The record-union., 1896-04-12
SAN FRANCISCO GOSSIP,
FROM THE
PEN OF ARTHUR McEWEN.
Chauncey Depew and His Success
Politics Quiet m the Metropolis

are recovering from their delighted agi-
tation. The N. : Yorker has sustained
his reputation. Nobody heard him say
anything witty, SO far as has been re-
ported but everybody is quite sure that
Mr.. Depew is awit That shows the value
Of a reputation Once l heard him talk
fer an hour to the assembled actors and
actresses of New York, and a more COM
nsonplace address 1 never listened to.
Yet it evoked repeated roars of laughter.
The speaker knew he was expected to
be funny, and it was as a funny man he
talked. There were jokes in plenty,
mild jokes, cheap. obvious jokes of the
kind by the building of which the news
paper paragrapher makes his honest
living. Depew thought they were good,
his audience saw that, and as they
liked Depew they strove to think SO,
too. and were glad OF every chance to
laugh. Though the eyes that looked at
the crowd were cold and shrewd the
face was good-humored. 1t is this good
humor, which never fails him, that ac-
counts for Depew's popularity, and for
his fame as a humorist likewise. He
was never known to he impatient with
q reporter and his reward for this con-
c-uCA dllcu diHu pOiilCHGSS HAS D00n
great. The reporters have taken him
up and set the fashion of admiring him.
They try to say good things for him in
their interviews when he doesn't think
OF any himself, and when he wants the
press to stand in with him he has no
trouble in getting it's help. He has
made friends with the newspapers, and
they feel a sort of proprietary interest
IN him. 1t is a spectacle of beautiful
concord, and a proof of how valuable
manner Is to one who needs the good
will of others in order to get on in life
l am not saying that Mr.. Depew isn't
clever man. He is the cleverest little
big man in the United States. His po-
sition as manager for the Vanderbilts
ought, by all the preeedents, to make
him hated by the press and the people,
but he is liked and applauded. The doc
trlne of the survival OF the fittest has in
Depew a, conspicuous exemplification.
That doctrine means that the organism
best suited to its environment will do
better than any other. There are WITT
tier men than Depew; there are ADLER
financiers; there are better speakers;
there are smarter politicians, but there
is no American known to current fame
who has all the qualities and talents
that make for success so harmoniously
combined and balanced as has Chaun-
Depew. He is as admirably suited to his
environment as an eel is to water Take
General Barnes, Mr.. Estee, Governor
Rudd, Mr.. Herrin, Charles Webb How
ard, Irving NJ. Scott, Alec Badlam and
Fulton G. Berry, combine in one their
effective characteristics, and you have
Chauncey Depew.
His visit here shed sunshine on many.
but as sunshine casts shadows, some
have been gloomed. For once Colonel
sam Shortridge has been eclipsed. 1t
is said that when the Union League pre-
ferred General Barnes to himself as the
orator who should respond to Depew at
the banquet the Colonel was so taken
by surprise that he did not hide his an
ger This was the frs. check he had re-
ceived in his magnificent career as the
Depew of the Sprecxelses He STAYED
away from the feast, and his gifted
crother, Major Charles of the Call"
stayed with him. Reflection restored
the ColonePs equilibrium, and when a
reporter accosted him the other evening
IN the rotunda of the Palace-the only
piace In this metropolis where the Colo
mel appears to feel that his surround
lngs are adequate-he was ready.
say SAM" began the reporter. with
lhat want OF reverence that marks his
kind, they tell me that when the Union
League selected old Barnes instead of
yourself to do the pretty to Chauncey.
you picked UP your dolls and went
home. How is it?"
The Colonel smiled down on the re-
porter. His sense Of humor is no great
er than is becoming to one who has
great and serious part to act in the
larger affairs of the earth, but when
he suspects a joke he makes 1t a point
to smile
Not so,' he said, mot so, my young
friend. would have been at that agree
able banquet but for the circumstance
that my brother Charles was called
from the city, and / had to take charge
of the 'Call-entire charge, you un-
derstand. / was on the desk, as you
newspaper gentlemen say-ah, yes; on
the desk. Yes, that's it, 1 believe on
the desk Journalism" he added "is
pleasantly exciting but exacting: yes,
exacting. Indeed, yes, exacting."
The Colonel frequently practices the
branch Of the profession which has
come to be known, because of him as
Delsarte journalism. That Is to say.
at the midnight hour the Colonel, ele-
CANT, majestic, stalks into the editorial
room, throws open his overcoat, re-
vealing evening dress, peers at one of
the leader writers from under the brim
of his silk hat and over the gold rims of
his glasses, and stands thus for some
moments in impressive silence. Then
his arm rises, describes a slow ascend
ing half circle and descends, the fore
finger pointing straight at the waiting
ccuntenance of the hired man. "A
thought" explodes the Colonel, rising
on his toes and coming down on his
heels.
The thought is dictated and the Col
onel PAGES the room. Then the arm and
the finger again, and: Another
thought"
In this way, 1t is given out, many of
those editorials paragraphs in the
Cali" which have interested journal
lists everywhere in the paper have found
birth.
Colonel Shortridge's principal, Gen.
eral John D. Spreckels, is, like himself
becoming more and more absorbed in
journalism. 1t was the intention Of the
General when he invested in the Call"
to use the paper for purposes of states
manship. That also was the motive
which induced General Clarkson and
Colonel Trumbo to put their money into
the pot. Trumbo was to get himself
elected United States Senator from