A 'RI E F 'I O 'RAP H '

A N D A N AP P RE C I AT I O N

1 8 4 7 TH E C H I C A 'O T R I 'U N E 1 9 4 7

1 fiT R0 U CT 10N

N o man of hi s time exercised a more — — decisive o r o n the whole a more bene' f fici al influence on public a fairs than Mr . ” Medill .

T hus another Chicago newspaper , at the

o 1 89 time f his death in March , 9 , expressed to itself in paying tribute Joseph Medill , who wh ile n o t th e fo u nder o f th e Ch ic ago

of its , Tribune , laid the foundations char

acter and success .

In the pages which follow , the reader will find an account o f some of the achieve ments and events in the life of a man who

no t was only a great editor , an editor of the

u s times that gave Greeley , Raymond and

w as Dana , but who , in even larger measure ,

a great American . Joseph Medill ’s contributions to journal

i sm to , and the moral , political and economic

of as i n f progress his country , will be seen

evitable products of his leading ch aracter , i sti cs ; his innate feeling for the qualities

which made a newspaper great; hi s u ns h at‘ terable courage; his intense patriotism ; his cle arf e ed y vision , and , perhaps his most

notable trait , his sturdy common sense . Time has not changed earlier estimates of

Joseph Medill . It is wholly fitting that the two studies of him which appeared in 1 923 and in 1 929 be republished as the Chicago

a fo r Tribune , whose ctivities he directed

fo rt a fo ur h un f y years , commemorates its

dredth anniversary . OSEPH

E MED LI ,

H E M AN

A 'RIEF 'IO'RAPH'ORI'INALL'

PU 'LISHED AS A 'OOKLET IN 1 929

J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 3

’ H A L F a century of Joseph Medill s long

life w as given to journalism . He was of the times and the type of Horace

Greeley , James Gordon Bennett the elder ,

William Cullen Bryant and Cassius M . Clay , with each of whom he enjoyed a friendship that in the case of Greeley amounted to an i admiring int macy . Today , three decades

m , after his death , his fa e as editor and pub li c i s t i s attes ted a nd s u s t a i ned b y t h e aggressive life of the newspaper o f which he — ” was editor the Chicago Tribune .

A s citiz e n , p atriot and politic al s eer , Joseph Medill i s worthy of a reputation matching his renown in the newspaper world . He served Chicago as mayor just

o f 1 1 , after the great fire 87 , instituting re forms that still endure . He was a confidant i n and adviser to Lincoln . He had a wide fluence in developing the Illinois Constitu a

o f tion the early seventies , which still stands . T w o Presidents offered him cabinet posts in vain . And he undoubtedly gave the Republican party its name and aided vastly 4 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

in its organization .

o f He came of this kind stock . It was — — , Scotch Irish hardy , tenacious , active , in

o reato ran ’ dus tri us . From the time of his g g d father his family had been shipbuilders in the Belfast yards .

His father , William Medill , immigrated 1 8 1 9 to this country in , settling in an area then supposed to belong to the United

States , but awarded to Canada by the Ash 1 2 burton treaty of 84 . At a village near

St . John , in the present province of New

o n Brunswick , Joseph Medill was born 6 1 823 . April , That he was not born on the soil of the country he so greatly served is said to have been a whimsical vexation to him in his maturity . When he was nine years old his parents moved to Stark County , Ohio , and in the district school and th e academy of that region their s o n got his schooling and

o n H i s w as worked the farm . father neither

5 1 t wo rich nor rugged , and be des sisters there were three younger brothers whose 'O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 5

upbringing devolved in some measure upon

the oldest boy . He was in the midst o f preparation fo r college when misfortune by fire befell the

family , and Joseph closed his books and

went directly about the business of life . This

he had determined would be the law . In 1 846 he was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with George

M cI lv aine of New Philadelphia , who at the time of his death some years ago w as

Chief Justice of Ohio . Many of the young

men with whom Mr . Medill was associated in the practice of law in those pioneer days

attained n ational prominence , including

John A . Bingham , United States Minister

to Japan ; Chief Justice Chase ; Edwin M .

