OFFICERS CHARLES N. WHEELER. Inter Ocean, President. JAY CAIRNS', Record-Herald, 1st Vice President. CLAIRE BRIGGS, Tribune, 2d Vice President. FRANK COLLINS. Assistant Secretary, Union Trust Company, Treasurer. WM. FREDERIC NUTT, Financial and Recording Secretary. LEROY TRUMAN GOBLE. Librarian. DIRECTORS Julius Reynolds Kline Harry Daniel George L. Louis Charles Lederer Rudolph Berliner Mark S. Watson PRESIDENTS OF THE PRESS CLUB 1880— Franc B. Wilkie 1881— W. K. Sullivan 1882— Samuel J. Medill 1883— William E. Curtis 18S4 — James B. Bradwell 1885 — Joseph R. Dunlop 1886— John F. Ballantyne 18S7— James W. Scott 1888— James W. Scott 1890— Stanley Waterloo 1891— W. A. Taylor 1892— John E. Wilkie 18S3— Stanley Waterloo 1894— Frank A. Vanderlip 1895— A. T. Packard 1896— Joseph Medill 1897 — Washington Hesing 1898— William M. Knox 1899— William M. Knox 1900— John E. Wright 1901— William H. Freeman 1902— Homer J. Carr 1903— Homer J. Carr 1904— Homer J. Carr. 1905 — Homer J. Carr 1906— John J. Flinn 1907— John J. Flinn 1908— Richard H. Little 1909— Henry B. Chamberlin 1910— John C. Shaffer 1910— Charles H. Sergei 1911— Charles H. Sergei 1912— Douglas Malloeh 1913— Charles N. Wheeler CONCERNING THE PRESS CLUB OF CHICAGO Its Advantages Its Members Its History Its Purposes Its Legends Its Future SETTING FORTH THE BENEFITS AND PRIVILEGES OF MEMBER- SHIP AND VARIOUS FACTS WHICH WILL INTEREST THOSE WHO CONTEMPLATE IDENTIFYING THEMSELVES WITH THE GREAT- EST PRESS CLUB IN THE WORLD. 1913 COMMITTEES OF THE PRESS CLUB OF CHICAGO. House Committee — Jay Cairns, Chairman; Harry R. Daniel, Wm. J. Cochran, George L. Louis, Walter A. Wash- burne. Entertainment — Rudolph Berliner, Chairman; Karl McVltty, Edward H. Fox, George S. Wood. Mark Wat- son, Richard H. Little, Jay Cairns, Harry Sheldon White, W. J. Cochran, Harry R. Daniel, Opie Read, Dr. Thomas J. O'Malley. Reception — Dr. Wm. Frederic Nutt, Chairman; Dr. G. Cook Adams. John McGovern, Wm. Lightfoot Viss- cher, Frank Collins, Charles Lederer, Dr. G. Frank Lydston, Leroy T. Goble. W. E. Ray. Harry R. Daniel, E. H. Xorris, Mark Watson. Constitution — Frank D. Comerford, Chairman; Dr. Wm. Fred- eric Nutt, Julius R. Kline, Opie Read, Michael F. Girten, William M. Knox, Wm. Lightfoot Visscher. Art- Claire A. Briggs, Chairman; Charles Lederer, Mark Hayne, Phil Sawyer, L. R. Merrell, Syd- ney Smith, Robert J. Campbell, Committee at New York — S. E. Darby, Chairman; J. W. Long, E. F. Ingraham. Committee at Washington — O. F. S'chuette, Chairman; G. E. Roberts, Ed- ward B. Clark. Billiard and Pool — Dr. Eugene Wayland, Chairman; E. H. Norris, Alex. J. Johnson, Claire A. Briggs, Orion O. Mather, P. F. Lowder, Literary — W. D. Eaton, Chairman; Opie Read, Stanley Waterloo, Henry Irving Greene, Leroy T. Goble, John McGovern. Dr. G, Frank Lydston, Forest Crissey, Byron Williams. Dr. John Gil- man. Wm. Frederic Nutt, George W. Wiggs, Rex Beach, Frank Comerford, Col. Wm. Light- foot Visscher, John U. Higinbotham, Forest Crissey, Clem Yore. Membership — Walter A. Washburne, Chairman, Tribune; Jay C. Cairns, Record-Herald; W. E. Moore, Inter Ocean; Jacques Lait, American; Richard Henry Little, Examiner; K. M. P*atterson, Journal; Chris. Haggerty, Associated Press; W. A. Patterson, Western Newspaper Union; W. E. Wray, Daily News; Henry N. Gary, Pub- lishers' Association: Edwaid B. Clark, Even- ing Post; Thurber W. Gushing, City News Bu- reau; John Fay. New York World; H. Percye Millar, New York Times. Cki c^\2J^ The and Press Club Its Power ,j ORE than any other organization in the northern states, the Press Club of Chicago is a growing power in the commercial, eco- nomic and political affairs of the middle west and west. The reason for this lies in the peculiar quality of its membership. Originally, it was a club of newspaper and ether writers. In effect it is that now. Its membership includes nearly all the men actively engaged in newspaper work here and in the west, and its gOA^ernment remains in their hands. But during the last ten of its thirty-four years, and largely because of the continuous contact of its members with leaders of activity in every department of current life, it has attracted members from all, until its councils are shared and its influence augmented by a most remark- able grouping of minds, representative of all that is best and most valua- ble in the forces that are moving the world today. It has a signifi- cance pecuHarly \\ its own, and ^f has become a permanent and highly important in- stitution of far more than local scope. As a club, it is not a shaper of public policies, political