed, one of the great lessons derived from 
 the life of this successful man is that 
 patience, perseverance, determination, and 
 unflagging courage are qualities which, given 
 a suitable environment, will surely win their 
 reward. 
 
IX 
 
 SOCIAL GLIMPSES 
 
 There are two Northcliffes, one who is 
 known in public life, the other who is known 
 at home, and they differ in many ways. 
 The stern fighter of inefficiency, the inces- 
 sant worker and busy man of affairs, be- 
 comes transformed when he) crosses the 
 threshold of his home. In this busy man's 
 life there is, in fact, one definite rule which 
 might be copied with advantage by over- 
 worked American millionaires. His rest- 
 ing hours are devoted to complete relaxa- 
 tion, although in war time he has had to 
 keep a sharp watch on the news and the di- 
 rection of his newspapers, especially The 
 Times, 
 
 An English wit once remarked: "It is 
 vulgar to talk about one's business in social 
 life. Only people like stockbrokers do that, 
 and then merely at dinner parties." Lord 
 
 257 
 
258 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Northcliffe apparently takes a similar view. 
 Except in a time of a great national crisis 
 his work for the day ends when the time for 
 dinner begins, and from that moment no 
 guest at any of his houses ever discusses 
 business. Unlike so many men of decided 
 talent, Northcliffe reveals at home one of 
 the best sides of his nature. His bubbling 
 wit, brilliant conversation, and good cheer 
 are for his own fireside; all that is cutting, 
 critical, and denunciatory is for public ene- 
 mies or inefHcients who wear a rhinoceros 
 hide. At home one sees the real North- 
 cliffe, filled with all the youthful impulses 
 and vitalized energy of a Peter Pan who is 
 never likely to grow old. 
 
 Neither his tremendous business respon- 
 sibilities nor his activities as newspaper 
 owner, editorial director, and public man 
 consume his whole energies. In spite of his 
 busy life he has found time to become an 
 expert at any game which he has taken up, 
 and has carried his spirit of thoroughness 
 even into his recreations. He plays a swift 
 game of tennis, and he is an enthusiastic 
 golfer. Having been one of the first Eng- 
 lishmen to take up motoring, he knows all 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 259 
 
 that is worth knowing about an automobile. 
 He has more than a dozen cars, of all varie- 
 ties, and before the war it was his custom, 
 in the winter season, to travel from London 
 to the south of France in one of his motor 
 vehicles whenever he went to his villa at 
 Beauheu on the Riviera coast. 
 ' Northcliff e has taken a great deal of in- 
 terest in automobile racing, and has offered 
 prizes in connection with the sport. He has 
 also taken a foremost part in promoting 
 motor-boat racing, the race for the Harms- 
 worth Cup having been one of the great 
 events in these contests. It is quite pos- 
 sible that some day he may become an avi- 
 ator, for he has been interested in aircraft 
 from the time they first appeared. For 
 years he has been well known as an angler 
 — not with hook and worm, but as a manipu- 
 lator of a slender rod and artificial flies in 
 fishing for trout. He has written many 
 articles describing his fishing experiences, 
 which include tarpon fishing in the Gulf of 
 Mexico and exciting tussles with giant tuna 
 on the Pacific Coast. 
 
 Although as a man of wealth and position 
 Northcliflte has moved in every grade of 
 
260 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 fashionable society, his indinations are not 
 so much for the Hfe of fashion as for that 
 of achievement. On this account the guests 
 at his houses are usually people who have 
 done something useful in the world, either in 
 the domain of government, in the industrial 
 realm, or in literature, science, or art. Any 
 one who visits him is practically certain to 
 find society that is interesting. 
 
 The famous newspaper owner attributes 
 no small measure of his success to his mar- 
 ried life, which has been singularly un- 
 clouded and happy. To-day Lord and 
 Lady Northcliffe are as charming, unaf- 
 fected, and delightful a couple as when their 
 joint efforts yielded barely fifty dollars a 
 week. 
 
 Not only is the wife of the great journal- 
 ist one of the most interesting and attractive 
 women in English society, but she is also 
 one of the most popular. Her manner is 
 English in its graciousness, her voice is 
 Enghsh in its softness and beauty of modu- 
 lation. From the start she was a great 
 help to her husband, both through her keen 
 powers of observation and through her un- 
 usually good judgment in literary matters. 
 
Lady Northcliffe 
 
 From a recent portrait 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 261 
 
 At a later period her help was equally 
 important in the social realm. 
 
 On the leading questions of the day Lady 
 Northcliffe has pronounced views, and espe- 
 cially concerning the question of suffrage. 
 A lover of the home, she is opposed to the 
 suffrage movement, and while a firm be- 
 liever in vocational life for women, she does 
 not consider it necessary for women to have 
 votes in order to effect reforms. 
 
 On one of her visits to New York, Lady 
 Northcliff e was interviewed by a woman 
 writer, and in the course of this chat she 
 gave some thoroughly practical views on the 
 subject of marriage. Among other things 
 she said: "Everyone ought to marry, be- 
 cause marriage is a woman's sphere and a 
 man's success. I don't beheve that single 
 men ever develop the best there is in them. 
 It is but natural that they should not, be- 
 cause their natures are incomplete without 
 the softening, tempering influence of woman. 
 It may be said that a bad marriage wrecks 
 many a man's life, but that simply goes to 
 prove how greatly marriage counts. 
 
 " The way to be happily married is to 
 marry one who has the proper attributes to 
 
262 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 complement one's nature. There is nothing 
 in the world that will not yield to such a 
 combination — social success, professional suc- 
 cess, fmancial success, and the greatest suc- 
 cess of all, real happiness in the home. All 
 these are possible to the men and women who 
 marry well. To find a suitable affinity it is 
 necessary to follow that oft-repeated maxim, 
 ' Know thyself.' That is quite possible, for 
 we are not such enigmas as we sometimes 
 like to think. And if we are perfectly hon- 
 est, which it is to our interest to be, we 
 must recognize our shortcomings as well 
 as our good qualities; then all that re- 
 mains is to find some one to fill up the 
 gaps." 
 
 Such words of plain common sense need 
 no comment, but they serve to prove that 
 Lord Northcliffe was as fortunate in matri- 
 mony as in the great enterprises which 
 brought him wealth and fame. 
 
 The charities of this interesting couple are 
 unbounded, especially since the war began. 
 Having no children of his own, Lord North- 
 cliffe has not only taken a deep interest in 
 the families of his brothers, but has been 
 practically father by adoption to a host of 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 263 
 
 children among the members of his staff and 
 other associates. 
 
 Mrs. Harmsworth, the mother of the dis- 
 tinguished journalist, who is now in the 
 seventies, is a splendid old lady, with a most 
 kindly manner, and just the suspicion of a 
 high-class Irish accent. An intellectual 
 woman, familiar with the best in literature 
 and art, her influence on her sons has largely 
 shaped their destinies. She has the peculiar 
 distinction of being the only woman who has 
 four sons in the British parliament — Lord 
 Northcliffe and Lord Rothermere in the 
 House of Lords, and Cecil and Leicester 
 Harmsworth in the House of Commons. 
 
 Besides having a London house near Hyde 
 Park Corner, Mrs. Harmsworth has an old- 
 fashioned country place, Poynters Hall in 
 Hertfordsire. Wherever she is, her eldest 
 son. Lord Northchffe, when at home, seldom 
 allows a day to pass without calling upon 
 her, and his invariable custom is to set aside 
 one day each week to be spent with her. 
 She is often consulted on matters of im- 
 portance, and her advice is greatly prized. 
 On her side she wields a firm maternal 
 despotism in guarding the health of her 
 
264 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 sons, who are obedient to her slightest 
 wishes. 
 
 In addition to the members of the family 
 already mentioned, there are three Harms- 
 worth brothers and three sisters, all but one 
 of whom are married. Of the brothers, 
 Hildebrand, who was connected with the 
 periodical business for a short time, had 
 some attraction to journalism and bought 
 the GlobCj an old, conservative London eve- 
 ning paper. St. John, who had much of the 
 enterprise and originality that characterize 
 his brother. Lord Northchffe, was preparing 
 to enter the newspaper business twelve years 
 ago when he met with an automobile accident 
 which crippled him for life. In spite of this 
 he has taken an active part in the manage- 
 ment of a successful company which he 
 formed to promote the sale of a table water, 
 which has found a large market throughout 
 the world. Vyvyan, the youngest brother, 
 had no inclination for journalism, and hav- 
 ing bought a country estate, he became what 
 is called in England " a gentleman farmer." 
 
 As already mentioned, Lord Northchffe, 
 when plain Alfred Harmsworth, received a 
 baronetcy in 1904 and became Sir Alfred 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 265 
 
 Harmsworth. In 1906 he was created a 
 peer with the title of Baron Northchffe of 
 the Isle of Thanet, and in 1917 he received 
 the title of viscount. On his accession to the 
 peerage he adopted the unique armorial crest 
 shown on the title page. Two rolls of paper, 
 crossed on a shield, are surrounded with bees 
 (presumably busy), while above the shield a 
 hand grasps a third roll of paper. The 
 shield is supported by two gladiators armed 
 for the fray, typical of the eminent journal- 
 ist's combats in the realms of newspapers 
 and poKtics. Beneath this design is the ap- 
 propriate motto, " He who acts diligently 
 acts well." 
 
 Lord Northcliffe's brother, Harold, who 
 was raised to the peerage in 1914 as Baron 
 Rothermere of Rothermere, Hemsted, Kent, 
 had also been a baronet for several years. 
 He has an attractive personality and is ex- 
 tremely popular among his business asso- 
 ciates and employees. Recently he has held 
 the important post of Air Minister, having 
 charge of the department which superintends 
 the construction and maintenance of Britain's 
 aerial squadrons. 
 
 The terrible sacrifices entailed by the war 
 
266 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 have been experienced by Lord Rothermere 
 to the fullest degree. In February, 1918, 
 his eldest son and heir to the title, Lieutenant 
 Harold Vyvyan St. George Harmsworth, 
 died in England from wounds received at 
 the Battle of Cambrai. Lieutenant Vere 
 Sidney Tudor Harmsworth, his second son, 
 was killed in action in 1916. 
 
 In these days Lord Northcliffe is seldom 
 at one place for more than three or four 
 days. Being a man of action, he finds re- 
 laxation in movement. He has a London 
 house, a country house, and at least four 
 nooks in remote places in which he finds rest 
 and recreation. One of them is a cottage on 
 the banks of a celebrated trout stream, and 
 another is what he calls a " sleeping box," 
 perched high on a lovely hill in Surrey, 
 its whereabouts being known to only a 
 few peopkrf He calls it "No Hall, No- 
 where." 
 
 Lord Northchffe has entertained so many 
 of his American friends at Sutton Place, 
 formerly his largest country house, that it 
 may be of interest to mention that he has 
 disposed of the property to the Duke of 
 Sutherland, who intends to make his home 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 267 
 
 there when living south of the Tweed. 
 There are few EngUsh manor houses to com- 
 pare with Sutton Place, either in charm of 
 design or in setting. This venerable mansion 
 was built between 1520 and 1530 by Sir 
 Richard Weston, one of the " Councillors " 
 of Henry VIII. He was also ambassador 
 to the court of France. While in France Sir 
 Richard was greatly influenced by the Ren- 
 aissance architecture, and the manner in 
 which he blended it with the Tudor style in 
 building his home at Sutton resulted in a 
 mansion unique of its kind. It was there 
 that Sir Richard entertained Henry VIII, 
 and other distinguished men of the 
 time. 
 
 Sutton Place is about thirty miles from 
 London and not far from the quaint old 
 town of Guildford. Constructed of red 
 brick and terra-cotta, now mellowed by age, 
 it is in a wonderful state of preservation. 
 Surrounding it is a beautiful park in which 
 there are many trees centuries old, while 
 the flower gardens are noted for their beauty, 
 gardening and the culture of roses being 
 one of Lady Northcliffe's hobbies. A few 
 years ago some American robins and grey 
 
268 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 squirrels were imported and turned loose on 
 the estate. These are familiar objects to- 
 day, having increased rapidly. 
 
 The old mansion is superbly maintained, 
 the fine oak panehng having been preserved, 
 while the antique furniture and objects of 
 art in the principal rooms have been gath- 
 ered with rare taste. Many charming por- 
 traits hang in the ancient hall, the walls of 
 which are ornamented with armor and im- 
 plements of the chase. In recent years Lord 
 and Lady Northcliffe managed to recover 
 many of the belongings of the place which 
 had been sold or otherwise aUenated. 
 Equipped with all the comforts and con- 
 veniences of twentieth-century life, there is 
 no discordant note in the atmosphere of this 
 picturesque Tudor manor. 
 
 Sutton Place has a romantic and tragic 
 history. Francis Weston, son of Sir Rich- 
 ard Weston, who built the house, was one of 
 the reputed lovers of Anne Boleyn, queen of 
 Henry the Eighth. Having been convicted 
 of treason, with several other young men, he 
 was beheaded on Tower Hill. His ghost is 
 traditionally supposed to haunt Sutton 
 Place, and on the anniversary of his death is 
 
o 
 
 E 
 
 5=1 
 O 
 
 in 
 
 _o 
 
 'en 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 '^ 
 
 13 
 
 H 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 ^ 
 
 O 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 269 
 
 said to pass through the corridors bearing 
 the severed head and clanking a chain. 
 
 The tragic fate of Francis Weston made 
 no difference in the friendship between 
 Henry the Eighth and Sir Richard, the 
 entire Weston family — father, mother, and 
 the son's yomig widow — Shaving continued to 
 accept and enjoy the king's favors. The 
 last male Weston died in 1730, leaving a 
 daughter from whom the present owners of 
 the property are descended. As the estate is 
 entailed, it was leased to Lord Northcliffe. 
 
 A number of distinguished Americans 
 have been the guests of Lord and Lady 
 Northcliffe at Sutton Place, including 
 Colonel Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, 
 and Wilham Dean Howells. 
 
 Northcliffe still retains his first country 
 house, Elmwood, on the coast of Kent, which 
 he bought with the early profits of Answers, 
 A sentimental interest thus attaches to this 
 attractive little mansion, which is a quaint 
 structure, the interior very homeUke and 
 comfortable, with charming rooms, much old 
 furniture, and many books. 
 
 Elmwood is situated in a part of Kent 
 known as the Isle of Thanet and adjoins 
 
270 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the village of St. Peter's. About half a mile 
 from the house are the white chalk cliffs that 
 overlook the English Channel. On one 
 promontory, the North Foreland, stands an 
 important lighthouse, and adjoining this, on 
 part of the Elmwood estate, is a point de- 
 scribed in old documents as " Ye North 
 Cliffe." It was from this place that the 
 title Northchffe was derived. 
 
 When the German destroyers attacked the 
 coast of Kent in the summer of 1917, it was 
 easy for them to aim at Elmwood, which is 
 almost on a line with the hghthouse. On 
 that occasion a shell passed through the 
 house and partly destroyed the library. 
 Northcliffe, who escaped injury, at once tele- 
 phoned to the staff of The Times that " they 
 would hear with mixed feelings that he was 
 not hurt." 
 
 Until recently the eminent journalist had 
 a house in the ultra-fashionable quarter of 
 London adjacent to St. James' Palace, 
 Marlborough House, and Buckingham Pal- 
 ace, the abodes of royalty. Lord North- 
 cliffe's former residence, 22 St. James' 
 Place, a charming old mansion, was occupied 
 in the early part of the last century by 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 271 
 
 Thomas Rogers, the banker poet, contempo- 
 rary and friend of Lord Byron, Tom Moore, 
 and other hterary celebrities. Many men 
 and women who figured conspicuously in the 
 history of that period visited the mansion of 
 the poet, who violated all precedents by be- 
 ing a man of wealth. 
 
 The war has changed Lord Northcliffe's 
 domestic arrangements, and hke many other 
 people of distinction he has been caught in 
 the wave of economy that has swept over 
 England. An American writer who called 
 on him at the Times office recently, and 
 afterwards went home with him, was sur- 
 prised to find that he was occupying quar- 
 ters in a less select district. " Northcliff e's 
 car passed Buckingham Palace," says this 
 writer, " and after making several turns it 
 entered Buckingham Street, a narrow thor- 
 oughfare, almost hke an alley. It stopped 
 in front of a row of small houses, and Lord 
 Northcliffe got out, remarking: * This is my 
 home, number eight. The house next door 
 is Lord Lytton's.' I was much interested, 
 and went inside to see more of this change of 
 state as compared with the palatial residence 
 in St. James' Place. 
 
272 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 " On the ground floor there was a room 
 about eighteen feet square which was the 
 dining room, furnished neatly and plainly; 
 in the rear the ' den,' and then a large hall 
 with a stairway. The house fronts about 
 twenty-five feet and has three stories. I 
 should say that $100 a month would be a 
 pretty stiff rent for it. 
 
 " ' What did you do with the fine house in 
 St. James' Place? ' I asked. 
 
 " ' We let it to a man who had spent five 
 million dollars in building a fine house,' re- 
 plied Lord Northchffe. * It was too expen- 
 sive to maintain in war times, so the owner 
 closed it up and came down to what he 
 regarded as contraction and economy in St. 
 James' Place. We, in turn, moved to this 
 little house, displacing people who find a 
 flat good enough, and their predecessors in 
 the flat doubtless now content themselves in 
 lodgings. We keep three servants here when 
 we can get them. With the money saved by 
 living in Buckingham Street instead of St. 
 James' Place, Lady Northchffe is able to 
 keep and support a hospital of her own. So 
 far from finding it a deprivation, my wife 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 273 
 
 and I like it. It is less trouble and there 
 are fewer complications.' " 
 
 The war hospital which Lady Northcliffe 
 conducts has been reserved for officers. It 
 contains three general wards and a private 
 one, which has had the honor of accommo- 
 dating a general. From the windows can 
 be seen the grounds of Mortimer House, one 
 of the famous London mansions. In de- 
 scribing the establishment, a correspondent 
 of the Pall Mall Gazette recently said: 
 " The wards have been decorated with un- 
 erring good taste under Lady Northchffe's 
 personal direction, the furniture having 
 been obtained from one of Lord North- 
 cliff e's country houses. A large bowl of 
 flowers beside each bed completes an unmis- 
 takably comfortable, homelike scheme. 
 Lady Northchffe herself, in the most be- 
 coming of white nursing outfits, moves about 
 like the presiding angel of the house, with 
 a smile on her lips and a cheerful word for 
 all. She is as much at home in the little 
 white marble operating theater (the most 
 complete of its kind) as in the cosey, firelit 
 apartment where the nurses take their rest, 
 >^hile the officers' day room, furnished and 
 
274 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 decorated under her direction, lacks noth- 
 ing the most ideal home could provide. 
 The house, which ranks as a primary hos- 
 pital, accommodates twenty-one cases, and 
 for months there has not been a vacancy." 
 Since he became a prominent figure in 
 England, Lord NorthchflPe's activities in the 
 social world have been usually turned in a 
 useful direction, a tendency which was no- 
 ticeable even in his youthful days. As long 
 ago as 1894, for instance, when as Alfred 
 Harmsworth he had achieved success and 
 made a fortune at the early age of twenty- 
 nine, he created a stir by promoting an 
 Arctic expedition. The Jackson-Harms- 
 worth Expedition, as it was called, was 
 headed by Frederick Jackson, F.R.G.S. In 
 September, 1894, the party sailed for the 
 Arctic Ocean in a staunch whaling vessel, 
 the Windward, the plan being to establish a 
 camp in Franz Josef Land and to make a 
 dash from there to the pole. This project, 
 however, ended in failure, although the ex- 
 pedition proved successful in other ways. 
 Not only were some important observations 
 made, but one day Nansen, who had left his 
 ship the Fram drifting in the polar sea, came 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 275 
 
 walking over the ice in an attempt to reach 
 a settlement on land, and was unexpect- 
 edly rescued by a hunting party from the 
 Windward. Nansen returned with Jackson 
 to England. In 1898 the Windward was 
 presented to Lieutenant Peary for use in the 
 Arctic region. 
 
 Another early social event which excited 
 much interest occurred in 1897, when North- 
 cliffe, then Alfred Harmsworth, entertained 
 at his house in Berkeley Square the premiers 
 of the British colonies who visited London to 
 attend Queen Victoria's jubilee. 
 
 Lord and Lady Northcliffe have traveled 
 extensively, and to this fact is largely due 
 the busy journalist's thorough knowledge of 
 the world. He has seen practically every 
 country in Europe, and in addition to fre- 
 quent visits to the United States and Canada 
 his travels have taken him to Egypt and 
 India. 
 
 During his visit to India in 1897, he made 
 a careful study of native questions, and since 
 jfchen has done much to dispel misconception 
 and pave the way for warmer relations be- 
 tween the Indian Empire and Great Britain. 
 His efforts in fostering good will between 
 
276 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the two countries cannot be easily gauged 
 as to results, but it is certain that they have 
 done much toward drawing the bonds still 
 closer together. 
 
 In the course of his travels Northcliff e has 
 seen most of the world's famous sights. 
 Those that made the greatest impression 
 upon him were the Roman Forum, the Taj- 
 Mahal in India, the Grand Canon of Ari- 
 zona, and Niagara Falls, which, he says, 
 " one does not begin to understand until it 
 has been studied for at least three days." 
 Naturally, he has met many celebrities, and 
 there are probably few heads of European 
 governments, crowned or uncrowned, with 
 whom he has failed to become acquainted. 
 A monarch for whom he has a great regard 
 is King Alfonso of Spain. One of his first 
 meetings with that able ruler was at Pau, 
 in the south of France, about nine years 
 ago, when a number of distinguished people 
 gathered there to witness the first trial flights 
 of the Wright aeroplane. At that time 
 King Alfonso and Northcliffe discussed the 
 future of aviation and agreed that the 
 Wright brothers had created a new era. 
 The king, it may be added, is numbered 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 277 
 
 among the readers of the London Times; 
 and the same is true of other monarchs, in- 
 eluding even the Kaiser, who, in spite of the 
 war, is said to insist on getting his Times 
 regularly. 
 
 True democrat that he is, however, North- 
 cliffe prefers the company of newspaper folk 
 to that of fashionable society, and would 
 probably rather meet a newspaper ruler than 
 a crowned head. If the nobility are on one 
 side of the road and the members of the 
 journalistic profession on the other, give 
 Lord Northcliife a chance and he will al- 
 ways herd with those who have been his life- 
 long associates, with whom he retains sym- 
 pathy and affinity, and whose ability he rates 
 higher than ability in any other line of hu- 
 man endeavor. He is quick tempered, but 
 also good hearted to the core, and no fellow 
 craftsman ever applies to him in vain for 
 legitimate assistance in his work. He is 
 never ashamed but always proud of his pro- 
 fession, and is willing in any company to 
 stand up and be counted with a reporter. 
 
 The versatile journalist has been described 
 as a man who has the hardest shell and the 
 softest heart in England. As an instance 
 
278 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of his good will toward newspaper workers 
 a story is told of a kindly act that he per- 
 formed when the Supreme War Council met 
 at Versailles. Just before the first session 
 opened, the British Prime Minister, — Lloyd 
 George, — Mr. Balfour, Lord Milner, and 
 Earl Reading held a preliminary meeting at 
 the Hotel de Crillon. At that moment a 
 little woman reporter stopped NorthcHffe at 
 the door of the hotel and asked for his help. 
 She wanted to get an interview with Lloyd 
 George, which seemed to be utterly impos- 
 sible at such a time. Northcliffe, however, 
 had known her and regarded her highly, and 
 was at once keen to render assistance in ob- 
 taining what she wanted. He went into the 
 meeting to see what could be done, and when 
 he came out, he said : " I interrupted them, 
 but apologized and explained matters." On 
 the way from the room to the carriage the 
 woman reporter, through Northcliffe's good 
 oiBces, was enabled to have a chat with the 
 Prime Minister and get a story that went 
 all over the world with credit to herself. 
 
 In private life Lord Northcliffe, as al- 
 ready observed, makes it a rule to find rest 
 and recreation, but the war, which has 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 279 
 
 created abnormal conditions, has compelled 
 him to modify this excellent rule. In these 
 days of unexpected happenings, it is neces- 
 sary for him to keep an eye on the news as 
 he rests, and occasionally he must find that 
 the softer pleasures of repose and the fur- 
 ther reaches of reflection are beyond him. 
 By no stretch of imagination could any one 
 picture Lord Northcliff e watching the clouds 
 and indifferent to the hour at which the 
 postman should bring the morning papers* 
 
 A glimpse of Northcliffe's strenuous life 
 at the present day was recently given by 
 Major Eric Fisher Wood in an article that 
 appeared in the Century, On his arrival at 
 Elmwood, where he was a guest. Major 
 Wood had a chat with his host in the hbrary, 
 a high-ceilinged apartment, hned with shelves 
 containing every conceivable kind of refer- 
 ence volume. Several tables were piled up 
 with letters, telegrams, and papers which 
 the secretaries were required to find in- 
 stantly whenever needed. On one table 
 were placed several telephones, which were 
 in almost constant use. 
 
 " After dinner," says this writer, " we ad- 
 journed to a little sitting room and there sat 
 
280 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 around an open fire, while Lord North- 
 cliffe lay down at full length on a couch by 
 the fireside. His secretaries were com- 
 manded to bring the gramophone and to 
 play furiously. They played ragtime and 
 one steps from 8.45 until 10 o'clock, taking 
 turns at shifting the records and changing 
 needles. Meanwhile conversation continued 
 uninterruptedly except when the telephone 
 bell in the adjacent hallway rang because of 
 business so important that his editors felt 
 obliged to call Northchffe even in the midst 
 of his sacred period of ' rest.' A secretary 
 wrote down the message and then came to 
 report. 
 
