Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-18

was 50 characteristic of public men in
Washington CoayivIality and high order
of public usefulness are no longer COM
patibic.'
Va Champagne Before Speaking.
Before you make an after-dirner speech
do YOU take glass u champagne 70 stimu-
late Your inaEiration?"
by no means. While l never had any
inclination toward drinking. an not Il tee
totaier. But if ! were to take glass of
champagne befoGe speaking / simply
couldn't speak. 1t would stuDefy me-
what do you consider the salient char
acterist.cs of the United States as one of
of The century,
First ot al it seems to ne. the very
practical way We - 1T things. We do not
po fnit theories to go"en us, but rather
Ff.s"t!C&i CONSIDER atiou-. Nneh The war
came We accepted the situation. Fcace has
come. ana we accept the new situation. Our
n@t.cnal indeDcndence of thought ami ac-
ton seems L. me another salient character
isiic."
To what 80 YOU attribute the success
with which yo! have pursued that career
which yon have mapped ouc for yourself as
schcoiboy2'
Hia t'avori.c Novels.
Whatever success l have ne vita is due
prirna rilv to Concentration ana consistency.
/ felt that ! could not afford to give up
journalism fOI 'office-holdinS, 50 | declined
in Albany to take the nomination for Con-
gress. or for any Office. While continuing
my newspaper work. I endeavored each
year 10 make a substantial addition TO my
equipment. American biography / found
stimulating as wei as instructive. IN fic-
zion. Vanity Fair David CDpperfeld'
and Tine Three MuskeceeTs Delighted me.
have always been fond OF the theater, bat
| found little time to 90. Fortunately, 7
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 Ben
nett We're the powerful personalities in
American journalism when | was growing
up. People read Gree.ey's newspaper, for
example, to find out what Greeley thought.
But one interesting development of our
time has been the practical annihilation of
this personal element i'll journalism. There
is no one newspaper that so far eXcelS the
others as to overshadow their influence in
their own fields. Journalism is 50 much
broader and more eXacting that il requires
many personalities instead Of one to pro-
duce and maintain the newspaper. AT the
same time the contributions Of journalism
TO craftsmanship in the United States have
notably increased IN the genera ton past.
Law remains, of course. the school of pub
lie men Yet in 10 other country save
France have SO many pub ic men left the
editorial SaGctUm Tor the halls of leeisla-
ton. Representative Nelson Dingley, whose
recent death was loss to his party and
MS country. never abandoned entirely !
believe, his Hfeworll on the Lewiston Jour
nal. which began in 1856. Mr. Blaine, the
greatest Of Americas editorial statesmen,
Was Identified with the KeaneDCc Journal,
Senator Anthony with the Providence jour
nal. WEiteiaw Reid and JOHN Hay with the
New YORK Tribune and so on.
journalism and Public life.
In Enslan, JunluS and later John Wilkes
demonstrated the force of journalism in
public life. Delanc held 10 office, but pre-
ferred to bc the power behind the place
holder. William Henry Smith the head Of