or other. But it is distinctively the home and meeting ground of the men by whose daily work the newspapers of Chicago are brought out ; and Chicago is the fourth city of the world. Their combined industry expresses every day all there is of opinion, aspiration and realization in the swift- ly changing elements of these formative times. No man nor party nor interest can use it for any special purpose, least of all for publicity. But the responsibility and the power of the public press are carried by its individual mem- bers, each in his own position and the work it demands ; and carried with a jealous conscience. The qualities of intellect and honesty their work requires give them at once a mutual sympathy and a hold on things, and makes possible their cohesion as an organized body. Those qualities have led some of them to high successes in other helds. Frank A. Vanderlip, president of the Nation- al City Bank of New York, was president of V;cTC«sr if\^')Of^ the Club, and a member of the Tribune staff, be- fore his genius in finance disclosed itself and Sec- retary Gage called him to the treasury at Wash- ington. John E. Wilkie served on the Tribune before he became chief of the United States secret service. The late William E. Curtis was presi- dent of the Club and managing editor of the Inter Ocean before he entered on the career of world travel that made him fa- mous. Frank Wayland Pal- mer was editor success- ively of the Inter Ocean and the Herald be- fore he was ap- pointed public printer and brought the govern- ment's printing office up to be the largest and most efficient on earth. Frederick F. Cook, a member of the Press Club, had many years of service on Chicago newspapers before he went to New York to man- age the work and finances of the Asso- ciated Charities. Melville E. Stone, general manager of the Associated Press, one of the Club's founders, was editor of the Daily News v.^hen he was elected to that extraordinarily im- portant position, to build up the first complete and inflexibly accurate news service , that ever has existed. «^ ObDE^J ARf^OUl^ ^Kk^■'ul,l: The list of Press Club men who have won high distinction on merits that were first made known in their work on the n e w s p apers of this town is both long and very honorable. The roster will show many names familiar to any one who is at all ac- quainted with the high business concerns and the directing forces of the na- t i o n. William Jennings Bryan is a newspaper man as well as a lawyer. So was Senator Lewis, and so -• also former Vice Presi- dent Fairbanks. They were and are devoted Press Club members. So are the actual heads of most of the leadin^^ dai- lies, the editors of some of the great magazines, and the most successful and influential of that group of American wri- ters who have broad vision and profound perception of the causes that underlie the development of trade, finance and industry — such men as Will Payne, Forrest Crissy, Trumbull White and _ ^^^ George Harvey. M-^^^\^^ These and others 1 ^.r-vJiffl like them, all mem- bers of this Club, ad- dress world audiences, and express an enor- Jns^%^ j^ mous influence in world if [f^ aflfairs. %A ^y^^ No other club can \k ^fte^c+f- show so many great names in business and 7/cB^ STAMji^vW^li'' the learned professions, side by side with so many who have earned renown as authors and journalists. Mark Twain, Eugene Field, J^^^C^j^^ James Whitcomb Reilly, *^ M^ Ben King, Opie Read, Stanley Waterloo, Hen- ry Watterson, Bob Bur- dette and a brilliant line of others were and are our men. By a law in psychology equivalent to the material law of chemical affinity, the Club has drawn to itself the best and most commanding from all the higher walks. The value of the association is evident. It sinks all differences of belief or opinion, and coheres by virtue of common cath- olicity and a single purpose for the greatest good. It exists as a combi- nation of multifarious powers, not as a power combined for pressure in any one direction. That is why it means so much to the city, the larger half of the nation, and the time in which we live. It stands upon a sound foundation of ma- terial possessions. It owns the Club house and all its contents. The assets are easily apprais- able in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million. Its estate is growing in value from year to year. Its membership and its meaning are holding a growth equal at all points with the growth of the city and the magnificent empire of which the city is the commercial and finan- cial capital. Any man of consequence