S t a n to n , S e c r e t a r y o f W a r d u r i n g t h e

rebellion , and George E . Pugh , United States

Senator from Ohio .

Instinct , more than design , turned young Medill aside from this career of the law

into the paths of journalism . He was a f friend of the local editor , whose o fice was 6 J O S E PH M E D I L L 'TH E M A N

the rendezvous for bright young men of the town . In this atmosphere Medill caught ’ of the smell printer s ink , which , he once remarked , once inoculated into the human system , possesses its victim until death . He learned to set type and work a hand press , — at first for fun then seriously . Almost before he knew it he was a printer and editor . He had found his forte . Then fate conspired to point the way for him a f 1 . 8 9 bit urther At Coshocton , Ohio , in 4 , “ ” the Coshocton Whig was for sale . His three younger brothers were growing up without a career , and a newspaper in the family would supply that defect . He found “ ” the means to purchase the Whig , renamed “ ” it the Republican , and made his three younger brothers his assistants . “ From that time on , the Republican waxed stormy in the cause of human free' d o m— and influential . With its aid the

al Whigs carried the county , which had

is ways been Democratic . It probable that the outcome of the campaign following hi s J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 7

purchase of the paper was the determining factor in Medill ’s subsequent decision not to resume the law .

In his own language , the law lingered a little while to reclaim the recusant , but he ’ had tasted the delights of Franklin s nectar , ” and he never returned .

Franklin , practical , sensible , visioned , was his hero . In youth , in maturity and in old age he revered the life and works of his predecessor in the publishing field . Chicago

s t ates o today owns a statue of the scientist , man and printer , standing in Lincoln Park , that was presented to the city by Joseph

Medill .

Two years after acquiring the Re p ub a ” lican , he sold it and removed to Cleveland . There he used the purchase price and other funds to establish a morning paper , politi cally of the Whig persuasion , which was “ ” called the Daily Forest City . A year later he consolidated it with a Free Soil journal “ ” and named it the Cleveland Leader . As f such , it lourished for nearly seventy years . 8 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

With a national political crisis impending , the perspicuity of the editor began to assert

itself. He found Northern Ohio divided into — , three factions Whig , Free Soil , and Demo

cratic . A Whig by education and a radical

by sentiment , he set out to unite the Free

a Soil and the Whig units , a m mmoth task

in which he succeeded only partly .

co n ve n The following summer , when the tion to nominate a candidate for governor

' of Ohio was held , the radical and conserva tive wings of the Whig party divided it

against itself. The Democratic nominee w as

elected by a vote of two to one , and the

Whig party in Ohio was at an end . Tacitly accepting the demise of the Whig

, party as final , and preferring to look for ’ of ward instead backward , Medill s next move was to address letters to the leaders of the disorganized party , asking if they would assist in the formation of a new Republican party o n the ruins of the o ld

Whig organization .

First of all he wrote to Horace Greeley . J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 9

The reply was destroyed in the great fire

1 . of 1 87 . In its place Mr Medill retained only such a ve rs io n a s his tenacious memory f ' could supply . Greeley wrote in e fect

'o ahead , my friend , with your proposed I Republican party and 'od bless you . hope k you will have the best of luc . The time has indeed come to bury our beloved party ; it is 'ut dead . we have many fool friends who insist it is only in a comatose state and will — I recover , but I tell them it is dead still , dare not yet in New 'ork announce the demise of a party and call for the organiz ation of a new

one . 'ut do you go ahead on the 'estern R k k eserve and commence the wor . I li e the I f name for it 'Republican'. you can get the name Republican started in the 'est it will

grow in the East . I fully agree to the new name

and the new christening . Various comments were received from ' other leaders , some approving , others dis

approving the movement . The latter , how

ever , were much in the minority . Some

were editors in Pennsylvania , others in

western states . None of those desiring the

change , however , had the courage to take

the initiative . 1 0 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

With matters in this state , Mr . Medill called a meeting at hi s own office in the “ ” Cleveland Leader , one night in March ,

