New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-06
Letters and Journalism.

70 the beginner in what we may be
pardoned for regarding as one Of the
noblest of the professions is sometimes,
by mistaken counsellors, offered curious
choice. He NAV develop his career, they tell
him. as a newspaper man or as journal
ist, their naive implication being that
when news-gathering came in journalism
went out. The history of the brilliant
journalist whose death in London was re-
ported in yesterdays Tribune consistently
illustrated, over long period Of time, the
fact that the men who have done most for
the newspapers have been those who have
brought to their daily task precisely the
Qualities that are brought to the making
of a book.
Mr.. Smaley was one Of the greatest
news-gatherers Of his time. Also he was
man Of letters, and he won his success
because he did not know that he exercised
dual function, because it never crossed
his mind to think Of where journalism
left off and literature began. There was,
for him. no dividing line between the two;
there was only the principle uniting them,
the principle of doing work for news
paper superlatively well.
It is the principle of every newspaper
Office that is worth its salt, but its ad-
vancement depends utterly upon the indi-
vidual, and if Smalley, an old Tribune
man, was proud Of his papers tradition,
which "backed" him where sympathetic
encouragement means everything, The
Tribune was proud Of all that he poured
into its pages. When Whitelaw Reid was
first putting his stamp upon them, re.
organizing the service, watching not only
the substance but the form Of every item
of correspondence that came in, and get
ting into the closest cooperation with
every member of the staff, near or far,
he had no coadjutor to beat Smalley in
energy or judgment. By mail and by
cable their consultations were incessant.
The upshot of this team work in The
Tribune's famous reports Of the Franco
Prussian War, especially the great coup
on Sedan, is an old story, to which Smalley
himself has done full justice in his
"Anglo-American Memories" But we
may here aptly recall, from letter Of his
10 Mr.. Reid, hitherto unpublished, vivid
souvenir of the memorable achievement
Of 1870;
| was very much gratihed by your dispatch
received this morning, sending your congratu-
lations and thanks and those of TIE Tribune
on our successes. A great share of your rec
ignition belongs to two or three men by whom
We have been 20 splcndidly served. The ac-
count Of Sedan telegraphcd Saturday night
vas by Holt White. He left the field against
+ the remonstrances Of his friends on the Prus-
STAR staff and rode across country at the risk
OF his life through three armies Prussian,
remnants OF the French, disorganized and
more dangerous than all, and the Belgians
who guarded the frontier; travelled night
and day. and reached London 3 p. m. Satur-
day, only a few hours later than the official
T tcicgraphic news Of surrender, which was the
/ first. half starved and exhausted | took him
10 dine, then set him down to his work here
/ in the Office, sending every or sheets TO
the telegraph, 3 miles from here, and he
finished az haf-past three Sunday morning.
To facilitate Transmission copied the whole,
sheet by sheet, the clerks being so used 20
my writing that in a long dispatch they
reckon II makes or hours difference in
getting II off, ! should not be sorry
n the war ended here. The last week has
been hardest Of all. | have not been home
once. and for three successive nights was not
in bed.
Executive abilities such as this episode
discoses would alone have established his
fame in his profession. As a matter Of
fact they were but the foundation FOR
other things. Read his letter on the dc
J feat Of Gladstone's Home Rule Bill in