may well be proud to be in and of it. The years of its finest utility are yet before it ; and this is the best assurance that it shall prosper and en- dure. la Comforts of the Club -'*^^ THE Press Club of Chicago has a w e 1 1-e quipped, well-operated club house at 26 North Dearborn street, Chicago. It owns and occupies the b e a u t i f ul eight- story building at that number, and its doors are never closed. It has a library exceeding 3,000 volumes, including many reference works. New books are purchased month- ly, while nearly all the current magazines and many daily and weekly publications are kept in the library racks. Numerous portraits and other paintings adorn its walls. There is a writing room supplied with typewriters, a pool and billiard room, a loungino- room, a grill, a buffet and a barber shop. Two floors are given over to sleeping rooms. Men and women of distinction from all Darts of the world come to this Club as by a homing instinct. It is a meeting place for intellect and ability of whatever clime or country, homelike and free of ceremony. The club holds fre- quent receptions and en- tertainments ; it gives dinners and luncheons to guests; it takes 11 OOKM ^. H^^^^ outings; goes on excursions and contributes in many other ways to the pleasures of its members and their guests. It extends a helping hand to those of its members who may be sick or in want, and, if need be, it gives them final resting place beneath the Press Club monu- ment at Mount Hope. The Great Hall, as it is sometimes called, is delightfully spacious and well lighted. The service is unusually prompt and satis- factory. There are special tables for the hurried business man and tables of various 12 ClKOi sizes to accommodate parties who desire to be together. The napery is new, the china is new, the silver is new and the general surroundings are most inviting. The kitchen has been entirely reconstructed — agatile floors, new re- frigerators, new ranges. The culinary department will now merit your en- dorsement, not only through its scientific and (sanitary character, but by its excellent cuisine, moderate tariff and spotless cleanliness. Members are invited to make a personal inspection. Our chef is a culinarian of the first class, an artist not only in plain and popular cooking, but in the preparation of special dinners and banquets. The private dining rooms are on the fifth floor and are so arranged that they may be thrown into one room, accomomdating as many as sixty people, and are very desir- able for banquets or special dinners. The Trade Press Association holds its month- ly dinners here, and other organizations have their special nights. The ladies' cafe has already proved a very attractive feature. It is quite exclusive, taste- fully deicorated, with a rest room, writing desks and lavatories. The la- dies are availing them- selves of it for lunch- eon while shopping, afternoon tea, and eve- ning dinners before the theater. The Club management has paid particu- lar attention to the buffet. New coolers, 13 MEMBERSHIP Active Life Non-resident ACTIVE MEMBERS pay yearly dues of forty dollars and may qualify as follows : (a) Persons regularly connected with the press, in Chicago or elsewhere, as editors, re- porters, artists, proprietors, paid correspond- ents or contributors, general managers, busi- ness managers and proof readers of the daily papers. (b) Authors of books of original matter and of literary character, publishers and illus- trators of such books and of magazines, and persons whose chief occupations are litetary. (c) Persons who can produce indisputable proof of having at some time followed one or jnore of the above occupations for a period of five years. NON-RESIDENT MEMBERS must have one or more of the qualifications for active membership, but must not reside or have their place of business in Chicago or Cook coitnty. Fifty dollars gives them a paid up membership for four years. There- after they pay ten dollars annually. They are entitled to all privileges. LIFE MEMBERS enjoy all of the priv- ileges of the Club, but need not have the lit- erary qualifications of active members. It is, however, required that they be persons of character and standing. Life members pay a single fee of $300, and are exempted from payment of dues. The money re- ceived from life membership can not be used for any purpose save the retirement of bonds and the maintenance of the build- ing fund. The value of such a holding is ap- parent, and when the life list is completed no more applications will be received. 