Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-10-18
CHARLES A. DANA DEAD.
Continued from First Page.

insistent and aroused thereby stronger
and stronger opponents, the young and
more impetuous man, by this time man
aging editor of the greatest organ the
movement possessed, chafed under the
restraint imposed upon him by his
chief, and when at last the war broke
out his position was almost intolerable.
1t finally became absolutely so, and on
April 1, 1862, Mr.. Dana resigned. In
June of the same year he was appointed
/ a commissioner in the Department of
War, and in this capacity he visited
the West to make reports on pay SER
vice in that part of the country. On
June 1 he was appointed Major and AS
sistant Adjutant General, title he re-
fused to accept and one which was sub
sequently withdrawn.
On January 20, 1854, Dana was named
Assistant Secretary Of War to Stanton,
and his official reports from the field to
the office are still held I'D as models
Of intelligent and diligent work. When
the war came to a close, Mr.. Dana re-
signed and again returned to journal
ism, this time as editor of the Chicago
Republican, which was founded in 1867.
Up to this point in Mr. Danas career
ordinate to the will of others, and this
subordination was precisely what he
most Of all disliked. but on january
II, 1868, he became the largest share
holder and editOr-in-chief of the New
York Sun, and from that moment his
personality, free to act as he chose. has
been evident in every line of his news
paper; and if a Louis could say with
boastfUl arrogance, 81 am France" Mr..
Dana could with perfect truth para
phrase the remark and proclaim, 81 am
the Sun
No great newspaper ever published
presents so many paradOXes, and these
reflect accurately the mind and temper
ament of its editor. Its English is
clear polished, verile and almost stern
at times in its adherence 70 prescribed
usage, and yet even its headlines will
laugh m0Cnlngly with the newest and
most fippant slang.
In the world of books and art the
serious critical work is just. accurate
and dignified, and perhaps in the next
column the most fragrant violation of
all canOns of literary and artistic taste
will be found handled with the same
gravity and in style so ponderOus as
to be the creator of its own humor.
Perhaps no daily publication ever con-
tended so strenuOusly as the Sun for
the claim to respect that the press has
on the community, a contention en-
phasized in its editors public speeches;
and yet in the Suns quarrel with the
New York World the famous Move on
Pulitzer editorial was a bit of writing
which, though strong, was, to put it
mildly, lacking in prOpriety and Who'll
ly undignified. The catch phrases, too,
for which the paper is famous such as
WAS list Los Nit Coogan?" Stuffed
Prophet" mo King, No Clown" 'If
You See 1t in the Sun, It's So" etc,
would be thought puerile in their daily
iteration if removed from the atmos-
phere of the paper in which they ap-
pear
Politically, the attitude of the Sun
has been such as to make one almost
dizzy in following its various changes.
| Republican at the outset Of Mr.. Danas
connection with it. the Sun in 1872
supported Horace Greeley, and in this
campaign a marked trait of it's editor
was clearly shown. Grant was Gree
ley'S opponent, and during the war the
general had refused to accept some
suggestion offered by Dana, then as
sistant secretary of war The latter
resented this and laid the matter be-
fore the President, and the decision
was favorable to Grant. This ranked
in D2na's mind, and in the columns of
the Sun he poured forth the Walls of
his hatred and wrath. Greeley was
defeated but the Sun, having espOused
the Democratic side on the national
issue, continued the same policy in To-
cal matters and chung to Tammany
Hall and Boss Tweed and champiOned
their cause.
The Sun supported Seymour and Til
den, but Hancock met Wnh nothing
better than sneers in its columns, and
the attitude Of the paper towards
Cleveland and Bryan is too fresh in
the minds of its readers to need COM
ment. The tariff policy, too, Of the
Sun has ever been not a little pulling.
1t is protectionist, and yet dur
ing the Congress OF 1890,
when the Mckinley bill was
the issue, the Sun almost humor-
ouslv thrust the force bill to the front
as the really important matter before
the country. The same apparently in
territorial perversity is also shown in
the support of Ben Butler, in 1884, on
the Greenback ticket. In explanation
of Mr.. Danas persistent attacks on
Cleveland, it is said that at one time
when in Office Mr. Cleveland refused
to appoint one of the editors rela-
tiyes to a political position, with the
remark who is Dana, anyway
This reached Dana's ears. and. true
to his nature never TO forgive or forget,
he has used his columns to avenge the
sheer. This persistence in one line is
apparently applicable only to animos-
tiles in the case of Mr.. Dana for his old
time ally. Tammany Hall, has just at
present the benefit of the keenest nibs
of his most trenchant pen, and the re-
formers who represent his Brook farm
days, are spitted and roasted with
daily ridicule.
But with all his inconsistencies he
was the greatest editor of this country,
and perhaps of the world, and on that
fact he must rest his claim to cOnsidera-
ton in the world Of letters, for, with
the exception of some verse,
he has written nothing original but
editorials and a single translation from
the German. The Ant published in
| 1S4S. He has, however, complied and
edited capitally the Household Book
Z n -, l1ob OroriAr, !,