The Washington herald., 1920-06-06
New York City
By o. O. NcIntyre .

onk tnem away hS
end of q piow and suddenly iano
them In the very heart OF Times
Square and II the automobiles don't
get them the FIRST thing you know
they are building wooiworth build
ings, burrowing under this rock
bottomed island, editing magazines
or running newspapers
There is John NJ. siddall, VINO
looks like a composite picture OF
that gay. scribbler. Roy McCardeii'
and that serious minded journalist
William Marion Reedy. Siddaii
was born in oberlin. Ohio. which is
one of those towns where through
trains would stop on whistle only
lif II wasn't for the college.
He began his career as a copy
reader on the Cleveland Plain Deal
er. The average reader knows 1T
tie about the copy reader. he sees
only his handiwork or frighttui
butchery, according to whether you
are a reader or a reporter. any
way copy readers know very l'ttie'
Ask any reporter.
They sit q desk all day. wearing
green eye-shade and smoking q
pipe. With a blue pencil they cut
ali the bright lines out OF stories
until nothing remains but eoio
facts. Every reporter feels sorry
for a copy reader although secretly
despising him. 1t seems to be such
, plodding work-transposing split IN
finitiyes, making full stops and rub
bling out adjectives. And just about
| the time the reporter begins to feel
sorry enough to take the copy
reader out to buy him drink
moor fellow, he comes down 10
work some morning and finds the
copy reader managing editor.
And so IL Is that one finds Johh
M. Siddall editor of the American
Magazine. Just when it looked Ike
the American Magazine was about
| to die of infantle stupidity. siddall
comes along and 10! the miracle. III
grows by such leaps and bounds
that Il Is the wonder Of the pun
fishing field.
| Siddall, the ex-copy reader, Is rat
| ed as the best editor In America ana
that does not except George Horace
! Lorimer. For what Lorimer did Tor
the Saturday Evening Post In
great many years Siddall did for
American Magazine in very Few
wears. And he still smiles, creacks
cuips with writer's and writes a bit
| of homely philosophy each month
under the caption sid Says" 1t is
said that a backwoods preacher In
the Kentucky mountains forgot his
| Eible one Sunday and took his text
out of one of "Sids" philosophical
editorials.
Bruce Barton. another editor and
philosopher. VINO knows Siddall we'll
explains why Siddall is great edi-
| tor. Some weeks ago a magazine
| writer dropped into the office of Sid
dali and announced that he had Just
completed a trip with a circus.
| "Not for me, answered Sid. who
is nothing II net direct. Il know
what you've got. You've been out
three months and you've come back
with the new and startling discovery
that circus people work hard and
save their money; that they love
their lives and are the most moral
people in the. world. Its old stuff"
| The writer started off. but as he
reached the door another thought
| came to him. by the way" he said
Il saw a dentist pull an elephant s
tooth" At once Siddall took on life
He pushed a chair toward the writer
and motioned him TO 1t.
Come on" he said. Tets have It,
How did the elephant act? How
many teeth does an elephant have
| "A hoS he nCt
dental trouble? Is IL true that the
what about giving the beast a chew
of tobacco
That incident explained why Sid
dali has made his work felt In tho
,nags zine field. He. has not SCARED
the emryrean for brilliant phrases
and ideas, He is locking for their
the things we want to know but
rather hesitate to ask about.
The discovery of a new bit oi
ceramic art. told in high flown ver-
tiage. is dry reading to Siddall. just
as IL Is to most OF us. But II yoI
hear of one-armed potter who
hops to work or one hand oecaus:
he's training for a vaudeville att
that will bring him $500 a week
well you. as The novelists say. are
rather intrigued. That is the maga
zinc dea that Siddall has. The hu.
4 man things with an unusual punch
Siddall's wifi helps him in his
work. Every great editor needs q
balance. They are l:s BILE to run of
at a tangent. Siddall knows that
and so his wife reads every manu-.
script before it goes into type. Sid.
dali has the I'eppery y-sy of inspir'
ing writers. After enc scratche:
the editorial veneer. Siodall is founC
to be just as human as his ideas
He has nicknames for everyone. H
is in his carly 40s. Parts his hal:
in the middle, wears glasses and
looks like he would be an easy
victim il yCU told him e hard luck
story.
New York beggars are discardinl
rags for expensive raiment to real
harvest in new bunk games. II
the line of prisoners at a court las
| week stood a man wearing an ex
pensive overcoat with a fur collar
Il a neat business suit and tan spats
He would be put down by an OBJ
server as a solid citizen arrested fol
speeding his car. He may own {
car. But on this day he was II
court for begging on the streets
He was standing in front of the
Public Library asking people for 81
Saying that he had received sud
den call to go to Pittsburg, but
that his check was not to arrIv,
until the next day. There Is an
other beggar who haunts Fifth ave
nue. late at night and spins littl,
tale about the poker table at which