14 LIFE MEMBERS Welcomed from the Business and Pro- fessional World. As in most clubs, there is a strong Life Membership in the Press Club of Chicago. Among them are men of the judiciary, men prominent in business, in law, in medicine, men who hold high office and men of other- wise exaked standing. They find recreation and profit in mingling occasionally with those who supply the themes and are the central figures in the current events of city and state. They find that neither rampant Bo- hemianism nor commercialized common sense mars the club, and that it is a place of goodly comforts and honest enjoyments. rop,R^' The following lines of Opie Read ex- press fully the sentiments of the active members of the club who approve the pres- ent effort to broaden the membership : "From close communion we have lessened the tension of our original creed. We wel- come certain intellectual forces from the business world. We rejoice in our greater scope. We take business by the right hand. We grasp the hand of the professions. We say : 'Be one of us. Let us learn from each other. We are going to build up one of the greatest social forces in the country. We welcome you.' " 15 NON-RESIDENT MEMBERS. If you are connected with the Press in America, you ought to be a member of the Press Club and have a permanent home of your own in the heart of Chicago, where you may come and go as you please and enjoy all the . comforts, conveniences and the material necessaries of entertainment at moderate cost. The Press Club of Chicago is the clear- ing house of the press and the rendezvous of famous men. Here you will find jour- nalists, playwrights, politicians, distin- guished foreign visitors and men of power in every department of publicity, commerce and the professions. It is the abiding place of just the people you want to meet, the bureau of informa- tion you particularly desire. It is managed by trained officials and served by efficient attendants who understand your wants, carefully look after your mail, telegrams and inquiries and deftly supply your needs. Every convenience of information and communication is at hand. You may in- vite your friends and clients to the Club and entertain them. Comforts and good cheer -are boundless. Ladies in your party will be at home in the spacious parlors and dining rooms, and will meet the wives and daughters of other members in an atmos- phere of congenial associations. To the fraternity of the Press, member- ship in the Press Club of Chicago pays div- idends that are far above money values. Its emblem is at once an introduction, a guaranty and a badge of honor and dig- nity. You should affiliate while the initial ex- penses are small. They will be greater in a short time. 16 new glassware and well stocked with a great variety of wines, liquors, table wa- ters and facilities for quick service, it should come up to the expectation of the most exacting. The billiard room, fronting on Dearborn street, is one of the great attrac- tions of Club. It is carpeted, well light- ed and provisions made for personal cues. There are well-appointed card rooms on both the third and fourth floors. The Club has a few very comfortable and well furnished rooms, with and with- out baths, that may be had by the day or week at a reasonable rate. At the end of the hall as you enter the building is the barber shop and manicure l^KiK'RE.iui 17 parlor, where the service is of unusual ex- cellence. Many of the entertainments given by the Press Club are unique in their way and all are of unusual interest. One of the spe- cial features is the "Noon-day Luncheon Talks," which occur frequently. Famous men and celebrities from all over the world appear at these informal talks. There are frequent dancing parties, bil- liard and pool tournaments and, during the summer months, various outings to places of interest. The Press Club is famous throughout the country for its out-of-the-ordinary enter- tainments. The Press Club Scoop Shows, which bur- lesque national politics are given at the Au- ditorium theater, the only interior large enough to seat the throng which turns out annually and e X p e ctantly ■" ,, -^ to enjoy them. ^^^^^M. 18 The Ladies. The domain of the wives and daughters of Press Chib mem- bers is on the fifth and sixth floors. They may not go below the grand stairway, where the men alone hold sway and are as free and uncon- ventional as they please. Among the wom- en are many who have achieved journalistic fame. Notably Jean Com- erford, a most re- markable writer. 