Bisbee daily review., 1911-05-28
SCOTT c. BONE
BY sAVOYARD.


 of Thomas Jefferson's conception of free press that would not flatter Neptune for his trident. Perhaps it
 was brutal, but it was not base. II was cruel. but not cowardly. It be. lieved something. and with a hazel wand it would have entered the arena and contended with Thor and
 his hammer
 But the newspaper came to sup
 plant the pamphlet, though not till after the time of Tourney, long si. ter. Perhaps the first newspaper
 Washington had was the Post. con ducted by Stilson Hutchins. It was independent in politics with demo- cratic leanings, but it was a newspa- per. and that was something new in this town.
 In 1888 William Henry Smith or the Associated Press obtained an
 option for the purchase of the Post
 and he put iC in the hands of his son, Delevan Smith, who chose for
 his managing editor James Halford
 Of Indianapolis, who engaged Scott
 Bone for news editor. After a few
 months Smith surrendered his option
 and acquired the Indianapolis News, which under the management of De.
 evan Smith has become the equal
 of any newspaper in America. Read ! its editorial page if you would know ! what newspaper ought to be. Upon the retirement of Smith, ! Beriah Wilkins. a former democratic 1 congressman from Ohio, and Frank ! Haitian. who had been postmaster ! general fin President Arthur's cabi- | net, bought the Post. Haitian had 1 gained a national reputation as eai. tor Of the Burlington Hawkeye and was a capital newspaper man. both as writer and executive He corr i tinued Mir. Bone as news editer and under their management the Post i became one of the leading newspap- | CTS Of the country.
 i Upon the death of Hattan in 1894 Bone took exclusive control of the editorial department and directed its policies. Every department was un. der his vigilant scrutiny and daily 1 the, paper grew in popular favor and 1 in political infl1erce. It was a clean ! paper and some of it's features as original as they were popular. For ten years Scott Bone was among the . Al q. 1 He was a writer as well as an execv. tive, and while in full control it is related that he frequently turned in to the city editor three-line para graphs of local news that came UT. der his personal observation. He was
 news man to the marrow. and 8 brilliant editorial writer also. About 1906 or 1907 John R. Me | Lean acquired ownership of the Post and Mir Bone resigned his Io- sition. Two or three years later he founded the Washington Herald. Of which he made a wonderful news. paper when the facilities at his con
 mand are taken into account. The public, reading and advertising seemed to realize that it is not pro- motive of the public veal to have the newspaper field dominated by a monopoly and especially so if the mo- nopoly had private interests to sub serve. + is a most difficult under taking to establish a newspaper from the beginning. It requires both brains and capital, and plenty Of both, also genius: but Washington
 was an inviting field then as now, and Bone undertook 1t. Whether or
 rot the venture would have proved altogether successful We shall ner,
 haps never know.
 We have fallen on times in busi
 ness America when 5l cents is equal
 to 1e0 per cent. One day Mir yone found himself a minority stockholl- CT in the property of which he was the creator and without ceremony be was deprived of all control and
 his holdings left at the mercy of the majority.
 I have before remarked the ana.
 ogy that this democratic community
 is without a local paper to reflect
 it's political opinions. I don't mean an organ in the elder day sense. | Such a paper would be a hopeless | failure anywhere but there is a great | field in Washington for a first class | independent newspaper with pro
 nounced democratic leaning and with l no axe to grind-one free from syc- | aphancy. or cant. one that can keeu ! it's backbone erect in the presence Of l the president himself, one that sees I congress as it is and paints it as it | sees it, one absolutely divorced from i the city government and the public [ NAlA4llt1 OA tue LDNu. III kuOIL, one ! with the ken to know the truth end ' with the courage to speak the tru.a
 and with the honesty to do the truth. Three things are needec-mcusy. | brains and character. Never was
 there a more inviting field for nim
 who has the eapacity and the will ! to serve bis country.
 ! Scott Bones fingers are black with printers ink. The passage from Ba'.
 zac with which l beean this leffer
 applies to him precisely, and soon
 we may expect to see him re enter the field where he played so great and so brilliant part and Sor which he is so amply fitted by training and by inclination.
 4 GOVERNMENT OF BOSSES.