 "During the period between dinner and 
 10 o'clock Lord ^NTorthcliffe positively re- 
 fused to get up from his couch and pre- 
 tended to be resting constantly. It was easy 
 to see that even when his body rested his 
 subconscious mind was as alert as ever. On 
 one occasion a secretary, having answered 
 the telephone, reported the message, and 
 having been told what answer to transmit 
 went out again to telephone, shutting the 
 door behind him, while Northcliffe resumed 
 his conversation. The secretary in the hall 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 281 
 
 outside, in repeating in the telephone North- 
 chffe's reply, got one word wrong, saying 
 * Thursday ' instead of ' Monday.' Despite 
 the discussion which was going on, North- 
 cUffe heard it instantly, and through the 
 door, as quick as a shot, sent another sec- 
 retary rushing out to correct the mistake. 
 
 "At 9.30 he ordered a secretary to tele- 
 phone to the Times office and obtain the 
 details of the next day's news. This is done 
 every evening, that ISTorthcliffe may run over 
 the day's items before he retires. The secre- 
 tary was gone about ten minutes and brought 
 back six or eight pages of shorthand, begin- 
 ning with a report of a destroyer's fight in 
 the North Sea and ending with a resume 
 of a violent attack upon Northcliff e by some 
 hostile newspaper. 
 
 " It is always a most illuminating light 
 upon any man's character to observe the 
 attitude with which he sustains the abuse 
 of his opponents, and it was therefore with 
 the keenest interest that I watched the little 
 scene. Before beginning to read the attack 
 the secretary grinned cheerfully and ex- 
 pectantly, while Lord NorthcUffe lay at full 
 length upon the couch with his head turned 
 
282 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 in attentive interest, smiling a smile of 
 happy contentment as would have shamed 
 the famous Cheshire Cat. It was not difBcult 
 to see that he is a man who would be wretch- 
 edly unhappy without a plentiful supply of 
 enemies, and that he values their attacks 
 more highly than the plaudits of his friends." 
 
 Like Harriman, the railroad magnate, 
 who had a telephone in every room, North- 
 cliffe usually contrives to keep in touch with 
 his newspapers, no matter how far from 
 London he may be. Sometimes he picks up 
 a piece of important news and loses no time 
 in telephoning it to one of his papers. With 
 him the instinct of the newspaper man is 
 always in evidence. How well it is put to 
 use the author had an opportunity of ob- 
 serving on one occasion when motoring with 
 the keen-eyed journaUst from London to 
 Elmwood, a distance of nearly seventy miles. 
 On the way a halt for luncheon was made 
 at an old-fashioned inn close to a small vil- 
 lage. 
 
 Afterwards, while standing at the door- 
 way and waiting for the car to come from 
 the garage, Northchffe started conversation 
 with an old man who was seated on a bench 
 
The Hall, Sutton Place 
 
 In use since the days of Henry VIII, this ancient room is 
 the embodiment of quaint picturesqueness 
 
 Courtesy of Macmillan Co. 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 283 
 
 near by. A quaint old figure, wearing a 
 smockfrock, the venerable countryman might 
 have stepped from a painting by Moreland. 
 He was almost ninety years old, he said, 
 and although the village was only forty miles 
 from London he had never been to the city. 
 He seemed to have been quite indifferent 
 about the wonders of the great metropolis 
 and had been content to pass his days in 
 working as a farm laborer in the neighbor- 
 hood, seldom venturing more than a few 
 miles away. 
 
 "An excellent idea for a fourth-page 
 article in the Daily Mail" remarked North- 
 cliffe, as he made a note in his memorandum 
 book. " There must be many villages of 
 this kind, with old-fashioned people and 
 queer customs, even in these days of auto- 
 mobiles and aeroplanes." 
 
 Having obtained an idea, Northcliffe was 
 anxious to pay for it. " Now, grandfather," 
 said he to the old inhabitant, " if you could 
 have anything that you liked in this world 
 and could have it this minute, what would 
 you choose?" 
 
 Dazed by this unexpected visit of a mod- 
 em Santa Claus, the old man stammered 
 
284 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 that he would like nothing better than two 
 pounds of the best tobacco, some new clay 
 pipes with long stems, and a sovereign ($5). 
 His grandchildren, he explained, took good 
 care of him, but there were times when he 
 felt that he would like to have a little change 
 of his own to do what he pleased with, and 
 occasionally his supply of " baccy " ran 
 short. 
 
 "You shall have them at once," said 
 Northcliffe. Turning to the landlord of the 
 inn, he asked him to have the tobacco and 
 pipes brought out immediately. When they 
 were produced and handed to the near cen- 
 tenarian, Northcliffe gave him the sovereign, 
 with a shake of the hand, and told him that 
 he hoped he would live to be over a hundred. 
 
 It was clearly a red-letter day in the life 
 of this ancient toiler, whose delight was evi- 
 dent as he tried to find words to express his 
 thanks. That, however, is not the end of the 
 story. 
 
 A few moments later a woman came along 
 the road, tired and bedraggled from a long 
 tramp. Stopping at the inn doorway, she 
 asked Northcliffe for a few pennies to get 
 food and drink. He handed her some money 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 285 
 
 and asked her how far she had come and how 
 she made her hving. She had walked over 
 ten miles that morning, she answered, and 
 she followed the races for a living. " I am 
 a gipsy, sir," she added; " I sell papers and 
 other things at the tracks, and sometimes 
 when the poUce ain't looking I tell for- 
 tunes." 
 
 " You won't tell mine," remarked North- 
 cliff e, with a smile, " because I'm opposed 
 to every form of superstition, and I have 
 never had my fortune told." 
 
 " You don't need to have it told, sir," re- 
 plied the woman as she studied him closely, 
 " You have gained everything you ever set 
 out to get." 
 
 "A good character reader, at any rate," 
 said Northcliife. " Now," he went on, " you 
 say you follow the races. I suppose you bet 
 whenever you have any money." 
 
 " Yes, sir," answered the woman, " some- 
 times I do put a few shillings on one of the 
 horses." 
 
 " Now, what paper do you get the best 
 tips from? " asked Northcliife. 
 
 To quote the reply would be a breach of 
 confidence, but the gist of it was that one 
 
286 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of Northcliffe's papers had formerly beaten 
 all others with its sporting news, but re- 
 cently it had fallen behind and a rival paper 
 was giving better information on racing 
 topics. 
 
 " I have suspected that for some time," 
 coromented NorthcUffe, as he made another 
 note, " and I know the reason of this faUing 
 behind. It will be remedied very promptly." 
 
 The result was that a few days later there 
 was a shake-up in the editorial department 
 of the offending paper, which had such a 
 good effect that the sporting news was soon 
 in the lead again and this paper once more 
 eclipsed all its competitors. 
 
 While he has an eye for news, Northchffe 
 seldom loses sight of the humorous side of 
 things, and keenly enjoys a queer situation. 
 Perhaps it is his ability to extract humor 
 from daily life that has enabled him to cope 
 with the heavy responsibilities and hard 
 work that he has had to face. One of the 
 most amusing incidents that he ever noted 
 occurred in Scotland. On one occasion he 
 visited the Hebrides Islands, where Gaelic 
 is the prevailing language. Many of the 
 people there are so poverty-stricken that 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 287 
 
 they live in rude stone huts, thatched with 
 heather. During a storm, the observant 
 traveler sought refuge from the rain in a 
 rather pretentious hut which served as a 
 village store. He soon noticed that bare- 
 footed children came in at intervals, handed 
 the storekeeper two or three eggs, said some- 
 thing in Gaelic, and received little packets 
 in exchange. 
 
 "What is the meaning of this?" asked 
 Northchffe. 
 
 The storekeeper, who spoke English, ex- 
 plained that as money was scarce among 
 the people, they used eggs as currency, and 
 children were sent to buy an egg's worth of 
 tea, coffee, sugar, or other things. When 
 he had a sufficiently large supply of eggs he 
 shipped them to the mainland for sale. 
 
 While the conversation was proceeding, a 
 little girl peeped through the doorway some- 
 what bashfully and at last summoned up 
 courage to enter the store. She whispered 
 something, whereupon the storekeeper, smil- 
 ing, handed her a packet without receiving 
 anything in payment. 
 
 As she disappeared, Northcliffe said, 
 " I'm sure there's a good story in this." 
 
288 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 " You're right," said the storekeeper, " it 
 was funny. She said: * Mother says will 
 you trust her for an egg's worth of tea, as 
 the hen hasn't laid yet.' " 
 
 Like the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid of 
 old, Northcliffe is able to wander about the 
 country without being recognized by those 
 whom he interviews. For, strangely enough, 
 while he is declared by his admirers to be 
 the biggest man in England and has even 
 been termed the biggest man in the world, 
 he is less known by sight to the people of 
 his own country than many a minor celeb- 
 rity. His power in Great Britain surpasses 
 that of any man who does not hold office, 
 his name is on everybody's lips, his portrait 
 frequently appears in the newspapers, and 
 articles, interviews, and editorials concerning 
 him are constantly published in the British 
 and American press; yet he can walk about 
 London without recognition except by a few 
 people. During the months that he spent 
 in New York in 1917, as head of the British 
 War Mission, he was seen almost daily by 
 many people as he left his offices in Fifth 
 Avenue, but only a few newspapermen were 
 able to identify him. 
 
SOCIAL GLIMPSES 289 
 
 King George cannot leave Buckingham 
 Palace without attracting a large crowd. 
 Lloyd George is as well known by sight 
 as his views are known by his speeches and 
 political actions. Alfred James Balfour's 
 attenuated form is immediately recognized; 
 while Kitchener, from the days of his South 
 African triumph to the time that he went 
 to his death off the Orkneys, was greeted 
 whenever he appeared in public. Even 
 Colonel Roosevelt found that his identity 
 was familiar to the people of London when 
 he visited England on his return from 
 Africa. Northcliffe, however, retains and 
 enjoys the fullest degree of anonymity. 
 
 Most celebrities would resent this lack of 
 popular recognition, but to Northcliffe it is 
 a manifest advantage; for while he is the 
 world's foremost newspaper owner, he is able 
 to experience all the variety and excitement 
 of the journalist's life, and this is worth 
 more to him than any amount of public ac- 
 claim. His social life is full of variety and 
 originality, and that is probably the reason 
 why those who have glimpsed it find that 
 it abounds in what newspapers term deep 
 human interest and material for live stories. 
 
X 
 
 AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 
 
 Every American who meets Lord North- 
 cliffe is impressed by what might be termed 
 his adopted Americanism, a characteristic 
 which was noticeable even in his youthful 
 days. At the present time no other living 
 Englishman knows or understands us as 
 well as he. Having traveled extensively in 
 this country, he is one of the few English- 
 men who have really caught the American 
 spirit, and who can enter into the American 
 point of view. 
 
 Northcliffe's journeys have taken him 
 from Maine to California, from the Great 
 Lakes to New Orleans; and he has seen 
 Canada from east to west. He is a close 
 observer, and life in the great American 
 cities has always interested him. By his 
 thorough knowledge of local conditions, he 
 can discuss the enterprise of New York, the 
 culture of Boston, the growth of Chicago, 
 
 290 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 291 
 
 and the attractions of Washington. He 
 knows all about our great industrial centers. 
 The wonderful possibiUties of San Francisco 
 have not escaped his attention, and he has 
 made the rounds of Cincinnati and St. 
 Louis. 
 
 During his frequent visits, in recent years, 
 he has become acquainted with large num- 
 bers of representative Americans. He is 
 known to a legion of newspapermen, from 
 reporters to newspaper owners; he has 
 talked finance with our great financiers and 
 manufacturing with our captains of in- 
 dustry, and has also found time to discuss 
 pubhc affairs with some of our foremost 
 politicians. He has been greeted by two of 
 our Presidents. In New York, at Newport, 
 and elsewhere he has penetrated the inner 
 circles of fashionable society and has many 
 friends among the leaders of wealth and 
 culture. 
 
 As the result of his study and observa- 
 tions Lord Northcliffe's knowledge of Amer- 
 ican history and social conditions surprises 
 every American who talks with him. 
 When he wants to illustrate society, for 
 instance, he links the Bowery with White- 
 
292 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 chapel or Wall Street with Lombard 
 Street. 
 
 Once when he was traveling from Wash- 
 ington to New York with some newspaper- 
 men, one of them happened to mention that 
 the inventor of the first submarine was 
 Robert Fulton, and added that a monument 
 ought to be erected in Fulton's birthplace. 
 Northcliffe took obvious satisfaction in inter- 
 jecting: "Yes, I know — Robert Fulton 
 was born about ten miles from where the 
 train now is, in Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
 vania." 
 
 While a band in 'New York was playing 
 some ragtime selections, somebody in North- 
 chffe's party started to tell the story of 
 Irving Berlin. Northchffe stopped the 
 would-be story teller by remarking: "I 
 have met Berlin. Isn't it extraordinary that 
 he should write all that music without know- 
 ing a note ? " 
 
 Even in his great liking for America's 
 national game, baseball, Northcliffe's Amer- 
 icanism is distinctively shown. Whenever he 
 is in the United States during the baseball 
 season and has time to spare, he is sure to 
 attend at least one of the principal games 
 
An Exciting Moment 
 
 Lord Northcliffe as a "fan," watching a baseball game 
 
 in New York. @ Western Ne-wspaper Unicn 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 293 
 
 of the World's Series. In 1917 he was 
 among the spectators in the press gallery 
 when the Giants and White Sox contested 
 for the championship in New York. A 
 photograph of the distinguished " fan," taken 
 on that occasion, has been reproduced as an 
 illustration for the present chapter. 
 
 When the White Sox and Giants visited 
 London a few years ago, in the course of 
 their tour round Ihe world. Lord North- 
 chffe did everything in his power to make 
 their public appearances a success. His 
 newspapers devoted a large amount of space 
 to explanations of baseball and aroused so 
 much interest in the sport that the king, 
 accompanied by his suite, attended one of 
 the games, which was witnessed by 25,000 
 spectators. 
 
 In his familiarity with such matters as 
 baseball Northchff e reveals his amazing store 
 of knowledge and equally amazing memory. 
 He has met almost everybody worth know- 
 ing, and he never forgets. When a man 
 becomes preoccupied with his own greatness, 
 he likes to do most of the talking. North- 
 cliff e, on the contrary, still listens more than 
 he talks, as a good journalist should. He 
 
294 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 gives much information, but he receives 
 much in return. In fact, he is the sort of 
 man who always interviews the interviewer. 
 
 Northchffe's knowledge of American local 
 history surprised a New York friend who 
 took him on an automobile trip through an 
 interesting part of New England. Not only 
 was the British visitor thoroughly well in- 
 formed in regard to colonial history, but he 
 was equally familiar with the details of the 
 Revolutionary War and their connection 
 with towns which were passed on the 
 journey. 
 
 This recalls the fact that while North- 
 cliffe has always been an admirer of the 
 United States and his newspapers have been 
 consistently pro-American, he is intelligent 
 enough not to be a strong believer in much 
 of the " Hands across the Sea " talk that 
 is heard at times. What he believes is that 
 the chief community of ideals between the 
 Briton and American lies in their mutual 
 love of fair play and their adherence to the 
 principles of freedom achieved in the Eng- 
 lish Revolution of 1640 and the American 
 Revolution of 1776. 
 
 In discussing this subject not long ago, 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 295 
 
 he remarked: " There ought to be a strong 
 feeUng of sympathy between the people of 
 Great Britain and of the United States be- 
 cause of the fact that they are largely of 
 the same race. There is a great friendship 
 for Americans on our side of the Atlantic, 
 and we take pride in the achievements of the 
 United States during the past hundred years 
 under the leadership of men who, in every 
 stage of the country's development, have 
 usually borne English names." 
 
 Most international misunderstandings, 
 Northcliffe believes, might be prevented if 
 the nations were better acquainted with each 
 other. He is therefore a strong advocate 
 of travel as an educator. Britons and Amer- 
 icans, he is convinced, would be much better 
 friends, if they traveled more in each other's 
 countries, although conditions in this respect, 
 he admits, are improving. In giving his 
 views on British-American relations, he said 
 recently: "The vast masses of people in 
 Great Britain and the United States are 
 really inlanders; they seldom travel out of 
 their own country. I suppose that the num- 
 ber of Americans who know anything of the 
 British Empire by personal travel is less 
 
296 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 than a half per cent. The Enghshman who 
 has Hved for three or four months in the 
 midst of American family life, or an Ameri- 
 can who has resided in any part of the Brit- 
 ish Empire, begins to realize that Britons 
 and Americans are singularly alike. The 
 fact that they speak the same language, with 
 minor variations, renders it speedily possible 
 for those who have not advanced in years 
 of prejudice to understand and therefore to 
 like each other." 
 
 Northcliffe paid his first visit to this coun- 
 try in the early part of 1894, when, as Al- 
 fred Harmsworth, he had started his weekly 
 papers, laid the foundation of his fortune, 
 and reached the first stage of his journey 
 toward fame. Although he had become well 
 known in England, at that time, as the pub- 
 lisher of Answers, his visit to New York was 
 unnoticed by any of the local newspapers. 
 
 During a stay of two months on this side 
 of the Atlantic, the young pubhsher visited 
 Boston, Montreal, and Quebec, and also 
 made a trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida 
 for some tarpon fishing. Before leaving 
 New York he investigated publishing con- 
 ditions thoroughly, and among other things 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 297 
 
 made a study of the distribution methods of 
 the American News Company, into which 
 he was given an insight by the late Patrick 
 Farrelly, at that time president of the great 
 organization. 
 
 Some New York pubhshers who were told 
 of Harmsworth's success were highly skep- 
 tical, and were unable to believe that a mere 
 youth had started some cheap papers and 
 had made a large fortune in less than five 
 years. When told the story they shook their 
 heads and frankly confessed that they could 
 not credit it. 
 
 Nearly seven years later — at the end of 
 December, 1900 — ^Alfred Harmsworth vis- 
 ited New York again, but on this occasion 
 the news of his coming had preceded him. 
 On his arrival he was interviewed by re- 
 porters and snapped by camera men, the 
 newspapers having reserved a large amount 
 of space for accounts of the enterprising 
 founder of the Harmsworth publications and 
 the Daily Mail, Later on illustrated articles 
 appeared in the Sunday supplements, some 
 of which filled an entire page, while 
 " Harmsworth stories " were sent to all 
 parts of the country by the news agencies. 
 
298 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 The famous journalist obtained still fur- 
 ther publicity a few days later when it was 
 announced that, at the request of Joseph 
 Pulitzer, he had arranged to take charge of 
 the New York World on the night of De- 
 cember 31, and superintend the issuance of 
 a Twentieth Century Edition, based on his 
 own ideas of what the newspaper of the fu- 
 ture was likely to be. This experiment was 
 watched with great interest by newspaper 
 proprietors throughout the United States. 
 
 On December 31 the World published the 
 following address from Alfred Harmsworth 
 to readers of the paper: "I have come to 
 the United States to exchange ideas on jour- 
 nalism, to learn, and to suggest. The editor 
 of the New York World has given me com- 
 plete control of his magnificent organization 
 for twenty-four hours, and though the time 
 is brief and I only reached this country on 
 Thursday last, I shall appeal, to-morrow, to 
 the fair, able, and intellectual discrimination 
 for which Americans are noted the world 
 over. I feel confident that my system of 
 portable, pocketable, logically arranged jour- 
 nalism will meet with careful consideration, 
 ^nd that from the invitation I shall make to 
 
AMERI CAN EXPERIENCES 299 
 
 the American people to offer suggestions as 
 to what is wanted in the newspapers of the 
 twentieth century I shall receive invaluable 
 advice." 
 
 On assuming charge of the World on the 
 evening of December 31, Harmsworth de- 
 livered a short and breezy address to mem- 
 bers of the staff, in which he asked for their 
 cooperation in making the new paper a suc- 
 cess. As a joke the World men all appeared 
 in evening dress, with the idea of impressing 
 the editor pro tem. Harmsworth, however, 
 was in his usual businesshke attire. As he 
 glanced round the room his eye hghted on 
 one of the editors who was also in working 
 garb. " That man has the right sense of 
 humor," he remarked briskly. " He shows 
 some originality, too." A few years later 
 this World man was invited to join the staff 
 of the Daily Mail at an unusually large sal- 
 ary, and to-day he has become one of the 
 principal stockholders. 
 
 On January 1, 1901, the Twentieth Cen- 
 tury Edition of the New York World made 
 its appearance. Harmsworth had issued the 
 paper in what he called " tabloid form," or 
 about the size of Collier's Weekly, with 
 
30a NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 thirty-two pages and four columns to the 
 page, the news being condensed to the small- 
 est limits. No story exceeded 250 words in 
 length, and illustrations were dispensed with. 
 In an article which appeared on the editorial 
 page, the originator of this new idea in jour- 
 nalism declared that the paper of small size 
 had the following good points : " It is an 
 advantage to advertisers. It is convenient 
 for reading in the street car or for carrying 
 in the pocket." 
 
 Among new ideas which he suggested was 
 this : " It is impossible for the busy man to 
 keep track of new books. I would therefore 
 employ a staff of competent editors to exam- 
 ine all new books that are coming into the 
 world each year, by good authors of all coun- 
 tries. I would provide a careful condensa- 
 tion of every new book or pubHcation worth 
 reading." 
 
 As to the suggestion last mentioned, that 
 has already been followed by the American 
 press in recent years, most of the important 
 newspapers having issued weekly literary 
 supplements. 
 
 That Harmsworth was right in his idea 
 of news condensation has been proved by the 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 301 
 
 experience of most newspaper readers, the 
 majority of whom simply glance at the head- 
 lines and seldom take the trouble to read 
 entire stories of a column or more. On the 
 staff of the Daily Mail, it may be added, 
 reporters are not paid by the amount of 
 space they fill, as in this country, but accord- 
 ing to their abihty to produce an interesting 
 story in the smallest compass. 
 
 What the proprietor of the New York 
 World thought of the " tabloid " idea was 
 shown by the fact that on January 2 the 
 paper was issued in its usual form. Many 
 publishers, it is true, commended the Harms- 
 worth idea, and Thomas A. Edison, among 
 other celebrities, hailed tabloid journalism as 
 a great improvement; but the general ver- 
 dict in American newspaper circles was de- 
 cidedly against it. Newspaper experts who 
 criticized the tabloid form contended that it 
 was unsuited to American conditions, that 
 American readers preferred long stories, and 
 that advertisers required large space. Frank 
 A. Munsey, who expressed this opinion, 
 said : " The large sheet is not only easier to 
 read but is more impressive, while it also 
 gives advertisers greater room. What is 
 
302 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 still more important is the fact that the 
 small paper is not a money bringer." 
 
 In spite of these unfavorable views, the 
 far-sighted British journahst has never 
 changed his mind in regard to the tabloid 
 principle, and still beheves that compactness 
 of form and brevity will distinguish the 
 newspaper of the future. In an interview 
 a few years ago he said: " American news- 
 papers are afflicted with what I call the size 
 disease. A great deal of space is wasted on 
 trivialities, such as unnecessary illustrations. 
 For instance, in a New York paper that I 
 was reading to-day I noticed a story of a 
 woman who had been run over by an auto- 
 mobile. This story was accompanied by a 
 picture of the car. Now what is the use of 
 such a picture ? It is just a common auto- 
 mobile, seen by hundreds. Who is wiser for 
 seeing the picture ? The story could have 
 been told in four lines, but half a column 
 was devoted to it. 
 
 " Condensation will be the feature of the 
 coming newspaper. In fact, we have edu- 
 cated the British public to appreciate con- 
 densed news, and you will come to it, in this 
 country, in time. American business men 
 
A Snapshot (1901) 
 
 At the St. Augustine, Florida, Golf Club 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 303 
 
 have told me that they cannot read half the 
 stories in the newspapers, because the ar- 
 ticles are much too long. They simply read 
 the headlines. That is why I say that Amer- 
 ican newspapers are suffering from the size 
 disease in their news reports, in the size of 
 their pages, the number of their pages, and 
 their general make-up. They are too un- 
 wieldy." 
 
 As to the size of American newspapers, 
 strangely enough the managers of the New 
 York subways have apparently been con- 
 verted to the tabloid idea. Illustrated post- 
 ers were recently placed in all the trains 
 requesting passengers to fold their news- 
 papers while reading them, because large 
 sheets, held at arm's length, frequently cause 
 annoyance to fellow travelers. The paper 
 famines in recent years, with the consequent 
 increasing cost of white paper, have also 
 served to call attention to the advantages 
 of smaller newspapers, and some adaptation 
 of the tabloid idea may eventually become 
 general. 
 
 It is interesting to add that as long ago 
 as 1875 Charles A. Dana, of the New York 
 Sun, made a strong plea for condensation. 
 
304 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 " The American newspaper reader," he said, 
 " demands of an editor that news and dis- 
 cussions shall not be presented in solid 
 chunks, but so condensed and clarified that 
 he shall be relieved of the necessity of wad- 
 ing through a treatise to get a fact or spend- 
 ing time on a dilated essay to get a bite at 
 the argument." No one had a better idea 
 of newspaper making than the Sun's famous 
 editor, so that his opinion is of special 
 value. 
 
 Since 1908 Alfred Harmsworth, like his 
 famous "tabloid," has disappeared from 
 view, and Lord Northcliffe, as he is now 
 known, has supplied plenty of copy for the 
 newspapers on his frequent visits to this 
 country. 
 
 In 1908 it was announced in Washington 
 that Lord and Lady Northchflfe and Mrs. 
 Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe's mother, 
 had been entertained at the White House 
 by President Roosevelt. At that time the 
 British and the American advocates of the 
 strenuous life formed a friendship that has 
 since continued. Northcliffe on that occa- 
 sion not only had an opportunity to observe 
 Colonel Roosevelt's energetic methods of dis- 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 305 
 
 patching public business, but also enjoyed 
 the privilege of hearing him address a visit- 
 ing delegation with all his characteristic 
 vigor of speech and manner. 
 
