The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-10-18
EDITOR DANA
PASSES HWAYsT


CONTINUED from First Page
ley and George william Curtis ana
others who were OF literary fame or
promise. did his share of mental work
with cheerfulness and held his own i'm
the literary ana philosophical discus
sions which We're carried on by these
thinkers. Dana was one Of the first to
realize that the experiment was. If not
absurd, at least bound to be failure.
He lived long enough to see all Of his
associates in that experiment die and
every one of them convinced that the
scheme was utopian.
From childhood Mr.. Dana was of
prompt decision. He reasoned early
that It was better to decide wrong than
to hesitate and shilly shally over a de-
cision. Therefore when he abandoned
socialism he decided TO become an ac-
tive, busy man Of affairs and to win
his way, as he believed every man
must, with civilization what It IS, by
his own unaided efforts. He had been
one of the editors of a little weekly
called The Harbinger, which advocated
the socialistic idea, and this associa-
tion suggested TO him that journalism
was his career. He was fascinated with
the work even then, although at that
time he had not such an understanding
/ of the news features as he came later
| to possess. Anxious to put himself
in touch with the world and to go to
the other extreme from that represent
/ ed by the provincialism of Brook Farm,
/ Mr. Dana went to Europe. He had al
ready learned to read French and
to speak it fairly well. The facility
with which he acquired languages was
marvellous.
Soon after reaching Paris he spoke
French with huency, and as he was
there at the time of the revolution OF
1848 his newspaper instincts were fully
developed, and his acquaintance with
French enabled him fully to under
stand the meaning of the exciting
scenes of that day He wrote of them
in a series Of letters published in the
New York Tribune, and his correspond
ence is even regarded to this day as a
model of that department of Journal
ism.
Undoubtedly this work brought Mr..
Dana into close relations with The
Tribune, for soon after he accepted an
offer from Horace Greeley to become
managing editor Of that paper. He
drew to The Tribune some of the ablest
writer's and thinkers of the time, and
he made the paper the gospel of the
thinking, conservative and cultivated
elements in the community.
Mr.. Dana's connection with The Tii-
bune gave him an intimate acquain-
tance with most of the great men of
the Republican party, and when in 1861.
owing to a disagreement with Horace
Greeley respecting the attitude Of The
Tribune upon the conduct of the war.
he retired, he was esteemed as one of
the influential younger men of the
party Edwin M. Stanton, the secretary
of war, who knew Mr.. Dana well, offer
ed him the post of assistant secretary
, of war and he undertook these labors
with extraordinary energy. Much of the
time he was with General Grant in the
west. He was several times under fire
showing great coolness and courage
His executive capacity was never more
superbly revealed than when, as the
representative of the war department
he was engaged in forwarding Grants
gigantic military schemes.
After the war Mr.. Dana might have
accepted several offers to re-enter bust
ness life, but the fascinatlons of jour.
nalism caused him to decline every
proposition of that sort made to him
A company was organized to create an6
publish a great Republican newspaper
in Chicago and Mr.. Dana was offered
the editorship, and a small interest in
Ii was given to him. At that time, how.
ever, Chicago was not the great metro.
politan city that it is today and Mr.
Dana found difficulties of various sort.
in establishing the paper. He sold ou
his interest, receiving therefor some
$1,000 and that was the first time in hi.
life that he found himself possessed OF
any considerable sum of money a
friend advised him to invest 1t in
house in New York, which he did, anC
e. others of his old time Republican
friends, notably Colonel Fred A. Conl1
ling, brother Of Roscoe Conkling, sub
scribed a sum sufficient to buy for Mr.
Dana the New York Sun, which was t,
be published as a low priced Republican
newspaper.
Mr.. Dana took charge on the 1st o
January. 1868, the paper then havinl
about 10000 circulation, and his con
spicuous career began with that issu
of the paper. He called about him
competent staff, and in less than twl
years had in many respects revolution
lied journalistic methods He sough
for news where other editors had ig
nored it and ne developed what Samue
Bowles, himself a great editor, said wa
the imagining style of reporting" noy
in vogue i'm every first class newspaper
Mr.. Dana, like Caleb Gushing, seeme
to thrive upon hard work. Mental ap
plication was a delight to him. II
learned botany while riding from hi
office. In his spare moments he mastere
the Icelandic language. He knew Dant
probably better than any other Ameri
can in New York, so that when he hai
his interview with the pope he respond
ed in a quotation from Dante to an
other which the pope had made to him
Spanish literature delighted him, an
he mastered it at odd moments.
For horses he had a passion, and h
kept his health, he thought, by drivin
a high spirited team daily between hi
country place and the railway station
MT Dana was fond of good cooking
and he knew wines like a connoisseuI
e although sparing in the use Of them. II
was an excellent critic of paintings an
in his later years became fascinate
l. over ceramics and choice pottery, tn
history OF which he knew as though hi
life had been devoted to the study Of 4
Mr.. Dana was nearly so years Of ag
before he began, of his own experience