1 8 of 54 , leading men of the three parties

Free Soil , Whig , and Democrat . About twenty men responded . The summons was in a measure secret , and addressed only to men he believed he could trust . At the meeting he disclosed his object and frankly broached the proposition to organize a new party out of the elements represented at the meeting , and name it “ ” the Republican party . Discussion was f lively , chie ly concerning the name . Mr .

Chase was known to be opposed to it , and won over several men to his view . A—bout midnight a vote was taken , and two thirds of those present assented to the

Medill plan , which was reduced to form in some such fashion as this'

o N ame f the new party'Republican . Platform'N o more slave states ; no more sl ave territory ; resistance to pro 'sl avery aggression ; slavery is sectional ; liberty is J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 1 1

national . This platform w as written in part by

Mr . Medill , in part by Rufus Spaulding ,

and the last two clauses by John C . Vaughan . This has been set down as the beginning of

the Republican party . The first meeting and its objects and performances were to be

meet a kept secret , and another larger , public ing w as planned for the end of that month — 1 85 . March , 4 Before that time , however , the name “ Republican had spread over the West , and meetings were held in various towns advocating the new party and the new name . Out of them all rose a discordant clamor claiming the honor of the birthplace of the party . “ i s It not strictly true , Mr . Medill said “ on one occasion , that we were first to announce in public the new party and the new name ; but it i s a fact th at none of the other meetings in any state antedated our little gathering in the ‘Leader ’ office in

March , 1 2 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

— 1 854 55 . . In the winter of , Captain J D

Webster , afterwards General Webster and ’ of f chief Grant s sta f at Shiloh , called on the

Cleveland editor . He owned an interest in “ ” the Chicago Tribune and w as in need of

a managing editor . He persuaded Medill to

visit Chicago and look over the field .

From the finished elegance of the Cleve ; land of that day to the turmoil of the prairie metropolis proved a considerable change fo r the young Ohioan , but he liked it , because he foresaw a great city to be built on the quagmire on the lake—and that in

his own day . He purchased an interest in “ the Tribune . Announcement of the accession to the position of editor and publisher of the ” , Tribune by Joseph Medill , and the retire f o . ment Thomas A Stewart , who had been

its associated with the paper from origin ,

o n and had also worked its predecessor , the “ ” of w as Gem the Prairie , contained in the

' i o 2 1 1 8 resi ’ ssue f 55 . July , Stewart , whose g

w as f nation necessitated by ailing health ,

1 4 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

at Bloomington where Lincoln made hi s f “ ” amous lost speech . Although a delegate to w as the convention , Mr . Medill present

o f also in the capacity a reporter . The cur rent o f events there cast Lincoln and the editor much together . The Lincoln of those days was described

oke'telli n ill'dre s s ed as a gawky , j g , , modest , astute country lawyer who had some busi ness in the courts of Chicago . But outside o f court hours , when he was in Chicago , Lincoln would go Oftenest to the “ Tribune ”

s it building , climb the stairs and in the

of hi s editorial workshop Mr . Medill , feet ’ o n o the edge f the editor s desk .

w as It in these conferences that Mr . Medill would press upon Lincoln the duty of taking the most advanced position o n

n of a y paramount issue the time . — a o Mr . Medill t the outset f the Civil — War w as the first to insist that the soldier

n ot hi s to should lose right vote , and the value of the soldier vote in those days w as

a of i o f gre t . One h s grandsons s aid him ' J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 1 5

k He was right on Alas a , on civil service , C on intervention against cruelties in uba , on fi preparedness . He was the rst American to perceive the need of adequate military prep ‘ e aration , and he p rceived it a quarter of a ” century before an army was needed .