 Subsequently, in commenting on the ac- 
 cessibility of public men at the capital and 
 their lack of reserve in giving interviews to 
 reporters, Northcliif e remarked : " There 
 are no secrets in America. Big men in this 
 country don't shut themselves up, but can 
 be seen and criticized. It is doubtless for 
 this reason that they come in for such a 
 large share of discussion, advice, and con- 
 demnation from the press." 
 
 The visitor found much to attract him in 
 Washington. " The capital," he said, " has 
 impressed me as a city of rapidly increasing 
 beauty and one well worthy of the world's 
 greatest republic. It is of a size and dignity 
 which might be expected for the headquar- 
 ters of the United States government." At 
 the same time he declaimed against the idea 
 that Philadelphia is a slow town. " The 
 Baldwin Locomotive Works there," he re- 
 marked, " are the largest in the world. As 
 for newspapers, one of the Philadelphia 
 evening newspapers is not surpassed in any 
 
306 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 part of the world for appearance, make-up, 
 and quickness of production." 
 
 In speaking of New York, at that time. 
 Lord Northcliffe said that he had been much 
 impressed by the improvement of the city 
 architecturally, the business districts having 
 been almost rebuilt since his first visit in 
 1894. There had also been a notable ad- 
 vancement, socially, artistically, and other- 
 wise. " The most remarkable thing about 
 New York," he added, " is the splendid 
 spirit of optimism by which it is animated." 
 An admirer of New York, Northcliffe, in 
 19Q8, presented a memorial window to 
 Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. It is in- 
 cluded in a series of twelve windows which 
 illustrate the influence of Puritanism on de- 
 mocracy and hberty in America. 
 
 In a recent interview American progress 
 was discussed by the British journalist, his 
 opinion being that the advancement of the 
 next hundred years would far surpass the 
 achievements of the last century. The fol- 
 lowing extracts from this interview are of 
 peculiar interest as conveying the result of 
 a thoughtful observer's ideas and impres- 
 sions: 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 307 
 
 " Mechanically the United States is so far 
 ahead of the rest of the world that I doubt 
 whether Europe will ever be able to catch 
 up. Even in the matter of surface trans- 
 portation you lead all other nations. The 
 inventive genius of this country is the ad- 
 miration of the entire world. Without 
 American inventors we might never have 
 had the telegraph, telephone, sewing ma- 
 chine, modern printing press, typewriter, 
 phonograph, and innumerable other devices 
 that now play such an important part in 
 everyday life. 
 
 " In newspapers, in which, of course, I 
 am chiefly interested, we siu*ely lead you in 
 style and accuracy. On the other hand, you 
 beat us with your quick production and gen- 
 eral mechanical proficiency. Rotary presses, 
 typesetting machines, and the stereotyping 
 processes — things quite essential to news- 
 papers the world over — are entirely, or al- 
 most entirely, American inventions. 
 
 " The American public school system 
 serves as a model for the world. As an edu- 
 cative force it has been wonderful. No other 
 nation could possibly have assimilated, in a 
 single generation, the sort of people that 
 
808 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 have been dumped on your shores from 
 Europe. The public school has done much 
 in transforming their children into useful 
 American citizens." 
 
 A staunch friend of the Wright brothers, 
 the pioneers in aviation, Northcliffe believes 
 that the United States may, some day, out- 
 strip all other countries in the manufacture 
 of aircraft. " I am glad," he said, " that 
 Dayton, Ohio, the home of the Wrights, has 
 become an important aircraft center. It is 
 possible that Dayton may eventually be- 
 come the aircraft capital of the world, which 
 it is fitting that the home of the Wright 
 brothers should be." 
 
 While Northcliffe has been unstinted in 
 his praise of everything in this country that 
 is worthy of commendation, he has not over- 
 looked some of our national weaknesses. A 
 few years ago, for example, he declared in 
 an interview published in the New York 
 Times, that the people of the United States 
 had a genius for being commonplace. Here 
 is what he said in part: 
 
 " The early settlers in America were peo- 
 ple of marked uidividualities, who thought 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 309 
 
 for themselves. They read and wrote orig- 
 inal things, and were not afraid of the opin- 
 ion of the majority. Many of them had 
 left Europe, in fact, as a protest against 
 the power of the majority. They were orig- 
 inal thinkers and they produced an original 
 mind in the American. 
 
 " In recent years the vast influx of immi- 
 grants of a lower type, all aping American 
 ways, has produced a sameness throughout 
 the country. It is impossible for a stranger 
 traveling through the United States to tell 
 from the appearance of the people or the 
 country whether he is in Toledo, Ohio, or 
 Portland, Oregon. Ninety milhon Amer- 
 icans cut their hair in the same way, eat 
 each morning exactly the same breakfast, 
 tie up the small girl's curls with precisely 
 the same kind of ribbon fashioned into bows 
 exactly alike; and in every way all try to 
 look and act as much hke all the others as 
 they can — just as the Chinese do. In other 
 words, Americans, in many ways, are white 
 Chinese. 
 
 " The whole tendency, in these days, is to 
 destroy individuaUty. Anything like indi- 
 viduality in dress, thought, or action on the 
 
310 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 part of any of your people is decried as un- 
 American. 
 
 " I believe in individuality. I do not be- 
 lieve in standardizing human beings. I be- 
 lieve that one of the reasons why so small 
 a country as Great Britain maintains so 
 vast a place in the world is that we produce 
 individuahties. Scotland has never had a 
 population of more than five milhons, and 
 yet the highly individualized Scotchmen are 
 found at the top in all parts of the world. 
 In developing resources and building cities 
 wonderful attainments have been made in 
 the United States, but most of these things 
 have been done by the old American stock 
 which made America what it is to-day." 
 
 The general impression among American 
 newspapers was that NorthcUffe did not 
 intend to be taken seriously. Most editors, 
 in fact, hailed the interview with delight 
 and fairly chuckled over it. As an editorial 
 writer has since remarked : " No one re- 
 sented the interview. American readers, 
 after digesting it, exclaimed : ' He's done 
 it very well. Three cheers for him! ' That, 
 of course, is the American attitude. Abuse 
 us, if you like, but don't do it stupidly. Re- 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 311 
 
 cently the Germans have been doing it 
 stupidly." 
 
 While, to a certain extent, this may be 
 true, yet it is scarcely a correct interpreta- 
 tion of Northcliffe's views. What he un- 
 doubtedly meant was that in this country 
 there is a tendency toward standardization 
 among people. For example, somebody de- 
 clares that young men in order to succeed 
 must be " clean cut and aggressive." Forth- 
 with this phrase is circulated far and wide 
 until it becomes fairly bromidic. Then the 
 newspaper and magazine artists get to work 
 and portray their ideals of " clean cut and 
 aggressive young men," who are represented 
 with hair brushed back, looking keen eyed 
 and resolute, ready for any emergency. The 
 same young men are even depicted in the 
 ready-made clothing advertisements. Tens 
 of thousands of young men, all over the 
 country, make desperate efforts to model 
 themselves after this pattern, thinking much 
 the same thoughts, inspired by the same 
 ambitions, following the same beaten paths. 
 That is why Northcliffe tells us to stand- 
 ardize our engines, but warns us not to 
 standardize our men. The world doe$ not 
 
312 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 want standardized human beings. It wants 
 originality. 
 
 On one of her visits to New York, Lady 
 NorthcHflfe discussed with an interviewer 
 that always interesting subject, the Amer- 
 ican woman. She had been much impressed 
 by the types of femininity that she had seen 
 in this country. "American women," she 
 said, " are assuredly the most beautiful that 
 I have ever seen. They have a grace and 
 distinction all their own, and as for the at- 
 tractive young girls, I have never seen any- 
 thing like them. In no other country does 
 one see so many well-dressed women as in 
 the United States, and this appUes not to 
 any particular class, but to all classes. An 
 observant visitor, moreover, cannot fail to 
 be impressed by the intellectuality and 
 sound conmion sense as well as the bright- 
 ness, vivacity, independence, self-rehance, 
 initiative, and other good qualities which 
 distinguish American women of the best 
 type." As already mentioned. Lady North- 
 cliffe is an " anti," and does not beUeve that 
 the extension of the franchise to women is 
 necessary for the world's progress. 
 
 Lord Northchffe, who indorses all that 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 313 
 
 Lady Northcliffe has said of American 
 womanhood, and who shares much the same 
 opinion in ^^egard to votes for women, 
 nevertheless admires the way in which 
 American women have set to work to get 
 what they want in the matter of political 
 rights. He considers it a great pity that 
 in England the suffrage movement has been 
 characterized by violence rather than by 
 grace and attractiveness. As to suffrage in 
 England, he believes it is a dead issue as far 
 as militancy is concerned. " The militants 
 who made the most noise," he says, "were 
 the leaders of an immense nimiber of su- 
 perfluous women who could not get hus- 
 bands and had to do something." 
 
 In an interview expressing his belief in 
 the supremacy of man, Northcliffe re- 
 marked: " There are 1,700,000 more women 
 of voting age than men in England, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland. If they were given the 
 same franchise rights as the men, they 
 would dominate the British Empire. No 
 self-respecting man is going to be dominated 
 by women. The men of England will not 
 tolerate rule by women. Personally I am 
 not against giving women the vote on a 
 
314 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 property basis, but the suffragists will not 
 be satisfied with that." 
 
 As already noted. Lord Northcliffe has 
 seen a great deal of this country and has 
 visited many of our winter and summer 
 resorts. In the autumn of 1917, while 
 heading the British War Commission, he 
 gathered some impressions of Atlantic City 
 when he attended the Chambers of Com- 
 merce Convention which was held there. 
 
 In a chat with a reporter after the meet- 
 ing, Northcliffe said that he had been very 
 favorably impressed by this popular resort, 
 which he compared to Brighton, one of 
 England's liveliest seaside places. As he 
 strolled along the Board Walk, a number 
 of objects attracted his attention. He 
 gloated over the big electric advertising 
 signs on the piers, and asked if a certain 
 advertising scheme on the beach front had 
 not derived its effectiveness from its clever 
 unobtrusiveness. He commented on the 
 similarity between Atlantic City and that 
 famous corner table in the Cafe de Paris 
 in the French capital, where, if you sit long 
 enough, sooner or later you will see the 
 whole world pass by. " Everybody," he 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 315 
 
 observed, " seems to go to Atlantic City." 
 Then he wanted to know why there was not 
 an adequate convention hall in Atlantic 
 City, with proper acoustics. Speakers at 
 the Chambers of Commerce Convention, he 
 remarked, had not been heard to good 
 effect. 
 
 As he walked on, making these observa- 
 tions, Northcliife met an editor from Phila- 
 delphia with whom he was acquainted. The 
 editor was accompanied by two of his re- 
 porters. " This is surprising," exclaimed 
 Northchife. " Is the whole staff down 
 here?" Then he added: "I suppose they 
 have sent you to Atlantic City to escape 
 from the gunmen." 
 
 The dramatic quality of Philadelphia's 
 Fifth Ward political reign of terror had 
 apparently interested this observant jour- 
 nalist. "A wonderful story!" he declared 
 in admiration. " Blackjacking and murder 
 going on just around the corner from Inde- 
 pendence Hall. Good copy for the news- 
 papers, eh? " 
 
 NorthcUffe's judgment regarding Amer- 
 ican news values was lightninghke. Appar- 
 ently he would be well qualified to edit an 
 
316 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 American newspaper, but when somebody 
 told him so and suggested that he might 
 enter the newspaper field in this country, 
 he replied that such an idea was absurd. 
 " I have been asked frequently," he added, 
 " whether I intend to embark in the news- 
 paper business on this side of the Atlantic. 
 My answer has been invariably that no man 
 living can manage a paper by cable. For 
 a foreigner to compete from a distance 
 with your live and vigorous press would be 
 an act of brief and expensive foolishness." 
 In the course of this conversation North- 
 cliffe showed that he had been a close ob- 
 server of American methods of newspaper 
 distribution. He asked why a certain New 
 York daily paper was not delivered 
 promptly in Washington, which he charac- 
 terized as now being, in every sense, the 
 capital of the nation. That he still adheres 
 to his tabloid idea of journalism was shown 
 when he asked why the newspapers could 
 not be made a quarter of their present size 
 in order to cut down the amount of white 
 paper they needed. He scoffed at the idea 
 of charging three cents for a newspaper 
 instead of cutting down its size. 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 317 
 
 It was at Atlantic City that the alert 
 journalist inspected a mammoth typewriter 
 placed on exhibition for advertising pur- 
 poses. The machine was ten feet high, 
 with a keyboard hke a cellar door and keys 
 the size of saucers. He examined it closely, 
 peering into its inwards from every angle. 
 Then he said: "I see, I see! It works 
 like a printing press." Then he departed, 
 smiling with delight at this Yankee trick 
 of advertising. 
 
 The spirit of fraternity toward American 
 newspapermen which Lord Northcliffe dis- 
 played at Atlantic City was typical of his 
 attitude at all times. In May, 1917, his 
 friendship for the American press was 
 shown in a thoroughly practical manner 
 when he came to the rescue of newspaper 
 publishers who were suffering from the 
 paper famine. 
 
 Owing to the scarcity of news-print paper 
 some minor newspapers were almost on the 
 point of suspension. As a means of relief. 
 Lord Northchffe offered the entire output 
 of his Newfoundland paper mills to the 
 American Publishers' Association. At that 
 time the Newfoundland mills were pro- 
 
318 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ducing two hundred tons of paper a day, 
 and there were thousands of tons of ground 
 wood and sulphite for sale to American 
 paper mills at prices considerably lower 
 than the American quotations. 
 
 Lord Northcliffe's offer having been ac- 
 cepted, the American Publishers' Associa- 
 tion formed a company to receive and dis- 
 tribute the paper which he arranged to 
 supply. In spite of the difficulty of freight 
 transportation, this new corporation — the 
 Publishers' Paper Company — proved that 
 Newfoundland paper could be sold at lower 
 prices than paper produced in the United 
 States, although manufacturing costs are 
 higher in Newfoundland. Many American 
 publishers were thus enabled to get a supply 
 of cheap paper, a fact which had some in- 
 fluence in causing a general reduction of 
 paper prices. 
 
 An admirer of efficiency, Northcliffe has 
 inspected some of our largest manufacturing 
 establishments, such as the Edison Works 
 at West Orange, New Jersey, the Baldwin 
 Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, the 
 Remington Arms factory in Bridgeport, 
 Connecticut, the Bethlehem Steel Works, 
 
AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 319 
 
 and the automobile plant of Henry Ford in 
 Detroit. He was so much impressed by 
 what he saw at the Ford factory that he 
 wrote a special article on this subject for 
 the London Times, Among the things that 
 particularly interested him was the factory 
 school in which English is taught to those 
 unfamiliar with the language, fully a hun- 
 dred dialects being spoken by the workmen. 
 
 On leaving the factory, he remarked that 
 he had been greatly impressed by the good 
 physique and healthy appearance of most 
 of the workers. " I hope," replied Mr. 
 Ford, " that you also noticed that there is 
 no hustling. I don't allow it." On this 
 point Northcliffe was in perfect accord with 
 the automobile manufacturer, as one of his 
 favorite maxims is that work done in haste 
 is seldom done well. 
 
 In discussing the Ford plant and the 
 system of high wages that prevails there, 
 Northcliffe said: "The high-wage idea is 
 very good in its way, but I recently met a 
 business man named Filene, who has a 
 large store in Boston, and he has adopted 
 a better system. He pays his employees 
 a certain percentage of his profits, and 
 
320 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 every worker, being a sharer in the business, 
 is thus inspired to do his best. That plan 
 will eventually be adopted in all large busi- 
 nesses." 
 
 The profit-sharing plan, it will be recalled, 
 was introduced into the Harmsworth peri- 
 odical business in the early days, and has 
 done much toward building up the great 
 organization now headed by Lord North- 
 cliffe. 
 
 Having visited this country during a 
 period of twenty-four years, the keen-eyed 
 British newspaper owner has constantly 
 found much to interest him, and he has un- 
 doubtedly derived much benefit from a cos- 
 mopolitan exchange of views. Always on 
 the lookout for new ideas, he has been able 
 to adopt some that he has noted, for the 
 benefit of his great enterprises. In this re- 
 spect he has not only shown good judgment 
 but has also displayed traits that are usually 
 supposed to be distinctively American. In 
 other words. Lord Northcliffe possesses, to 
 a marked degree, that restless, tireless, am- 
 bitious nature which makes up what is uni- 
 versally regarded as the American spirit. 
 

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XI 
 AT THE FRONT 
 
 As a virile writer and well-trained ob- 
 server, Lord Northcliffe has found scope for 
 his talents on the battlefields of Europe. 
 In the course of several visits to the front 
 he has had opportunities to see the vast 
 armies of Great Britain and France in ac- 
 tive service, and he has also studied the 
 wonderful organization which has made 
 their operations effective. He has noted 
 what sort of men compose these armies, and 
 incidentally he has interviewed the generals 
 in command. 
 
 Having gained a clear idea of the prin- 
 cipal features of the world's greatest war. 
 Lord Northcliffe embodied his impressions 
 in a highly interesting book, entitled "At 
 Jhe War," * which appeared about a year 
 ago. Every page of this work fairly bristles 
 with facts, incidents, and picturesque details, 
 
 * See note page 355. 
 321 
 
322 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 while at the same time the author has dis- 
 closed phases of his own complex nature by- 
 remarks that attract and impress the reader. 
 Lord Northcliffe, in short, has presented, 
 comprehensively and concisely, just the sort 
 of information that people wish to get in 
 regard to modern warfare. 
 
 By some of his opponents Lord North- 
 cliffe has been called ruthless, and in the 
 hard, crushing blows that he has directed 
 at certain things which displeased him he 
 has justified that description. On the other 
 hand, his praise of bravery and efficiency is 
 just as frankly enthusiastic. He has also 
 shown a spirit of deep sentiment in his 
 touches of the pathetic, such as his account 
 of the landing of young British soldiers in 
 France and their departure for the front. 
 What he witnessed took place at a port where 
 transports constantly arrived and departed. 
 
 At three o'clock one morning, so he re- 
 lates, he was awakened by an English bugle 
 call. Opening his window and looking out, 
 he saw in the glare of the tall arc-lights a 
 regiment of English soldiers which had just 
 debarked. He heard the roll call. A few 
 minutes later the transport on which they 
 
AT THE FRONT 323 
 
 had arrived steamed away, and the young 
 Britons, all new recruits, boarded trains to 
 be conveyed to the front. When the arc- 
 lights were extinguished and the soldiers 
 had gone, the whole thing seemed like a 
 dream, queer and mysterious. 
 
 The next occasion on which he observed 
 some fresh arrivals was in the daytime, when 
 another contingent landed. The departure 
 from England of those bright, fresh Enghsh 
 lads — their faces looking so red beside their 
 darker French allies — had been so recent 
 that many of them still wore the flowers 
 their sweethearts had given them on part- 
 ing. They looked about earnestly and curi- 
 ously, their officers obviously a little nervous 
 as they marshaled them for the roll call. 
 There was apparent an air of anxiety as to 
 what the busy townspeople, hurrying to 
 their mid-day meal, would think of them. 
 
 But the French peasants, long accus- 
 tomed to these scenes, took very little no- 
 tice of the newcomers. A few women 
 venders went among the soldiers, however, 
 selling them oranges and cigarettes, and 
 encouraging them with good-natured chaff. 
 Then these men were stowed away on trains 
 
324 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and taken off to points all over northern 
 France, so that eventually he found them 
 in the most unexpected places, building 
 great bridges, running trains and steam- 
 boats, digging trenches, making roads near 
 railways, and erecting huts. Wherever they 
 were they always looked neat and spruce. 
 
 Northchffe confesses that he took great 
 pride in the fact that the faces of the Brit- 
 ish soldiers differed from those of the Ger- 
 mans. They were full of individuality. He 
 was also proud of an outstanding charac- 
 teristic of the " Tommy," his insistence upon 
 smartness, and in wearing his clothes in a 
 manner that clearly distinguished him in a 
 war that caused English, French, and Bel- 
 gians to work together. 
 
 It was at Verdun that the observant 
 author gained one of his first glimpses of 
 the war. He went there from Paris, mak- 
 ing the journey of 150 miles in an auto- 
 mobile, as the railways were blocked with 
 cannon, ammunition, food supplies, and 
 troops. Long before he reached the French 
 lines he found signs of war. Even thirty 
 miles away the villages were filled with 
 soldiers, resting or waiting to be called into 
 
AT THE FRONT 325 
 
 action. There were great fields full of ar- 
 tillery — " parks," as they are called — and 
 vast plains covered with wagons. 
 
 The first impression of the war, at close 
 range, says Northcliife, is the immensity 
 and complication of it. The war zone is a 
 world apart. Immersed in it, one becomes 
 so absorbed in its activities that the outer 
 world is forgotten. These activities con- 
 tinue night and day. 
 
 The idea of generals galloping into battle 
 at the head of their armies, of Napoleon 
 and Wellington glaring at each other 
 through telescopes, as they are said to have 
 done at Waterloo, is destroyed in modern 
 warfare. As Northcliffe points out, army 
 operations are not directed from the battle- 
 field as of old. Far away from the firing 
 line — from five to twenty-five miles — are 
 the headquarters of the various armies. The 
 German and French generals at the battles 
 of Verdun were at least twenty miles 
 apart. 
 
 The headquarters of a modern general 
 might, with a slight stretch of imagination, 
 be compared to the offices of a great railroad 
 contractor, with its clerks, typists, and in- 
 
326 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 numerable telephones. Everything is con- 
 ducted in a matter-of-fact, business way. 
 Indeed, the author heard much less talk of 
 a particular battle at the front than he 
 would have heard at home. 
 
 Modern warfare is a horrible, grim, me- 
 chanical business, says Northcliffe. Very 
 seldom is there a touch of the color or ro- 
 mance which surrounds it in the popular 
 imagination. He rarely heard a band play- 
 ing in the war zone, and the only sign of 
 picturesque warfare that he saw at Verdun 
 was a squadron of lancers that he passed 
 one day, with their pennants gaily stream- 
 ing, preceded by a corps of buglers. 
 
 Northchffe was much impressed by the 
 splendid organization of the French army, 
 and the physique, eiBciency, and fighting 
 spirit of the French soldier. The superb 
 calm of the French people and the equip- 
 ment of their cheery soldiery convinced him 
 that the men in the German machine could 
 never have conquered, even if France had 
 not been helped by Russia, the five British 
 nations, and Belgium, Serbia, Italy, and 
 Japan. 
 
 When Northcliffe gathered the material 
 
AT THE FRONT 327 
 
 for his book. General Joffre was in com- 
 mand of the French army. The author 
 visited the French headquarters, where he 
 found that the pride and panoply of war 
 had gone, if indeed they had ever existed. 
 Excepting for the presence of two orderlies 
 at the gate, the official residence of the 
 commander-in-chief had the appearance of 
 an ordinary hotel. Pere Joffre received the 
 distinguished British visitor at the ap- 
 pointed hour, in a small room, where he 
 was seated at a long, narrow table with a 
 white-felt top. His manner and conversa- 
 tion were unaffected and direct. 
 
 The famous general's routine, at that 
 time, was simple in the extreme. He con- 
 ferred with the leaders of his staff at 6.30 
 A. M., when all reports and dispatches of 
 the night were discussed and orders given 
 for the day. Lunch was served at eleven. 
 At noon there was another conference, and 
 at one Joffre went out driving or walking 
 until four. At 8.30 p. m. there was a third 
 conference, and at nine o'clock punctually — 
 no matter what happened — Joffre went to 
 bed. At the Battle of the Marne, which 
 began September 5, the orders, written by 
 
328 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Joffre, had been drawn up on August 27. 
 Most of the French officers are young men, 
 and even General Petain is still in his 
 fifties. 
 
 Northcliffe's description of the campaign 
 at Verdun abounds in vivid incidents. The 
 town, he says, lies in a great basin, with the 
 river Meuse winding through the valley. 
 Some groups of fir trees on the hills give 
 the country a certain resemblance to Scot- 
 land. 
 
 As one approaches the firing line the 
 volume of sound becomes louder and more 
 terrific. When he visited the front, two 
 young ofiicers who accompanied him ex- 
 plained what was taking place. This they 
 did by means of signs, for the noise was 
 sometimes too great to permit conversation 
 except in yells. He had several narrow 
 escapes. Everybody at the front has had 
 similar experiences. He did not like it, 
 and does not believe that any one else does. 
 Nevertheless, it is not true that every bullet 
 has its billet and that every shell does ma- 
 terial damage. In April, 1916, the Ger- 
 mans fired 15,000,000 shells during the bat- 
 tles of Verdun. Probably not one in a 
 
AT THE FRONT 329 
 
 hundred had any bearing upon the mihtary 
 result. 
 
 The effect of these terrific bombardments 
 is pecuHar. In some villages both sides of 
 a street were laid in ruins, while here and 
 there a cottage remained undamaged. Deep 
 holes were made in the earth, as if some 
 convulsion of nature had taken place. Oc- 
 casionally a whole area had been bombarded 
 out of recognition — buildings, trees, and 
 trenches so smashed and destroyed as to 
 resemble the effects of an earthquake. 
 
 The district of Verdun is in one of the 
 coldest parts of France, and one subject to 
 frequent and sudden changes of tempera- 
 ture. On one occasion the opposing French 
 and German trenches were so close to each 
 other as to be within talking range. The 
 trench parapets, which had been frozen hard, 
 suddenly melted and subsided, leaving two 
 lines of men standing face to face without 
 any obstacle between them. It was a case 
 of wholesale murder on one side or the 
 other, or a temporary unofficial peace until 
 fresh parapet protections could be made. 
 The French and German officers, grasping 
 the situation, turned their backs, as if un- 
 
330 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 willing ofBcially to countenance such an un- 
 warlike proceeding, while the men on each 
 side rebuilt their parapets without firing 
 a shot. 
 
