The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1903-05-22


of the prominent and wealthy min
ing men of the Pacific coast. During
William r. Hearst's boyhoOd his
father was leader among the demo-
Gratis of California. He was United
States senator. The son, all only
child, was simply reared, notwith-
standing the great wealth of his
father. He attended the public
schools of San Francisco. and to this
fact may be ascribed the interest Mr..
Hearst has taken all through his life
in public education. Both in Cali
fOrnia and in New York, and later in
Chicago, he has shown this regard of
the public schools by espousing their
cause and advocating it early and
late. His theory on this point he
once expressed as follows:
1.-THE public schools should be good,
the public wealth should make them
so superior 10 any private school, that
no father could afford to send his
child to any save a public school,"
After his term i'm the San Francisco
schools Senator Hearst sent his son to
Harvard. Harvard behind him. he
be was allowed to choose his own
career. He had heen identified with
tie Harvard LampOon i'm college, and
naturally turned to the San Francisco
Examiner. an old line democratic
paper which belonged to his father.
1t was in 1856 the newspaper was
given To him. He plunged right into
the conduct of il, and within few
months the staid old paper was the
talk Of the entire Pacific coast. and
echoes Of the new departures he inau-
gurated spread To the east. The pro-
gre~s Of the Examiner was unprece-
drnted. The force Of the young pro-
prj"tor sent it along until il became
the leading paper of that part Of tire
country, with circulation and an
Influence greater than al Of it's local
competitors combined.
Mr.. Hearst went to the METROPOLIS
10 repeat on the Atlantic coast his
Pacific victories, He introduced New
/ York To the journalism that acts. a
form of newspaper that has since
become the mark of success through.
out the country. 1t is seven wears
since he assumed the control of the
Journal, then a discredited and feeble
paper, and he has made of il the most
Influential publication in the United
States, with circulation uneuualled
in the world. The first work that
came TO his hand when he reached
the wider field of journalism was in
the cause of Cuba, which at that time
was waging desperate fight against
Spanish tyranny. The people of this
country knew little about the strug-
CLING island and its troubles. Mr..
Hearst filled his paper with Cuba.
He became all issue in Spanish poll
ties, and his correspondents were
expelled from Cuba, imprisoned and
everything possible was done to keep
them from giving the news of the
hapless islands struggle. But Mr..
Hearst won his fight with Spain. De-
spite censorships and prescriptions he
got the news from his men, who
marched with the ragged Cuban ia.
triots and told the story of Spanish
outrage and cruelty until this whole
country was aroused and ripe for the
lntercession that gave birth to a new
nation.
n young girl, resenting the insults
OF "A brute in Spanish uniform, was
imprisoned as a rebel in q noisOme
Jail in Havana. Every paper in
America described the pathOs of the
incident-and stopped there. Mr..
Hearst sent a few determined men to
Cuba, and had the girl rescued,
though they had To break Jail to
reach her. Cuba has since recognized
his services by decorating him by act
of congress.
When the Maine had been sunk
and the Spanish were denying respon-
sibility for the explosion of a mine
under her, he offered a reward of
$4,000 for the apprehension of the
immediate author of the information.
al crime. The war with Spain has
been called "Hearst's war" and in
the official Spanish correspondence
between the chief of their spy system
in America and the home govern
ment that war was blamed on the
Hearst newspapers. When war did
come Mr.. Hearst showed his intense