o f I n t h e n a t u r a l o r d e r t h i n g s , t h e “ ” Tribune w as an ardent champion o f Lin

of coln in the presidential campaign 1 860.

w as o ne of o f Mr . Medill the o rganizers the powerful and influential Union Defense

Committee , which became during the Civil War the mainstay o f the government in this section . In the uncertain days when public sentiment wavered as to whether the Presi dent should be sustained in hi s call fo r

as troops , Joseph Medill , standing firm the

o f w a s R o c k Gi b r a l t a r , w ri ti n g i n t h e “ ” “ ” is Tribune , The United States , and “ ” “ ” spelling nation with a capital N . He was a nationalist and a believer in

his Alexander Hamilton . He had evidenced feeling fo r the Union when at the age o f eighteen , in Coshocton , he organized a company of volunteers for service in the J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

o o Mexican War . It was ready t start f r the front when the V ictories of General Taylor

w as made it unnecessary , and the company mustered out without having crossed the

Mexican border . He w as keenly interested in the recruiting fo r the Civil War , especially in the Eighth

Illinois Cavalry , commanded by Colonel

John F . Farnsworth , at that time member of

a s m n e d Co ngres s . G Comp any w as g to b C hi c ago , a nd w a s o rg a niz ed y J o s ep h ’ of Medill s brother , William , twenty its members being enlisted from the “ Tribune ”

Office . William Medill was made captain .

l of After the batt e Antietam , where a younger brother , Samuel Medill , joined the a to company , C ptain Medill was promoted

Major , and Lieutenant Hynes succeeded him a of s Captain Company G . Major Medill w as mortally wounded at an engagement at

Williamsport , Maryland , and died in the

ck hospital at Frederi burg . Joseph Medill w as elected to the Illinois 1 8 0 constitutional assembly in 7 , and was J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 1 7

the author of the mi no rity'represent atio n clause . He w as deeply interested in both national f and municipal service re orm . He talked with General Grant before the latter had

so become President , and impressed the future President with the earnestness of his convictions that when the first civil service

w as fo r bill passed , providing the appoint

o f w as ment a commission , Mr . Medill

o ne o f i i made the comm ss oners . He served fo r a year .

o f 1 8 1 When the fire October 9 , 7 , swept ’ over Chicago , Mr . Medill s first thought “ ” fo w as r . the Tribune When , early in the morning following the outbreak of the blaze , he fought his way from his residence

f of hi s on the West Side to the o fice paper , he found the entire force at work preparing the story of the disaster to the city . Flames were burning even then , all about the “ ” no o ne , Tribune , but supposed the fire ” proof Tribune building would succumb . Fearing the blazing embers might ignite 1 8 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

. s et valuable papers , however , Mr Medill about removing his files and other articles

o f to a place safety . Within a short time ’ M cVi cker S theatre next door was a ruin , “ ” and the Tribune office ablaze . By noon of the same day the editor w as

fo r busy locating a new home his paper . A temporary haven was located west of the river at 1 5 Canal Street in a ramshackle f building , and with makeshi t equipment the entire force , working all day and all night , succeeded in issuing the paper with the loss o f only one issue .

Eight weeks after the great fire Mr . Medill

o f took up the duties Mayor , for which his

i i nom nat on had come as a surprise . He w as n o t present at the convention where

w as his name suggested and accepted , and w as first informed o f his nomination by a

as hi s casual passerby , he labored with men to get in some much needed machinery at the new plant . A committee came rushing 1 n to th e ' office soon afterward to acquaint him with their J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 1 9

desires . He requested them to return to the convention and notify it that he declined

the nomination . The committee replied that the convention had finished its work and u adjo rned . Two days later he addressed a meeting on

the West Side . He declared that under the city charter the powers of the Mayor were so restricted that he amounted only to a figureh e ad; that the city was run by a lot

of boards of irresponsibility , independent of the Mayor and Council ; and th at he had concluded to accept the nomination only on condition that at its ensuing session the legislature give Chicago a n amended charter conferring on the Mayor the power of ’ appointment subject to the Council s ap proval , and also power of removal . The

e n crowd shouted its endorsement , and. he te red office upon those terms . O ne measure of his administration was the taking of the fire department out of

