Evening star., 1921-08-14

IT is not to be denied that the con-
l ditions complained against exist
though there has been a marked
improvement during the centuries
and that Improvement has been
brought about by the progress OF
education and enlightenment, by in
telligent discussion and the play Of
all those forces which have carried
and are carrying mems morals to a
better plane. In this work no agency
has played a more luminous part
than the free press. And the prog
the press remains free or as long
as enough of the press remains free
to expose that part which Is not.
We have registered mighty progress
since the plebs of Rome tourneyed to
the mons sacer; sAce Licinius Stolo
and LuciuS SeXtius set up the Licinian
Rogations and since the classic REFORM
er Tiberius Gracious was assassi-
mated and his brother Caius "chose
to die by the hands of a faithful
slave rather than fall into the power
of his enemies" We have had many
ward. 1t Is too much to expect that
social maladies of such long stand
ing are to be cured by the off hand
remedies of vagrant politicians. They
have been often tried and found
wanting.
following message Wednesday night
April Is. 1914:
New York-George Alfred Townsend
a journalist. novelist and verse writer
Of many years activity. who was
widely know in America and Eng
land under the pen name OF Cath"
died today at the home of his son-in-
law. E. F. Bonaventure, 318 West
1O6th street. He was seventy-three
years old and had been in failing
health for three years"
For forty years after 1867 Mr..
Townsend wrote daily letter of from
two to four columns in length for the
Chicago Tribune and Cincinnati En-
quirer. 1t was as signature for
those letters that he adopted the pen
name Cath" by which he became
more widely known than by his own
had contributed a Sunday letter to
the Boston Globe.
When he died Mr.. Townsend was at
work upon bis memoirs which will
be published by his son-in-law. Mr..
Townsend came into intimate contact
has written. Among those with whom
he was closely associated at one time
or another were: Col Henry Waiter
son, Sir Henry NJ. Stanley, Whitelaw
Reid, many of the civil war generals
of both sides. all the Presidents with
late King Edward VII, whom he ac-
companied on his tour of the United
States when Prince of Wales.
MIR. Townsend wrote many books.
He was an energetic traveller in his
prime and went abroad nearly a
country in Europe. His principal
property is an estate on the battlefield
of Crampton's gap. South Mountain,
Md, where village has grown up
since he went there. He named the
village Gapland.
venture, Mr.. Townsend Is survived by
a son. George Alfred Townsend of
Fort Wayne. Ind.
THESE are sort Of side observations
as We go along with this mar
rative and it should not be inferred
that the writer of this intends to In
clude Cath" in the class of those men
who attract following by making
needless and indiscriminate attacks
on other men. Gath assailed some
and praised many. He may have
been wrong both ways Men often
are. Gath was probably right and
wrong in his estimate Of men and
things in the same proportion as
other men of like ability, equipment
and temperament would be. Gath as
sailed men he did not like and
praised men he liked, and there is a
good deal of human nature in that
The point is, that 1t is not known
and not believed that Gath did these
things at the orders of any other
man.
rotL rs1,aa o. ,,,.ss. 80
scandals. and We know that at the
close of the civil war and during the
administration of President Grant
there were enough scandals to keep
prolific writer busy. Gath liked to
poke fun and satire at weak. vain
whom he believed to be weak. vain
and incompetent. II they were weak
and incompetent he showed them up.
If they were not. they remained
strong and competent in spite of
Gath. and no harm was done Do not
get the impression. from this that
Gath was principally a scandal mon
ger. That would not be true. He
was bright and companionable fell
low and he had a great number of
friends in public Office. in the news
paper world and in private life. He
and treatment of men and events
and he believed he was fair, and
when he went for a public man he
believed he had he goods on him, and
as we look back into the late COS,
the 70s and the early and mid sos
there are many of us who believe
that Gath was right.
George Alfred Townsend died April
Is. 1914, and The Star of Friday.
April II. publishes as an editorial
the following:
"'rhe death Of George Alfred Town
sends known to two generations of
readers as Gath induces a sense Of
sadness to an army of people and q
sense of loss to an unusually large
number of personal friends, for
Gath's circle of acquaintance was
wide. encompassing men ana women
prominent in every sphere Of life.
HE was prolific and versatile As
writer OF fact and fiction. His
style-and this he had-was rich and
at times exuberant. In phrase he was
deft. flexible and facile. His memory
were SO ordered that he could call
forth any of it's contents by the
merest suggestion He had unusual
graces of language and resources OF
information which made him one Of
the most acceptable and widely read
newspaper correspondents.
'In addition to being trenchant
rublicist his contributions to perma-
nent literature as historian, novelist
and versifier were considerable.
i
IF the memoirs Of Gath" were
l published the man writing this
has not been able to find them. His
published works. as catalogued in
the Library of Congress. are:
Life, Crime and Capture of John
wilkes Booth, with a Full Sketch of
the Conspiracy Of which he was the
Leader, and the Pursuit. Trial and