The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-08-03

train DR.. Rumely drew me to one side
in the lobby Of the Manhattan.
| Don't commit the Mail too far in your
talk with the President" he said. 1--WE
cannot be bound to follow him in all
policies and politics"
II shall use the utmost discretion /
assured him. gravely. l did.
At Philadelphia 1 saw the Presidents
secretary, Mr.. Tumulty. and made an
appointment to see the President himself
the following morning in Washington.
What is said in converse tons with the
President of the United States, especial
ly what the President says, may not be
disclosed publicly. l can only say that
the President was much interested, that
| he understood the whole situation and
my relation TO it when l had finished,
and that l understood his own viewpoint
and attitude in reference to Germany and
| the war.
Although DR.. Rumely had said he had
all his financial arrangements made, there
was long and tedious delay before the
newspaper was finally taken over, delay
that was rather aggravated than lightened
by long sessions in lawyers offices, SEES
sions at which Lambin and myself would
frequently sit for hours in outer rooms
cooling our heels. waiting for DIR. Rumely,
who seldom kept an appointment either
with us or with any one else. DR. Rumcly
attributed the delay to the difficulty in
ARRIVING at an exact figure of the Even
ing Nails Indebtedness Lambin thought
it was because he had not yet got the
money.
Details of Deal ARRANGED.
As l was supposed to nave nothing to
DO with the financial affairs of the paper
l paid little attention to the complicated
arrangements that were made for the
transfer of the stock and the establishin.
of Dr. Rumely in financial control. Al
plan was agreed upon for the organlza-
ton OF two news corporations. the s. S.
Mcclure Newspaper Corporation and the
Evening Mail Syndicate. The first named
was to be the holding company. 1t was
to have an authorized capitalization Of
S3,OOO.OOO and was to own the stock OF
the Mail and Express Company and of
the Syndicate. Articles of incorporate
were drawn up in the offices OF DR.
Rumely's personal attorneys, and there
were also drawn up voluriinous sets of
bylaws for both of the new companies
and for the Mail and Express Company.
After these documents had all been pu.
into shape satisfactory to DR.. Rumely
they had to be all revised and done over
again. They were not satisfactory to
Mr.. S. Walter Kauffmann:
Neither Lambin. MYSELF nor Mr.. Nc
Clure had heard of Mr.. Kaufman until
Of the Evening Mail. 1t was evident.
however, from the first time we met him
that he exercised great if not controlling
authority over the entire situation, and
that DR.. Rumely. for some reason. felt it
necessary to defer to Nj Kauffmann's
wishes in every respect. / was to see a
good deal of Mr.. Kaufman later. and +,
learn a great deal about mis- influence in
tho affairs of the Evening Mail He was
lawyer, and the client for whom he wa.
acting was Walter Lyon, then a member
of Stock Exchange firm that has since
gone out Of business. Renskorff. Lyon &
Co. 1t has taken the United States De
rartment Of Justice investigators nearly
three years to discover that Walter 1.yoI
vas merely front for Captain Helm
Itch Albert, the paymaster of the Imperial
German Embassy!
Rumcly becomes Impressive.
While all these legal prl1iminaries wer,
under way and accountants, with Lambin,
were working on the books Of the Mail
and Express Company, Mr.. Mcclure. DR..
Rumely AMI myself had frequent confer
ences concerning the editorial policy of
the paper. The Evening Mail as it was
was an excellent foundation to build on |
Mr.. Mcclure and I were for making the
hest newspaper we knew how: Dr.. |
Rumely was concerned, even before We
acquired possession of the property, with
having the deciding voice as to certain
classes of features and articles
One day he brought to his rooms al
the Manhattan Roger p. Babson He had
arranged with Mr.. Batson, he said, for
series of fifty articles. These were to
discuss the economic aspects of the war.
I was familiar with Mr.. Babson's reputa-
ton as a ststistician, but could not see
the public interest in fifty articles, even
from his facie pen, especially after DR.
Rumely named the price he had promised
to pay for them. l protested against the
reckless expenditure of money, for one
thing. and against the purchase of articles
without consulting the men who were. he
had promised, to be in sole charge of the
editorial departments n. the paper