St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-06-25
PRESS COMMENT
and the Old and New

GEORGE MCGlC4Adn 1AcA NCJs
born in 1864, is, as his baptismal
name implies, democrat; that is,
his father was a democrat; New
England democrat, meaning a man
of conviction and endurance. In
those days it took such a Yankee
to stand his ground and hold his
own. At the instant of well-nigh
ruinous disaster George Harvey
came to the head of the great house
of Harper. That he has kept it
afioat is a tribute to his proves as
a man both of affairs and letters.
That he should part with Harper's
Weekly is tribute to his wisdom and
courage. Under the circumstances it
was hard thing to do.
The Weekly has been losing money
for 20 years. 1t was losing money
long before George Harvey came to
it. In assigning a reason for this
Col. Harvey falls into a kind of
anachronism when he says
Times have changed. The coun-
try was conservative and thoughtful
in those days. Now it is radical and
impetuous. The Weekly's general
policy has never veered. 1t has al
ways stood for progress along eau
positive convictions and has never
been timid in expressing them. 1t
has always hated hypocrisy and de-
spised humbug. It's open eyes have
always been turned forward, never
backward. The dominant issue 80
years ago was civil-service reform;
in recent years it has been tariff re-
form. The Weekly has been a stanch
and persistent advocate, even leader,
of both great movements.
Here Col. Harvey confuses two
periods; the one of Curtis Mast, the
other of himself. The cause for the
failure of the Weekly is not to be
sought in it's character and manage
ment under either regime. The
simple fact is that the illustrated
Weekly has been superseded by the
illustrated daily. Nothing more
need be said.
Curtis in his day and order did
admirably-Nast yet still more so
from their side of the fence;
Harvey as well or better from his
side, but if all their energies and
talents had been combined they
could not have saved the day. Har-
vey was just as vigorous, just as
scintillant, just as representative of
the modern as was Curtis of the
ancient world of American politics.
Indeed, he showed greater reach and
was more successful, for he actually
made a president of the United
States and saw him safely inside
the door of the White House.
Whatever may happen to George
Harvey, that is a distinction which
cannot be denied him. To take a
more or less obscure scholar and
college president by the hand, to
lead him from the far-away glimmer
of suggestion into the limelight of
the probable, to conceive and ar
range a state campaign with this
creation of his single idealistic fancy
at the actual head of it, proves two
things, extraordinary prescience in
discovery and uncommon genius for
organization.
He made no mistake in the ability
and aptitude of his man. Neither
did he miscalculate his availability
His error seems to have been that of
the hapless swain who
Grieved for friendship unreturned
And unregarded love.
His star" showed himself equal
to every emergency, even that of
kicking the step-ladder away from
him when he required an aeroplane.
But, when the history of these
times is written, however large the
man may loom upon the page, his
maker can never be made to look
small; not any more than the spot
upon the kingly hand which the null
tidinous seas incarnadine could not
wash clean, will the neglect of debt
or be forgotten in the glory of the
migrate
Eli bien, as we Irish say. 1t all
goes in a lifetime. Sic transit gloria
mundi-to quote expressive Ian
guage of the folks on Bitter Greek
George Harvey may thank his
stars that he is well out of it. cit
was tough on Harvey says a pert
paragrapher, "to have a rival pub
Usher preferred over him and sent
as ambassador to the court of ST.
James" That, however, is as a body
may think.
Office is but badge of servitude.
Greeley and Raymond were unwise
to seek it, and would have found it
so. George Harvey has made his
mark even as they made theirs; a
| bold, strong mark; and we do not
see that he could have added much
to his fame by prolonging what
is at best but a grind from day to
day to the last syllable of recorded
contumely, travail and drudging.
Even if his career be behind him it
is solid and brilliant. He is his
own master, not poorly off in this
worlds goods; what more could he
want?
1t is to his credit that he put
Harper's Weekly in clean hands
when he might have had more for
/ it from yellow hands. He did not
| take the pitcher too often to the
well. In short, hencefOrth he is a
! free niger and not slave niger,
and can go a-fishing whenever he
likes, amusing himself meanwhile
with his North American Review.
| Though the golden bowl of politics
be a trif1e fractured at the fountain,
what boots it to the pure in heart?
We are passing through a pc