The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-12

matters, in the opinion of many But
III secular matters his views are gen
erdLy moderate and so carefully
formed upon deep thought and the
Iacts IN the case as to win the respect
oL nose who do not agree with him
as well as those who do.
1t will strike some readers as incon-
gruous no doubt, to speak of DR.. Alb
bolt as being a specially good business
man, and yet his course with regard
70 ms newspaper, now known as THE
Outlook." shows genuine business
capacity
In Beecher's day the paper was
known as the christian Union" and
was one of the strongest of the
many strong religious weeklies then
published. 1t was then that THE Elk.
amlner, the organ of the Baptists, was
SO prosperous under the direction of
Edward Bright. 1t was then that the
Evangelist, edited by one of the -four
famous Fields was considered a
marvelously strong business PROPOSE
ton as well as a power in the world
OF regious thought. 1t was then that
the religious weekly was at its zenith
IN the United States as a money
maker.
Since then there has been a great
change. Religious journalism has sort
of "f1attened out" either because there
has been a conspicuous decline of abil-
ity in its conduct or because the atti-
tude of the public has changed. 1t is
probable that both decline and change
have taken place.
DR.. Abbott was one of the first to
see the drift. With characteristic good
sense he declined to allow his paper to
be overwhelmed, as nearly all the
others, save The Independent" have
been. He evidently believed that the
name of the paper as it was was decid-
eddy against it and therefore changed it.
He saw, too, that the day when a
paper of any sort could continue pros
porous with only one strong man on
it's staff had passed, and promptly sur
rounded himself with a number of
strong men, of whom Hamilton w
Mabie is the best known. At the same
time he changed the general tone of
the paper, so that instead of devoting
itself chiefly to the churches, The
Outlook of to-day is as broad as hui
manity itself in it's attitude upon all
public affairs, and its range of topics
embraces everything that is of inter
est to the thoughtful reader.
1t. would be difficult, indeed, to find
a name that would fit Dr. Abbotts
paper as it is more accurately than
the Outlook. DR.. Abbott has been
complimented many times upon his
shrewdness in appropriating this title.
and he deserves the compliments.
But it was an appropriation" and
not a discovery. The name was first
used I understand, by club formed
over in the beautiful suburban town
of Montclair, N. j., about an hours
time away from New Yorks City Hall
by ferry and train. Paul Wilcox a
well-known corporation lawyer of this
city, but a resident of Montclair, was
prominent in the establishment of the
organization. and Hamilton w. Mabie,
who also lives in Montclair, has long
been identified with it.
1t was the object of those who
founded the club to make its platform
one from which all vital topics should
be discussed from all sides by men of
all shades of belief. Those invited to
address it's audiences are expected to
speak of the outlook as they see it, in
politics, religion, science, economics
whatever is uppermost in their minds,
and two speakers of opposite opinion
are always invited to speak on the
same evening.
The Outlook suggested itself nat
urally as a name for such a club and
in the dozen years or more of it's ex-
istence, 1t has abundantly justified the
title. It's audiences have listened to
the foremost exponents and opponents
of practically every movement and
ism that has been prominently be-
fore the world in that time, and its
vitality is to-day unimpaired
1t was before The Outlook Club,
though the advocates of the 16 to
theory. were always in a small minor
ity there. that w. ]. Bryan made one
of his earliest Eastern free silver
speeches. 1t was before The Outlook
Club that Capt. Mahan delivered in
advance of publication some of the
most startling statements that made
his book on modern sea power so great
a success. 1t was before The Outlook
Club that F. Hopkinson Smith-poet,,
painter, novelist, lighthouse builder
and elocutionist-eXpress himself so
freely as to the Armenians that he was
later sought with a knife by an Ar
nnenian subject of the Sultan and so on.
The adoption of the name of this club
by DR.. Abbott for his newspaper was
a natural sequence of the clubs sue
cess and his desire for a name that
should more accurately indicate the
character of the paper than its old IT,
tie 'The Christian Union and was
probably suggested as a matter OF
course by Mr.. Mabie.
Dr. Abbott is ten years younger than
Gen. Sickles, but, even So is closely
approaching the seventy-year mark
Notwithstanding his years the doc
tor is vigorous in body as well as in
mind and undoubtedly yet has years
of active life before him. He belongs
10 a family almost as famous as the
-Four Famous Fields Jacob Abbott,
the story writer, and j. 5. c. Abbott.
the historian both being member of
an earlier genera ton. One of the doc
tors sons, Herbert Abbott, is liter
arily inclined but not in such broao
and vigorous sense as his father, be-
ing professor of English in one of the
better known metropolitan institutions
of learning. Duahe'
IUAIaT I'll InIAIn nnNC