New-York tribune., 1910-07-24


+-s. wear. So passes GRE o. the
- journalists of MS time To take
MEASURE " his capacity and char-
1-o,1 have only to look at The
News during the seventeen
or his control. and then at the
naper as Il IS -o-day- No c"uh'
.-..-,s-auces have changed. and me
IN the paper is il some degree
- the change il cIrOutastances- 1t
;, 1S6a. when Mr.. Hill tooa charge,
o-~an of Liberalism, and the Liher-
-,.s-, of 1869 has ceased tc exist and
been replaced by the Radicalism OF
So. Of which Mr.. Wedgwood, sir
- Dalziel and Mr. Lloyd-George are
-.ss,-a-;ves. The proprietorship Of
- ,suer has changed also
p,,+ su that does not account for this
.s4.-e,oe IL methods and results be-
.-.os, NJ. Eilrs time and the present. I
6-aw no comparisons, for do net know
--,o az this moment is editor Of The
-suv News I mean only TO offer 8
.-fa,te 10 the editorship Of Mr.. Frank
zry11 7 knew him well and I knew the
,sne- well. There was a time during
re ssrlv months Of the Franco-GerTnan
,--e~ when was at the Office every day.
r-ba-e were many years during which I
cav much OF Hill. He had principles
.,5 heliefs. They were the undoing Of
r,-, for after seventeen years Of loyal
md brilliant service he was suddenly
dismissed because he declined to sacri-
Zee his principles and beliefs TO the ext
earcjes Of politics or perhaps Of finance
Tho 6ate OF this performance was 1876
TIE Droprietors sent him a large check
r. wav Of soIGtiuR. He returned it by
next post
Thenceforward he lived in retirement
Ea wrote z leading article in The
World London) for some years He
wrote for the English magazines and
revievvs-a precariously and generally i'll
Maid industry. He had no fortune,
-bogEh perhaps & modest competence,
but strairened means were never to
him a reason for surrendering any Jot
OF his PERSONAL independence He would
write what he thought or he would keep
silence. Il was not in him to be untrue
10 q conviction He had not that feEl-
bilirv Of nature which makes compro-
mise easy. OF possible. He had pierc-
ing vision which reached 10 the realities
If things. His writings showed that,
and among them his volume Of Political
Portraits showed il perhaps more
clearly than any others
In other matters, outside Of literature
and the business Of editing, II was
shown not less clearly I have told the
story quite recently, as 1 told 1t many
wears ago. during the lifetime Of Sir John
Robinson. manager of 1.-The Daily News
in 1870. But I cannot say goodby to
Hill without repeating that to him and
not to Robinson The Daily News" owed
lis alliance with The Tribune in the war
OF 1870: and TO that alliance owed almost
the whole Of that early success IN pub
fishing war news which made 1t famous
made nv proposals TO Robinson and
4re- were rejected. HIll heard Of them
and reversed that rejection, and the al
lance was formed Hill. in other words,
applfed his mind 10 a, problem outside OF
his editorial sphere. understood what
Fo7ineor. whose business it was. had
tailed 70 understand. and was therefore
the author and architect OF the good
fortune which came to The Daily
News from The Tribune Tie renown
sn6 nrosperity Of the paper as war
newspaper were due TO HIS sasaclty
tr zvatHng himself Of The Trbune's
offer
he was an excellent writer He had
the art Of understatement- and knew the
value Of reserve and OF leaving TO the
reader share in the effect he wished to
produce He took his readers into part
re-sf7ir There was in him, perhaps,
touch Of cynicisrl. of dryness; and al
times he could be bitter. But he wrote
with that authority which comes TO
usn from believing what he writes and
from never writing what he does not be-
1ie--e. and from no other source what
ever. He never wished to persuade any
hodv Of anything Of which he was not
first himself convinced. The Horatian
rule was his rule. 1 suppose no rule OF
conposirior7 is more absolute and per
hzDs none is more often disregarded-
There have been few minds more
scrupulouslv fair than his. You felt that
ss vou talked with him Fe was not
pre-ernirentIv d talker; The pen was MS
Yea pon- and he was less free IN speech
than IN writing: nor did he often show
IN conversation the gift Of delicate satire
which distinguished his best leaders and
ESSAYS Perhaps he Was sometimes 100
much in earnest: and society is disposed
70 consider earnestness an undesirable
quality at : dinner table, leading 10 con-
tr0versv which Is abilorred- The fauIt
Is &C infrequent that il might be par
done6 II = ever existed in hil II was
atoned TOR By his simple truth, MS SIN
cerjtv. his good will to all corners, his
ever varied and ever admirable intel
lectual resources.
Ee studied and understood social eco
nonlics. and so long ago as 1861 was one
of z group OF men which included MI.
" z F'orsrer-a name Americans ought
ever 10 hold in grateful honor; MI raw
cetu. e Free Trader, who almost alone
stated the case for Tariff Reform IN ms
book On Political Economy; Mr. p h
Hutton. one Of the TWO men, Meredith
Townsend being the other, who createo
The Spectztor" and made il power
and kept il a power SO long as they con-
troned IL These and some others formed