The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-05-02
News And Views
OF lew YSork
ifByIGiehn GnerIsnI1,sEetyl,.,


III NEW YORK Aiay; 2 This has
been d busy week for those optimistic.
near-polit cians who foilew the for.i
tunes or Hearst's almost.a:party. the
Independence League. 1t began last
Monday night with the second annual
u quet of the league and it. ends to-
day with the State convention OF the
Organization. Mr.. Hearst. i under.
stand, will not be indorsed for presi-
dent. Instead, that honor will go to
one Hisgen. a Massachusetts man who
makes axle grease for living and
fights the Standard Oil Company as u
means of grace. Hurrah for Hissen?
< But let US not be haunted by the
fear that Dir. Hearst intends perma.
nently to retire from politics. No such
thing. Mr.. Hearst merely proposes To
wait until the times are more pro-
pitous for springing presidential
boom. Meanwhile. the axle grease man
from Massachusetts is to be the goat.
Many New York newspaper men re-
member Mr.. Hearst when he first came
to New York and resnrrected the Jour
nal from the cemetery In which 1t
was peacefully reposing. He was then
w. r. Hearst. When MS political am
billions began to bud he became Will
liam r.. Hearst. and later William RAN
dolph Hearst Now his morning paper,
the American. refers to him as "the
honorable William '.tndoipn Hearst"
Hearst, the Myster1.
From the day he -rst arrived In
New York and startled the metropolis
with the flaming headlines of his pa
pers-headlines that often served MS
cloak for n dearth of real news =
Mr.. Hearst has been a mystery. New
York has been divided into two camps
Hearst and anti-Eiearst. He has
been alternately praised ms a god and
damned as a self.seeking demagogue.
In the last year or two the familiarity
that breeds contempt has somewhat
diminished the fame that hovers about
the yellow journalist. but the name Of
Hearst Is yet one to conjure with
among many millions.
Mr.. Hearst Is well described by
William Salisbury. formerly re-
porter on the Hearst papers. In a
recently published book. 1.-THE Career
OF Journalist" He says:
"We all looked up in awe when 1t
was whispered about one evening
that Hearst was In the Office. saw
tall. younglsh.looking man. He
must have been six feet In height,
and his weight was near two hundred.
Yet he was not powerfully built. His
shoulders were not broad. his frame
not sinewy. His eyes we're clear and
penetrating, but his eyes were mar
row. and This chin fnfirm. He was
neither blond nor brunette. neither
handsome nor homely. neither strong
nor weak. He wouln not have at
tracted attention anywhere. save In
crowd Of understood people,"
So much for MIR. Hearst's physical
peculiarities. His intellectual ability
Is another matter. There Is a wide
variance OF opinion. even among the
men who are on Mr.. Hearst's payroll.
Some consider his mediocre, othc--
look upon him as genius. In any
event. 1t Is reasonably certain that
the voters of the country will some
day be asked to pass upon Mr.
Hearst's fitness to act as president OF
the United States. Not yet, but soon.
Cannon on Newspapers.
In the book mentioned above, the
author gives vent TO some pessimistIc
utterances regarding the newspapers
OF the large cities OF the country.
After decade spent as a reporter and
editor on the great journals of New
York. Chicago. Kansas City and Oma-
ha. he clothes himself In sackcloth and
bewails the mercenary spirit that per.
vales the great "moulders of public
opinion" in the great cities Of the land.
AIR. William jennings bryan. ut the
recent dinner OF the Associated Press.
nlso scolded the metropolitan press
severely, declaring that they had
sold their birthrisht for n mess of
portage" Nor is AIR. Bryan alone,
among public men. In entertaining
savage crouch against the New York
press. Speaker Cannon never men
ton New York newspapers in the
presence Of ladies'. since the process
is always accompanied by profuse
profanity. In this connection. the
Washington correspondent OF a New
York paper vouches for the following
story:
Speaker Cannon was entertaining