19 OPIE READ Famous Novelist, Lecturer and Playwright, Extends a Greeting to the Newspaper and Business World. Every man connected with the press and the world of business who comes to Chicago ought to have a home in the very heart of the city. Hotels, res t a u r a n t s, boarding houses, — yes, they are well enough in their way, but for strangers and especially for men intellectually and artistically inclined they are far from being even a reminder of home, except by contrast. A home in the throb-center of Chicago would be expensive, you say. Oh, no ; inexpensive. We of the Press Club of Chicago desire you to make of our home your home, to come and go as you please, to become a member of our family. We ofifer to you books, music and above all. goodfellowship. Our family is a great in- tellectual socialism. It is a democracy of ideas, a republic of congenial harmonies. We want your society ; with you we desire to exchange ideas. We know that you are strong and creative factors of our pro- gressive civilization. Come to our fireside and join our family circle. Yours Fraternally, Opie Read. 20 THE ORIGIN of the PRESS CLUB. The suggestion that led to the organiza- tion of this cUib was made by Sam Steele of the Chicago Times, late in September 1879. Sam's initiative was followed up contin- uously until the club came into being. At that time the Owl Club, a highly prosper- ous and wide open in- stitution, occupied all but the first and second floors of McVicker's theater building. The Owl Club had been or- ganized three years before, the original membership being restricted to newspaper men and other writers, and actors, musi- cians and followers of the graphic arts. Its first year was royally happy, but inclu- sively impecunious. Dissolution was averted through an inspiration of W. K. Sullivan, then city editor of the Journal. He proposed to throw down the bars and admit anyone who got less than five black- balls. This prevailed, and thereupon gaily ap- peared a vast flock of free-handed, opulent and irreligious new members, for the most part board of trade men, who set things whirling at a rate so dizzy that by the end of the next year we professional members were out of breath and scared. We had Frankensteined our- 21 selves, and started some- thing we couldn't con- trol. Action was too swift and the air too rich for most of us. The next few months en- gendered a desire for another try at the real thing, and by natural ^election, unnecessary to particularize, this desire found its open protag- onist in Sam. Coming down the stairway one day that September, I met Sam going up. He stopped me and said he had made up his mind to the break, and that Dave Hender- son and Jim Chisholm, Joe Dunlop, Guy Magee and several others were with him. I had been one of the three organizers of the Owl Club, and for that reason I was not very powerfully drawn to the idea just then, but its merit was too obvious for argimient. Though the matter was kept in agitation, nothing really definite was done until No- vember. Then, about the time the Army of the Cumberland met in Chicago to wel- come General Grant home from his tour of the world, a meeting was informally ar- ranged. The night after the historic bancjuet in the Palmer house to Grant, Logan, Sherman and • Sheridan, Mark Twain drifted into the Owl Club and about twenty of us sat up with him until around seven o'clock next morning. It was a night of glory, but there was no mention of a new club. S^ WARMAM 22 The informal m e e ti n g to consider the new club was held the night next following (Saturday, November i 6 , 1879), in Jim Simms' place, 159 Clark street, on the east side of the way, op- posite Thorn- ton's House of David and the arcade that leads t o L a S a 1 1 e street. Simms kept a plain and homely bar, with sand on the floor, a shuffleboard feature, and a side room to the south. He was a Scotsman, popular all round, and Sam Steele's especial friend. Sam was there. So were Johnnie Ballan- tyne, Elwyn Barron, Melville E. Stone, Dave Henderson, Jim Chisholm, Fremont O. Bennett, Ray Patterson, Joseph R. Dun- lop, Frank McClenthan, Jim Maitland, Frank Cunningham, Tod Cowles, W. K. Sullivan and maybe a few others of the best known newspaper men, whose names just now escape memory. Mark Twain came with Sam, who had called for him at his hotel. I was not present, being stuck for an all night job. I was on the Times. I heard the story next day. It was not particularly engaged with Mark Twain, but rather with the difficulty of restraining Sam Steele from bursting forth in undesired song. Sam was one of the Vernon-Steeles of Cheshire. In boy- hood he had been intended for a career in the