; politics . Prior to the great fire this depart ment had been a part of the spoils system zo J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N

of office . The people had been so thoroughly scared by the fire , combined with the action of the insurance companies in threatening to leave the city without fire insurance , that spoilsmen in following administrations did not dare undo his work .

1 . In 874 , Mr Medill acquired by purchase a majority of the stock , carrying full control “ ” — i n of the Tribune . For forty four years cluding the time both before and after this purchase , he was the brains and the sinews of that newspaper . He had able colleagues , some of whom were better writers than h e ever became , but it was he who gave the paper its impetus and direction . It was he who made it an institution , and by it alone , ffi save for brief periods of O cial service , his sound ideals of citizenship found expression and realization . H i s ideal of what a newspaper Should be

i h e e arnes tly , l aborious ly an d p at e ntl y

w as ' brought t o fulfillment , and that ideal

To be the organ of no man , however high , fl no clique or ring , however in uential , or

2 2 J O S E PH M E D I L L 'TH E M A N

1 1 89 . Elmhurst , Illinois , October , 4 During the war S h e took part in the labors o f the S anitary Commission , and later was closely ’ identified with the Soldiers Home . She was a m em b e r o f t h e S e co nd Pr e s b yte r i a n

Church . ' There were three children Elinor , who married Robert W . Patterson of Chicago ; K n a t h e r i e , w h o m a r r i e d R o b e r t S .

M c C o rmi ck , and Josephine , who died in 2 Paris in 1 89 . Up to the day o f his death Joseph Medill was actively a factor in the publication of “ the Tribune . He was in San Antonio ,

a . Texas , at the time of his l st illness The day before he died he wrote a short editorial that was taken to the telegraph office by his

M c o mi k . C r c grandson , Robert R , who was with him in San Antonio . It appeared in ” m the Tribune the following orning , in the same issue that carried news of his i death and h s obituary .

H e d i e d a t t h e H o t e l M e n g e r , S a n

1 6 1 899 o f 6 . Antonio , March , , at the age 7 J O S E P H M E D I L L 'T H E M A N 23

f Heart disease , from which he had su fered

for some time , was the cause of death . “ His last words were , What is the news this morning'”

REPRINTED FROM THE CHICA'O TRI'U NE

OF S I' ' '— APRIL TH , NINETEEN T ENT THREE

A N A P P R E C I A T I O N 2 7

I NS day brings the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joseph Medill .

For fo rtyf fo ur years he was the guiding “ mind of the Chicago Tribune , and it is by reason of what he was that this newspaper is today what it is—. He died twenty four years ago , but he still is a living factor in the daily councils and the “ ” of large policies the Tribune , not because he established a hard—and—fast “ Tribune ”

be tradition , but because he created and “ ” u ath q e ed a Tribune ideal . He is not alone an abiding influence but an abiding personality . His spare , erect

figure , touched with the distinction which comes with plain living and weighty think ing , his mild but searching eyes , his decisive ' utterance , his quiet but commanding de meanor still are vivid , and still is he spoken f of, even by the younglings of the sta f, as “ Mister Medill ” —as though he might at any hour be coming among them with I D S tI‘ U C'

o r tion with counsel . That the personality and the feel of this 28 A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

man should be thus pervasive after nearly a

u o quarter of a cent ry , that he should seem t be going along with us in o ur present and

o ur forward into future , is highly eloquent of o f the kind man and mind he was . A l ways he lived in the present and the future . — At the age of 42 an age when men of mark in o ur time are about ready for significant — tasks h e had finished a great work in the world . That work was the sustaining of the West of his country to the burdens and griefs of the Civil War .

