The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-05-20
FAMOUS EDITOR
 OF N. Y. HERALD
 PASSES BEYOND

BEAULIEU, France. May 14.-Jas. Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the New York Herald, died here to- day from anemia. He had been suf- fering for some time past and was unconscious for the last two days. Several thousand miles away from his main newspaper office, James Gordon Bennett directed in minute detail the affairs of the New York Herald and maintained for himself one of the most commanding posi- tions in American journalism. For more than a quarter of @ century he lived in Paris and worked sim ultaneously there and in New York. No man before him or since has at- tempted such long distance editing
 From almost every other angle his position in the newspaper world has been unique. Upon the death of his father, who was founder of the Herald, the younger Bennett, then just past 30 years, inherited the largest newspaper fortune ac- cumulated by any American publisher up to that time. He applied it to- ward achievements to startle the public and thus redown t" the credit of his newspaper. In many i:.stances these achievements became impor- tant items in the worlds history:
 Such was the policy he inaugural ed when as managing editor in 1870 he ordered Henry M. Stanley into the heart of Africa to find Living stone; such when he sent the ill fated Jeanette expedition to discover the North Pole; such when he joined in the laying of the commercial cable-all typical instances of enter prise to make news" or further its transmission.
 In contrast to the personal jour- nalism of the elder Bennett and Greeley type, the younger Bennett was one of the first to sound the i'm personal note. He declared that his paper should become a sort of re- public of which no man or party should hold control. From the f1rsc he refused to recognize celebrities" as compared with workers" on his staff, and it is related that even when Stanley came back from his triumph in Africa. young Bennett re- warded him with the mean assign. ment of covering" the Tenderloin police district in New York.
 When MT. Bennett moved to Paris in 1887 he started the Paris edition of the New York Herald and again took a unique position, as this is still the only American newspaper published in Europe. During this residence abroad. broken only by the unexpected arrival of the Ben nett yacht in New York harbor once every two or three years for a short stop. the editors in immediate con- trol of the New York Herald kept chair at their conference table al- ways vacant for the absent editor. one of his own ideas to keep his men imbued with the spirit that he was "boss." although several thou sand miles away.
 The Herald, marked minutely with the names of the men who had writ ten certain articles or news stories, was forwarded to him in Paris daily. He kept in touch with every detail of personal and policy. Daily. or oftener, the cable from Paris, or wherever he might be sojourning in his yacht. brought the editor-in-chief's executive orders. for promotion or discharge. for compliment or reprl- mand. or sketch of general policies.
 Ills whims. amounting, his critics said. to eccentricities, were one of the most interesting angles of his personality. It is related that he dismissed a musical critic simply be- cause The was such funny looking men," and put the financial editor in