New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-18
-, George ". smalIey.
Philadelphia, December H.

no., a,1o. q hardly less if less. brilliant
tn - his life. Again 1 shall try to
p'.' con a picture not Of the diploma
- -, merely. nor Of the editor but OF
~ Vs., himself My service under him.
Nov IN Europe. lasted from 1869 to
Coz From 1873 he had been absolute
.,ar in and of The Tribune. lie
No change i'm Europe. l was lett
.horge OF the machine l had put to-
,,ber in 1866 and 1867. In the early
shat is. before the great war Of
Co 8, was ! hope, an efficient ma
.s,,e but the chance to do great deeds
anne only with the war;
Mr.. Reid was content to let things
:. their course. II was his way 10
To- man. or a department of the
80 not by results only but by such
,ossibilities as he saw in the future.
% ,new how to wait. His organizing
.n,us has shown itself in too many
r.ys TO need any eulogy now. But l
.rnpose few men have had the oppor-
IT had 10 know we'll his patience,
Ne sedateness Of judgment, his insight
.,d foresight into complex matters
Nth which he had, and could have no
sat hand acquaintance. He either
,rus,ed a man or he did not. II he
,rnsted him in a responsible position
:. ,o,t him very much to himself. IL
a. my business to know what could
:, done in Europe within the limits
s,.d and he took IT for granted ! did
,nov But there was something more
than that.
He had the greatness-the rare great
,sss-to acknowledge a mistake. HIS
authority over all Of Us on The Irio-
ma was so complete that he could cas-
av afford 10 own that, for once, he h"u
h.sn wrong. The greatest Journalist
-. Tho Duke of Wellington said OF the
srsatest general IS he who makes 'ne
t.nest mistakes. To quote our great
Minister TO England. MI Phelps, once
more man who never makes ms
takes never makes anything. The SEN
,,r,e e often misquotcd. but this is the
authentic text. The great general does
mot emblqzon his errors IN his bulletins
nor tho great edltor-and Mr.. Reid was
me Of the greatest-parade them on MS
EDITORIAL mage. What concerns him Is
TO repair them.
I, was al the beginning of the Fran
eo.German war in 1870 Mr. Reid haa
.uccseded Mr.. John Russell Young as
managing editor Of The Tribune. Under
Mr. Young ] had set mp the Tribune
bureau I'm London. organized a Euro
pean service. made such use of il as
,ogld then he made. and sat waiting
for what might happen. The war
s,orm broke. as everybody remembers
with incredible suddenness. Nj Reid
and 7 were Of course in correspondence
about the European business of the
PAPER. but whether The details and
aims nj the bureau administration
we're known 10 him otherwise than gem
orally. I doubt He had his hands iuI'
with America. and European matters
we're left 10 me. That was the theory
on which the London office had been
established. Mr.. Reid gave me his
confidence and he was not man 10
40 that or anything else, bE halves.
There had been no time TO consult
about the war. it came too quickly. 50
far as organization went. we were
ready for 3d. but IL was nj course for
Mr. Reid 70 say on what scale he
wanted news. and ] cabled him TO ask.
He answered that l was To 60 20 Ber-
lin and direct the news campaign from
thcre-a very natural answer. since
Berlin was the capital from which war
orders went out
Nevertheless / thought 10 impossible
10 carry on operations from Berlin. In
NJ circumstance was Berlin ever the
news centre OF Europe; nor can IT ever
be. Least Of an could it be at the
Of a war The censorship was
impacable The service Of the news
agencies was imperfect The German
papers were. and still are, unenter-
prsing and without great resources.
The telegraph was under strict govern
msnt control Not a line could be
sent which had not passed under off,
cal eyes. That meant mutilation and
which was worse--dclay. The tele-
graph even had IL been free. was ir-
regular slow, and could not be trusted
10 handle dispatches 10 New York,
which must 70 In English. The Anglo
American cable had a monopoly and
knew only too we'll what that meant
TO us Of the press, even in London. In
short ! was convinced that the work
j wanted 10 do could not be done in
Berlin. In one Of the longest service
dispatches that ever went over the
caoie l stated these reasons to Mr..
RED and asked him either 10 give me
nee hand or 10 put some one else
IN my place. lie answered in four
words:
Use your own judgment"
iou will remember that at that time
Tue scheme OF q London Bureau was
practically an untried scheme. 1t had
eMsted only three years. II had been
INITIATED by no other journal. The
notion that New York was to know
only one man in ali Europe. that all