The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-16
NEW


..-.-- y - - -
-. NEW BOOKS.
HORACE GREELEY, FOUNDER AND EDITOR
liam Alexander Linn, Author OF ':rhe Story of !
the Mormons., Illustrated Z. New York: D. |
Appleton & Co. Price, s1.1o S:'1"-~'
Mr.. Linn is, a good biographer. He con-
trives to get, within 200 pages a; very ex-
cellent biography of a big man, a self |
| made, man, who knew how to conduct a
newspaper, but had aSsonewhat Grant po-
| ltical Judgment andss got on the wrong
| side Of public sentiment a few times and
had to do a lot OF explaining. Horace
Greeley had true American grit. His ca
| reer as a hard working farmers boy, |
picking up, knowledges from stray books;
| his apprenticeship in "a country printing
| office in Vermont, reading and writing at
J odd times; his move to New York city
where, after persistent effort, he got a |
| job setting up small New Testament, |
| with narrow columns, a job the other men
had shirked; but Greeley did the work so
| we'll that he got a foothold-all this is
we'll told. 1t was no wonder that he
| pushed into Journalism himself and at
| tracted the attention of Thurlow Weed, of
the Albany Evening Journal, who helped
him on very materially. When he was 81
| Greeley founded the New York Tribune
| which he conducted until his somewhat
|
| earthly career. ~'.45"y :. -
Greeley did some, queer things. An
| antl-slavery man. he was calling in 1851
| for the slave states to secede and uphold
| slavery. He held that the government
! could not coerce them back into the union
This view. he was compelled to change
| by the force OF northern public opinion.
| BY his opposition to Seward at the re
| publican convention Of 1860, he lost many
good friends, and he expressed serious
| doubts as to the election Of Lincoln: In
! 1872 he failed to read the trend OF public
opinion and took to the liberal republican
nomination in the firm belief that he
would have an easy walk over. In 1860
| be favored the nomination Of Edward
Bates of Missouri, a Virginian by birth
and a. lifelong slaveholder-a rather Pc
culiar choice for an avowed anti-slavery
man. Greeley's "On to Richmond cry
in the Tribune voiced g. public desire
which goaded the government to invade
Virginia before 1t was ready to move it's
| troops, who thereby suffered disaster at
Bull Run. Greeley's advocacy Of a protec-
tive tariff, after Tyler's accession to the
presidency. was strong and unfaltering.
The Tribune under Greeley's control had a
strong influence, perhaps it was the most
influential paper then in the country, be-
cause Greeley had a strong personality.
J knew how to diversity his matter and hold
: attention by entertaining the various ele-
, ments among his constituents. The man
identified himself with his newspaper.
There is an interesting chapter in this
volume on Greeley's news-getting meth
DDS and fads. Among the latter was his
sympathy with Albert Brisbane and his
diluted Fourierism. There are some in
! teresting things about Greeley's practical
ideas of conducting newspaper. Dr.
? Cuyler tells us that Greeley sdied Of a
broken heart,'' because of his final po-
. litical disappointment. He rather died OF
overwork and nervous exhaustion during
the presidential campaign Of 1872.
THE STUMBLING BLOCK By Edwin Pugh.
nstraeed New York; s Barnes Co.
5 The author brings his heroine, Cam
E bria Ormathwaite, out Of the humblest
, origin, under the London soot-fogs and
,, CRIME, to education, refinement and the
i light of buoyant life and hope. The God
i OF the fatherless found a protector for
y her in old Owen Owen, we'll to-do. Cam
bria grew up a social beauty, loved a
young man and a worthy one and was
loved in return. A beautiful girl inter-
1Venes, and, by all the devices of a heart
G less f1irt, seeks to disengage the lover
n and attach him to herself. The story
a then becomes the narrative of woman's
=, fierce jealousy. Jealousy and love are
: often cruel. There is a rotten bridge
rail, Cambria and her rival are together
4 The latter leans against the rail- and II
x breaks. The girl goes down, but holds by
: one hand to the bridge. And Cambria
will not help her and the water closes
! over her. Something like that has been
d written before. But not in the strong
q original way in which such incident Is
=. related in this book. It is no common
L book.
! A FEW OF HAM1LToN's LETTERS. Edited by
h Gertrude Atherton, Author Of 'tThe Conque
(. Carthy. Price. $3.50. -
It Mrs. Atherton. who in her novel 'arht
Conqueror" make splendid defense o.
> Hamilton against his detractors has IL
n the publication of these letters of Hanil
" ton, carefully selected, brought the grea,
- statesman before us III a most interesting
:. way. There are no love letters, for thes,
u were probably destroyed before his death
s, Mrs. Atherton- thinks it is possible Hamil
al ton never wrote any. when a man ha.
the brain thoroughly to appreciate hi
weakness for woman, he is often ver.
careful of himself on paper" she says
The correspondence Of Hamilton an,
Burr before the duel which robbed the re
public Of one of her greatest founders i
l. given. There are letters from and t
II Washington and Lafayette, and to all tn
Il great statesmen Of the day. and his lette
IS to his father describing the West Indi
ID hurricane of 1772 is included. It wa
n written when Hamilton was 16. Mrs. ath
le erton says in her preface about her move
} 1.-THE Conqueror'': .I wrote Of Hamilton
y not because I was anxious to create !
-Iprodigy, but because he was one, an
a compelled my enthusiasm. That he wa
the best brain that has given his service
to this country no profound and impartia
student Of history pretends to deny. Eve
the biographers Of Jefferson pay their trib
ute.'' True, indeed, and, in these letter
ly will besfound the expression of his intelli
le gent patriotism, as in the letter to Duan
te on the defects of the old confederacy an
rs the changes needed ito save the countr
e from confusion and ruin Mrs. Alberto
he has made a most judicious selection fror
I'd the great mass of the, Hamilton CORE
spondence: !. : g sssass .s U.s.