Evening journal., 1914-02-19
NEW NERS OF YESTERDAY
How c. P. Huntington Out
Witted a BIaCkmaiIer
BY Holland.

The late Coils p. Huntington was
accustomed to attribute the good
health which he maintained during
all his long life, in which were con-
centrated some stupendous intellec-
tual and business labors, to his keen
perception of humor. to his good
understanding OF human natuse, and
TO his profound sense that every man
had his temperamental as well as his
intellectual weak points, and that no
man is all bad who has any moral
responsibility at all.
These things" said Mr.. Hunt
ington to me one day, have enabled
me TO overcome many annoyances,
successfully to meet many embar-
easements and emergencies, and ON
the whole to handle and treat men as
they deserve TO be handled and
treated.
Not the least Of the annoyances
which have been my lot were the
Infinite variety of the attempts to
get at my purse in small as we'll as
IN large amounts / am not refer
ring now to the attempts at black
mailing Legislators or politicians to
compel tribute from me- but to the
petty efforts Of that kind which were
= constantly made.
Let me tell you of an experience
that ! had some fifteen or twenty
years ago. ! had become familiar
with the methods adopted by ire
sponsible writer's to coax q few dol
lars from me, and / want to say that
l never knew of a case where any
one connected with a reputable news
paper ever offered a hint to me that
he would like little extra honor
arium. l think If every one were as
honorable In this respect as the
newspaper men of whom l have had
knowledge, there would be cause FOR
congratulation.
"One day a man called upon me
and laid before me the proof-sheet Of
an article which he said he had pre-
pared and was to publish in a few
days. He told me- that he would
be glad If / would look it over
i said to him that if he had al
ready prepared the article and was
going to publish it, l didn't think
1t was necessary for me to glance
at It.
He insisted. however, that l read
it. l did so and found it to be ex-
actly what Suspected mass Of
astrocously false statements. 1t was
simply awful.
Having read the article, handed
the proofs back to the young man
and looked at him. He asked me II
| had read it through carefully, and
I told him that had. Then he waited
for me to say something else, but
had no comments to make
AT last he ventured to ask me il
the article was not all right. In reply.
! said to him: You have brought me
the article and asked me to read Il.
! have done So
"Then he plucked up courage and
asked me If had suggestion to
make.
81 said: tt is entirely your affair.
You have OF someone else has written
this article and that is your or his
AFFAIR. ] am not at all concerned
about that
'WenT said he. inquiringly and
with a strong hint in his manner.
We'll, said | in reply. 1t is now
entirely your affair and will be until
the article is published. After it is
published il will become TO a large
extent my affair, and l might as we'll
tell you that after il becomes my
affair I shall attend TO II with all the
vigOr Of which | am capable, and
that | feel certain that soon after its
publication you and those who pub
lish II will have abundant oppor-
tunity for contemplation at your en-
forced leisure in great institution
over which the State has authority,
and you VIII be well guarded from
outside interference while you write
other articles of this kind II you
think It worth while
HE took the proof sheets up and
went away The article was not
published" Here Mr. Huntington
smiled Significantly
Copyright, 1914, by E. j. Edwards.
All rights reserved).
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell OF
"Thurlow Weeds Opinion of Roscoe
Conkllng's Oratory."