The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-05-30
GREELEY And his CRITICS.
Some Popular Fallacies about the Tri-
bune Philosopher Exposed.


Among the popular fallacies concerning Hor.
ace Greeley are few which we will point oul
and correct. Ye is thought to be deficient In
business tact or executive force. On the con.
irary, those who have been long and intl.
mately associated In business with him know
that he has q staunch and excellent judgment
in all affairs of money and property. His gov.
ernance of the Tribune-a great Institution OF
which he is not only the outward agure-head,
but the central soul-haS, from the DeGlnning
Of Its history, and particularly during the last
dozen years, been signal executive success.
Mr.. Greeley has always had as much 70 90 WIN
the pecuniary as with the editorial manage
ment of his paper. To preside with skill over
slch am lishment-involving, as such an
office does, 4 daily control and direction Gi
hundreds Of employees-calls into exercise
the very highest executive and administrative
faculties. No better tribute can be paid to the
success with which Mr.. Greeley gets along
with his associates than the fact that the same
men remaia year after year In the same sta
tlons, with as little change as among the feu-
dal retainers OF d ;oedisval lord.
The foreman in the press-room now
bearded patriarch-i5 the same man who
helped Mr.. Greeley more than thirty years ago
to get out the first copy of the Tribune. The
foreman In the composing did the same:
Thus, two heads of departments have renamed
at their posts for third OF century, and Doth
ara proprietors. Ask these men whether Mr.
Greeley understands anything about business.
There Ia not paper-miller In Manayunk VINO
understands the paper market better than the
farmer of fChappaqus. All Radicals are con-
seryatIye somewhere. Mr. Greeleys conser-
vstism is in finance. He Is great believer In
thrift, economy, debt-paying and money-sav-
ing He long ago found the phiosophers
stone-..pay as you CO." The only reason ne
ia not a millionaire Is because of his unbridled
generosity. He turns nobody empty away.
But he has business tact and administrative
Judgment of the same shrewd kind which
characterized Benjamin franklin.
Another current absurdity about him is that,
while he Is an honest man himself; ne Is sur
rounded by coterle OF knaves. Mr.. Greeley
women Of his time. Editors, lawyers, sena-
tors, Judges, governors-from all paris OF the
country-lhese are the people who daily seek
him, and with whom he eats and drinks. VI
course newspaper Office keeps an open gate
to ali comers, and as Mr.. Greeley Is The most
accessible of men, very many schemers ana
charlatans and srogues enter with the rest,
absorbed aud halcrecognizlng nod; but any
body who imagines that Mr. Greeley has not a
disciplined and penetrating instinct for char
scter makes as great mistake as IN suppos-
ing that, when he goes to sleep In church, NJ
does not hear the sermon. We nave known
Mr. Greeley to sleep through long speech,
and then at It's close rise and reply TO 1t, point
for pOint. In like manner, through the same
gentle oblivion which some people fancy rests
npon his Judgment of men, there Is 8 wakeiul-
ness of scrutiny which detects the scoundrel
at n glance. In this sort Of Insight he reminds
us of Abraham Lincoln.
Another of the fallacles ls that he Is given to
VT Ia NOT hot Nr GraalaU
tree from laundering. But 1t must be remem-
bered that the editor Of daily paper Is neces-
sarfly O frequent blunderer. NO matter who
the man Is, If he publicly prints his opinion
three hundred and sixty-fve times year, ne
will Inevitably be wrong sometlmes-nay,
often. Another person may wait Till MIS- ludg'
ment of case ripens, but an editor mmsG mI,s ex s
the exigency OF his profession. Tine foremost
man in it Is not free from the law Wnich IN
cludes all Its votaries In this common 1nnrmity
of misiudgment. But put any other man on
such rostrum as the Tribune, and DID MN
speak slx days In the week for thirty years,
and count his blundsrs during tnat tlme. VINO
would have done better than Mr. Greeiey
Nav, who could have done 30 well Inen,
too, even where he has failed, his "ialllngs
have leaned to virtues side" He has never
blnndered into enrlching his private pockets.
He has never stumbled Into the public treasury
with graSp1ng anQ graphing uauu9. no nas
never tripped by happy accident Into the
county courthouse, lined with purple carpets
and Golden chairs. His chief blunders have
been against himself. and not against his couE-
1ry. And such are yirtuous Vices.
Another of the popular caprices is that he is
not safe man. This is vague and indefinite
Indictment. II 1t means thar The Federal gov.
ernment would be unsteady 10 his hands-thal
he would have one policy to-day and another
to-morrow-nothing could be further from the
truth. Mr.. Greeley Is as steadfast 10 his Intel
lectual judgments as he Is 10 his moral conVlc
tions. Fickleness does not belong 10 his ma
ture. His sincerity, his esrnestness, his
straiohtforwardness-a these qualities are al
patent ss the sunshine to all who know MIN
we'll enough to know anything OF the move
ments of his mind He would be as safe, al
prudent, as conservative President as eVel
sat in the Executive chair; his administrator
would deal pre-emnently with the business
interests and practical development oil the
country; he would have the grandest ca6ine
that the nation could produce; and his minis
ters and all their under officers would be ex
pected to work about eighteen hours out o
the twenty-iour-under the lireless example
of their chief, who Is one of the hardest work
ING of s'the SONS of toii."-GoldeD Age.