Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-19

and economics, with a continuation Of activ-
ity in writing. which resulted In 1865, when
/ was %, in my becoming editor OF the
Albany Express, in which / soon acquired
an interest. The Transcript, on which had
begun my journalistic career, had been pur-
chased by the owners Of and merged into the
Express.
Cannot he ConViyinI.
THE years Immediately following the con-
clusion Of the val between the states we're
now developing those interesting changes
in American public men which have
become fairly characteristics, IT seems to me.
OF the last half OF our century. The Ameri-
can statesman is no longer a sentimentalist
Economic questions have gradually become
the most important. With the decline Of
sentiment in craftsmanship, sentimental ora
tory has also become largely a thing OF the
past. Our national life has become serious
and practical. Great problems Of organiza-
lions have gradually occupied the foremost
minds. Economtc questions naturally do not
need to be exploited by the flights OF oratory.
While the power to make an effective speech
stir remains a desirable accomplishment
for there are occasions and topics that eau
IN no other way be SO impressed on an AUDI
ence as by eloquencc-speechmaking has be-
come a minor part Of the equipment Of a
successful public man. The interests after
which the average representative in congress
now has to look have become so diverse, so
complicated, so important that he has all he
can do to attend to them. The demands on
his time are so great that he finds leisure
for little II any of that sociar, if convivial,
life which in ante-bellum days was so char
acteristic of public men in Washington.
Conviviality and a high order of public use
fulness are no longer compatible"
Before you make an after-dinner speech
do you take a glass of champagne to stimu-
late your imagination ?"
by no means. While / never had any
inclination toward drinking, l an not a
teetotaler. But if l were to take a glass
of champagne before speaking l simply
couldn't speak. 1t would stupefy me-"
"What do you consider the salient char
acteristics of the United States as one of
the great powers of the world at this end of
the century,"
First of all, it seems to me, the very
practical way we go at things. We do not
permit theories to govern us, but rather
practical considerations. When the war
came we accepted the situation. Peace has
come, and we accept the new situation. Our
national independence of thought and &C
tion seems to me another salient character
istic.''
ITO what do you attribute the success
with which you have pursued that career
which you have mapped out for yourself as
a schoolboy?"
concentration and Constancy."
Whatever success l have met with is
due primarily to concentration and con-
stancy. l felt hat l could not afford to
give UP journalism for ofhceholding, so ]
declined in Albany to take the nomination
for congress, or for any Office. While con-
tinuing my newspaper work, l endeavored
each year to make a substantial addition
to my equipment. American biography ]
found stimulating as well as instructive. In
fiction, Vanity Fair David Copperfeld'
and the Three Musketeers' delighted me.
have always been fond of the theater,
but l found little time to go. Fortunately
I have found my chief pleasure in my
work"
What is to be said of the contributions
Of American journalism to American states
manship in this half century,
Greeley, Raymond and the elder Bennett
were the powerful personalities in American
journalism when / was growing up. People
read Greeley's newspaper, for example, to
find out what Greeley thought. But one in
teresting development of our time has been
the practical humiliation of this personal
element in journalism. There is no one
newspaper that SO far excels the others as
to overshadow their influence in their own
fields. Journalism is so much broader and
more e~xacting that it requires many per-
sonalities instead Of one to produce and
maintain the newspaper. At the same time
the contributions Of journalism to states
manship in the United States have notably
increased in the generation past. Law re-
mains, Of course, the school of public men
Yet in no other country save France have
so many public men left the editorial sane
tum for the halls of legislation. Repre-
sentative Nelson Dingley, whose recent
death was a loss to his party and his coun.
try, never abandoned entirely, l believe
his lifework on the Lewiston Journal, which
began in 1856. Mr.. Blaine, the greatest
Of Americas editorial statesmen, was iden.
titled with the Kennebec Journal, Senate
Anthony with the Providence Journal, Hon
Whitelaw Reid and Hon. John Hay witt
the New York Tribune, and so on.
Journalism and Public Life.
In England Junius and later John Wilkes
demonstrated the force of journalism IL
public life. Delane held no office, but pre-
ferred to be the power behind the place,
holder. William Henry Smith, the head o
the great News company, was for year,
the leader of the House of Commons. La
bouchere is a conspicuous example Of thu
journalist statesman of today. In France
the names of Gambetta, Theirs and Cavail,
lac naturally suggest themselves.
while editing the Albany Express ! wa
introduced TO Horace Greeley. 1t was sooI
after he had gone on Jefferson Davis bal
bond and had provoked from over the coun.
try a fire of criticism which had draw
out his characterization of country editors
as those insignificant fellows that God, il
His inscrutable wisdom. permits TO edit thu
country papers"
Mr.. Greeley came to Albany and Gov.