Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-06-02
watterson on James Gordon Bennett.

The American Magazine contains an
intimate and authoritative SIX etch OF
James Gordon Bennett by Henry Wat
terson. Mr.. Bennett. who will be 20
in May, Is the son OF the ounde OF
the New York Herald. He has been
owner and master OF the Herald since
his fathers death. Mr.. Watterson's
sketch follows, in part:
Up to his 40th birthday Bennett,
the elder, had seemed a failure. All
things by turns and nothing long-in-
clining, however, to the prlnt-shop-he
at last conceived the idea of the Herald
and developed this with extraordinary
energy. skill and patience. Inheriting
so great Il property already made, Ben
nett, the younger, rich from the cradle,
had, before he was 40, much enlarged
II, and at the same time given signal
examples of extraordinary talents and
daring: had crossed the Atlantic in a
tiny boat in midwinter, winning a fa-
nous race; ha- sent Stanley to Africa
to FIND the lost Livingstone; had de-
spatched an expedition to the north
pole; had laid a cable under the sea;
yet had kept himself in the background,
like the master of the marionettcs he
was, his individuality so palpable in
the office, unknown to he public, his
identity lost in the vast mechanism OF
his beloved Herald.
vi SutD Il iildJ u"tliillS dbicHd any -
thing may be written and said and all
sorts of preposterous things. fairy tales
and hobgoblin yarns, are told, the SIM
pie truth being that, living like a king
he labors like a king. in pleasing his
working sense and his humor TO abide
in the saddle as il were--hiS yacht his
saddle-establishing his headquarters
where most is doing: taking his horo-
scopes of affairs mundane end current
on the spot; both the European and
American issues of his paper held as
firmly under his hand and rule as
though he sat ~perennially at his desk
in New York, or in Paris, being gem
orally thousands of miles away. Thus
his most ordinary habits, his custom
airy exits and entrances, lend their
selves to manc Not merely stories.
but novels nave been written about
him; the man himself as ready a sub
ject for the fiction k as the man
in the iron mask.
There is no chancellery OF Europe
to which Mr.. Bennett has not ready
access. nor any court circle to which he
is not a welcome visitor. The very in
carnation of the idea OF publicity he is
q tomb of secrets which are not ready
to be disclosed, every nation n all
statesmen recognizing him as a man to
be trusted as well as an authority to
be reckoned with. No such position is
held by any other living journalist, or
ever was held by any other journalist
to the degree in which this astute and
elusive man holds 1t.
The secret lies of course somewhat
In circumstance and opportunity. But
these he has made for himself. He
early comprehended, as his father did
before him, the tremendous value of
independence; the independence or dis
interested public service; and he has
x,o,,nr Lot ~, IF IhiS nr mt IL al tho hid
ding of a party, or any group of men.
The Herald has been and is 81 news
paper first. last and all the time. Great
sums of money are poured out as free
as water for news, early news, reliable
news. no matter where 1t hits or whom
II hurts. Amiable, as a rule, and sensi-
bile. neither malicious, nor heartless,
there are a poise and balance from
years end to years end, which may be
found in no other American newspaper
and which in the long run are as bene-
fetal as they are agreeable to the
mass and body Of readers. Hence the
constituency of the Herald, whilst
steadily augmenting, changes less than
that of its competitors, which are
either less equable or more pragmati-
cal.
I'm the sense common to the or
gans of opinion the Herald has no
editorial page. 1t rarely asserts an ipse
dixit Of its own. Its attitude is unmis-,
taxable; but ii is not dogmatic In an
effort to proselyte. 1t neither seeks to
cajole nor to bully its audience; but
rather to put the facts In the fore
ground and trust to the good sense and
good feeling of the people to do the
rest.
"The commodore Is well beloved by
his employees, and leads a wholesome,
albeit a life; his own master,
in all things; a being of opinions. as
well as an editor of ability; essentially
a man OF affairs, not an artist or man