church. The intention became a pav- ing stone, but meanwhile he had earned some distinction as a boy chorister, having a sweet treble pipe w^hich in maturity be- came a light high tenor. Any degree of illumination set this tenor going, and that night there was some mild illum- ination, generally diffused, and by no means focused upon melody as a thing indispensable. Sam's angel flutings had to be rudely choked off, several times. The intimate feature next to this was a general agreement, bitterly reminiscent of certain occurrences in the Owl Club, that anyone coming into a press club in evening clothes should be first walked on and then thrown out. It was all good natured and funny. When the business of considering the new club had been taken up, it was ex- plained to Mark Twain, and he was asked what he thought of it. He said it was a mighty good idea, and that he could see no reason why it should not go through. That was all there was to his share of it. He made no suggestion, but cordially ap- 24 ^kAFAYCrrET proved the one that had been moot for sev- eral weeks. The organization followed at a meeting held in one of the private parlors of the Tremont house. All those I have named as being in the Clark street meeting were there, save Ray Patterson and Jim Mait- land, and in addition Franc Wilkie and two or three others came. Franc Wilkie was called to the chair and Elwyn Barron was made secretary. Pre- liminary arrangements were made, com- mittees were appointed, and the club was born. Joe Dunlop was a committee of one to find quarters. He secured the room in the Morrison block at Madison and Clark streets that for more than a year was the club's home. 25 Afterward other rooms were added, until we occupied all of two floors, and part of an- other. Our subsequent club history is well enough' known. This story con- cerns itself only with the ' /' ^ origin as it really was, vvil5lh^k Ne:3^«7 and has no thought of seriously disturbing the pleasing, even flattering legend attributing that origin to a source so illustrious. The myth is too firmly fixed, too alluring, to be now desired away. If Melville Stone says a thing is so, why, so it is. But the germ being there as he de- scribes, it was a germ occulted, for it lay unknown while the work was going on. I wish it had been otherwise, because Mark Twain was the greatest we have had among us ; and heaven knows our roll of great ones is neither short, nor pitched in any minor kev. W. D. Eaton. A TRIBUTE TO THE PRESS CLUB. No one who has not enjoyed the hospi- tality of the Chicago Press Club knows what he has missed. I am deeply sensible of the fact that I have never known Chicago at her best until today ; have never known the real source of her strength and the se- cret of her renown. Chicago is here. The Press Club is Chicago incarnate. This is what makes Chicago famous. . Charles Warren Fairbanks, Vice-President of the United States. March i8, 1909. 26 ■ NOTED VISITORS Among the hundreds of world-renowned people whom the Press Club has enter- tained are the following : President William Mc- 'Steele Mackaye Kinley Sid Edwin Arnold Henry M. Stanley and wife Max O'Rell Gen. Lew Wallace George Kennan David Swing F. Hopkinson Smith Thomas Nast Dr. Carl Von Bergen Wilton Lackaye E. S. Willard George W. Childs Hubert Vos Henry Guy Carleton Robert G. IngersoU Wilson Barrett Chauncey M. Depew George Wharton James Joaquin Miller Jerome K. Jerome Gov. S. R. VanSant Gov. A. B. Cummins Col. G. B. M. Harvey Thomas Watson Eugene V. Debs Gov. F. M. Warner lenatius Donnelly Gov. Bob Taylor Edwin Markham Admiral Schley Gen. Fred Funston Richard P. Hobson Mrs. Frank Leslie Ella Wheeler Wilcox Sara Bernhardt George Alfred Townsend Henry Mapleson Marie Rose Mapleson Eduard Remenyi Emma Abbott Hon. John Hay Hon. James W^ilson Sir Henry Irving Ellen Terry Adelina Patti Mme. Parepa Rosa John McCullough Jessie Bartlett Davis A. M. Palmer Gen. William Booth Robert Mantell Ben Perley. Poore Thomas W. Kenne T^'ong Ching Foo Henry E. Abbey Sir Moses Monteflore R. J. Oglesby Roland Reed Whitelaw Reid Irving Batcheller George W. Peck Weedon Gropsmith Meridith Nicholson Prof. Willis E. Moore George W^. Swallow Gov. D. R. Francis Bayard Taylor Chas. W^arren Stoddard John L. Stoddard Vice-President C. W. Fairbanks W^illiam R. Hearst Sir William Gilbert Sir George Reid, Pre- mier of Australia Lord Chelsmore Sir Arthur Lawley Sir Samuel Baker Hon. Neil Primrose General Beauregard Thomas Nelson Page Hon. Alton B. Parker Building at 26 North Dearborn Street, /ic^QO Owned and Occupied by the "press club of CHICAGO