The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-09
Beriah and the Stockholders.

to be a stakeholder in the Washington
Post Company, has brought suit in a court
of equity "to compel BERIAH WILKINS,
President and manager of the company, to
show the amount of money he has drawn
from the company in the past five years., to
discover the receipts. expenditures, and
profits. and to divide the latter among the
stockholders" The division proposed in
this last division Of Mr.. PAINTERS bill
should be sufficient to stamp him as one of
the choice and master humorists Of this age.
1t is impossible, however, IL not positively
immoral, to regard as humorous Mr..
PAINTERS attempt to separate the Hon.
BERIAH WILKINS from the great political,
literary, and economic enterprise in which
that illustrious emigrant from Ohio has
expressed the thoughts which have arisen
in him. The question should not be what
has the Hon. BERIAH WILKINS drawn from
his company, or what his company has had
the happiness of contributing to his sup
port, but what has the Washington Post,
that emanation Of his genius, that graphic.
phone of his intelligence. done for a capt.
tai which is all too unworthy of it.
To give a satisfactory answer to an in
duhhy co III w JUL uliSDit ehlLu W
the natural history of candor, is less diff.
cult than 1t seems. From the moment that
the Hon. BER1AH WILKINS, whose fame as
a Democratic member of Congress from
Ohio was unequal to his later distinc-
lions, burst upon the world Of Alexan-
dria and Cabin Johns rs a unilateral
conductor of q bilateral journal, his
talents became evident to all who took
notice. 1t is possible that they are not such
talents as an aggrieved or curious stock
holder might derive much benefit from the
accounting of. but they are such as lave
not been hidden under a napkin and are
full of ethical instruction IL not of COM
mercial value.
Caught at a late age and venturing with
an elderly, if not a mature. mind into the
newspaper business, the Hon. BERIAH WILL
KINs determined to blaze his own pathway
to greatness in it. He saw tina the world
was but insufficiently supplied with news
papers that were honest and intelligent. 1t
was his good fortune to appreciate his own
gifts and to furnish to the drifting hotel
population Of Washington a paper as casual.
1t became his plan to praise the people in
power and the people out of power, to keep
an eye on the Administration, and at the
same tim to remember that granRers and
Populists have their seasons. When In
doubt Mr.. WILKINS has always directed his
remarks at the Hon. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
To venerate MCKINLEY and at the same
time to eulogize the Hon. WILLIAM JEN
NINGs BRYAN as one Of the most noble of the
sons of time to weep at the affecting elo-
quence of the Hon. JOHN PARDON ALTGEID,
without forgetting to extol any eminent
capitalist who Is reckless enough to buy a
copy Of the Post while he is loafing at q
Washington hotel; in short, to run with the
hare and hold with the hounds; these are
the principles of the Hon. BERIAH WILL
KINs in that trade Of which he Is an orna-
ment. These are far from being the COM
mercial principles which Mr.. PAINTER
seems to assume. Mr.. WILKINS is, indeed,
happy when by some powerful perscruta-
tive article on the effeminacy Of the East, or
the intrepid and luxuriant intellect of Kan
sas, he has made some thoughtful Populist
at the Ebbitt House cut the file to preserve
the gem; but Mr.. WILKINS never forgets
that he revolves among a cursory popula-
tion. He mingles for with against. and
devotes himself to bilateral symmetry:
~ live for those who love mo.
For those who know me true,
For the heaven that smiles above me.
And the good that / can do.'
That is the invariable quotation used by
the Hon. BERIAH WILKINS in his auto
graph communications to an admiring pub
lie. Mr.. PAINTER cannot be aware of the
bilateral symmetry and the bristling altru-
ism Of Mr.. WLLKINs's spirit. II Mr.. WILL
KINs has been able to draw any money from
the company which is lucky enough to
have him as Its President and manager,
why should the amount of that money be
disclosed by an unfeeling proceeding in u
court of equityl He does not seek reward,
but If he has received any, why must the
sum be spread upon the recordf He is his
own reward. And why should the receipts.
expenditures, and profits, If any, be dis
closed to a gaping worldf The Hon. BERIAH
WILKINS lives for the good that he can do.
To seek to apply the brutalities of book.
keeping to such a nature Is a proclamation.