Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-10-22
CHARLES A. DANA DEAD.
The Most Notable Figure of
American Journalism.

A Member of the Brook Farm COmmu-
nity--Isreeley's Associate IL YeRrs--
Assistant Secretary of War to stanton
GLOW lie Impressed His Personality
on the New York sun.
Charles Anderson Dana, 70, editor of
the New York Sun, died at his summer
home at Glen Cove, Long Island, Sunday
In his death the "Nestor and jester, the
bon vivant and bon savant' of American
journalism has passed away-the last of
the great editors who stamped their per-
sonality on great newspapers of the metro
polls, the others being Greeley, Raymond
and Bennett Mr.. Dana was apparently
in excellent health at the beginning of the
summer, but he had not been at his Office
for four months, the breaking down com
ing from cirrhosis of the liver.
Mr. Dana was born in 1919 in the near
by village of Hinsdale, N. II. When only
two years old he was taken by his parents
to Gaines, Orleans county, New York, and
his boyhood was spent there, in Buffalo,
and at Guildhall, VT. His grandfather,
Daniel Dana, came from Connecticut and
was one of the first settlers of Guildhall.
He was a man of prominence In affairs of
Vermont early in the century, serving as
Judge of probate, Judge of the supreme
court, and member of the legislature.
Charles A Dana had only limited adj
vantages in his youth, and after few
terms in the district schools he began work
! in a store in Buffalo. At the age of Is he
began the study of Latin to prepare him
self for college, and two years later be
entered Harvard, but was compelled to
leave college after two years on account OF
failure of his eyesght.
| At the age of % he became member OF
the famous Brook farm community at
Roxbury, Mass. At the farm Mr.. Dana
made his entrance into newspaperdom, be-
ing one of the editors of the community's
organ, the Harbinger, a weekly journal
devoted to social reform and general litera-
ture. The community, as all the world
knows, wos not success. 1t went into
Fourierism, it went into Swedenborgian-
ism, and fire which destroyed its build
ings in lS47 gave it the coup de grace.
Mr.. Dana went to New York in lS47 as
a member of the editorial staff of the New
York Tribune, and until 1862 he fought
the anti slavery fight with an aIdor and
sustained confidence that bespoke SOL
dier's delight in battling against wrong.
lie had convictions in plenty in those 10
years when he stood up with the men who
were determined to crush out slavery, as
earnest as any of them, and more sa-
gacious than most. Stanton called him
TO the war department Immediately after
he had left the Tribune-on account of
differences with Mr.. Greeley about the
papers criticisms of the military conduct
of the war-and he was through the years
of his service as assistant secretary OF war
a trusted adviser and industrious aid to
the secretary.
His service in this capacity was not in
Washington, but on the field with the
troops, and his reports of great battles and
!. of the action of the leading generals were
from personal observation.
Not long after the close Of the war Mr..
Dana went to Chicago TO take editorial
charge of the Republican, but his stay
there was limited. He returned to New
York, and on the first day of the year 1865
the New York sun was issued under his
management, the money for its purchase
having been furnished by several of hi:
wealthy friends.
In politics Mr.. Dana was originally q
Wing. He was more uncompromising
than Mr.. Greeley in his devotion TO the
cause of abolition, more unfaltering anc
hopeful. He was as stanch a Republican
as Stanton or any of the aides and coun
sellers of the administration during the
war. The Sun has usually been consid
cred Democratic newspaper, but 1t is re
} markable that in the eight presidential
campaigns in which it took part unde
: his management, only twice have the can
didates OF the Democratic party received
: his cordial and active support. He ad
mired Seymour and Tilden but he ridi
culed Hancock, abused Cleveland, ant
repudiated Bryan. The great distinctive
principle of the Democratic party, tarit
for revenue not for protection, Mr.. Dan'
never accepted. The Mckinley act wa
so little obnoxious to Mr.. Dana that hi
newspaper throughout the memorabl
congressional campaign of 1890 kept u
the comic pretence that the "Force Dill
! was the great issue. The Wilson act eX
cited only his dersion and contempt, and tn
Dingley act had his approval and support
Mr.. Dana's private business Office wa
scantily furnished, but at his countr
place he lived like a prince. The Su
made him wealthy man and he could al
ford to pay his cook $1,000 a year. Ii
established one of the most beautifu
n botanical gardens in the country, his co
r lection of orchids being especially noted
t Second only to his enthusiasm for botan
. ranked his interest in ceramics, and hi
v collection of fine Chinese porcelains
$ noted among connoisseurs.
d While the Sun has been a model of Ii
a erary excellence its course in relation
g men and measures has been | compreheI
sible to any save its guiding genius. M
v Dana wrote an excellent and appreciatiy
o life of Grant, but after the generals ele
o Iion the Sun became inimical to him.
IS was thought by many that Mr.. Dana wa
e disappointed in not receiving an appoin
z, ment from Grant as minister to Franc
d When Grant died in 1sS4-after his mi
e fortunes, his financial ruin, and his hero
l. labors in writing his memoirs in mort
agony the Sun alone among the journa
h of the country devoted its pages to a
" elaborate depreciation of the general an
N the man.
r. No editor has expended such scorn {
n independent voting or mugwumpery as b
70 and indeed his independence of Opinion
ts which has been as marked as his new
1t paper ability, never partook of any of Il