 After seeing Verdun Northcliffe visited 
 Reims, where he found the inhabitants wear- 
 ing gas-masks as part of their ordinary ap- 
 parel. Excepting that the stores were 
 closed, as on Sunday, and the streets de- 
 serted, the city showed at first sight no signs 
 of bombardment. Later on, however, in 
 passing through the Boulevard de la Paix, — 
 strangely named, — ^he noticed whole mansions 
 in ruins, and the cathedral square was devas- 
 tated. Fragments of the famous colored 
 glass, the author remarks, have been gath- 
 ered and set in rings. It is difficult to dis- 
 tinguish the blue glass from sapphire. 
 
 In portraying the havoc wrought by Ger- 
 man shells, Northchffe adds a dramatic 
 touch. It was late in the afternoon when 
 he entered the cathedral, and a sunbeam, 
 undiluted by the broken windows, disclosed 
 a horrible discoloration on the stone pave- 
 ment. " That," said the guide, with much 
 feeling, " is the blood of the wounded Ger- 
 man prisoners who sought refuge in the 
 
AT THE FRONT 331 
 
 cathedral and were done to death by their 
 own incendiary shells. That sign we shall 
 keep forever as a warning to the world of 
 Hun ferocity." 
 
 The strangest scene in Reims was in the 
 great champagne cellars, where the majority 
 of the native population, chiefly feminine, 
 was at work. Deep underground, thousands 
 of women were busily filling and turning the 
 acres of bottles that were arranged in won- 
 derful subterranean highways, the Pommery 
 cellars alone forming whole streets of wine. 
 
 On his various trips to the front. Lord 
 Northcliffe had ample opportunities to see 
 the British army in action. He pays a 
 high tribute to the unswerving efficiency of 
 the " Tommies " of England, the High- 
 landers of Scotland, and the fighting Irish. 
 He has also words of unstinted praise for 
 the contingents from other parts of the 
 British Empire, notably the Canadians, 
 Australians, and New Zealanders. 
 
 As to the colonials, he was quick to 
 answer the much discussed question of dis- 
 cipline, and to point out that when it comes 
 to fighting their discipline is as rigid as the 
 most exacting commander could desire. In 
 
332 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 time of battle the men obey their officers 
 implicitly. The spirit of the colonials is ex- 
 cellent. When General Birdwood, com- 
 mander of the AustraUans, praised his men 
 for their bravery, and asked: "Are you 
 ready for more when the time comes? " the 
 answer came back in a great shout, " Yes! " 
 
 A strong believer in the unity of the Brit- 
 ish Empire, Northcliffe rejoices at the 
 meeting of Englishmen, Scotchmen, and 
 Irishmen on French soil. Their interchange 
 of views will, he prophesies, materially alter 
 British politics when the boys get home. 
 The advent of Canadians, Australians, and 
 New Zealanders, with their attachment to 
 the mother country, foreshadows, he believes, 
 an indissoluble bond of empire which will 
 have a vast influence on the world's future. 
 
 Lord Northchffe seems to take great 
 pleasure in destroying most illusions about 
 war. For instance, in describing the British 
 headquarters, he says they were not estab- 
 lished in a palatial chateau but in a modest 
 dwelHng, while outwardly the life of the 
 commander-in-chief. General Sir Douglas 
 Haig, might have been that of a Scottish 
 laird at home on his estate. 
 
AT THE FRONT 333 
 
 He quickly sketches the habits and ap- 
 pearance of the famous leader, who is 
 known to the British public only by name. 
 Lithe, alert, of distinguished bearing, and 
 good looking, is the author's description. 
 " He does not waste words," says North- 
 cliffe, "not because he is silent or unsym- 
 pathetic — ^it is because he uses them as he 
 uses soldiers, sparingly but always with 
 method." When General Haig is inter- 
 ested in his subject, as in expressing his 
 admiration for the new armies and their 
 officers, or in testifying to the stubborn 
 bravery of the German machine gunners, 
 it is not diiBcult to discern from his accent 
 that he is what is known north of the Tweed 
 as a Fifer, and possessed of the Fifer pa- 
 tience and oblivion to all external surround- 
 ings that makes him so difficult to beat in 
 golf, in business affairs, or in war. 
 
 Neither good news nor news not so good 
 seems to affect this blue-eyed commander or 
 to interfere with his day's work. There are 
 all sorts of minor criticisms of the com- 
 mander-in-chief at home, mainly because 
 the majority of people know nothing about 
 him. Sir Douglas Haig is fifty-four years 
 
334 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of age. Many of his staff are much 
 younger. A grave, serious body of men, 
 they have inspired confidence from one end 
 of the hne to the other. With them, in 
 every case, " Can it be done? " takes prece- 
 dence of "It can't be done." One of Gen- 
 eral Haig's favorite maxims is that war is 
 a young man's game. 
 
 Northchffe praises the brave little Bel- 
 gian army, which gave the Allies invaluable 
 breathing time when the war began, and has 
 been fighting longer than any of them. 
 Since the early days of 1914 the army has 
 been much renewed, and considering its size 
 it is a perfect force, excellently organized 
 and efficiently directed. That the Belgians 
 are well equipped with big howitzers, 75 's, 
 and machine guns, and that every gun has 
 a plentiful supply of shells, is known to 
 Hans and Fritz everywhere along the Bel- 
 gian front. 
 
 Roughly speaking, the British have raised 
 an army of about four millions. Part of 
 these troops hold the western front, some 
 are in reserve along the line, others are in 
 Macedonia, Egypt, Saloniki, or Africa, 
 while a certain proportion are training at 
 
AT THE FRONT 335 
 
 home. The men in this vast army must have 
 three meals a day. Their clothes, boots, 
 underwear, and equipment must be kept in 
 good order and renewed at regular intervals. 
 Their horses, mules, and motor vehicles must 
 have the wherewithal to live or be used. In 
 short, the British army must be maintained 
 as a going, effective concern. Consequently, 
 a wonderful system of organization, man- 
 aged by experts in every branch, has been 
 built up until there is neither muddUng nor 
 inefficiency. 
 
 An admirer of efficiency and economy, 
 Northcliffe was much impressed by the im- 
 provement in army organization which had 
 taken place since the war began. His ad- 
 miration was particularly aroused by the 
 telephone system, which would have done 
 credit to an English city far away from 
 the war zone. At points where men were 
 burying the blackened corpses of Germans, 
 and where the sound of big guns made it 
 necessary to shout in order to be heard, he 
 found that telephone wires had been in- 
 stalled. War without the telephone would 
 have seemed impossible. Every head of a 
 department in the British lines had a tele- 
 
336 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 phone close at hand, and the wires were 
 even connected with the trunk system of 
 the French government. Interpreters were 
 stationed in the exchanges. 
 
 With ahnost an American fondness for I 
 
 speed, the author was dehghted to learn 
 that a staff officer at the front was able to 
 call up London, Paris, and seaport bases 
 in France within an hour. He describes 
 additional means of communication, such as 
 line and wireless telegraphy, and bestows a 
 compliment on the Signal Corps, on whose 
 achievements so much depends. 
 
 Of particular interest to American readers 
 is Northcliffe's description of the army be- 
 hind the army, of which the pubhc has but 
 little knowledge. Thousands of men in the 
 rear are engaged in every conceivable kind 
 of occupation, from railway construction to 
 preparing food or salvaging waste products. 
 Over two hundred trains a day and 35,000 
 loaded cars every week are required to sup- 
 ply the British army with food, ammunition, 
 engineers' stores, broken stone and other 
 material for road making, and trench sup- 
 ports of wood and iron. 
 
 One of the largest field bakeries turns 
 
AT THE FRONT 337 
 
 out 222,000 loaves a day, or 440,000 rations. 
 At one base on the northern line there were 
 40,000 tons of oats and 32,000 tons of hay 
 for the horses. Thousands of trucks, cars, 
 and motor cycles — fifty milUon pounds of 
 equipment on rubber tires — make up the 
 mechanical transportation equipment of the 
 British army in France alone. Four mil- 
 lion gallons of gasoline are used every 
 month. A complicated system of repair 
 shops is in operation. 
 
 With his customary news sense, North- 
 cliffe realized at once that what every 
 mother, father, sister, and sweetheart wanted 
 to know was, how the boys were treated at 
 the front. He has graphically shown that 
 the British army is well fed, and as a vivid 
 illustration of this he describes huge pyra- 
 mids of jams, pickles, bacon, beef, butter, 
 and cheese that he has seen. 
 
 Having been one of the first advocates 
 of auto-mobilization, Northcliffe admits that 
 the motor dispatch riders — " the noisy nui- 
 sances of peace-time roads," as he terms 
 them — ^have become a prime factor in the 
 prompt waging of war. 
 
 The cry which has become familiar to 
 
338 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 American ears, " Speed up! " was raised by 
 Lord Northcliffe in the early days of the 
 war, and some of his advice to his own peo- 
 ple seems applicable on this side of the 
 Atlantic. Those at home, he declares, can 
 help to speed up the machine if they will 
 only put their strength into the task. He 
 was prompt in seeing the necessity for 
 standardization, especially in motor trucks 
 and other branches of mechanical transport. 
 
 He found that two score different types 
 of motor vehicles were in use at the British 
 front. Each required its own spare parts 
 in order that repairs might be speedily 
 made. He lays stress on the fact that delay 
 in war time is fatal. The Germans, he ex- 
 plains, have comparatively few types of 
 motor vehicles, and for that reason are not 
 obliged to keep such a large variety of spare 
 parts. The British equipment, on the other 
 hand, requires 50,000 different kinds. 
 
 Northcliffe devotes much space to de- 
 scriptions of aeroplanes, and particularly to 
 the fighting planes which are fitted with 
 searchlights and carry one or two machine 
 guns. What the development of the aero- 
 plane means to England is a subject of 
 
AT THE FRONT 339 
 
 supreme importance to Britons, especially 
 in view of the fact that England is now less 
 than twenty minutes by air from the conti- 
 nent of Europe. He adds: "Let it be 
 realized that aeroplanes are very cheap to 
 make and will become cheaper. The vast 
 change that this invention has produced in 
 the position of England does not even now 
 seem to be understood by one person in a 
 hundred." 
 
 In emphasizing the fact that the world's 
 great war is a war of machinery as well as 
 bravery, the author says that the first im- 
 pression of it is chaos, confusion, and im- 
 mensity. Then follows the more mature 
 impression that everything is conducted with 
 the clockwork regularity of a great business. 
 He describes the supplies at a base which 
 furnished 100,000 men with horses, bicycles, 
 rifles, guns large and small, munitions, 
 observation balloons, aeroplanes, medical 
 stores, portable hospitals, ambulances, foods 
 of every description, cartridges, forage, and 
 harness. By multiplying 100,000 ten or 
 twenty times, some idea of the immensity 
 of the war business is gained. Its colossal 
 expense is shown by the fact that every 
 
340 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 British soldier costs the nation between 
 twenty-five and thirty dollars a week to 
 maintain. 
 
 The salvage system impressed North- 
 cliffe as one of the wonders of the war. 
 To-day, before the fume and reek of a 
 battle have disappeared or the dead are 
 buried, the Salvage Corps begins work on 
 the shell-churned field, collecting unused 
 cartridges, machine-gun belts, unexploded 
 bombs, old shell cases, damaged rifles, haver- 
 sacks, steel helmets, and even old rags. 
 The latter are sold for $250 a ton. 
 
 According to official reports, it may be 
 added, the Department of Salvage has 
 saved the British government $12,000,000 
 a year on uniforms alone. Four thousand 
 women are engaged in the work of renova- 
 tion and repairing. Army blankets, boots, 
 capes, and coats of rubber and leather are 
 also gathered for reclamation. One million 
 pairs of boots were salvaged in 1916. The 
 salvage system extends everywhere, and 
 nothing is immune. Every gasoHne can, 
 for instance, is used and reused. Even 
 hospital dressings are sterilized and sold as 
 cotton waste. Wooden boxes and nails are 
 
AT THE FRONT 341 
 
 put to use. Grease is collected at the camps 
 and employed in the manufacture of glycer- 
 ine and soap. Even potato peelings are 
 sold to French farmers as hog feed. 
 
 Briefly, yet clearly, Northcliflfe describes 
 every phase of the training that new British 
 troops undergo behind the lines, such as 
 trench practice in actual facsimile, trench 
 gas attacks in which the deadly gas is used, 
 bombing with real bombs, crater fighting, 
 and machine-gun practice. In fact, all the 
 elements that enter into real warfare are 
 assiduously demonstrated at the rear until 
 the men are perfectly drilled. 
 
 At the end of 1917 Lord NorthcUffe had 
 an opportunity of seeing the American 
 forces in the field, and although his account 
 of what he saw forms no part of his book, 
 it can appropriately be added to his other 
 impressions. 
 
 The alert British journalist traveled to 
 American headquarters with Generals 
 Pershing and Bliss, Admiral Benson, Colo- 
 nel House, Ambassador Sharp, and other 
 officials. The party left Paris at eight 
 o'clock in the morning in a special train, 
 and returned at ten at night. This, Lord 
 
342 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Northcliffe says, will give some idea of the 
 distance. 
 
 At a small railway station, some miles 
 from headquarters, a guard of honor was 
 waiting to receive the American army chiefs, 
 and the party, on leaving the train, passed 
 through half a mile of grim, hardy young 
 Americans in trench helmets, standing at 
 attention. They appeared to be in fine 
 health and spirits. 
 
 " Eastern France," says Northcliffe, "was 
 under a frost — not the dazzhng, keen at- 
 mosphere of New York, but a sunny, damp 
 atmosphere to which Americans are un- 
 accustomed but are bearing well. The air 
 was full of the thudding of great guns in 
 an artillery battle which a young West 
 Point officer told me had been proceeding 
 without cessation for three days and three 
 nights some miles away to the east." 
 
 In American automobiles the visitors were 
 taken straight across the country, ignoring 
 the roads, until the crest of a low ravine was 
 reached, where thousands of the first con- 
 tingent of the American expeditionary 
 force were being trained. Here an exhibi- 
 tion drill was witnessed. American aero- 
 
AT THE FRONT 343 
 
 planes were circling overhead, and violent 
 clangs of bursting hand grenades indicated 
 that the bombing schools were practicing. 
 The first exhibition was rifle practice with 
 landscape targets. It was good shooting, 
 the high average of 75 per cent of hits being 
 recorded. 
 
 Then followed practice with a trench 
 mortar, well known to the British army. 
 The men had thoroughly mastered the prin- 
 ciples of this. Later on some bomb throw- 
 ing took place, in which the participants 
 demonstrated that the throw is not the 
 baseball pitch, but a complete over-arm 
 semicircle, somewhat resembling over-arm 
 cricket bowling. Then came an exhibition 
 of trench fighting, bayonet practice, and a 
 fine quarter of an hour's work with French 
 75 guns at a range of a mile and a half. 
 The target was a little wood, and after the 
 first four shots the gunners got the range 
 almost every time. The spotting was done 
 by an aeroplane which hovered overhead 
 and indicated hits by wireless. 
 
 Colonel House, who is a Texan, took up 
 a rifle and did some good shooting himself. 
 Excellent wooden models of enemy snipers 
 
344 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 were concealed among the rocks and foliage 
 at a distance of some hundreds of yards. 
 It was the object of the pupils in this part 
 of the war game to draw a sudden bead on 
 an enemy dummy and get it. Many had 
 become adepts in sniping. 
 
 The party returned to the railway, and 
 after a short journey reached General 
 Pershing's headquarters, a large French 
 barracks that had lately been occupied by 
 a distinguished French regiment. The build- 
 ings had been refitted, steam heated, and 
 electric wired, and were in telephonic com- 
 munication with Paris and the various parts 
 of the American army. Interesting infor- 
 mation was given at headquarters by mem- 
 bers of General Pershing's staff, which 
 showed that American adaptability had very 
 quickly assimilated the best points of the 
 British and French training arrived at after 
 three and a half years of actual warfare, to 
 which had been added certain ideas and alter- 
 ations necessary for an army whose home 
 base was three thousand miles away. 
 
 Lord Northcliffe was much impressed by 
 the strong personality of General Pershing, 
 who has been described by an'tAmerican 
 
AT THE FRONT 345 
 
 writer as " erect, square jawed, with keen 
 eyes, and a mouth firmly indicated beneath 
 a close-clipped mustache, having all the con- 
 centration of a master chess player." The 
 British observer also gained a highly favor- 
 able impression of the spirit of the American 
 officers and men, and the state of their prepa- 
 ration. Every branch of the organization 
 was admirably managed, with young men, 
 full of energy, at the head of each depart- 
 ment. 
 
 In addition to describing the armies in 
 the field. Lord Northcliff e has devoted much 
 space to the auxiliary organizations that are 
 at work, such as the Red Cross societies. 
 All the profits resulting from the sale of his 
 war book, it may be added, have been pre- 
 sented to the British Red. Cross Society and 
 the Order of St. John. 
 
 In an account of the Red Cross hospitals, 
 he describes how the world's greatest sur- 
 geons, including King George's doctor, at- 
 tend the wounded of the rank and file. 
 There is, in fact, no finer tribute in the book 
 than that which the author pays to the war 
 doctors. "We are so accustomed," he says, 
 " to considering doctors as part of our daily 
 
346 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 life, or as workers in speckless, palatial hos- 
 pitals, that we have hardly visualized the man 
 who shares the hell of the front trench with 
 the fighters, armed with only two panniers 
 of urgent drugs, instruments, and field dress- 
 ings, his acetylene lamp and electric torch. 
 If there be degrees of chivalry, the highest 
 award should be accorded to the medical pro- 
 fession, which at once forsook its lucrative 
 practice in a great rally of self-sacrifice." 
 
 Some idea of the dangers which army doc- 
 tors have to face is shown in the figures for 
 the three months of June, July, and August, 
 1916, when 53 officers of the Royal Medical 
 Corps were killed and 208 wounded, while 
 of non-coms and privates 260 were killed and 
 1212 wounded. 
 
 The elaborate and efficient system of car- 
 ing for the wounded is carefully explained 
 by Lord Northcliffe, who traces the prog- 
 ress of the wounded from the regimental 
 head base, where the doctor with his stretcher 
 bearers waits alongside of the men. As the 
 stretcher bearers pass in with their loads, 
 there is a rapid diagnosis, an antiseptic ap- 
 plication, a hastily written label tied upon 
 the victim's breast, and the wounded man is 
 
AT THE FRONT 347 
 
 borne away in the open to the next stage, 
 the advance dressing station, which is some- 
 times pushed right up to the firing hne. The 
 stretcher bearers thereupon begin again an- 
 other dangerous journey rearwards. 
 
 The comforting assurance is given that by 
 far the greater proportion of the wounded 
 are sHghtly hit and are walking cases — so 
 hghtly hurt in large numbers of instances 
 that where the stretcher bearers themselves 
 have fallen, slightly wounded soldiers have 
 borne them out of danger. 
 
 Northcliffe's picture of an advance dress- 
 ing station at West Pe'ronne is vividly in- 
 teresting. " We reached it," he says, " on 
 a heavy, sultry afternoon, by hiding our- 
 selves behind anything possible. Dust and 
 smoke gave the atmosphere of a coming 
 thunder storm; the thudding of the guns on 
 both sides was incessant. Now and then was 
 heard the brisk note of a machine gun, 
 which sounds exactly like a boy rasping a 
 stick along palings. 
 
 " There was no sign of anything in the 
 nature of a hospital or anything above 
 ground. I was getting tired of being told 
 to lie down flat every few seconds to avoid 
 
348 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 bursting shells, when I saw a couple of 
 stretcher bearers coming through the haze 
 as from nowhere, and then disappear under- 
 ground. * It is underneath there,' I was 
 told by my guide, whose daily duty it was 
 to inspect medical outposts." 
 
 Getting down into a trench, Northcliffe 
 was guided through an underground maze, 
 part of a former German trench system, 
 which had been turned into a hospital. He 
 never saw a more touching sight, he says, 
 than this underground station, where seventy 
 wounded men were being attended to by 
 doctors and assistants, and waiting to be 
 removed as soon as the place could be va- 
 cated. One of these collecting stations which 
 he had visited two days previously had been 
 shelled by the enemy. By a strange chance 
 the only victims were a number of German 
 prisoners. 
 
 To prevent mistakes, each wounded man's 
 label is checked at every point that he 
 reaches, with as much care as a registered 
 letter receives on its way through the post. 
 The casualty clearing station, with its nurses 
 and sunny gardens into which the beds are 
 carried so that the wounded men can enjoy 
 
AT THE FRONT 349 
 
 ■ ; 
 
 the birds, flowers, and trees, seemed like an 
 oasis after the grim desolation of the Somme 
 heights. Although he is a " bear " for work 
 himself, Northcliffe was astounded at the 
 tireless activity of doctors and nurses. He 
 frankly admits that he had never thought it 
 was possible for human beings to work so 
 many hours, although the war, it is true, 
 seems to double the energy of every one en- 
 gaged in it. 
 
 One of the most important hospitals of the 
 British Red Cross is at Rouen, where the 
 Grand Seminaire, a modern building, has 
 been reserved for wounded officers. Here 
 there are accommodations for 250 patients, 
 who receive the attention of a large medical 
 staff. In addition to an X-ray department, 
 there is a pathological laboratory in which 
 important work is carried on by an expert 
 bacteriologist. A room equipped for mas- 
 sage and general electrical treatment has also 
 been provided. 
 
 An interesting branch of war work is the 
 Record Department, which keeps complete 
 data of every British soldier from the mo- 
 ment of his arrival in France until his de- 
 parture or death. A branch office enables 
 
350 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 relatives to ascertain the time and place of 
 burial of every officer or private who is 
 killed, whether he comes from Great 
 Britain or the colonies. This information 
 is important in cases where wills are 
 probated. 
 
 With delicacy. Lord Northcliffe describes 
 how the effects of dead soldiers are collected 
 when the bodies of the slain are reverently 
 searched. All property is carefully listed, 
 and the list accompanies the familiar belong- 
 ings to one of the great bases on the lines 
 of communication. Here the bag containing 
 the mementos is opened by two clerks, who 
 check the list once more. The bag is then 
 sealed and sent home. He watched the open- 
 ing of one of these pathetic parcels at the 
 time of its final checking. It contained a 
 few trinkets, some pennies, a pipe and to- 
 bacco pouch, a photograph of wife and baby, 
 a trench ring made of an enemy fuse, and a 
 small diary. 
 
 Northcliffe has much praise for the 
 Y.M.C.A., which has provided huts and clubs 
 in which war-worn soldiers can find rest and 
 recreation. The Church Army, the Salva- 
 tion Army, and other organizations have also 
 
AT THE FRONT 351 
 
 done excellent work in supplying comforts 
 for the men. 
 
 He pays an eloquent tribute to the women 
 of the war, whose self-sacrifice as nurses and 
 volunteer workers leaves him at a loss for 
 appropriate words of praise. " Women," he 
 says, " have taken to every kind of war 
 work with a rapidity and adaptability that 
 have certainly not been shown by all mem- 
 bers of the ruling sex. It has been openly 
 admitted that in many ammunition factories 
 women in their eagerness to defeat the 
 enemy are expending more energy than men 
 working in the same shops." 
 
 As the result of his interviews with Brit- 
 ish officers and men, Northchffe confirmed 
 the impression gained by other investigators, 
 that the German is a good soldier when ad- 
 vancing with numbers under strict disci- 
 pline, and is undoubtedly brave, but when 
 left to himself he lacks the initiative which 
 distinguishes the British and American sol- 
 dier. He has harsh words for the Germans, 
 especially the Prussians and Bavarians, who, 
 he says, are extremely cruel. The German 
 non-coms when taken prisoners treat their 
 men with a bullying savagery that is aston- 
 
352 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ishing, while German officer prisoners pay 
 absolutely no attention to their men, even 
 those who are wounded. 
 
 He was told that the Germans treat their 
 slightly wounded with great care because 
 they wish to get them back into the firing 
 line quickly. The badly wounded are neg- 
 lected. Indeed, he observes, the wounded 
 man is not the hero in war that he is sup- 
 posed to be. The object of both sides is to 
 win, and while every care is taken of the 
 wounded, priority is given to the forwarding 
 of fighting men. 
 
 Like many other observers, Northcliffe 
 was impressed by the wretched appearance 
 of the German prisoners, many of whom 
 were undersized, ill fed, and untrained. He 
 refers to the difference between the treat- 
 ment accorded to German prisoners in 
 France and in England. The authorities in 
 England seem disposed to hide the prisoners, 
 while in France they work in public and are 
 contented with their lot. Excepting for the 
 letters " P. G." {Prisonnier de Guerre) on 
 the tags on their coats, he found it difficult 
 to realize that middle-aged Hans with his 
 pipe and young Fritz with his cigarette were 
 
AT THE FRONT 353 
 
 ' ■ 
 
 prisoners at all. This caused him to declare 
 emphatically that the sooner the German 
 prisoners in England were put to work to 
 assist in shortening the war, the better it 
 would be. 
 
 On one of his trips to the Continent, 
 Northcliffe visited the Italian front. That 
 was in the early days, when the Italian army 
 had pushed forward into Austrian territory. 
 He has described the gallantry of that ad- 
 vance over the Dolomite Alps in the face of 
 almost insurmountable difficulties. 
 
 The brutalities of the Austrians, he dis- 
 covered, were similar to those practiced by 
 the Germans. The Italian slain were con- 
 stantly found mutilated. He was shown 
 some terrible spiked maces habitually used 
 by the Austrians to break the skulls of the 
 wounded. Equally barbarous were thongs 
 with leaden balls attached to them, which 
 the Austrian non-coms used in driving lag- 
 gards into the fighting line. 
 
