The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-01
Wen known as an Editor, COrre-
spOndent, Traveller, Friend of c. ).
Grant and Minister to China.
GOOD PLACE FOR AN 0HIoAN
FRANCIS b. LOOMS APPOINTED
MINISTER TO VENEZUELA.
Rev. j. J. stevens, OF CrawfordsviIIe,
Office Declined by Col. Calhoun.

WASHINGTON, June SO-The President
to-day sent to the Senate the following
| nominations:
John Russell Young, of Pennsylvania, to
be librarian of Congress.
Bernard r. Green, of the District of Co
lumbia, to be superintendent of the Ii
brary building and grounds.
Francis B. Loomis, of Ohio, to be envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
! to Venezuela.
To be consuls: Henry Bordewch of
Minnesota, at Christiana, Norway; John
c. Caldwell, of Kansas, at San Jose, Costa
Rica; Philip c. Hanna, of Iowa, at Trini-
dad, West Indies; Louis Lange, jr., of 1lli-
nois, at Bremen, Germany; Joseph j.
Stevens, of Indiana, at Plymouth, England.
Col Henry c. Merriam, Seventh Infant
ry, to be brigadier general; John r. Thorn
as, of Illinois, to be judge of the United
States Courts in the Indian Territory;
Thomas j. Yandell, of Kentucky, to be
collector of internal revenue for the Second
district of Kentucky; John w. Yerkes, of
Kentucky, to be collector of internal rev.
enue for the Eighth district of Kentucky
The Senate to-day confirmed the follow
ing nominations: John Russell Young, of
Pennsylvania, to be librarian of Congress;
Bernard r. Green, of the District of Column
bia, to be superintendent of the library
building and grounds; George A. Black, of
Fairhayen, Wash; Thomas A. Davis, Of
Malad, Idaho, and William Ryan, of Rath-
drum Idaho, to be commissioners to ex-
anime and classify lands within the land
grant and indemnity land grant limits of
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in
the Occur d Alene land district in Idaho;
] T0b
sui general at Melbourne, Australia;
Church Howe. of Nebraska, to be consul
general at Apia and Nukualofa, Tonga;
Hugo Donzelmann, of Wyoming, to be con-
SUI at Prague, Bohemia; Clarence w. Ide,
to be marshal for the district of Washing
ton; Alfred II. Taylor, of Cedarville Cal.
to be receiver OF public moneys at Susan
vile, Cal.
John Russell Young, who has been nom
mated and confirmed as successor to Aims
worth r. Spofford librarian of Congress,
has had very active life as a newspaper
man. He was born in 1884, at Paoli Pa,
! where his father titled the SOIL When
John was four years old his parents went
to Philadelphia, and when he had reached
the proper age he was entered as a pupil
in the old Harrison grammar school Later
he became an apprentice in a printing Of
| fee. Death scattered the Young family,
and John taken to New Orleans,
| whence he returned in 1857 The Philadel-
phia Press, which then had it's office where
the Philadelphia Bank now stands was in
want of copy boy" and advertised for
one Young was one of fifty applicants
The foreman of the Press composiner room
was M. G. Hart, father of Charley Hart
now city editor of the Evening Bulletin
FOREMAN Hart handed each applicant roll
or Colonel Forney's manuscript. No one
who has not seen that wonderful 'coDv''
can appreciate the dismay that filled each
youthfuI heart when those weird hierogly-
pines Ilrst confronted them. Horace Gree
leys famed attempts at caligraphy were
copperplate Impressions compared to it. OF
all the applicants young Young was the
only one who could decipher the manu-
| script, and thus began his entrance to
newspaper life. His salary was So a week,
but was reduced to $3.50 when the Press
foreman found that he would not work on
sundays. In those days reporters went
home or, rather left the ofTice-before mid
hight ana In consequence 1t happened
o clock one morning that Copyholder Young
was sent to report fire He did so wei
that next day he was made a member Of
the local staff, his city editor being William
George Alfred Townsend, whose pseudonvn
or Gath is now known throughout the
land. Young rose to be news editor and
when the war broke out was sent to Join
tle army as a correspondent. He was at
the battle of Bull Run and wrote the firsf
account published of that memorable con-
test. For while he helped Colonel Forney
to edit the Washington Chronicle and in
1862 he was sent back to Philadelphia with
the title of editor-in-chief of the Philadel-
phia Press.
Young remained the editor of the Press
Hntll 1860, when he had a difference with
the employ Of Jaw COOKE in ana tha e1nteTed
scheme to float the E-30 loan Samuel VIII
klson, OF the Tribune, secretary of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, was at the head
or literary bureau formed for the advo-
cacy OF the financial plans that Cooke had
control OF Young was made part of this
and sent to New York where he organized
branch bureaus for the distribution of the
loan among workingmen and soldiers just
returned from the war At the same time
he was contributing to the editorial col
unns of the Tribune at Wilkinsons invita-
ton. His articles attracted Horace Cree
leys attention and led to his regular en-
ployment. In six months ne was made
managing editor, succeeding Sydney How
four years, resigning in 1869, when he had
trouble about giving the Associated Press
news to the Morning Post, of Philadelphia,
he was succeeGed by Whitelaw Reid. For
one year following he travelled through the
far West, writing pamphlets for the Dem
yer q Rio Grande Railroad. and CORE
spending with the New York Herald and
Standard, the financial hackers of which
We're Benjamin F. Butler. Thomas Murphy
Sheridan Shook and E. ID. Webster 1t had
a ftful existence for two years and then
refusing to place it on the financial basis
they had promised and which was neces-
sary for its ultimate success.
While editor cf the Standard, Young per-
| formed a delicate task for the United
States government which many of his close
| friends at the time were unacquainted
! with. The reasons for secrecy, however
no longer remain. The character of the
loans and securities of the government
were not understood in England and il
| was desirable that the press and public of
] Great Britain should be made acquainted
| with the desirability of American invest
ments. 1t was matter for delicate treat
ment. Young, at the suggestion of General
| Grant sent to London the special
! agent of the United Slater government al
| though his holding this reiaton was kept a
! profound secret He wrote number of ar
| ticles on United States securities, that were
! published i'm the Times and other London
| journals and successfully accomplished
| the object of his mission. While abroad on
| the occasion he and George Wilkes. OF the
! Spirit of the Times. ran over to Paris, then
in the power OF the Commune, and sue
ceeded in passing the lines. They witnessed
| the siege and fall of the gay capital, and
/ Young sent a ten-column account of 1T to
| the Standard and Wendell Phillips said was
unexcelled in its yividness of narration and
/ the purity of its English by even the pro-
! ductions of Macaulay.
Ever since then Jonn Russell Young has
/ been as much a traveller as a writer. When
| the Standard suspended the elder Bennett
/ employed him on the Herald, and he has
| Travelled all over the globe for that journal
1 In 1877 he started wit4A General Grant on his
i memorable trip around the world and wrote
4 book describing the journey. Grant rec