a T hirty fo ur years remained to him . They were given to new constructive

o ld work . He neither talked nor wrote about

s no t co l' times . His mind w a intent upon leagues in the gre at struggle wh o had van i sh ed o r w h o were resting upon the oars .

fo r 'This was unfortunate in a way , it caused him t o leave but a scant store of written reminiscence . 'When he reached the age at which most men become anecdotal and musing , when , in other words , he had passed

60 hi s , mind and pen were intent upon

A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

’ a nationalist . He did not believe his country s work in the world was to be done by calling in some other part of the world to help us do it . No publicist in America had a pro founder fear of the entangling alliance . He f was rankly a chauvinist . He believed that the United States was the finest country on — earth , that Chicago despite Democrats w as the finest city in that country and that the “ Tribune ” had more character and sense of service than any other newspaper in the — world . But he knew and that knowledge — saved him from fl amboy an cy that vi cto ri ous chauvinism carries with it heavy obliga tion . If he liked to take in his newspaper the ' ’ — ’ —f — f a attitude of we ve got th e s hips w e ve go t ’ — —' a — — — th e men th e mone to o and we ve got y , he also was mindful to look around and insist o ently demand that we see that we had them .

If not , get them .

A s t o Chicago , he always thought it big — and good though I t required passionate optimism to do that when he first came

‘ — among us sixty f eigh t years ago but he be , A N A P P R E C I A T I O N 3 1

lieved in a bigger and better Chicago . In working out that ideal he bent to the im — mediate needs like the task of reh abilit at ing a worthless fire department . That was during his term as mayor after the fire . The development of a worthy public library was another of the vital tasks to which he gave f his best thought and his patient e fort . The Sanitary Canal was another benefaction he forced through . He w as always hunting new ways to con'

ffl . quer a iction A man who had , or thought he had , a new way to fight consumption , or kidney disease , or drunkenness found in Mr .

Medill an attentive listener and , if the valid ity of his method were established , a liberal supporter . If he heard of a place in the far west especially salubrio us for consumptives

affl he would send icted persons there , pay ing the expense out of his own pocket . A

, man of very correct habits , he entered a pro fes sio n which in the old days was disgraced by drunkenness , and drunkenness he came t o loathe with a special loathing . Hence he A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

K welcomed Dr . eeley and his cure as a god

send , and he exploited both in this news paper with a lavishness no money could have

purchased . Many a man he saved to decency by sending him to the Keeley cure and

many another , no doubt , was saved by the

knowledge that if he did not mend his ways ,

O ff Mr . Medill would pack him to Dwight . The reason he hated drunkenness was not

alone that it was wasteful and wicked . He hated it because he hated anything that was M stronger th an a A N . Whether it were a

vice or a superstition or a disease or a politi a

cal or social tyranny , he hated it with a slow , white equable hatred that never wore out and never gave up . One of his grand sons admitted to me just recently'“ I have no doubt he would be a dry today . Another “ s o grandson said , I am not sure that he

w as s o i n would be a dry today , because he tense an individualist that to him almost anything was better than infringement o f the rights of the individual ; but I am sure that whether he were a dry or a wet he would A N A P P R E C I A T I O N 3 3

vehemently be one or the other . There

would be no doubt as to his position . He did

not like puddles in thought or in legislation . What he did fo r the afflicted and the weak he did from personal solicitude and in no

very systematic way . He remained always so individualistic that he believed the man who

helps himself is best helped . It may be that the numerous “ Tribune ” welfare organiza tions which today bear his honored name and which look after the employe in almost every economic relation of life—and death would make him wonder whether the law of survival of the fittest were not being tam'

pered with . His was , however , a mind readily adjusting itself to n ew conditions and no doubt he would see that more intricate con ditio n s and more extensive activities de' mand that we now do on a system what he f did rom the promptings of a kind heart .