 General Cadorna, who was then the Ital- 
 ian commander-in-chief, has been described 
 by NorthcUife as a quick-moving man of 
 sixty-six, and the most humorous of the gen- 
 erals in the war. He had a glitter in his 
 
354 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 grey eyes that reminded one of Pierpont 
 Morgan. The resemblance also applied to 
 the character of the two men, for Morgan, 
 like Cadorna, was kindly disposed, although 
 merciless and adamant when necessary. 
 
 Northcliffe was surprised to find that in 
 the talks between Italian soldiers and Aus- 
 trian prisoners English was the only lan- 
 guage in which they could converse. Inves- 
 tigation disclosed that thousands of Italians 
 and Austrians had worked in the United 
 States. The English they used was not the 
 Enghsh of England, he observes, but in 
 many cases it was a New York dialect. 
 
 As a newspaperman, Lord Northcliff e was 
 gratified to notice that the lessening of the 
 censorship had permitted real war news to 
 come from the front. The fact that able 
 correspondents are allowed to tell freely and 
 frankly what is going on enables readers 
 with imagination to grasp the magnitude of 
 the war, and to realize that the equivalent 
 of the South African campaign or the 
 Crimean War is being fought in France 
 practically every month. 
 
 What is needed by the Allies as well as 
 neutrals is a continuous demonstration by 
 
AT THE FRONT 355 
 
 skilled writers, artists, lecturers, cinemato- 
 graph operators, and photographers of what 
 is happening, in order to impress the facts 
 of the war on the people who are so lavishly 
 pouring out their blood and treasure to over- 
 throw German tyranny and to make freedom 
 possible throughout the world. 
 
 All the profits accruing from the sale of Lord NorthcliflFe's 
 Book "At the War" (George H. Doran Company, New York; 
 Hodder & Stoughton, London) are devoted to the work of the 
 Red Cross. Nearly $40,000 has been so raised and disbursed. 
 
XII 
 THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 
 
 When it was announced, in May, 1917, 
 that the British government had decided to 
 send Lord NorthcHffe to the United States 
 as head of a special mission, for the pur- 
 pose of reorganizing the vast system of 
 purchasing and forwarding supphes, which 
 had been in operation since the war began, 
 it was agreed that no better choice for the 
 position could have been made. His tact, 
 his energy, his wide experience of Ameri- 
 can affairs, and his genius in handling great 
 business matters were all factors in favor 
 of his success in directing this important 
 work. 
 
 By the American press Lord Northcliffe's 
 coming was hailed as a great event. Most 
 Americans had heard of his wonderful 
 career. They had not forgotten his great 
 fight against British military inefficiency in 
 1915, when his victory in the famous " Bat- 
 
 856 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 357 
 
 tie of Shells " saved England from disaster. 
 They also remembered that for years he 
 had been at the forefront of every progres- 
 sive movement in Great Britain. 
 
 On the fourth of June the British com- 
 missioners embarked secretly on a fast ship, 
 and made the voyage from England to New 
 York. Every precaution had been taken 
 against German spies before leaving, and 
 during the trip a sharp watch was kept for 
 submarines, but fortunately no periscope 
 was sighted. 
 
 When the commissioners arrived at New 
 York, they were greeted formally by repre- 
 sentatives of the United States government 
 and other officials. Lord Northcliffe was 
 also greeted informally by a large gather- 
 ing of newspapermen. He was interviewed 
 and photographed. Stories of his arrival, 
 coupled with biographical sketches, ap- 
 peared in every important newspaper. 
 
 As in England, Lord Northcliffe was not 
 oblivious to the himiors of the censorship. 
 The day after his arrival one of the New 
 York newspapers, in attempting to follow 
 censorship rules, naively announced that 
 " Lord Northcliffe arrived at an American 
 
358 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 port yesterday and went at once to the 
 Hotel Gotham." When a reporter asked 
 him what he thought of the censorship, he 
 remarked drily : " I cannot discuss the sub- 
 ject, but that sentence, I think, speaks for 
 itself." 
 
 Lord Northcliffe's headquarters at the 
 Hotel Gotham in Fifth Avenue at once be- 
 came a center of attraction. From day to 
 day they were crowded with visitors of 
 every description, from financiers and heads 
 of important industries, military men, and 
 politicians down to " men with schemes," 
 men with something to sell, and the usual 
 throngs of reporters. One afternoon the 
 callers included the president of the largest 
 banking institution outside of Wall Street, 
 the president of an important Chicago bank, 
 and the head of a great manufacturing com- 
 pany. A staff of secretaries was kept busy 
 receiving and sorting these visitors, a large 
 proportion of whom were seen by Lord 
 Northcliffe himself. 
 
 In spite of the hot weather which pre- 
 vailed at the time. Lord Northcliffe dis- 
 patched his business with an amount of 
 geniality that impressed all who saw him. 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 359 
 
 He met newspaper representatives as often 
 as possible, outlined to them the work of 
 the mission, and incidentally counteracted 
 many false reports concerning British in- 
 activity in the war which had been circu- 
 lated by German propagandists. The 
 American press, keen and eager, new to the 
 war, drew upon his experiences at the front 
 with avidity. He was able to dispel many 
 erroneous impressions regarding the actual 
 state of affairs. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival. Lord North- 
 cliffe opened offices for the mission in a 
 new building in upper Fifth Avenue, and 
 a large staff was speedily organized in order 
 to deal with executive matters. At the same 
 time another department was established in 
 a skyscraper situated in the center of the 
 financial district. Here another staff was 
 installed. Nimierous branch offices already 
 existed in various parts of the country, and 
 these were included in the general plan of 
 reorganization. 
 
 As soon as the preliminary work was 
 completed. Lord Northcliffe went to Wash- 
 ington to carry on his work there. After 
 meeting the President and the principal 
 
360 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 leaders in the government and receiving the 
 cooperation of the British Embassy, he 
 opened offices in one of the largest build- 
 ings and gathered another capable staff. 
 
 With President Wilson he was at once on 
 cordial terms. Their respect and liking for 
 each other gained with each meeting. To 
 Lord Northcliffe the President appeared to 
 be " a mixture of Scottish caution combined 
 with tenacity and American unexpectedness 
 — a man of great determination, clarity of 
 vision, and fair-mindedness." 
 
 During his stay in Washington, Lord 
 Northcliffe's sunny disposition had its usual 
 effect upon all whom he met. His witty 
 comments upon men and affairs entertained 
 them. He was all that Americans sup- 
 posed an Englishman not to be. Whether 
 he was among university professors, poli- 
 ticians, members of the learned professions, 
 or business men, the impression made was 
 the same — that of a swift observer, of a man 
 quick to grasp essentials, of a nature slow 
 to impute evil, but impatient of dullness 
 or incapacity, of a personality which com- 
 pelled the epithet " great." 
 I While he was at the capital he made a 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 361 
 
 number of new friends in official circles, 
 with whom he discussed politics and played 
 golf. He won the hearts of the local news- 
 papermen by his readiness in giving inter- 
 views that were full of interest, and with the 
 freemasonry of journalism he did every- 
 thing possible to help even the humblest 
 reporter. 
 
 Thenceforward he made New York his 
 headquarters, occasionally visiting Wash- 
 ington and also making trips of inspection 
 to various industrial centers. Later on he 
 visited Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and 
 other cities of the Middle West. During his 
 entire stay in the United States he ob- 
 served his usual custom of rising at five 
 in the morning, and working almost inces- 
 santly until half -past seven in the evening. 
 In this interval he met important business 
 men and others, arranged big deals, worked 
 on his system of reorganization, and gradu- 
 ally brought order out of chaos. He retired 
 promptly at ten o'clock, and was up again 
 at five the next morning, ready for another 
 day's work. His marvelous endurance as- 
 tonished his American friends. 
 
 During most of his stay in New York, 
 
362 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Lord Northcliffe made his home at Bolton 
 Priory, one of the largest houses in Pelham 
 Bay Park, a well-known suburb, adjacent 
 to Long Island Sound. Here he enter- 
 tained visitors and found rest and quiet, the 
 essential antidotes for his life of strenuous 
 action. 
 
 To give some idea of the colossal task 
 which Lord NorthcUffe had undertaken it is 
 necessary to explain how the British sys- 
 tem of army supplies had been developed 
 from the early days of the war. It is a 
 story that reveals the magnitude of modern 
 war operations, in which millions of men 
 must be equipped, clothed, and fed. 
 
 In 1914, when the great conflict began, 
 the visible supphes of provisions and war 
 materials in each of the Allied countries 
 were insufficient for the purposes of a long 
 war. The Allies were therefore compelled 
 to enter neutral markets as buyers on an 
 extensive scale. The United States, by rea- 
 son of its immense resources, became the 
 greatest market of all. 
 
 Early in the war the British government 
 enlarged existing departments and organ- 
 ized still greater special departments of na- 
 
 \ 
 
In Paris, 1917 
 
 Lord Northcliffe starting out to attend a preliminary- 
 meeting of the Allied War Council 
 
 (S) Underiuocd & Underiv^od 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 363 
 
 tional service to control the purchase and 
 distribution of supplies. Some of the latter 
 eventually surpassed even the greatest pri- 
 vate businesses in the enormous extent of 
 their dealings and expenditures. At that 
 time the purchase of supplies in the United 
 States was placed in charge of J. P. Mor- 
 gan & Co., the New York banking firm^ 
 this important business being ably directed 
 by Edward R. Stettinius, a member of 
 the jSrm and a well-known financial 
 expert. 
 
 In the case of certain other Alhed powers, 
 notably Russia, the buying and awarding of 
 contracts was at first managed somewhat 
 loosely by special representatives who were 
 sent to New York. Reahzing this, a num- 
 ber of enterprising Americans were struck 
 with the idea of getting options on war ma- 
 terials of all kinds and making profitable 
 deals with these officials. In some cases men 
 without any capital obtained important op- 
 tions on chemicals, munitions, rifles, lumber, 
 foods, metals, and other commodities, and 
 by acting as middlemen cleared large for- 
 tunes. In the vernacular of Wall Street 
 any enterprise that is launched with little or 
 
364 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 no capital is said to have been " started on a 
 shoestring." These fortunate option dealers 
 were consequently termed the " shoestring 
 miUionaires." It was probably because of 
 these loosely arranged options that much 
 confusion arose in regard to supplies in the 
 first years of the war. In some cases deliv- 
 eries could not be made, and in several 
 instances large quantities of defective equip- 
 ment were rejected. 
 
 At the beginning of 1915, when the New 
 York Stock Exchange reopened after hav- 
 ing been closed for some months because of 
 the outbreak of war, the newspapers were 
 pubhshing sensational reports of huge con- 
 tracts awarded to American companies by 
 the Allied governments, amounting to un- 
 told milhons of dollars. Orders were pour- 
 ing in for munitions, rifles, guns, motor 
 boats, electrical equipment, locomotives, 
 metals, foods, cotton, leather, and other 
 commodities. Some of the enormous orders 
 for copper seriously taxed the production of 
 American mines. 
 
 The stocks of companies which had re- 
 ceived orders immediately began to advance, 
 speculation became rampant, and thus the 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 365 
 
 great war boom commenced in Wall Street. 
 Advances of a hundred points or more were 
 common. Bethlehem Steel (common), for 
 example, rose from $50 to over $600 a share. 
 Electric Boat, which had been quoted below 
 ten dollars, went above $400 a share in 
 a few weeks. Railroad-equipment shares, 
 automobile shares, and many others scored 
 sensational advances. Fortunes were made 
 and lost daily by frenzied speculators in 
 these stocks, which were popularly termed 
 " the war brides." 
 
 When the United States entered the war 
 in April, 1917, the competition for war sup- 
 plies was greatly increased, and it became 
 more important than ever for the Allies to 
 prevent any serious reduction in the quan- 
 tities they were receiving. At that time 
 the buying for the Allies — Great Britain 
 excepted — had been coordinated and had be- 
 come better managed. Some confusion had 
 arisen, however, in regard to the British 
 buying, which had been transferred from 
 Morgan & Co. to less efficient hands. The 
 numerous branch offices engaged in pur- 
 chasing supplies were loosely connected. 
 What the British mission was empowered 
 
366 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 to do was to reorganize the entire system 
 and make it businesslike. 
 
 An idea of the vast deahngs of the Amer- 
 ican branch of the British supply system 
 can be gathered from a brief mention of 
 some of the things that are required for the 
 British army of four million men. Since 
 the beginning of the war the value of the 
 purchases made by the Contracts Depart- 
 ment in London has aggregated $3,750,- 
 000,000. The gross outlay in 1917 was 
 about $1,750,000,000, and this did not take 
 in guns, munitions, aeroplanes, or mechani- 
 cal transport. 
 
 Since the war began the purchases have 
 included 105,000,000 yards of cloth; 115,- 
 000,000 yards of flannel; 400,000,000 
 pounds of bacon; 500,000,000 rations of 
 preserved meat; 26,000,000 cans of jam; 
 167,000,000 pounds of cheese; 35,000,000 
 knives, forks, and spoons; 35,000,000 pairs 
 of boots; 40,000,000 horseshoes; and 25,- 
 000,000 gas helmets. The British armies 
 in France alone require every month 95,000 
 tons of oats; 4,000,000 gallons of gasoline; 
 20,000 tons of flour; 10,000,000 pounds of 
 ham and jam; and 75,000 tons of hay. In 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 367 
 
 the economies effected by the Contracts De- 
 partment and the mobihzation of materials 
 that has been achieved, the highest degree 
 of business efficiency has been attained. It 
 has done away with excessive war profits, 
 the supplying of inferior materials, and 
 other evils that formerly resulted from war 
 contracts. 
 
 At the Contracts Department in London 
 over 70,000 manufacturers or dealers are 
 listed. These firms are in every neutral or 
 Allied country, but mainly in Great Britain, 
 Canada, Australia, and the United States. 
 They can produce anything that the British 
 armies require. When the armies cannot 
 get what they want from some outside firm, 
 the government makes it on its own account. 
 On the index, for instance, under the head 
 of " Biscuits " or " Crackers " are the names 
 of every available biscuit-producing estab- 
 lishment in Great Britain and the United 
 States. There is also a record of every con- 
 tract that each firm has had with the British 
 government, with the date and the price. 
 
 Thousands of contracts of all kinds are 
 made in the course of the year. Some sec- 
 tions of the Contracts Department control 
 
368 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 such a vast amount of business that they 
 have become separate and self-sufficient 
 groups. The Royal Army Clothing De- 
 partment, for example, spent about $250,- 
 000,000 in 1917. After food, the next im- 
 portant item is clothes. The contracts are 
 awarded to regular manufacturers, and each 
 manufacturer produces one definite article, 
 such as a jacket, trousers, puttees, socks, 
 shoes, or a cap. Inspection plays an im- 
 portant part in this department. Every 
 garment must conform to specifications or it 
 is returned. 
 
 Some idea of the scope and effectiveness 
 of the inspection can be gained from the 
 fact that in July, 1917, out of 3,000,000 
 pieces of clothing inspected 117,000 were 
 rejected. Out of 2,000,000 pairs of shoes 
 sent in 68,000 were turned down. In one 
 lot of 184,000 sheepskin coats — worn by 
 motor-truck drivers — 27,000 were below 
 standard. 
 
 As a recent writer has remarked: "The 
 business of war as represented by the sys- 
 tem of supplies and transportation of the 
 British army is nothing more or less than a 
 colossal piece of merchandizing that has be- 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 369 
 
 come a triumph of standardization. It 
 expresses the genius of organization of a 
 hundred United States Steel Corporations, 
 Standard Oil Companies, and International 
 Harvester Companies rolled into one." 
 
 The American branch of this great sys- 
 tem which Lord Northcliffe reorganized, 
 had control of expenditures that were 
 roughly estimated to range from fifty to 
 eighty million dollars a week. One news- 
 paper calculation placed the amoimt at 
 $3,996,816,000 a year, or at the rate of 
 $10,958,400 a day, $456,600 an hour, $7610 
 a minute. In commenting on this enormous 
 outlay Lord Northcliffe said: "I was sent 
 to the United States not only because I 
 have been here twenty times before, but 
 because I am accustomed to directing large 
 organizations, and it was felt by the British 
 government that some one should supervise 
 these huge disbursements which are passing 
 into American pockets every week. Until 
 my coming all the great purchasing depart- 
 ments in the United States were without a 
 head. Now the business is working smoothly 
 and efficiently." 
 
 Certain pro-German newspapers had mis- 
 
370 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 stated the facts about these expenditures, 
 and had asserted that Great Britain had 
 borrowed billions from the United States to 
 spend in England. Lord Northcliffe dis- 
 pelled this illusion by a prompt explanation: 
 "The credit of $185,000,000 monthly ar- 
 ranged by the United States government 
 was intended to be used by Great Britain 
 for the purchase of war supplies in the 
 United States. This amount has been sup- 
 plemented by our own expenditures. These 
 expenditures mean a substantial sum every 
 day for every man, woman, and child in 
 the United States. I do not mention this in 
 order to glorify war but merely to show that 
 it indicates an appreciation of American 
 products, which are invariably excellent." 
 
 Operating under Lord Northcliffe's direc- 
 tion were three principal British depart- 
 ments, besides many representatives dis- 
 patched to this country by the British Min- 
 istry of Munitions, the War Department, 
 and the Admiralty. The three departments 
 — Production, Inspection, and Railway and 
 Shipping — ^had their headquarters in New 
 York. Of these the Production Depart- 
 ment is probably the most important. It 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 371 
 
 records all progress that is being made in the 
 United States in the manufacture of big 
 guns and high explosives, and in fact every- 
 thing connected with munitions. It also 
 arranges railway rulings for munitions. Its 
 third important function is to check quan- 
 tities and weights of various parts from 
 contractors or factories right down to the 
 ships. The work of the Inspection Depart- 
 ment differs from that of the Production 
 Department, being confined to inspecting 
 the quality of the munitions supphed. The 
 Railway and Shipping Department controls 
 the movements of British shipping to and 
 from this country and the forwarding of 
 supplies from interior points in the United 
 States to the coast. 
 
 Few people in the United States have any 
 idea of the extent of the British organiza- 
 tion. To an interviewer with whom he dis- 
 cussed this subject, Lord Northcliffe said: 
 " Most people think of the British supply 
 system in this country as consisting of a 
 thousand men or so. Of course there is a 
 small group at the head of it, but as a mat- 
 ter of fact we have ten thousand men in the 
 United States and Canada who are engaged 
 
372 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 directly or indirectly in purchasing, inspect- 
 ing, checking, or arranging the transporta- 
 tion of food, munitions, and all the rest of 
 our supplies. At the present time I am 
 responsible for all of them." 
 
 The astonished interviewer added : " The 
 picture was complete. Here was indeed the 
 greatest spender in the world's history, re- 
 sponsible for the disbursement of nearly four 
 billion dollars yearly, so gigantic a task 
 that there were needed ten thousand agents 
 under him whose daily task it was to spend, 
 spend, spend! " 
 
 Lord Northcliife was asked whether bids 
 had to be made in open market, and if so, 
 whether it tended to drive prices up. He 
 replied: "We formerly had to bid in the 
 open market and had to pay eight and a 
 half cents a pound for steel, for example. 
 But that was before the Exports Adminis- 
 trative Board was estabhshed under Judge 
 Lovett, to pass on priority of demands. 
 Now the United States and England buy 
 side by side. We used to be represented in 
 this country by Morgan & Co., but now all 
 our buying of metals is done through the 
 Lovett board, as it should be. But we have 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 373 
 
 our own offices, of course — two or three big 
 suites in New York, and others at a hundred 
 other points." 
 
 Lord Northchffe did not fail to grasp 
 the humorous side of the war-contract busi- 
 ness, and the devices employed by " men 
 with schemes," who secured options with a 
 view to becoming " shoestring millionaires." 
 In talking of this he said: "Before the 
 American Exports Board was established we 
 had salesmen of every conceivable sort over- 
 running our offices all day long. Hordes 
 of them crowded into our anterooms. It 
 seemed to me that most of them had nothing 
 in stock but nerve. Why, they hadn't a 
 factory to their names — just depended on 
 getting an order from us, and then going 
 out and finding a factory on the strength 
 of that order." 
 
 When Lord Northcliffe was asked in what 
 direction most of England's money went in 
 the United States, he dispelled the notion 
 that fifty per cent of it was devoted to 
 purchases of grain, meat, and other food- 
 stuffs. He said that food was a big item, 
 but not so large as fifty per cent or any- 
 where near that proportion. Commenting 
 
374 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 on this statement, one editorial writer re- 
 marked that investigation disclosed that of 
 six billion dollars' worth of exports from 
 the United States during twelve months 
 ending in June, 1917, meat and dairy prod- 
 ucts, breadstuffs, refined sugar, and glucose 
 all put together did not make up much 
 more than a tenth part of the whole. Still 
 the amount of breadstuffs exported in that 
 period, valued at $113,000,000, was double 
 the amount exported in the year before the 
 war began. 
 
 It has been estimated that in 1917 Great 
 Britain purchased $250,000,000 worth of 
 copper in the United States and half a bil- 
 lion dollars' worth of explosives. On this 
 point Lord Northcliff e observed : "It is im- 
 possible to say what commodities make up 
 the bulk of our American purchases, because 
 they vary from day to day. One week we 
 are buying grain, the next something else — 
 copper, for instance, tremendous amounts 
 of copper. Iron, steel, brass, cotton and 
 woolen goods, oil and meats, autos and 
 trucks, and a myriad of other things are 
 purchased. I am the responsible buyer, it is 
 true, but one cannot go wrong with the 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 375 
 
 hundreds of inspectors that we have over 
 here, extremely keen young fellows all of 
 them. This, however, is a young man's 
 war." 
 
 Throughout his life Lord Northcliffe has 
 owed much of the success of his ventures 
 to his shrewd selection of those whom he 
 always speaks of as his " associates " or " col- 
 leagues." When he became head of the 
 British War Mission he secured the most 
 competent men he could find to help him. 
 His staffs were made up of experts in their 
 various lines. He concentrated most of his 
 efforts on perfecting the directing organiza- 
 tion in New York. When he returned to 
 England he was able to feel that the great 
 business of purchasing and forwarding 
 would run smoothly under the capable direc- 
 tion of Sir Frederick Black and Sir An- 
 drew Caird, who were left in charge. 
 Valuable aid was also given by Sir Charles 
 Gadon, vice-president of the Bank of 
 Montreal, one of Canada's ablest business 
 men, who was stationed in Washington, by 
 the Honorable Robert Brand, partner of 
 the famous Paris house of Lazard Brothers, 
 and by Edward R. Stettinius, who had man- 
 
376 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 ■ — -■ 
 
 aged the buying for the British government 
 so efficiently in the first years of the war. 
 
 The nature of the transactions which have 
 been conducted in the United States by the 
 British War Mission cannot be specifically 
 described, although they can be easily 
 guessed at from the brief account that has 
 been given. Few people, however, could 
 form an accurate idea of the extent of the 
 business done in New York alone or the 
 number of people engaged in doing it. The 
 Railway and Shipping Department, for in- 
 stance, employs many hundreds of people, 
 both in New York and at other points. In 
 an article on the work of the mission a writer 
 in the New York Evening World gave the 
 following description of this department: 
 
 " On the second floor of a vast office build- 
 ing in lower Broadway there is a whole 
 range of big rooms, taking up 10,000 feet 
 of floor space, at a rental of $22,500 
 (<£4500) a year. These rooms are filled 
 with busy workers. They are fitted with the 
 latest office appliances. You would say 
 they were the offices of some great indus- 
 trial corporation. 
 
 " So they are. The British Empire is at 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 377 
 
 present the greatest industrial corporation 
 in the world, though the United States will 
 soon rival and very likely pass it when the 
 war industries of the country are in full 
 swing. All those people in the second floor 
 of that vast Broadway office building are 
 working out the transportation of enormous 
 shipments of all kinds of freight from Amer- 
 ican ports to Great Britain. 
 
 " The other branches of the mission — 
 and there are a great many of them — are 
 buying all that this shipping department can 
 send across the ocean. Buying munitions of 
 war, which means shells, guns, rifles, cart- 
 ridges, explosives; buying grain, buying cot- 
 ton, buying oil, buying mules and horses, 
 buying hogs. 
 
 " Britain has sent the best men she could 
 find to the United States on this purchasing 
 errand, because it is clear that at the pres- 
 ent moment there is no more important 
 work than this to be done. Upon the 
 shipments from the United States depends 
 in a large measure the issue of the war. 
 Thus a short time ago there came a hurry 
 call for oil that was needed urgently in the 
 United Kingdom for war purposes. At 
 
378 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 once the mission headquarters got busy. The 
 most 'prominent oil men in the country were 
 asked for their assistance, which they gave 
 generously, and with the most valuable ef- 
 fect. 'We swam in oil,' Lord Northcliffe 
 said humorously, ' we breathed oil. The 
 whole place seemed to reek of it.' The re- 
 sult was a steady shipment of oil across the 
 Atlantic." 
 
 Such was the gigantic work of reorganiza- 
 tion that Lord Northcliffe undertook in 
 June, 1917, and successfully completed by 
 December, when he returned to England. 
 So pronounced was his success that be- 
 fore his return he received a message of 
 congratulation from the British War Coun- 
 cil, expressing the warmest appreciation of 
 his services. That the mission succeeded so 
 well was entirely due to his clear-headed 
 business abihty. In less than six months 
 he had dispelled confusion, established an 
 efficient system, introduced economies, and 
 speeded up the purchasing and forwarding 
 of supplies. When he left New York the 
 whole machinery of organization was run- 
 ning with the ease of a perfect machine. 
 
