New-York tribune., 1921-03-20
1e Lite OF Whitelaw Reid-The Scholar IN Politic

This is surely the highest type of
descriptive reporting. If there is a
better sketch Of Evarts extant we do
not know it.
Nv
sHE natural sequel Of such work was
Greeley's calling Reid to The Trib-
une, late in 1868. Within year thereafter
Reid was established as second in COM
mand, the active editor of the paper
wniie Greeley roved about on his lee
lure tours or wrote voluminously, as
inspiration called. 1t is delightful
picture of Greeley that Mr.. Cortissoz
glves--a valiant, generous and large
hearted soul, caring only for the right
and welcoming to his staff all the able
men de could get, the bigger the bet
ter 1t was to this group that Reid
brought his friend John Hay in 1870. as
editorial writer. This chapter, can
Editors Methods" is packed with anec-
dote and quotation. We have an espe-
cial liking for an Adamsesque item-as
typical in its small, dry way of this
strange New England tribe as the end
less Education of Henry Adams. The
younger Charles Francis Adams was a
frequent contributor to The Tribune
on railroad topics, but when asked to
tackle the Alabama claims, on the as
sumption that he might fairly be ex
pectea to know something of his
fathers diplomatic relation in London
to the events of the Civil War, he
baked and comically professed entire
ignorance. Really" he. wrote. "whe
was Alabama? ? and what did he CLAMP
The Franco Prussian War; treats O.
larger matters, but in pursuance of tho
same job of keeping The Tribune whai
it concededly had become-the leadin
newspaper of America. Every great
writer of the day was. glad to appear in
its columns. 1t published special cor
respondence from the capitals of Eu-
rope and special articles upon subjects
literary, scientific and artistic of the
highest authority and distinction. But
it never lost sigAt of the news as it's
first duty to its readers. It was Reid's
ambition to make The Tribune the
recognized authority on foreign news
Thanks to George w. Smalley in Lon
don, a host of correspondents in the
field and lavish use of the cable, the
Franco-Prussian War did just that.
The material on the ill-fated Greeley
campaign of '72 presents the chief
actors clearly and in their true rela-
tionship. In this life of Whitelaw Reid
Mr.. Cortissoz acutely stresses the fact
that therefrom dated policy of po-
litical independence which was to be-
come the watchword of The Tribune,
and which profoundly affected the
career of it's new editor. Reid con-
tinued severe critic throughout the
Grant Administration, and in the
crucial state campaign of IA supported
Tilden for the Governorship of New
York as against Dix and the third term
threat. Here is Mr.. Cortissoz's
analysis of the spirit in which this in
dependence of a professed Republican
was advanced and maintained:
Himself a reformer, he had a
superabundance of grievances, but
they never promoted in him the
querulous conviction that whatever
is is wrong. His editorials in this
campaign are often honestly cx-
plosive with wrath, never peevish
with i'll temper. Neither is there any
hint Of dogma in the record. Inde-
pendent journalism, as he saw it,
functioned the better for the public
| welfare when it rested not upon
| esoteric program, drawn up for the
millennium, but upon the practical
conditions actually confronting it.
He was, as have repeatedly said,
party man by nature, and when he
lett the Republican party it was not
to sulk in Cave of Adullam, it was
to fight Grant and his people from
the best point of vantagc--from the
, outside. His independence was that
| of the liberty-loving rebel, not that
of the doctrinaire who wants to sub
stitute for the current shibboleth a
! sbibboleth of his own"
The Tribune supported Hayes in '76