For nearly half his life Mr . Medill was a man

of large means and great influence . But all

his life he was simple . He was a plain liver . T hey used to say that he “ ate what was set 3 4 A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

before him . He was not austere , but there was a certain formalism about him that fo r f bade a liberty . Men o this newspaper who today are men of command and of bold speech look back to the days when they “ were lads around him and s ay , I was scared ” f of him . At the o fice and at home one would ask whether it would be all right to go into the room where he was . Even so , he was unassuming , but you felt that he was unassuming because he knew he did not

h r t e e. have to assume . He was Those who confess now that they were “ afraid ” of him add that it was not precisely fear either , for he never did a hard thing to any of them .

of What they did feel was , course , awe of an Old man of great character who h ad been a force in great times and to the end was still a force . Anybody wh o w as in doubt as to h o w forcible and h o w searching he was had but n f hi u i to o e o s . neglect instr ct ons Once , when the New 'ork Times ” had reprinted a tw o—column article which had appeared in A N A P P R E C I A T I O N 3 5

f the Chicago Tribune three weeks be ore , he ordered it reprinted in this newspaper , he

hi s not having seen it in own paper , or having forgotten about it . The order w as simple'“ I want this article to be reprinted ‘ ’ ” w as in the Tribune tomorrow . It not done . “ do o u The next day he s aid , What y mean by neglecting my instructions'” There were “ hurried explanations . His reply was Print '” it anyway He believed in discipline , and this w as a case where he thought the ethics i n of discipline were urgent , because the — — fracto r w as a person o f next to him the

o n highest rank the paper . Furthermore , another of hi s convictions was that any thing that had been printed w as news again after three weeks . Solely in his raiment did he cling to old

i o f ways , wear ng toward the end the last f century the congress gaiters , Sti f, white Shirt , black string tie and black frock coat o f an earlier time ; in summer it would be a black alpaca coat . When he became old he had a not valet , because he had grown luxurious , 3 6 A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

him but because the valet saved bother . i n He smoked one cigar a week . This dulgen ce afforded a more curious Sidelight o n his complete self o m as tery than if he h ad not smoked at all . He never drank wine nor spirits until the time came when feeble heart action caused the doctors to prescribe fo r o f him a thimbleful whiskey with digitalis . His home life was beautiful ; his marriage

of ideal . To the last day their union he and hi s wife seldom addressed each other except “ ” as hi s o f Dearest . In old age he did most hi s work at home , in the stately mansion still standing at the northeast corner of

Cass and Ontario Streets . There he spent his days pretty much in two rooms—the

r w as lib ary , which a real library , and the

adjoining study , which had an open fire and

' an Old fashioned roll top desk . Here he wrote many editorials and dictated more . In the morning there would ‘ be a conference at the house between him and the late Robert i W . Patterson , manag ng editor , and Alfred T . Ward , cashier , still halely and happily

3 8 A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

N O fiction ; all books of history and of

hi s science . He accounted worth time only

the books that freed and enlarged the mind . ’ Archibald Geikie s monumental work o n

o f 1 2 ‘ ' geology was one those , and to a year “ ’ old o u grandson he once said , I ll give y ’ h ” fifty dollars if you ll read t is book . The pap o f co n s pi cu o sity which h as been the bane , yea , and sometimes the undoing , o f publicists , he never craved . The presidents f o fered him cabinet positions . It cost him no pang to decline them . For forty years and more he exercised — — enormous power i nflue nce rather because he was the authentic and respected informant of a great community . It did not make him

o r no r hi s arrogant heady , draw him outside

hi s w as to co n , field , because sole ambition tin ue to make an interesting and trustworthy

of newspaper . That kind a newspaper he made fo r this community and for neighbor ing commonwealths some times in hi s

of hi s life , and after each those issues h m destination w as o e. A N A P P R E C I A T I O N 3 9

hi s Conspicuously placed , he did work in

the world without making a fuss about it .