 After his return to London, Lord North- 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 379 
 
 cliffe had an audience with King George 
 at Buckingham Palace, when he received 
 His Majesty's thanks, and was also re- 
 quested to thank the associate members of 
 the British mission for their good work, in 
 which they had been so s^ff^ctively assisted 
 by their American colleagues. In conversa- 
 tion with Lord Northcliffe at that time the 
 king spoke in high terms of the American 
 mission to the Allies and of Colonel House, 
 whom he had known for some years. The 
 mission, he said, displayed the energy and 
 alertness indicative of American character 
 and purpose. Lord Northcliffe was sur- 
 prised at the king's intimate knowledge of 
 the possibilities of aircraft production in the 
 United States, his interest in the Liberty 
 Motor, his knowledge of the men who had 
 evolved it, and the manner in which it was 
 produced. 
 
 As a further recognition of his services 
 Lord Northcliffe was shortly afterwards 
 honored with the higher title of viscount. 
 His energies were not allowed to rest, for 
 in less than a month he organized a London 
 headquarters for the British War Mission, 
 establishing them at Crewe House, one of 
 
380 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 
 
 the great London mansions, where a large 
 staff was soon busily managing the British 
 end of the great system of purchasing and 
 forwarding carried on in the United States. 
 Crewe House was at once prepared for the 
 entertainment of representatives of the 
 United States, France, and other Allied na- 
 tions visiting England on business. The 
 banquet hall and ballroom were renovated, 
 and paintings to adorn the walls were 
 brought from the National Gallery. 
 
 Apart from his arduous work in connec- 
 tion with the British War Mission, Lord 
 Northcliffe found time in the United States 
 to help the Allied cause by presenting the 
 truth about the war in articles that he con- 
 tributed to American newspapers and maga- 
 zines. Although pressure of business pre- 
 vented him from accepting many invitations 
 to address business, pohtical, and social or- 
 ganizations which poured in during his stay 
 in America, he managed to speak on sev- 
 eral important occasions in New York, Chi- 
 cago, and elsewhere. 
 
 It is doubtful if any other British public 
 man could have upheld the cause of the Allies 
 so successfully as Lord Northcliffe. It is 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 381 
 
 certain that none could have done it with 
 more vigor, could have made a better impres- 
 sion upon the government and people of the 
 United States, and implanted more forcibly 
 the conviction of Britain's resolute will to 
 conquer, of her faith in her resources and 
 her Allies, of her steady confidence that vic- 
 tory can in time be won. 
 
 It was a difficult task for Lord North- 
 cliffe, because he followed in the wake of the 
 Right Honorable Arthur James Balfour, 
 M.P., who had visited the United States in 
 April, at the head of a special mission to 
 emphasize the aims and ideals of the British 
 people in conducting the war. Mr. Bal- 
 four's engaging manners won him immediate 
 popularity. His deftly phrased speeches 
 were read with admiration. But Mr. Bal- 
 four to the American people was an exotic. 
 They were curious about him as one of the 
 older statesmen of England. He was in 
 appearance and speech what one of the 
 newspapers, without offensive or even hu- 
 morous intention, called " an interesting 
 survival." 
 
 Lord Northcliffe, however, was fortunate 
 in representing a completely different type 
 
382 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 of Briton. It was desirable from the British 
 point of view to impress upon the American 
 people that they had not come to the rescue 
 of an effete civilization. It was necessary to 
 show them that their allies, the British, as a 
 race are no less virile and resourceful than 
 they are themselves. Among Americans an 
 idea had widely prevailed that England had 
 become " played out " and that the British 
 people were timid and unenterprising haters 
 of innovation. That idea has diminished 
 since the war began. Nothing could have 
 done more to dispel it entirely than the 
 vigorous work of Lord Northcliffe in the 
 United States. 
 
 After his return to England Lord North- 
 cliffe used all the influence of his newspapers 
 in supporting the plan for an Allied War 
 Council to meet at Versailles, and to bring 
 about the concentration of effort which was 
 needed to win the war. Each country had 
 been fighting on its own initiative, and it was 
 difficult to get satisfactory results, whereas 
 the Central Powers had been united. 
 
 When this plan was recommended by 
 President Wilson, an interview was given 
 out by Lord Northcliffe, in which he said: 
 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 383 
 
 • 
 
 " Not one Englishman in a hundred under- 
 stands the position and power of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. By most Eng- 
 lishmen he is regarded as an American 
 prime minister. Our prime minister, of 
 course, is removable by a single adverse 
 majority vote in the House of Commons. 
 It is not understood over here that the 
 President cannot be removed from office ex- 
 cept in extremely rare circumstances, that 
 he has more power than a constitutional 
 monarch, and has supreme authority over 
 the army and navy. This explains why 
 President Wilson's message to Colonel 
 House in regard to the AlHed War Coun- 
 cil was published so inconspicuously by most 
 English newspapers." 
 
 After the council had been established 
 Lord Northcliffe said: " It is no secret that 
 at the suggestion of Secretary McAdoo, M. 
 Andre Tardieu and I worked on this plan 
 for months in the United States. It ought 
 to have been put in hand long ago. If 
 action had been taken at the time desired 
 by Mr. McAdoo, the Italian disaster in 
 December, 1917, might have been averted. 
 Before the cooperative principle went into 
 
384 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 effect, the war was conducted in a manner 
 that would have ruined even the United 
 States Steel Corporation in less than two 
 weeks." 
 
 In February, 1918, Lord Northcliffe ac- 
 cepted the position of Director of Propa- 
 ganda in Enemy Countries, while continuing 
 his work on the British War Mission. He 
 had agreed to use his intimate knowledge of 
 enemy countries to enable reports of im- 
 portant speeches and statements of war aims 
 to reach the peoples of the Central Powers 
 and their allies, and thus disseminate the 
 truth in communities where it had been per- 
 sistently suppressed. 
 
XIII 
 A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 
 
 Since the war began, it has been re- 
 marked, the people of the United States 
 and Great Britain have discovered that they 
 are in closer community of essential thought 
 and purpose than they had previously sus- 
 pected. There has been a striking simi- 
 larity in the methods which both nations 
 have adopted in dealing with the intricate 
 problems of war time. Furthermore, allow- 
 ing for their greater distance from the fir- 
 ing line, Americans have thought about 
 the great issues of the war almost exactly 
 as the British have thought about them. 
 
 The American people have followed the 
 phases of the war in Great Britain, the 
 blunderings, the tenacity, the onset of con- 
 scription in an essentially non-military com- 
 munity, with the complete understanding of 
 a nation similarly circumstanced, differing 
 only by scale and distance. They have now 
 
 385 
 
386 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 been through something of the sort them- 
 selves. It had not before occurred to many 
 Americans how parallel the two countries 
 are. They begin now to have an inkling of 
 how much closer the resemblance may pres- 
 ently become. 
 
 More than any other British public man, 
 Lord Northcliffe has a profound under- 
 standing of this similarity in national aims 
 and methods. Through his wide knowledge 
 of American affairs he has been enabled to 
 view the important questions of the war 
 from what may be termed an Anglo- 
 American standpoint, and this has been evi- 
 dent in much that he has written in the last 
 three years. 
 
 During his visit to the United States as 
 head of the British War Mission, Lord 
 Northcliffe, as already mentioned, contrib- 
 uted some highly interesting articles to 
 newspapers and magazines, in which he dis- 
 cussed a variety of topics incident to the 
 war. He also addressed a number of im- 
 portant gatherings. One of his most notable 
 speeches was delivered at the British re- 
 cruiting celebration held at Madison Square 
 Garden, New York, where an audience of 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 387 
 
 14,000 greeted him with enthusiastic ap- 
 plause. Another interesting occasion on 
 which he spoke was in Kansas City, where 
 he addressed a convention of 2000 news- 
 paper editors of the Middle West. 
 
 The introductions at the meetings at which 
 Lord Northcliffe appeared led his hearers 
 to expect a great deal from his speeches. 
 They were not disappointed, for he made 
 an instant impression of forcefulness and 
 sincerity. As he had none of the wiles 
 of the professional orator, there was nothing 
 flamboyant in his phrases. He did not at- 
 tempt to work up effective points with the 
 aim of inviting applause. But there was 
 meat in every one of his sentences. He in- 
 variably paid his audiences the compliment 
 of assuming that they did not want mere 
 rhetoric. Therefore he did not speak as 
 one who talked for the sake of talking. 
 
 In most of his speeches what he had to 
 say was not very palatable. He could have 
 won cheap and easy applause by telling 
 people what they would have liked to hear 
 — that the war was almost won, that the 
 submarine menace had failed, and that the 
 task of the United States would not be diffl- 
 
388 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 cult. Instead of that, he told his audiences 
 what he believed to be the truth about the 
 war, sending them away thoughtful, but 
 braced to the necessity for effort and sacri- 
 fice. His criticism was constructive, — 
 " Build ships, save food, pull yourselves 
 together for a long war." He treated the 
 war as a grave calamity affecting every- 
 body, a calamity which everybody could do 
 something to combat if they were only told 
 what that something might be. 
 
 Lord Northcliffe discussed the war as it 
 had never been discussed by politicians in 
 England. At all points his wisdom of talk- 
 ing plainly and frankly was entirely justi- 
 fied by the manner in which his speeches 
 were received. One of the newspaper edi- 
 tors after the Kansas City gathering began 
 his description of it by saying that the talk 
 they had heard had taught them a great 
 deal which they did not know before. He 
 also said that Lord Northcliffe had not only 
 made every one feel sure that he knew what 
 he was talking about, but that he meant 
 every word that he said. It was his obvious 
 sincerity, his evident desire not to make a 
 showy effect, but to thresh the wheat of 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 389 
 
 reality from the chaff of illusion, which 
 won his audiences over as soon as he began 
 to speak and which held their attention. 
 
 The plain-spoken utterances of Lord 
 Northchff e, typical of his character as an 
 observer and thinker, did much toward 
 counteracting the mischievous work of Ger- 
 man propagandists. He lost no opportu- 
 nity to state the case of the Allies, and to 
 explain why they had united against the 
 common foe of democracy. His views on 
 the war in its relation to the United States 
 showed plainly that he had a thorough 
 understanding of our national ideals and 
 purposes. In many ways his public utter- 
 ances constituted a stirring message to 
 America, and one that is particularly inter- 
 esting at the present time. For that rea- 
 son the following resume of some of the 
 things that he said in his articles and 
 speeches forms an appropriate addition to 
 his biography. 
 
 In discussing the striking resemblance be- 
 tween the United States and Great Britain 
 before and since the war began. Lord North- 
 chffe, in one of his addresses, pointed out 
 that both countries had been over wealthy 
 
390 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and equally unprepared for defense against 
 the attack of a powerful enemy. " If Eng- 
 land," he said, " had possessed only a mild 
 form of military insurance there would have 
 been no war. Like yourselves, however, 
 we were eternally talking about money, 
 business, or territorial expansion. The 
 United States has been like an over-rich 
 corporation and has invited trouble from 
 hungry competitors. We were in precisely 
 the same position. It is a curious fact, 
 moreover, that the richer people become the 
 more they preach peace. It pleases them 
 and their pockets. We were all purse and 
 no fist. 
 
 " The Germans knew of our weak points, 
 and they suddenly fell upon us. Fortu- 
 nately for ourselves, a certain number among 
 us had insisted upon having a modern navy, 
 although some of our richest people, as well 
 as those most politically strong, advocated 
 a reduction of the fleet. Great Britain, 
 however, had only a small army and was 
 unprepared for aerial warfare. In the early 
 days of the war if the Germans, instead of 
 fooling with Zeppelin gas-bags, had been 
 enterprising enough to land fifty thousand 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 391 
 
 troops from aeroplanes in England, and 
 these invaders had intrenched themselves, 
 we should have had considerable difficulty 
 in ejecting them. If we had only spent 
 as much in the right kind of preparedness 
 each year as we are now spending in two 
 weeks of the war (our daily expenditure is 
 over $30,000,000) this war could not have 
 happened." 
 
 As to Germany's reasons for beginning 
 the war. Lord Northcliffe expressed the 
 opinion that they were not commercial but 
 dynastic. " No doubt there were commer- 
 cial interests in Germany that were foolish 
 enough to believe they would be benefited. 
 But the aim of Prussian Junkerdom was to 
 establish a world domination. Commerce 
 was to lend its aid, but commerce was to be 
 a means towards the attainment of the 
 war party's object and not an end in itself. 
 So much is certain. Equally certain it is 
 that commercial ambitions had nothing to do 
 with Austria-Hungary's reasons for fighting, 
 nor for those of Turkey or Bulgaria. They 
 joined with Germany because Germany al- 
 ternately threatened and cajoled their rulers. 
 
 " The German people have been pur- 
 
392 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 posely deluded into the belief that they are 
 defending themselves against foes who are 
 set upon crushing them out of existence, a 
 design which nobody but a lunatic would 
 conceive or imagine possible of execution. 
 Austria fancies that she went to war to de- 
 fend herself against Russia, the truth being 
 that she was used as a cat's-paw by the 
 HohenzoUern gang." * 
 
 The Kaiser's grandiose scheme for an 
 empire of Middle Europe that would 
 stretch from Antwerp to Bagdad, dominate 
 the world, smash the Monroe Doctrine, ab- 
 sorb South America, and levy tribute upon 
 the United States has been revealed since 
 the war began. In referring to this menace, 
 Lord Northcliife remarked: "So you know 
 what Germany was after. She envied the 
 people with the goods and had a great de- 
 sire to control countries that possess coal, 
 iron, and other valuable resources. There 
 is no sentiment about German warfare. We 
 are very wealthy in Britain and so are you 
 in the United States. Germany did not 
 want a little country like Belgium. She was 
 after something bigger." 
 
 * Current Opinion. 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 393 
 
 In reviewing the position of the Allies, 
 Lord Northcliffe said: " Here, in the United 
 States, I am told, and I have discovered 
 proof for myself, there are people who have 
 heen deluded by German and pro-German 
 propagandists into supposing that this is a 
 * commercial war,' although it is not easy to 
 make out exactly what they mean by that 
 expression. As far as I can learn, they sup- 
 pose that the combatants are each seeking 
 to obtain control of the world's markets. 
 They even suggest that it was a motive of 
 this kind that brought the United States in. 
 The argument runs thus: The big American 
 interests were so heavily committed by their 
 dealings with the Allies that they forced the 
 government of the United States to inter- 
 vene in order that they might not lose their 
 money. It will be useful to examine this 
 delusion and to knock away the props on 
 which it stands. 
 
 " No one in England was ever insane 
 enough to propose that Britain should try 
 to meet German competition by fighting 
 Germany. The proposal had been made 
 that Britain should abandon her system of 
 free trade under which Germans were able 
 
394 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 to do business as freely as Britons in any 
 British dominion or dependency. But that 
 proposal was not adopted. What would 
 have been the good of Britain going to war 
 with Germany in order to secure markets? 
 As soon as she had secured them they would 
 have been open to German as freely as to 
 British trade. The German Vice-Chancel- 
 lor. Dr. Helfferich, has asserted that Great 
 Britain's object was ' the economic oppres- 
 sion of Germany.' How could Britain 
 oppress any nation economically as long as 
 she allowed the traders of all nations to 
 compete with her own traders upon equal 
 terms ? 
 
 " Further, if Britain had planned a com- 
 mercial war, is it likely that she would have 
 been caught unprepared? How unprepared 
 she was all the world knows. Britain had 
 no motive for taking up arms beyond the 
 saving of Belgium and the assertion of the 
 right of all peoples to develop freely and 
 securely as they desire, except the motive 
 which led her to fight Philip of Spain and 
 the Spanish Armada in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, and that which made her the leader of 
 the nations in the struggle against the at- 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 395 
 
 tempt of Napoleon to become the master 
 of Europe in the early eighteen hundreds. 
 She saw that she must fight for her life, for 
 the security of her communications, which 
 are the arteries carrying her life blood. 
 ' The war,' Sir Robert Borden said in New 
 York last year, ' has taught us two things. 
 First, that the liberty, the security, and the 
 free existence of the British Empire arc de- 
 pendent upon the safety of the ocean path- 
 ways, whether in peace or war; next, that 
 sea power is the most powerful instrument 
 by which world domination can be effectually 
 crushed.' 
 
 " The peoples of the British Empire did 
 not want war. They had nothing to gain 
 from war. They were threatened. They 
 were attacked. Whether Prussia had in- 
 vaded Belgium or not, Britain would have 
 been obliged to fight in self-defense. It was 
 not Brussels that the Germans wanted when 
 * for strategic reasons ' they marched their 
 troops across the Belgian frontier which they 
 had signed a solemn treaty to respect. They 
 wanted Antwerp, which Napoleon called, 
 with clear-sighted understanding, ' a pistol 
 pointed at the head of England.' They 
 
396 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 wanted an outlet for their ocean-going sub- 
 marines. They wanted Calais." 
 
 In spite of governmental watchfulness, 
 the evil effects of German propaganda have 
 been experienced in England and France. 
 This possibly explains why certain miscon- 
 ceptions regarding the causes of the war still 
 exist in both countries. " A number of 
 English people still fancy," said Lord North- 
 cliffe, " that Britain could have kept out of 
 the conflict if Belgium had not been in- 
 vaded. These people cannot understand 
 that Prussia's object in forcing war upon 
 France and Russia was to clear them out 
 of the way and be able to attack England 
 and, in course of time, the United States, 
 with a good prospect of success, later on. I 
 have even heard French people speak as if 
 France took up arms to regain Alsace and 
 Lorraine, whereas we know that France 
 would never have brought upon the world 
 the frightful calamity of war for selfish 
 aims." 
 
 As to the motive which impelled Russia 
 to enter the war, that country, as Lord 
 Northcliffe explained, could not be accused 
 of having had commercial ambitions. Al- 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 397 
 
 most all the commerce that Russia possessed 
 had been in German hands for many years. 
 " Russia," said Lord Northcliffe, " was 
 goaded into mobilizing her armies by the 
 attempt of Prussia and Austria to establish 
 German influence in the Balkans: to insult 
 and injure Russia by showing that she could 
 not save her Slav brethren, the Serbs, from 
 being crushed out of existence as a free 
 nation. It would be just as stupid to sug- 
 gest that France made war for commercial 
 aggrandizement. France stood by her ally, 
 Russia, as she had bound herself to do by 
 a ' scrap of paper.' France is an honor- 
 able country. Her people keep their en- 
 gagements. If France now asks for the 
 return of Alsace and Lorraine, it is because 
 she desires a guarantee against further 
 Prussian aggression and because the popula- 
 tions are in favor of French instead of Ger- 
 man rule." 
 
 In summing up the reasons which com- 
 pelled the United States to enter the war, 
 Lord Northcliffe referred to the fact that 
 German scientists had, for many years, per- 
 sistently spread the idea that Germans were 
 supermen, a chosen race, and that it was 
 
398 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 necessary for the progress of humanity that 
 they should impose their will upon the rest 
 of the world. " German intelligence," he 
 remarked, " was devoted to this object, and 
 no scruple about honor or pity was to be 
 allowed to stand in the way. Every means 
 to victory was to be used, without caring how 
 brutal and devilish it might be. *We are,' 
 it was declared, ' the most advanced, most 
 efficient nation; therefore we are meant to 
 crush out the less advanced. That is our 
 idea of progress.' 
 
 " Such an idea, however, the United 
 States could not accept or tolerate. This 
 country refused to accept Kaiser Wilhelm's 
 insulting boast to Ambassador Gerard in 
 Berhn: ' There is no international law now.' 
 He meant that Germany had done away 
 with it. She claimed to have put her will 
 in place of law. 
 
 " If a ruffian stood in the street and de- 
 clared : ' There is no law now. I have abol- 
 ished it. I will kill any one who comes this 
 way without groveling to me for permis- 
 sion,' would American citizens say: * Oh, 
 very well, we must do as you think fit ' ? 
 No, American citizens would very quickly 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 399 
 
 have that ruffian out of the way, either 
 locked up or buried with holes through him. 
 That, I think, would be the attitude of 
 Americans as individuals, and the attitude 
 of the nation is the same towards the ruf- 
 fianly attempt of the Hohenzollern party to 
 substitute their will for the law of nations 
 and to ' bulldoze ' the United States. 
 
 " Prussia, in the course of her savage and 
 criminal rage, injured the United States, 
 and added insult to injury by telling Amer- 
 ican citizens that if they did not want to be 
 injured further they must keep out of the 
 way, and only move about, by kind permis- 
 sion of the Kaiser, where Germany was 
 pleased to let them go. It was because of 
 this that the United States declared war 
 upon the Central Empires. If this country 
 had meant to take up arms in defense of 
 British or French interests, or in the inter- 
 ests of Belgium, or in order to spread 
 democracy, it would not have waited until 
 April, 1917. If its aims had been conmier- 
 cial, it would have been in the war long ago. 
 The motive which brought the United States 
 in was not sympathy with any other nation, 
 was not desire for gain, was not an abstract 
 
400 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 fondness for democratic as opposed to auto- 
 cratic government; it was self-interest, self- 
 preservation, self-respect. The American 
 people are not fighting to make the world 
 safe for democracy, but to make the world 
 safe for themselves. 
 
 " For this cause American armies are be- 
 ing sent to France. That is where the 
 enemy of the world's peace must be brought 
 to book. Mayor Thompson of Chicago is 
 reported as having said, ' I do not believe in 
 sending our youths to the trenches of Eu- 
 rope instead of providing an adequate army 
 to prevent home invasion.' The war can be 
 ended, the world can be made safe for us 
 all to live in, only by fighting the Germans 
 where they are. History shows that all na- 
 tions which have waited to be attacked have 
 suflFered in consequence. Ask any French- 
 man whether he thinks it an advantage to 
 France that the war is raging on French 
 soil. There could be only one answer to 
 such a foolish question. The American 
 army must fight the Germans in Europe 
 in order to prevent them from bringing the 
 war to the United States. 
 
 " The task which the United States has 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 401 
 
 taken up in consequence of the Prussian at- 
 tack upon its sovereign rights is the task of 
 throwing into the scale the last weight which 
 will turn it against Germany. That task 
 may be summed up in the three F's — Feed, 
 Finance, Finish. When there are two mil- 
 lion American troops, which put Right be- 
 fore Might, facing the common foe of all 
 nations, the Finish of the war will be at 
 hand. The world looks to American initia- 
 tive, enterprise, and innate love of freedom 
 to put an end, let us hope for all time, to 
 an attempt to tyrannize, unprecedented in 
 history." 
 
 In Lord Northcliffe's opinion it has been 
 difficult to arouse the American public to 
 the gravity of the war because the fighting 
 line is so far away. Certain hardships, re- 
 sulting from war conditions, have been ex- 
 perienced in the United States, but no actual 
 suffering. In discussing this subject Lord 
 Northcliff e said : " People in America read 
 about the wonderful victories of the Allies 
 and the sinking of hundreds of German sub- 
 marines; they are told that Germany is on 
 the point of starvation. Most of these 
 stories are untrue, but they believe all of 
 
402 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 them. It is impossible for the American 
 people to realize what war actually is, be- 
 cause they are so far away from it. They 
 have not seen wounded soldiers coming back, 
 and they have not had their homes destroyed 
 by aeroplanes. They cannot understand such 
 things until they are brought home to them." 
 
 The same is undoubtedly true of the re- 
 ports of German atrocities, which lose much 
 of their effect in traveling three thousand 
 miles. Being far removed from the war 
 zone, and having no visible evidence of the 
 horrors of war as waged by the Germans, — 
 the massacres of women and children, the 
 maiming and murdering of male civilians, 
 the enslavement of whole populations of 
 non-combatants, the systematic starvation of 
 prisoners, the ravaging of towns and coun- 
 tries, — it is difficult for the great mass of the 
 American people to grasp the full signifi- 
 cance of these terrible happenings. As an 
 observer Lord Northcliife was much im- 
 pressed by this fact. 
 
 The people of the United States, as a 
 well-known American war correspondent has 
 remarked, do not seem to understand the 
 difference between the treacherous, brutal- 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 403 
 
 ized German soldier of reality and the in- 
 offensive German of popular imagination. 
 " The French and English," says this writer, 
 " are not fighting the Hohenzollerns. They 
 are fighting the Germans. They have been 
 at it a long time, and they ought to know 
 them. When will Americans begin to be- 
 lieve what those who have been fighting the 
 Germans over three years tell them? How 
 long will they continue to believe that the 
 German is not what he is, but what they 
 think he ought to be? That is to say, what 
 he used to be." 
 
 Having a thorough knowledge of the in- 
 sidious methods of German propaganda. 
 Lord Northcliffe warned Americans to be 
 on guard against this treacherous and dan- 
 gerous force which has been so persistently 
 employed. As is well known, since the pres- 
 ent atrocious conflict was forced upon the 
 world by the Prussianized Germans they 
 have won more by deceit than by arms. The 
 treachery, bribing, propaganda, and whole- 
 sale corruption which led to the collapse of 
 Russia have been practiced, on a less gigan- 
 tic scale, in other countries. Prior to April, 
 1917, the pro-German movements, with their 
 
404 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 misrepresentations and distortion of facts, 
 which were carried on in the United States 
 constituted a national menace. 
 
 This method of warfare is not of recent 
 origin, however. As a matter of fact, many- 
 years before the war ahnost every country 
 had been gathered into the meshes of the 
 German secret service. In some countries 
 newspapers were subsidized to create pro- 
 German feehng, revolutionary societies 
 were supported, strikes were fomented, and 
 criminals of the lowest type were enlisted to 
 commit murder and arson whenever it be- 
 came necessary for the Kaiser's government 
 to strike a blow. The work of spies and 
 propagandists in the United States proved 
 conclusively that Germany had for years 
 been preparing for the possibility of war 
 with this country. As investigations dis- 
 closed, the German ambassador at Wash- 
 ington had been supplied with large funds 
 for the payment of secret agents commis- 
 sioned to blow up ships and munition plants. 
 In addition, support was given to opposers 
 of conscription and to emissaries of the I. 
 W. W., engaged in precipitating strikes in 
 mines and factories. President Wilson is on 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 405 
 
 record to the effect that scores of American 
 citizens, while the United States was at 
 peace with Germany, were killed by mur- 
 derers in the employ of the German gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 In one of his speeches Lord Northcliffe 
 asserted that before the outbreak of the 
 war German intrigue had been at work in 
 England. " Many Germans," he said, 
 "were then holding high positions in the 
 United Kingdom, such as mayors of towns, 
 and we were amazed to discover that they 
 had been working against us for years. 
 They had provided Berlin with valuable in- 
 formation. Like yourselves, however, we 
 were an unsuspicious people, and it took us 
 some time to realize what these treacherous 
 enemies were doing. Nor could we conceive 
 that the German ambassador, whom we sup- 
 posed to be a high-minded, honorable gen- 
 tleman, would busy himself with schemes of 
 revolution, arrange for the burning of our 
 munition factories, and concoct other plots, 
 when he should have been trying to 
 straighten out affairs between our country 
 and his own." 
 
