The New York herald., 1922-08-15
PUBLISHERS LIFE
DEVOTED TO WORK
Called Napoleon of British
Journalism Because of
His Tactics.
MADE QUICK DECISIONS
Regret at Having No Heir
to Title and Fortune Was
Cloud on Success.
BOUGHT MANY PAPERS
Always Made His Influence
Felt, Especially in Conduct
of the War.
BOUGHT MANY PAPERS


worth, first Viscount Northcliffe, has
sometimes been called the Napoleon
of British journalism. His tremendous
energy, his quick decisions. his prac-
tice of suddenly abandoning one cam
paign without giving any reason and
breaking out without warning in an
other quarter strongly suggested at
times the strategy Of the First En-
peror of the French
Ever on the outlook for new worlds
to conquer he started magazines
founded newspapers, bought others
including the London Times. or.
ganized a great print paper manu-
featuring company. purchased vast
tracts of woodland in Newfound-
land for his mills, was inter-
ested in one of the largest auto
mobile concerns in England, Travelled
all over the world writing articles for
his own newspapers, reported golf
matches for American newspapers,
played the aole of stormy petrol in
British and international politics
made and unmade Cabinet Minister'S
exposed the weaknesses during the
great war of the British army or
ganization and conducted a system OF
propaganda in enemy countries with
such thoroughness that the Germans
declared it was the most serious in
huence they had to combat in at
tempting to justify their cause.
Romance of the "DaiIy Mall"
In the newspaper field in May, 1896
he launched the Daily Mail as half.
penny paper at a time when London
newspaper owners insisted such ven
ture spelled only failure. Starting with
four and six page paper with compar.
atively little advertising he lived to see
1t attain a circulation Of more than
100000. with advertisers sometimes
compelled to wait for weeks for the in.
sertion of their announcements.
Finding the railway service out OF
London would not distribute his paper
in the north of England at an early
enough hour owing to there beng nc
newspaper trains as they are understood
In America. he leased four direct wires
TO Manchester and telegraphed the en-.
tire contents of the Daily Mail each
night to that city. There the dispatches
were put in type and another Daily Mai
printed almost simultaneously with the
London edition.
In this way the Manchester edition
OF the Daily Mail, almost a duplicate
of the London paper with the exception
OF few columns of local news was
distributed in the northern part Of Eng.
land and in Scotland four hours before
his London competitors reached the ter
n 4.
of the articles was Identical, n schedule
being sent from the London Office to
Manchester indicating where each item
should be placed. The advertisements
in matrix form were sent by train the
preceding afternoon.
"Mr. Alfred" I'm Fleet Street.
In those days of the beginning oi
the Daily Mai he was known to all his
employees as "Mr. Alfred" and In the
old offices off Fleet street he freely min
gled with them. asking questions. :nvit-
Ing suggestion and always on a quest
for new ideas. Like Napoleon h,
gathered around him men upon whose
suggestions he could rely and whose
ideas he could turn into value They
were his "Marshals," each cs whom wal
responsible for the conduct OF his par.
ticular branch of the service and held
rigdly to that responsibility, wfile "Mr
Alfred" directed the strategy of the en-.
tire organization.
From the start he insisted that the
American methods of newspaper worl
should be applied so far as possible ir
the Daily Mdi and the Evening Ne,cs
which he had acquired. He was a great
admirer of James Gordon Bennett, an,
when the then London correspondent OF
THE New YORK HERALD went TO see him
which was frequently, his questions a.
TO the methods Of news gathering EN-
poyed by THE NEW YORK HERALD ant
the part Mr.. Bennett took In the direc
ton OF his paper were many and search
ing. He was intensely interested in the
Paris edition OF THE NEW York HERALr
and later founded his own Continenta
edition of the Daily Mail along similai
lines.
The traditions OF another New Yorl
newspaper exercised considerable in
flucnce upon the Daily Mail In its in.
fancy. In those days very little more
news than the space available In the
paper would hold was PUT In type In
London newspaper office~ Mr.. Alfred
and his enthusiastic editors In their am.
bition TO get all the news and many
special articles as we'll in the paper
each sent up columns more than could
be accommodated, resulting in an enor.
nous upset. and the foreman Of the
composing room selected the articles fol
the pages. much of what the editors de.
sired never appeared An editorial
night edition was unknown on English
papers. Samuel J. Pryor. an English
man who had been on the staff of the
NEW York SUN. was made managing
editor aud introduced that papers
system OF condensation and coordina.
tion Of the different news departments.
Even in those days Alfred Harms.
worth did not enjoy perfect health. and
frequently he talked with callers while
he lay extended upon "A couch In his Of.
flee. One complaint he often made wa,
that his physicians would not pcrmi,
him to smoke "a real cigar"
Here Is what they Insist I shall
smoke" he would say, extracting Ions
thin cigar OF Dutch tobacco from III,
handsome humidor which stood by ni,
desk while offering his visitor choice
Havana.
His health and the fact that he bat
no heir to inherit his title and his mani
fold enterprises we're sources bf dis