A less ostentatious editor never existed .

H i s od as g w Common Sense , and the plain ’ god s gift to him w as great equanimity . He could keep his head when the highest in the

o f f land were in a state panic . He su fered

a terribly during the Civil War , but he main

t ai n ed of a front calm , and he maneuvered steadily to the end that panic should n o t

i s of become rout . H wisdom compromise and extenuation in some matters to the end that the supreme matter Should no t be sacrificed i s the explanation of acts and

o f o f utterances his which , at the time them ,

n o t many persons could understand . This extract from a letter which he wrote 'to

. . of 1 863 A S Hill'in the dark days , before Vicksburg and Gettysburg had revived the of u fainting heart the North , ill strates the — sagacity and the equanimity which h e a

hurried , worried editor , a vehement party man 'he w as o ne of the twelve founders of the Republican party'and a zealous patriot 40 A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

could muster in a time of desolating crisis

O u r view is that we ought to do all we can to strengthen the hands of the administration until the crisis is past An awful responsi b ilit I f y rests upon our party . it carries the

a war to a successful close , the people will con t i n u e I f it in power . it fails , all is lost , union ,

party , cause , freedom , and abolition of slavery . Hence we sustain C hase and his National 'k S an scheme , tanton and his impulsiveness , ' L elles and his senility , and incoln and his L t fi slowness . e us rst —get the ship out of the break ers ; then court martial the O fficers if

they deserve it .

It should be remembered that that w as the

of of f utterance a man only orty years . All the easy ways to favor and to fortune he abjured fo r himself and for the news

f paper whose greatness he founded . Inde

enden ce of i p of the demands faction , serv ce t o a city and country , and adherence to com m o n sense were the foundation stones o f

l n hi s of sound journalism ideal the craft , ’ as to and , the structure s adornment , if what w as important w as not always interest ,

w as w as hi s ing , what interesting , in notion ,

i s hi ' always important . That why s news A N A P P R E C I A T I O N 4 1

paper was , and continues to be , always f human . In a sentence that he le t us as a

legacy , and that has Since become a classic

n w s a er'm ake rs hi s among e p p , he epitomized ideal of a newspaper when he said that he wanted the “ Tribune ” to be and to do after he w as gone what it had been and done under him

the organ of no man however high , fl n no clique or ring however in ue tial , or fac

tion however fanatical or demonstrative , and in all things to follow the line of common ” sense .

It i s no negligible Sidelight on Joseph ’ Medill s character that hi s hero w as a man alike the most practical , the most common sensible and the most V isioned in o ur hi s — tory Benj amin Franklin . The statue of — Franklin which he gave to Chicago was one of the fe w luxuries he ever allowed himself. Ch aracteristic of him were the reversions of hi s late life when he could enjoy some measure of leisure . He reverted to the farm . n He grew up on a farm , and more tha a quarter of a century of his early life w as 4 2 A N A P P R E C I A T I O N

lived among farming people . To a real farm not to a villa and a lawn —to a real farm — with corn and cattle growing on i t h e went back .

He worked to the end . That is an exact statement . Nor was it solely the kingly work o f mapping policies ; much of it was detail ,

of trying to eyesight and voracious time . He “ ” functioned in the Tribune o fli ce two days

f w as f a ter he died , for it two days a ter he had breathed hi s last in San Antonio that the managing editor received from him a bulky envelope of clippings , each one marked “ ” “ ” M hi s . . as Must , ' That must of was decisive as a Latin verb on armorial bear ings . It meant what it said . It still does . His life and hi s work sum themselves up ”— in the good o ld world stalwart meaning “ ” literally to have a firm foundation and

hi s o n o n that is why work goes and .