 That it is difficult to cope with the in- 
 
406 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 tricate German spy system Lord Northcliffe 
 frankly admits. He believes that a large 
 amount of information has been sent to 
 Germany in apparently innocent cable mes- 
 sages addressed to business houses in neu- 
 tral countries. Such messages can give news 
 of departing transports and other ships in 
 order that they may be attacked by sub- 
 marines. " Outgoing cables," he says, 
 " should be closely watched. It was only 
 by checking back cables to neutral coun- 
 tries that we succeeded in catching some of 
 our spies. 
 
 " I don't know whether the United States 
 government has an alert censorship on let- 
 ters and cable messages to Spain, but I 
 venture to think that if this is not the case 
 and a censorship is installed, a large amount 
 of secret information might be detected. I 
 would also point out that newspaper illus- 
 trations may easily convey dangerous in- 
 formation. The Germans have a system of 
 enlarging newspaper pictures to see if they 
 can get any useful ideas from them. For 
 that reason no picture of any new tank, 
 aeroplane, or other war machine should be 
 published." 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 407 
 
 Lord Northcliffe has been surprised by 
 the quickness with which the Germans ascer- 
 tain what is going on in opposing countries. 
 For instance, they flood Spain and other 
 neutral nations with false reports that im- 
 mediately minimize any statements made by 
 the Allies, and contradict such statements 
 with a celerity that is amazing. He asked 
 Commendatore Marconi if it were possible 
 that the Germans might have a wireless 
 plant concealed somewhere in England. 
 The Italian inventor repUed that it would 
 be quite possible, and that he himself would 
 be able to erect a wireless plant in Eng- 
 land that the authorities would have great 
 trouble in discovering. 
 
 Like other far-seeing public men, Lord 
 Northcliffe has always opposed an incon- 
 clusive peace, realizing that the German 
 people, who have given strong support to 
 the Kaiser's iniquitous war policy, cannot be 
 induced to change their views until they are 
 effectually defeated. It would, moreover, 
 be impossible to trust a government that 
 holds no word sacred, and that has been con- 
 stantly busy concocting lies, fomenting con- 
 
408 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 spiracies, and poisoning the thought of the 
 world. 
 
 In answer to the question, " How long 
 will the war last?" Lord Northcliffe re- 
 plied: "I see no reason to expect a short 
 war. Of course, we could have peace to- 
 morrow, but it would be a short peace, and 
 would mean a more terrible war than we 
 are having, for you can rest assured that the 
 Germans would not make the mistake they 
 made in this instance of having so many na- 
 tions against them. As a great Scandi- 
 navian said: 'Beat Germany this time, for 
 if you do not she will beat you.' We are 
 fighting for the permanent peace of the 
 world and freedom for each nation. Presi- 
 dent Wilson is the inspired prophet of this 
 dispensation." 
 
 In spite of what has been said to the con- 
 trary. Lord Northcliffe does not believe that 
 any army raised and trained in a time of 
 emergency can at once compete on equal 
 terms with troops that have been equipped, 
 organized, and drilled in the course of years. 
 For that reason he has never underrated 
 German mihtary strength. " The Ger- 
 mans," he says, "have been educated for 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 409 
 
 war and trained in military tactics for more 
 than a generation; they have given their 
 lives to this cause. There is nothing wrong 
 about their war machine. Therefore, to sup- 
 pose that people who are untrained and un- 
 prepared for war can conquer the Germans 
 in a short time is the height of folly." 
 
 In a speech before the House of Com- 
 mons Sir Auckland Geddes, who is at the 
 head of the department of national service, 
 declared that armies in these days are some- 
 thing more than men in the field. An army, 
 as he explained, is now a body of experts 
 handling the most wonderful machines, 
 guns, mortars, aeroplanes, telephones, elec- 
 tric lights, gas, and a myriad of other things. 
 AU this equipment must be transported to 
 the front, with hundreds of tons of shells, 
 bombs, and high explosives. There is also a 
 vast area of rearwards services, extending 
 from the mines through the factories along 
 the lines of conmiunication right to the hands 
 of the men who use the weapons. 
 
 Lord Northcliffe repeatedly emphasized 
 this fact in his articles and speeches. In 
 addressing the Western editors he pointed 
 out that war to-day is entirely different 
 
410 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 from what it was in the past. " Formerly 
 it was showy, dramatic, emotional; now it 
 is none of these things. The present war 
 is a very different proceeding from old-time 
 warfare, when men enlisted, shouldered their 
 rifles, and marched to battle. In this war 
 the farmer, the miller, the butcher, and the 
 men in the munition factory are just as im- 
 portant as the soldier. War, in fact, has 
 become in part a vast business enterprise. 
 In preparing a new army to fight the 
 Germans it is just as if a party of amateur 
 journalists should go to a big American city 
 with a few presses to run a newspaper in 
 competition with an old established daily. 
 You are amateurs in the game of war, more 
 so than we are, because we have had three 
 years of practice. We began this war with 
 almost no army at all. Great Britain under- 
 estimated the job at the beginning and went 
 to war unprepared, as the United States has 
 done. England, however, paid dearly for 
 the mistake." 
 
 As the result of Britain's experience. Lord 
 Northcliffe is convinced that conscription is 
 the only democratic method of raising an 
 effective army. " The draft system," he 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 411 
 
 says, " is the only one for a democratic 
 nation. We thought the only democratic 
 system was to take those who by their en- 
 thusiasm volunteered and went to war, but 
 we soon discovered that was a mistake. We 
 found that while the patriot went to war, 
 the unpatriotic man stayed behind and stole 
 the patriot's living. We had an absurd 
 slogan, * One volunteer is worth three 
 pressed men.' It sounded well, but it was 
 not true. When we adopted the draft we 
 found that the drafted men fought just as 
 well as the volunteers. There is the same 
 spirit of brotherhood among soldiers. The 
 drafted men are received in the same spirit 
 as those who enlisted of their own free will." 
 
 By means of conscription, as Lord North- 
 cliff e pointed out, the United States will 
 eventually have a formidable army, and al- 
 though the Kaiser sneered at "the con- 
 temptible British army," and has scoffed at 
 the idea of American participation in the 
 war, he will find that, when the decisive 
 struggle comes, the armies of democracy are 
 more than a match for the German machine. 
 
 In explaining why he had been impelled 
 to speak frankly when addressing American 
 
412 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 audiences in regard to the war, Lord North- 
 cliff e said: "I have spoken in this way be- 
 cause I have been talking to friends. We 
 are banded together by a feeling of brother- 
 hood, and we should plan and work together 
 in order to win this war. No one has a 
 better or clearer idea of the infinitely diffi- 
 cult task before us than I have. I know, 
 moreover, how difficult it is to deal with 
 prosperous people — ^they are so optimistic. 
 At the beginning of the war it was much 
 the same in England. 
 
 " The British race is like the American, 
 anti-mihtaristic. It is even anti-authority. 
 It is therefore the antipode of the German, 
 whose government embodies authority more 
 completely than any other in the world. 
 The British idea is solid opposition to the 
 principle of unrestricted authority. The 
 American Revolution, like Magna Charta, 
 forms a milestone in its development. I 
 am impressed by this fact as I travel in the 
 United States. I find that your country 
 is very similar to our country, that your 
 people are very similar to our own people. 
 Here the people rule, and it is the same in 
 Britain. You hated an army, and so did 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 413 
 
 we. Being opposed to war, we did not have 
 an army, and it was the same in your case. 
 I hope and pray, however, that we shall 
 never have another war, and I believe that if 
 we keep together when the soldiers come 
 back and conditions are adjusted, we shall 
 have a continued peace; for the people will 
 see to it that nothing like this shall happen 
 again as long as they live." 
 
 One of the greatest statesmen in England 
 has declared that the destiny of the world 
 depends to a great extent upon how the 
 United States and Great Britain act toward 
 each other when the war is over. They can 
 be keen trade rivals and compete to the 
 limit, ais they probably will. But between 
 the two great English-speaking peoples, he 
 says, there should be coordination and under- 
 standing. It should be their duty to poUce 
 the world and make it free not only for 
 democracy but for trade. Lord Northcliffe 
 takes the same view. " As the result of the 
 war," he says, " the United States and Great 
 Britain have been brought very close to- 
 gether. If we two peoples keep together we 
 can, I am sure, see that there is never an- 
 other war." 
 
414 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 That there is a silver lining to the war 
 cloud Lord Northcliffe has perceived. In 
 an impressive address, in which he dealt with 
 this aspect of the war, he said: "After all 
 the harm that Germany has done to the 
 world by forcing it into this war, we may 
 gain a grain of comfort if we glance at the 
 other side of the account. The war has 
 brought the AUied nations together as never 
 before; mistrust and animosities have been 
 swept away and forgotten, and we stand 
 together as a band of brothers and 
 sisters. 
 
 " Unintentionally, Germany has taught us 
 a higher meaning of duty, of patriotism, and 
 the sacrifices they entail. Having to face 
 peril, suffering, death itself, we have reacted 
 from superficial things, feelings, thoughts 
 even, and live our Uves among the realities, 
 sterner, harsher, more primitive perhaps, but 
 infinitely more important in the right con- 
 duct of existence. We are living in a great 
 age. Romance has been restored to us. 
 Men die 'for Belgium,' 'for Italy,' 'for 
 France,' ' for England,' ' for America,' lit- 
 erally day by day, these heroes, these pala- 
 dins of ours. May we not believe that this 
 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 415 
 
 kinship of the battle line, where men of 
 widely different races have stood shoulder 
 to shoulder in the cause of liberty, is des- 
 tined to endure? " 
 
XIV 
 WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 
 
 In judging a man, it has been said, the 
 only right course is to ask: "What effect 
 has his life, taken as a whole, had on the 
 world? " To pick out samples here and 
 there and hold them up does not show us the 
 man any more than a block of stone would 
 give an idea of the Capitol at Washington. 
 So in viewing the career of Viscount North- 
 cliffe, from his youthful days when he 
 started his first paper, to the man as we be- 
 hold him now, the net results must be con- 
 sidered. If that be done, we are compelled 
 to acknowledge his genius, originality, use- 
 fulness, and power. 
 
 That Northcliffe has more than an average 
 proportion of enemies and detractors, that 
 he has been misunderstood and misrepre- 
 sented, is admitted. Even his remarkable 
 success and swift rise to eminence and influ- 
 ence have served to create enmity. Success 
 
 416 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 417 
 
 in others is apt to sour those who have failed 
 to achieve success themselves, and frequently 
 it begets opposition that is cruel and unjust. 
 
 Northcliffe's fault, if fault it be, is that 
 he has succeeded too well. Success is a 
 hard thing for some people to forgive; per- 
 sonality repels as well as attracts. ' It is 
 enough for a man to have distinction and 
 brains for every malicious tongue to wag 
 against him. Northcliffe has been a trail- 
 maker, and for that reason he is not under- 
 stood by many conservative people in Eng- 
 land who shudder at every startling result of 
 social progress and sigh for the good old 
 times. 
 
 In the career of Lord Northcliffe, how- 
 ever, the maxim, " To foresee is to rule," 
 has been illustrated repeatedly. It is be- 
 cause of his ability to sense coming events 
 — the highest expression of journahstic 
 genius — and his skill in meeting new condi- 
 tions that have placed him in the front rank 
 of British public life, and have gained for 
 him such a vast following that in comparison 
 with those who accept his views and believe 
 in him, his opponents sink into insignifi- 
 cance. 
 
418 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 In attempting to forecast what the future 
 may hold for Lord Northcliflfe it is essen- 
 tial to bear these facts in mind, and to con- 
 sider what scope he is likely to find, in com- 
 ing years, for his originality, his energy, and 
 his ability to deal with new problems. As 
 we look to the future it is easy to foresee 
 that such talents as his will have unprece- 
 dented opportunities for their exercise in 
 the stupendous work that lies ahead. Strong 
 men who can wisely direct the efforts of 
 others are always needed. They were 
 needed in 1915 when Great Britain was 
 struggling against muddling inefficiency. 
 They will be needed still more when the 
 war comes to an end and the gigantic work 
 of reconstruction begins. 
 
 When that time comes Great Britain will 
 need the services of the business statesman 
 of Lord Northcliffe's caliber. His thorough 
 knowledge of British social questions and 
 his progressive views regarding capital and 
 labor and the upbuilding of foreign trade, 
 through his intimate knowledge of foreign 
 countries, — their resources, industries, and 
 business conditions, — fit him to become a 
 prominent figure in the momentous delibera- 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 419 
 
 tions which must follow the return of peace. 
 What Great Britain will need then is 
 not professional politicians, but hard-headed, 
 sophisticated business experts, familiar with 
 the whole world. 
 
 That Lord Northchffe, more than any- 
 other man in England, has the power to 
 bring about important reforms and accom- 
 plish speedily what would otherwise require 
 much time to effect has been admitted by no 
 less an authority than Lloyd George, the 
 prime minister. For many years North- 
 cliffe was Lloyd George's most bitter critic. 
 He has now become his ally in the govern- 
 ment of the British Empire. In comment- 
 ing on this fact, a recent English writer 
 pointed out that despite the differences in 
 their outlook on life there are wonderful 
 resemblances between the two men. There 
 are sympathies too. " Northcliffe," the 
 writer observed, "early recognized that 
 Lloyd George was a person to be watched, 
 not because of his speeches, but because he 
 was a man of action. On one occasion 
 Lloyd George, in speaking of Northcliffe, 
 remarked: * What a power this man can be 
 whenever he chooses! He can carry through 
 
420 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 a political project while we are thinking 
 about it. We talk of tackling the question 
 of housing the poor people of this country, 
 for instance. He could do it single 
 handed.' " 
 
 When the stress of war time has ended. 
 Lord Northcliffe will have an immense field 
 of endeavor in which to exert his energies. 
 He has been of immeasurable service to his 
 country during the war, but great as his 
 past deeds have been they may become 
 of secondary importance to that which 
 he is likely to accompUsh in coming 
 years. 
 
 Whatever happens, one thing is certain, 
 that when the war ends, as it must some 
 day, there is bound to be a staggering 
 amount of political and industrial disloca- 
 tion in which Great Britain, among other 
 countries, will have to share. The war has 
 destroyed wealth beyond precedent, trade 
 has become disorganized, and each of the 
 combatant powers has added stupendous 
 burdens to its national debt. In Britain, 
 when peace returns, great questions will 
 crowd upon each other for attention, ques- 
 tions of domestic and foreign policy, of 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 421 
 
 social and industrial reconstruction. To 
 meet the difficulties imposed by the war 
 some revolutionary experiments have been 
 made. These innovations will have to be 
 carefully and dispassionately surveyed with 
 a view to deciding whether they shall be 
 retained or discarded. 
 
 To deal successfully with this colossal 
 work of reconstruction new methods will be 
 required. It will also demand administra- 
 tive ability of the highest order. For the 
 old school of English politicians to attempt 
 to grapple with it would be a hopeless pro- 
 ceeding. Here it is that Lord Northcliffe 
 seems predestined to take a foremost part. 
 His genius in foreseeing the approach of 
 new conditions, and his skill in solving new 
 problems, which have made him the greatest 
 force in British public life and placed him 
 at the head of the popular current of 
 thought, will assuredly enable him to assist 
 in the giant task of restoring prosperity to 
 his war-worn country. 
 
 It has been predicted that when the dust 
 and din of war time have cleared away a 
 new era will dawn, and that its approach 
 will be heralded by political and social 
 
422 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 changes of a radical nature. In England 
 such an inspired prophet as H. G. Wells 
 foresees the advent of a new economic sys- 
 tem in which private capitalism will eventu- 
 ally disappear and government ownership 
 will emerge. In his recent work, " What Is 
 Coming," he has given the reason in a few 
 words — "Whereas we were individualists," 
 he says, " now we are socialists." 
 
 Radical leaders of the people in Great 
 Britain are bent on effecting far more dras- 
 tic changes than even Mr. Wells foresees. 
 They declare that not only must every trace 
 of capitalism be obliterated, but the whole 
 social fabric must be reconstructed. Class 
 distinctions must be abohshed, the govern- 
 ment must be remodeled, and the working 
 people must rule. Opposed to these radi- 
 cals and their followers are the conservative 
 middle and upper classes, who would un- 
 doubtedly prefer to see "Business resumed 
 as before" when the war is over. 
 
 Always closely in touch with public feel- 
 ing, and glimpsing future events by pres- 
 ent indications. Lord Northcliffe has already 
 perceived that a great change is certain to 
 be wrought in British national life. Writ- 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 423 
 
 ing on this subject recently, he expressed 
 some startling views. 
 
 " I have talked with our soldiers at the 
 front," he said, " and have discovered that 
 they have strong ideas regarding capital and 
 labor, government, education, and other 
 questions which are paramount in the public 
 mind to-day. After the war two million 
 young men who have been through rough 
 hell for their country will require better 
 working conditions as the price of their 
 sacrifice. Just as Grant's soldiers, the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, dominated 
 elections in the United States for a quarter 
 of a century after the Civil War, so will the 
 men I have seen in the trenches go home and 
 demand by their votes the reward of a 
 changed England, an England that is likely 
 to be as much of a surprise to the present 
 owners of capital as it may be to the owners 
 of land. As the result of this change there 
 is certain to be a great social development in 
 Britain. Eventually there will be a change 
 in the wage system. The rich will become 
 poorer and the poor richer. A species of 
 state socialism seems inevitable. The social- 
 ism of the soldiers is not of that irrespon- 
 
424 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 sible type which is nothing but anarchism, 
 but they have made their sacrifices to the 
 uttermost, and when they return they will 
 see to it that they control the government." 
 
 The extent to which British industries 
 and labor have been dislocated by the war 
 can be understood when it is explained that 
 four million men from all ranks of hfe are 
 now serving in the British army, while sev- 
 eral milhons of men and women are em- 
 ployed in the government munition factories 
 or in industries subserving war purposes. 
 A large proportion of the latter must be 
 got back to employment of a different char- 
 acter within a year after the return of peace. 
 Places must also be found for the milhons 
 of soldiers who will return to civil life. 
 
 In the meantime trade has been crippled 
 and transportation disorganized, so that any 
 attempt to resume business on a normal basis 
 would result in chaos. The men returning 
 from the trenches, as Lord Northcliffe re- 
 marks, will feel that they have deserved well 
 of their country and will not be inclined to 
 stand any nonsense from the governing 
 classes. Many of them will have been in- 
 fected with radical ideas regarding capital- 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 425 
 
 ism and the rights of labor. Clear-headed 
 statesmanship, therefore, will be needed to 
 avert disaster. 
 
 All these possibilities have been plainly 
 foreseen by Lord Northcliffe, and in his 
 practical manner of dealing with serious 
 problems he has urged that in time of war 
 preparations should be made for the re- 
 adjustments of peace. Influenced by the 
 arguments of his newspapers, which had 
 repeatedly called attention to this important 
 subject, the British government was led to 
 appoint a Ministry of Reconstruction under 
 the direction of the Right Honorable Chris- 
 topher Addison, M.D. This board is now 
 working out an orderly and scientific system 
 of rehabilitation. Its principal object is to 
 prevent confusion and suffering when the 
 war has ended, by readjusting the army and 
 war machinery to peace conditions. 
 
 Dr. Addison, it may be added, is one of 
 the miracles wrought by the war. Ten years 
 ago he was professor of anatomy at Univer- 
 sity College, Sheffield. Entering Parlia- 
 ment, he sided with Lloyd George in the 
 great reform campaign which made the fa- 
 mous Welshman's career as Chancellor of 
 
426 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the Exchequer one continuous storm. At 
 that time Dr. Addison wrote the Health In- 
 surance Act which was passed by Parlia- 
 ment. He showed such marked ability in 
 other directions that in 1915 he became one 
 of the co-workers with Lloyd George, who 
 was then Minister of Munitions. When his 
 associate ultimately became prime minister. 
 Dr. Addison succeeded him as head of the 
 munitions department. 
 
 Such have been the experiences of the 
 former doctor. It has been equaled only by 
 the career of Sir Auckland Geddes, brother 
 of Sir Eric Geddes, who was for several 
 years professor of anatomy at McGill 
 University, Montreal, and afterwards be- 
 came Britain's minister for national serv- 
 ice. With the same degree of skill that 
 he displayed as a professor of anatomy Dr. 
 Addison has taken up the gigantic task of 
 business reconstruction. At his office near 
 Queen Anne's Gate in London a visitor will 
 find the whole vast scheme of readjusting 
 finance, labor, and demobilizing men and in- 
 dustry mapped out on charts with every task 
 outlined, each department having a staff of 
 statisticians and expert investigators. 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 427 
 
 One of the first problems that will have to 
 be dealt with by the government experts is 
 the employment of a large proportion of the 
 four million British soldiers who will be dis- 
 banded. According to present plans, men 
 belonging to the essential industries will be 
 rushed home immediately, regard being 
 taken as to whether they are married or 
 single. Soldiers whose places have been re- 
 served for them will also return. There 
 will be about one million of this class. Then 
 the other classes will be gradually returned 
 to civil life and set at work. 
 
 Here it is that a serious difficulty arises. 
 It will be impossible for most of these work- 
 ers to return to their former occupations. 
 Thousands of private firms which were 
 flourishing in 1914 exist to-day only as names 
 or empty shells. Their staffs have been dis- 
 persed, their machinery exchanged, rebuilt, 
 or modified, their buildings enlarged or taken 
 over by the government. As the result of 
 the government having embarked in the 
 business of munition making on a gigantic 
 scale, there are more than four thousand 
 government-owned factories in Britain. 
 
 It has been proposed by various social- 
 
428 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 istic writers that these factories shall remain 
 under government control and produce com- 
 modities urgently needed. The same plan, 
 it is urged, might be followed to some extent 
 with shipbuilding. Such an arrangement 
 would provide immediate employment for 
 disbanded soldiers and also for large num- 
 bers of workers now engaged in manufactur- 
 ing war supplies. The war has done much 
 to increase British efficiency. Thousands of 
 hitherto untrained men are able to use lathe, 
 drill, and engine. An equally large number 
 of women have been trained in various 
 crafts. What more obvious course, it is 
 asked, than to keep the government plants 
 in operation, manufacturing such things as 
 standardized automobiles, railway equipment, 
 electrical supplies, and food products? 
 
 The government, it is argued, must con- 
 tinue as an employer on a vast scale, for if 
 the national factory system were suddenly 
 abandoned the risk of social convulsion would 
 be enormous. On the other hand, by keep- 
 ing them in operation England would be 
 equipped with standardized and intensified 
 machinery capable of bringing about a new 
 era of trade supremacy. 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 429 
 
 When peace returns England will need 
 labor-saving devices to an almost incredible 
 extent if a new and scientific England is to 
 arise out of the ruins of warfare. The ar- 
 senals that have made shells can make type- 
 writers, adding machines, cash registers, and 
 other time-savers, and they may possibly do 
 so. In the production of raw materials, in 
 industrial research, in the promotion of effi- 
 ciency and the upbuilding of foreign trade, 
 the men of the reconstruction ministry are 
 determined that England shall take the lead. 
 
 Arrangements are being made for an all- 
 British production of sugar, rubber, metals, 
 chemicals, cereals, cotton, wool, jute, etc. 
 Great Britain and her Allies, including the 
 United States, control four fifths of the raw 
 materials of the world. This important asset 
 will be one of the strongest arguments in the 
 readjustments of peace. To a great extent 
 it will offset the bargaining value of the land 
 the Germans have seized and ravaged. It 
 also guarantees a new economic freedom. 
 
 Among other proposals for making over 
 Britain is a scheme for supplying British 
 factories with electric power from sixteen 
 stations, and thus saving fifty-five milUon 
 
430 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 tons of coal yearly. This, in turn, would 
 release a host of men employed in the mines 
 and enable them to take up other work. It 
 is realized that if England is to compete in- 
 dustrially with the rest of the world, she 
 must have eiBcient tools, and more power is 
 one of them. 
 
 In spite of the government's efforts to 
 readjust after-war conditions, the British 
 radicals are not satisfied and are clamoring 
 for a complete sweeping away of the capi- 
 talistic system. These revolutionary ideas 
 have permeated the working classes to some 
 extent. They were much in evidence at a 
 recent important labor meeting. On that 
 occasion resolutions were presented, demand- 
 ing the aboUtion of the wage system and a 
 general conscription of wealth, one proposal 
 being that all private funds amounting to 
 over a thousand pounds should be seized. 
 
 While it is true that these resolutions were 
 rejected, and that the leaders of the British 
 Labor party have been moderate in their 
 views, still this aspect of the situation is dis- 
 quieting because in these unsettled times 
 revolutionary doctrines are apt to spread. 
 The Labor party, it may be added, has forty 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 431 
 
 members in the House of Commons and is 
 likely to get a still larger representation. 
 Some English writers predict that before 
 long the party will control Parliament, and 
 once in control its power is not likely to be 
 relinquished. 
 
