The sun., 1897-12-27
A TRIBUTE 70 A MAN
An Entertaining Sketch Of the
Typical American.
HON. WILLIAM NJ. SINGERLY
In the Darkest Days Of His Long
Career the Publisher Of Americas
Greatest Newspaper Finds
Friends Everywhere.

The following tribute to the Hon.
William NJ. Singerly is that OF the able
and successful penn" who from per-
sonal acquaintance and a full heart
writes of the "Record's'' kindly proprlc-
tor.
"Thcre is no man in Philadelphia today
who is suffering the strokes Of misfortune
in this Christmas-tide to whom sympathy
will 60 out in a more generous measure
than to William NJ. Singcrly. In all the
varying comment which the closing OF his
bank evoked yesterday | heard not the
first whisper OF suspicion against his i'll
tcgrity. On the contrary, there was
everywhere the expression Of regret,
coupled with the hope that he would
soon be upon his feet again, and Of COM
passion and good will such as it is not
easy to recall Of any man who has gone
through like experience. There were
many who had long ago felt that his
temperament and his methods were not
consistent with the caution and the con-
servatism of a banker. He has some Of
the faults of Robert Morris. His cX-
treme quickness OF decision his conf
dence in his own Judgement, his impul-
siveness and his strong sense OF fidelity
to his friends are traits not always in ac-
cord with safe banking. Yet men who
yesterday, and, indeed, years bcfole,
recognized these weaknesses-and they
are weaknesses in any man who is in
trusted with the direction of a bank
were frequently heard to express their
regret that a man so kind in his nature,
SO loyal to his native city, SO ready to
lend the helping hand to others, should
in his advancing years, become the VIC
tim Of financial follies.
"Mr. Singerly for many years has been
foremost in all the practical functions OF
public spirit. He has been a Philadel-
phian from the crown of his head to the
soles of his feet. No movement that has
had the honest purpose OF bettering the
city has in the past fifteen years failed to
secure his support. The son of rich
man, the inherter of much OF the goodly y
estate of Joseph Sngerly, he has been
among the most active, the most demo-
cratic, the most accessible Of all our citi-
zcns. A capitalist, no man has ever en-
joycd in larger measure the respect OF
labor; Democrat, no leader in his party
has had more friends among Republicans
a journalist, he has seen every head OF
a newspaper in Philadelphia acknow-
ledge his primacy in the race for pop'l-
arity. lie has often been brusquc, even
rough in his intercourse with men; he has
always had a blunt straightiorwardness
Of speech; he has sometimes had queer
characters around him, in discl'arylng
his obligations to every man who had
ever done favor for him; but the high
est tribute which can be paid to any man
is that "Bill' SingrrIy has never lied his
way out of a trouble, and that he has
never made Il promise which hr did not
keep, or try to keep.
"Mr. ilg"rIy will he -iXty-hvc years
ola ON Monday next: Not until recent
" has he ever shown 4 siTn"! his age
Vuirk in movement, chAln-tI tIEhlnlng-likp
in speech. nimbr and nntty in gait and
garh, he would Nt any time, up tolhr
death Of his mother. whose memory he
vrnelAtcd with all the aiirctiullatr Iidri-
iiv oi Il good son. have been taken tor Il
man Of fifty by those uninnl,iar with
his career. II his magnificent pluck
shall fail to land him on the right NjI"
up after he cnlharIHsHnIcnts lie is now
undergoing, it will be only because his
vitality has been sarpcd under the
shadow uf old age and domestic sorrow.
30 Phiiadclphian has more Of the
quality which We call sand. - lie is
one Of thai .nil ii men who will not hr
likely to rest again until every dollar OF
Indebtedness for which he is responsible
shall be wiped out by his own exert ions
And lc vii! do il not o>trntatiuUsly. or
with psalm singing, or with any invita-
tiun to gaze upon him as an honest man.
but because OF that vIile sense OF honor
which has made his word better than
the uaths Of nlany Of his fellows vi ho
have enrolled themselves among the
elect
"Twcnty years ago last spring, when
Singlprlv and some friends took The
Record off the hands of the younger
Swain, after his failure to attempt to
break down The Ledger. it looked as if
he had bolgh ht a pig in a poke. At that
time he was known only as the manager
Of the horse railway system which his
father had built up out OF the Fourth
and Eighth and Girarl avenue railway
companies, and the prevailing impress
sion was that he was Il hard or ilinty man
to deal with, and yet, witElaI, an
angel for Cassidy. Tom Bargcr, Sam
Joscphs, George Mcgowan and the rest
Of the Democratic clique that had fallen
into the >heriff's Office rs IL snug Earbor
when tlc first OF the great Republican
local reactions struck ". Elwood Rowan
and landed William II. Wright in the
Row. II was generally allowed that
Singcrly was a fool for taking up The
Record which had come down into he
ditch after short season Of shy-r"chrt
prosperity. Later ON, when he lowered
it, price to cent. the late tirnr~c ".
Nhi.ds, I'raul, Mclaughlin, W. v. lard
ing and pretty nearly all the rest ol the
p,bIslr rs Aborcl to convince him that
he WAS Il downright idiot Iijr capiliai-
i-tia rhum+, like v iiliau II, krmblc~-
who was the trurst of friends to any
man TO whom he plightrd his iaiih--s;!id
oi him, half seriously, half i"cnarIy,
that he ought to have known better
than to wait until fory-live years of age
before learning how to become Il news
paper man.
"And yet Singcrly, in journalism, mas
tered or surpassed every man who was