 The British Labor party, it should be ex- 
 plained, consists of trade-unions, labor or- 
 ganizations of various kinds, and several 
 socialistic groups. Membership is by groups, 
 not by individuals. At the present time the 
 party is in process of reconstruction to admit 
 individuals and also to admit " brain work- 
 ers." The " brain and hand movement," as 
 it is termed, is intended to enroll professional 
 men and other intellectual workers in the 
 labor movement, and men of this class are 
 entering the labor organizations in large 
 numbers. With these acquisitions, it begins 
 to look as if the British Labor party will 
 soon be what the American Federation of 
 Labor would be if it included practically all 
 the labor organizations of the country and 
 in addition the medical societies, law asso- 
 ciations, engineering societies, and the Au- 
 thors' League. In other words, the Labor 
 party seeks to enroll all radicals and to form 
 
432 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 a new British party of democracy which will 
 gain control of the government. 
 
 The Socialist groups of the British Labor 
 party are extremists and ardent pacifists. 
 They have expressed warm admiration for 
 the Bolsheviki and the criminal fanatics 
 who caused the collapse of Russia. Fortu- 
 nately this section is far in the minority, 
 numbering only some thousands, while the 
 saner membership runs into millions. But 
 whenever the party as a whole has a special 
 grievance it seems to give the extremists 
 the lead, and they lose no opportunity to 
 indulge in revolutionary sentiments. It is 
 quite probable, however, that as the result of 
 the upheavals caused by the war a new 
 democracy will emerge in England, recogniz- 
 ing no privileged class, not even a labor or 
 even a male class. 
 
 Some idea of the aims of the Labor party 
 can be gathered from its programme for 
 reconstruction, which was recently drawn 
 up by a sub-committee. It visualizes, as 
 no American party platform hitherto con- 
 structed has done, the vital subjects of 
 political and economic unrest which are grip- 
 ping the world to-day. Some of the things 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 433 
 
 which this remarkable document contains are 
 not pertinent to the American pohtical situ- 
 ation, but nevertheless it is worth the atten- 
 tion of everyone, not only because of its 
 clearness of expression, but also because 
 there is every prospect that in the near future 
 the Labor party will become the dominant 
 power in the British Parliament, and there- 
 fore in the government. 
 
 In this document the leaders of the party 
 have described, with remarkable warmth, the 
 struggles and sufferings of the laboring 
 classes in Great Britain. They outline the 
 failures and successes of the labor movement, 
 and point with remarkable penetration to 
 the future aspirations of the masses of mod- 
 erately circumstanced people in the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 In the opinion of the Labor party, what 
 has to be reconstructed after the war is not 
 this or that government department, or this 
 or that piece of social machinery, but so far 
 as Britain is concerned, society itself. On 
 this point the statement is made : " We recog- 
 nize in the present catastrophe in Europe 
 the culmination and collapse of a distinctive 
 industrial civilization which the workers will 
 
434 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 not seek to reconstruct." Briefly summa- 
 rized, the main points of the Labor party's 
 ambitious programme are as follows: 
 
 Government responsibility for obtaining em- 
 ployment at a minimum wage, and government 
 maintenance of " willing workers " for whom em- 
 ployment cannot be found. 
 
 The progressive elimination from the control of 
 industry of the private capitalist; eventual com- 
 mon ownership of the means of production, includ- 
 ing land, and immediate nationalization of mines, 
 railroads, steamship lines, and the production of 
 electric power. 
 
 Meeting of national expenses mainly by direct 
 taxation of incomes and inheritances. 
 
 Devotion of surplus profits above the " standard 
 of life " to the common use of the people. 
 
 Devolution of the British Empire into an alli- 
 ance of autonomous States, with increasing self- 
 government for India and other dependencies as 
 rapidly as the peoples are fitted for it. 
 
 To carry out the general details of this 
 programme would practically lead to the 
 establishment of the Socialist State. The 
 plan, however, does not contemplate the in- 
 troduction of everything at once, and there 
 is no evidence that anything but political 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 435 
 
 action is to be employed to bring about these 
 changes. 
 
 According to the present plans of the Brit- 
 ish Labor party, capital is to remain for the 
 present, the wage system will also remain, 
 and the new order is to be rooted in and 
 based on the old order. The document 
 shows, in a striking way, that the British 
 labor movement, hke our own, is evolution- 
 ary, and has little of the revolutionary spirit 
 of the wage-earning classes of the European 
 continent. British and American workers 
 have a longer tradition of liberty behind 
 them, are more sophisticated, and have ana- 
 lyzed more deeply and experimented more 
 thoroughly. As a rule, they prefer a smooth 
 transition to a new order along constitutional 
 lines. Formula-loving continental prole- 
 tarianism is more naive, immature, and de- 
 ductive than the more grown-up proletarian- 
 ism of Great Britain and America, where 
 capitalism directly rests on the public will. 
 
 But the British programme, rich in pro- 
 visions to make capitalism declare greater 
 dividends to workers, does not clearly show 
 how the industrial product is to be increased 
 sufficiently to meet new distribution de- 
 
436 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 mands. The leaders of the British Labor 
 party are, of course, clear enough thinkers 
 to recognize that goods can be divided only 
 after their creation. Yet they have little 
 to say on this essential phase of the indus- 
 trial problem. 
 
 In the United States few of the advocates 
 of class war are taken seriously, but there 
 are undoubtedly many Americans who agree 
 with the views of Charles M. Schwab, the 
 head of the Bethlehem Steel Company, who 
 is not likely to be suspected of Bolshevik 
 sympathies. In discussing the modern labor 
 movement recently, he said: "Call it Social- 
 ism, social revolution, Bolshevism, what you 
 will, it is a leveling process, and means that 
 the workman without property who labors 
 with his hands is going to be the man who 
 will dominate the world. It is going to be a 
 great hardship to the owners of private prop- 
 erty, but like all revolutions it will probably 
 work for good." 
 
 It is a significant fact that apart from 
 the declarations of the Labor party and the 
 utterances of prominent radicals, the phrase 
 " Conscription of wealth " has been much 
 employed by British statesmen and econo- 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 437 
 
 mists in recent times. Although many peo- 
 ple suppose the principle suggested to be 
 entirely new, the United States has a prop- 
 erty tax, Germany, for military purposes, 
 levied heavily on capital just before the war, 
 and " conscription of wealth " is already 
 practiced in England through the higher 
 rate of income tax imposed on " unearned 
 income." 
 
 As a means of paying off Britain's gigan- 
 tic war debt, " conscription of wealth " is 
 said to be favored, to some extent, by the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Bonar Law, 
 and by Lloyd George, the prime minister. 
 Stated concisely, the argument is as follows: 
 The total wealth of the nation is estimated at 
 a hundred billion dollars ; say the net amount 
 of the war debt is twenty billions; a tax of 
 twenty per cent on all property would pay 
 it; appraise everyone's estate just as if an 
 inheritance tax were levied against it; assess 
 it twenty per cent. As very few people 
 have one-fifth of their property in cash, 
 however, it has been proposed that the tax 
 should be levied in installments spread over 
 a number of years. It has also been pro- 
 posed that small property owners should be 
 
438 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 exempt from taxation, that fortunes of ten 
 thousand dollars should pay about five per 
 cent, while on larger amounts of capital the 
 rates should be proportionately increased. 
 
 These drastic plans for obtaining increased 
 revenue have been much opposed by Brit- 
 ish financial experts and others. Hartley 
 Withers, editor of the Economist, who is 
 regarded as one of the most brilhant stu- 
 dents of finance in England, has taken 
 this position. In a recent article he said: 
 " There is the very serious economic objec- 
 tion that taxation which is aimed at accumu- 
 lated savings may have far-reaching effects 
 in checking the desire to save, on which the 
 nation's industrial progress depends. For it 
 is only out of savings that we can provide 
 the capital which is essential to the exten- 
 sion of industry and the full employment of 
 all the labor that will be set free when the 
 war is over." 
 
 With labor gaining in power, the attitude 
 of the British trade-unions is likely to cause 
 much concern when peace readjustments be- 
 gin. To avoid trouble with the unions, the 
 British government induced capital and 
 labor to waive their differences temporarily. 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 439 
 
 There were to be no strikes or lockouts dur- 
 ing the war. Penalties were prescribed for 
 employers or laborers who broke the agree- 
 ment. When peace returns these restrictions 
 will be removed. Predictions are made that 
 the unions will then put forth strenuous 
 efforts to regain their former power. 
 
 During the war the ranks of skilled labor 
 have been invaded by thousands of men and 
 women unconnected with the unions, while 
 large numbers of soldiers retired from the 
 ranks have been set at work in various in- 
 idus tries. The unions, it is asserted, will 
 probably refuse to allow these newcomers 
 to compete with union labor, and any oppo- 
 sition to union demands will precipitate 
 strikes which may have serious results. 
 
 The subject of non-union workers has, 
 however, been taken up by the Labor party, 
 whose declaration in regard to the minimum 
 wage reads as follows: 
 
 " In view of the fact that many millions of wage 
 earners, notably women and the less-skilled work- 
 men in various occupations, are unable by com- 
 bination to obtain wages adequate for decent main- 
 tenance in health, the Labor party intends to see to 
 it that the Trade Boards act is suitably amended 
 
440 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 and made to apply to all industrial employments in 
 which any considerable number of those employed 
 obtain less than 30 shillings per week. This 
 minimum of not less than 30 shillings per week 
 (which will need revision according to the level of 
 prices) ought to be the very lowest statutory base 
 line for the least-skilled adult workers, men or 
 women, in any occupation in all parts of the United 
 Kingdom." 
 
 The spirit of discontent in the ranks of 
 union labor, which also exists among other 
 classes of workers, has caused much un- 
 rest. It IS significant that Lord North- 
 cliffe's great daily. The Times, recently 
 treated this subject frankly in a series of 
 articles entitled "The Ferment of Revolu- 
 tion," which contained misty presages of evil 
 and declared that there is a rank and file 
 movement in British labor, with its subservi- 
 ence to the official hierarchy of trade-union- 
 ism, that deserves the watchful attention of 
 the public. Sidney Webb, the well-known 
 English writer, asserts that industrial unrest 
 in England has become so acute as to create 
 a possibility of spontaneous industrial dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 In a recent pastoral letterj Cardinal 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 441 
 
 Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, dwelt 
 upon the grave changes in English social 
 conditions caused by the war. " During the 
 war," he said, " the minds of the people have 
 been profoundly altered. Dull acquiescence 
 in social injustice has given way to active 
 discontent. The very foundations of politi- 
 cal and social life, of our economic system, 
 of morals and religion, are being sharply 
 scrutinized, and this not only by a few 
 writers and speakers, but by a very large 
 number of people in every class of life, espe- 
 cially among the workers. Our institutions, 
 it is felt, must justify themselves at the bar 
 of reason. They can no longer be taken for 
 granted. The army, for instance, is not only 
 fighting, it is also thinking. 
 
 " The munition workers, hard working, 
 but overstrained by long hours and heavy 
 work, alternately flattered and censured, 
 subjected sometimes to irritating mismanage- 
 ment and anxious about the future, tend to 
 be resentful and suspicious of the public 
 authorities and political leaders. They, too, 
 are questioning the whole system of society." 
 
 Conservative Englishmen, unperturbed by 
 these alarmist views, are convinced that when 
 
442 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 the war ends British national hfe will con- 
 tinue in much the same way as before. Men 
 who are conversant with affairs, however, 
 take an entirely different view. H. G. 
 Wells, as already explained, insists that 
 Britain is on the eve of a complete social 
 change. The old capitaUstic system, he de- 
 clares, has gone forever, and it would be 
 just as easy to restore the Carthaginian Em- 
 pire as to put back British industrialism into 
 the factories and farms of the pre-war era. 
 " There is," he says, "a new economic 
 Britain to-day, emergency made, flimsily 
 built, no doubt, a gawky, weedy giant, but a 
 giant who may fill out to such dimensions as 
 the German national system has never at- 
 tained. Behind it is an idea, a new idea, the 
 idea of the nation as one great economic 
 system working together, an idea which 
 could not possibly have got into the sluggish, 
 conservative British intelligence in half a 
 century by any other means than the stark 
 necessities of this war." 
 
 Mr. Wells has been called a dreamer and 
 idealist, but strangely enough, one of the 
 greatest financial authorities in the United 
 States has taken practically the same view 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 443 
 
 of the future. In writing on after-war con- 
 ditions recently he said: " In the State of the 
 future, particularly in Europe after the 
 war, the most efficient government promotion 
 of industries in many lines will be held to 
 exist in actual government ownership and 
 operation. More than ever before will States 
 become sohd industrial and financial unions 
 organized for world competition, driven by 
 the necessity of perfecting a system of the 
 greatest efficiency, economy, and thrift in 
 order to be able to meet the incredible bur- 
 dens created by the war." 
 
 When all the confusion and wrangling of 
 the reconstruction period have ended, Eng- 
 land's prophets foresee the advent of im- 
 proved conditions. Two evils of the capi- 
 talistic system, poverty and unemployment, 
 are likely to be mitigated. The war has 
 shown that under a system of government 
 ownership every capable worker can be 
 profitably employed. Under the old sys- 
 tem men have been scrapped in the prime 
 of life to make way for younger and cheaper 
 workers, with the result that our large cities 
 have been filled with efficient unemployed 
 men whose services have been lost to the 
 
444 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 community. During the war the number of 
 these victims of a wasteful and pernicious 
 system has been materially reduced. In 
 Britain the Labor party is determined to 
 make it possible for every willing worker to 
 earn a decent livelihood and to have no fear 
 of a poverty-stricken old age. 
 
 In the matter of profit sharing Lord 
 Northchffe has set a notable example for 
 the world. In his opinion, even the large- 
 wage system of Henry Ford is not sat- 
 isfactory. Employees, he believes, should 
 receive a percentage of the profits. " That 
 principle," he says, "must eventually be in- 
 troduced in all businesses. When the men 
 get back from the trenches, that is the sort 
 of thing they are going to demand." 
 
 As the result of the labor movement there 
 has been a widespread demand in England 
 for improvement in the education of the 
 masses. At the present time the " board 
 schools " are much inferior to the American 
 public schools. They teach the working-class 
 child very little and make no effort to inspire 
 him to rise above his station. Class preju- 
 dices have been largely responsible for this, 
 but in the new order of things the depress- 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 445 
 
 ing influence of caste, which has been called 
 " the curse of England," may possibly be 
 modified. 
 
 Even the education of the higher classes 
 is likely to undergo some important changes. 
 In his recent work Mr. Wells predicts that 
 in the future it will be modernized and made 
 more practical. " Our boys," he says, " will 
 be studying science in their colleges more 
 thoroughly than they do now, and they will 
 in many cases be learning Russian instead of 
 Greek or German. More of them will be 
 going into the public service as engineers, 
 technical chemists, state agriculturists, and 
 the like, instead of entering private business. 
 The public service will be less a service of 
 clerks and more a service of practical men." 
 
 Through his newspapers Lord Northcliffe 
 has done much to arouse the British people 
 to the importance of increasing their indus- 
 trial efficiency by an improvement in techni- 
 cal education. He has also taken a foremost 
 part in what is known as the " Back to the 
 land " movement. Among other things he 
 has advocated a system of intensive farming 
 by small land holders. It is probable that 
 some of these ideas will be put into practical 
 
446 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 effect. Thousands of men who have been 
 drawn into the army from shops, factories, 
 and offices, and have been hardened and 
 stimulated by out-of-door Hfe, will have no 
 inclination to return to their former condi- 
 tions. The government has been urged to 
 acquire large tracts of farming land for 
 settlers of this description, and to put up 
 cottages and farm buildings for them. Such 
 a plan, if carried out, would, it is argued, 
 greatly increase the food supplies of the 
 nation. 
 
 In talking with the men at the front. 
 Lord Northcliffe found that the question of 
 land nationalization formed a popular topic 
 of their discussions. " The British soldier," 
 he said, " has seen enough in France to 
 know that a man and his family can manage 
 a bit of land for themselves and live on it. 
 A young sergeant told me that the men in 
 the trenches discuss a great many subjects, 
 and while there is the usual difference of 
 opinion, there is one subject on which all are 
 agreed, and that is the land question. They 
 are not going back as laborers or tenants, 
 but as owners. Most of them have used their 
 eyes to good advantage. I wonder if the 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 447 
 
 people and politicians in England understand 
 that the bravery and camaraderie of officers 
 and men in the field have broken down all 
 class feeling, and that the millions of men 
 abroad are changed communities of whose 
 thoughts and aims little is known." 
 
 Among the subjects likely to receive at- 
 tention when peace returns is the question 
 of women's suffrage. That some system of 
 votes for women will be introduced in Britain 
 seems practically certain. A new type of 
 woman is emerging from the war, and the 
 demand for political rights and freedom 
 from social restrictions will probably be 
 more insistent than ever. It is also probable 
 that one of its results will be some reform 
 of the English laws of marriage and divorce, 
 more particularly in the latter. A few years 
 ago a parliamentary commission reported in 
 favor of modernizing the present barbarous 
 divorce law of England. 
 
 In his predictions of the future, H. G. 
 Wells has expressed the belief that eventu- 
 ally marriage will be based upon compati- 
 bility, and therefore be more amenable to 
 divorce than the old unions which were 
 based upon the kitchen and nursery. Mar- 
 
448 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 riage, he says, will not only be lighter but 
 more durable. " Women will be much more 
 definitely independent of their sexual status, 
 much less hampered in self -development, and 
 much more nearly equal to men than has 
 ever been known before in the whole his- 
 tory of mankind." 
 
 During the war many English industries 
 formerly considered the exclusive province 
 of men have been invaded by women. There 
 is scarcely a point where, given a chance, 
 women have not made good. As stated in 
 the first chapter, hundreds of thousands of 
 women and girls, when the war began, were 
 turned out of such feminine trades as dress- 
 making, milUnery, and confectionery, as well 
 as the so-called luxury trades, such as 
 jewelry. These women, with thousands of 
 office workers and domestic workers, were 
 drafted into the munition factories. The 
 number of women included in the engineer- 
 ing trades alone has reached 800,000, many 
 filling places formerly held by men. 
 
 The government also gathered in workers 
 from the women's universities and higher 
 schools, the suffrage societies and women's 
 organizations. Women of superior intelh- 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS M9 
 
 gence from business and the professions 
 were called upon to help in organizing the 
 munition factories on a basis of health, 
 safety, and efficiency. 
 
 Working together, the women in charge 
 have performed a feat which has been de- 
 scribed as an industrial revolution. They 
 have set standards of humanity in factories 
 which it would be criminal to lower. They 
 have estabhshed an efficiency system such 
 as England never dreamed of before, and 
 they have created a working class which will 
 never consent to be placed on a basis much 
 lower than it now occupies. 
 
 Although women have proved their worth 
 to the greatest extent in the munition plants 
 and in farming work, the variety of other 
 occupations in which they are usefully em- 
 ployed is enormous. They have served in 
 the fire brigades, in the subways, on the 
 street cars, in warehouses, on railroads, in 
 banks, in the government service, behind the 
 army, and in reconstruction work. In fact, 
 it is difficult to mention an occupation in 
 which they have not engaged. 
 
 It is realized that women are likely to 
 continue in many of these employments 
 
450 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 after the war, although it is not easy to 
 foresee what will result from their competi- 
 tion with men, or what the attitude of the 
 trade-unions will be. Leaders of the wom- 
 en's movement assert, however, that owing to 
 the losses of the war there will be fewer men 
 to fill positions. There will be a greater 
 necessity for women to work than there was 
 before, because a smaller number of them 
 will be able to marry. Thus for a genera- 
 tion at least they will be free to do a large 
 amount of the world's work. 
 
 In discussing this subject recently. Lord 
 Northcliffe observed that while throughout 
 the English-speaking world the sheltering of 
 women had been a matter of pride with men, 
 and they had not cared to see women at 
 work in the fields or engaging in other 
 manual labor, there had been a great deal 
 of self-deception about this matter. In most 
 of the indoor and many of the outdoor occu- 
 pations there were still wide fields of oppor- 
 tunity for women, although there was an 
 objection to women entering employments 
 for which they were not physically adapted. 
 On the other hand, no self-respecting male 
 should engage in occupations for which 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 451 
 
 women are peculiarly adapted, such as type- 
 writing, matching ribbons behind a counter, 
 or piano playing. That problem, however, 
 would probably settle itself, for large num- 
 bers of young men who have been hardened 
 in the trenches will have no desire to re- 
 enter gentle and essentially feminine pur- 
 suits in which they had formerly made their 
 living. 
 
 As his story has shown, Lord Northcliffe 
 was the first public man in Great Britain 
 to grasp the fact that modern warfare is 
 primarily a stupendous business undertak- 
 ing, and that battles in these days are won 
 chiefly through organization and efficiency in 
 matters of transportation and supplies. He 
 took the lead in securing the abolition of 
 the time-honored administrative system and 
 replacing it with a compact war cabinet of 
 practical business men. 
 
 A business administration supplied Great 
 Britain with an excellent system of war 
 taxation. By a simple procedure, a tax of 
 eighty per cent is levied on the excess profits 
 of a business, which means, for example, 
 the amount by which 1917 earnings exceeded 
 the average earnings in pre-war years. 
 
452 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 Carefully worked out and modified by ex- 
 perience, this system has proved thoroughly 
 successful. 
 
 The new system of government has proved 
 so satisfactory that a demand has arisen for 
 the continuance of a business administration 
 when peace returns. Those opposed to the 
 idea assert that the term " business govern- 
 ment," if analyzed, is meaningless; that an 
 ordinary expert is an official without experi- 
 ence ; that statesmen of the old school, trained 
 in the science of government, are still needed 
 to rule the destinies of the nation. 
 
 Conservatism is strong in England, and 
 even Mr. Wells is not quite sure that the 
 nation will at once take the right course 
 by adopting state socialism. " There is," he 
 says, " no spirit of cooperation between labor 
 and the directing classes." It is also idle to 
 ignore the forces still entrenched in the es- 
 tablished church, in the universities and great 
 schools, and the influence of class prejudice. 
 He argues, however, that if masses of im- 
 employed and unfed people are released 
 clumsily into a world of risen prices and 
 rising rents, of greedy speculators and ham- 
 pered enterprises, there will be insurrection 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 453 
 
 and revolution, bloodshed in the streets and 
 chasing of rulers. 
 
 In devising means to avert these threat- 
 ened social upheavals, and in helping to solve 
 the stupendous problems which will be pre- 
 sented when the war is over, it is certain 
 that Lord Northcliffe will be one of the 
 chief instruments. It is still true that the 
 man who knows, who can think, and who 
 can write holds a sword of Damocles over the 
 head of every poUtician. The older parties 
 in England may be disintegrated, new ones 
 may be formed, and many ideas once con- 
 sidered dangerously radical may be adopted. 
 History has shown, however, that the radical 
 ideas of one generation oftentimes become 
 the conservative ideas of the succeeding age, 
 and that which was considered radical was 
 radical only because it was new and untried. 
 Old party ideas are swept away, traditional 
 notions are dethroned, and the nation's lead- 
 ers deal with facts. 
 
 In the great battle which is certain to be 
 fought between conservatism and radicalism 
 in Great Britain, with various factions inter- 
 posed, it is safe to predict that Lord North- 
 cliffe will be foimd on whatever side repre- 
 
454 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 sents progress, stability, and common sense. 
 Although he believes in the cause of democ- 
 racy and has opposed the retention of old 
 ideas that have prevented advancement, he 
 has been keen visioned enough to realize 
 that a spurious brand of democracy has 
 arisen in recent times which means simply 
 the bludgeoning of the people by the people 
 for the people. There is also a brand of 
 socialism which aims to bring humanity to a 
 dead level of mediocrity, and to crush out 
 individuality as effectually as it has been 
 crushed in Germany. 
 
 Such were the views expressed by Colonel 
 George Harvey, editor of the North Ameri- 
 can Review^ in the course of an eloquent 
 address delivered at a gathering of the Pil- 
 grims' Society in New York, when Lord 
 Northcliffe was the guest of honor. In 
 hailing the distinguished Briton as a product 
 of free institutions and a free social system, 
 Colonel Harvey said: "History has proved 
 that the only hope of the human race is in 
 the development of able individuals. With- 
 draw ten thousand of the best minds of any 
 country, and you would atrophy the nation 
 to mediocrity. At the present time the 
 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 455 
 
 whole future of the human race is in the 
 balance. Great Britain stands upon the 
 brink of economic heresy. Even America, 
 the great republic, dedicated to promote the 
 consciousness and liberty of the individual, 
 has paused in her marvelous career under 
 the pandering influences of political aspir- 
 ants regardless of anything but their own 
 selfish ends. 
 
 " For that reason Lord Northchffe inter- 
 ests us as a living indicator of the funda- 
 mental truth whose recognition has made 
 great every Anglo-Saxon people. It is the 
 triumph of individuahsm, and the exemphfi- 
 cation of the wisdom of conferring upon the 
 maximum of capacity the maximum of re- 
 ward. Lord Northcliife is a Briton in 
 every fiber of his being, but he has grown 
 as an American grows. He inherited brains, 
 and discovered how to use them in order to 
 gain wealth, power, distinction, and honor 
 at home and abroad. He has won by his 
 own endeavors. Such a career as his could 
 never have been possible in a state held in 
 communal bondage." 
 
 This magnificent tribute to the great jour- 
 nalist, patriot, and public man forms an 
 
456 NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 appropriate ending to the story of his rise 
 from obscurity to eminence, his brilliant 
 achievements, and his services for his coun- 
 try. The embodiment of manifold attain- 
 ments, forcefulness, and real worth, Vis- 
 count Northcliffe assuredly represents the 
 individualistic triumph of a man of genius. 
 Providence apparently has ordained that 
 whoever serves most shall reap most, a fact 
 that has stood forth conspicuously in his 
 career. Success in his case has come to mean 
 service, a revelation of organized efficiency 
 adapted to the national cause which, amidst 
 the perplexities of war time, conveys to 
 Americans an impressively significant lesson. 
 
 H 313 85 i 
 

 
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