Evening star., 1940-10-27
Ink on Ny Hands

By Clayton Rand, tDtth q pref
ace by William Allen White. New
York: Carrick & Euans.
The new photographed fashion
which started last summer, when
Henry Hough of the Marthas Vine
yard Gazette wrote the story OF his
experiences as q country editor in
New England gets momentum from
this present story Of a country edi-
tor in Mississippi. In the three
months which have passed since Mr..
Hough's book appeared, there have
been, to the reviewers knowledge,
exactly three volumes Of these rural
Journalistic confessions. The trend
now being established, it is to be ex-
pected that similar volumes will ap-
pear even more rapidly. There are
many country editors in the United
States, even at the present rate Of
one volume a month. they could
easily go on turning out their salty
"reminiscences for long time. There
Is nothing against such mass pro-
duction of books of type, of course,
except that every work weakens the
impact Of every other one. That
would seem to be obvious, yet 1t is
too much to hope that the publish
ers will act on 1t. In recent years,
they have run the autobiographies Of
famous physicians and foreign cor
respondents into the ground beyond
hope of disinterment, and they will
no doubt do the same thing with the
country editor books, if the public
shows the slightest inclination to
buy the latter in any kind of profit
able numbers. The man who writes
earliest, therefore, is the man most
likely to get read.
Mr.. Rand does have a good rat
ting tale to tell. He seems to be
practically the archtype Of the little
town newspaper owner. He was a
poor boy-very poor. in fact. He was
one Of large family, and his father
was never successful at anything for
q long time: in the periods OF unsuc-
cess, Rand senior fell back on work.
ing as farm hand. Sometimes the
scene of his labors was Wisconsin,
sometime it was Mississippi, but al
ways it was rural and his son got
his early education in little red
school houses (he says they were
usually painted white) and learned
to know a wide range of country
occupations about as soon as he had
mastered his three RS. 1t was a
providential training for 4 man who
was to devote his life to publishing
q group Of rural weeklies.
1t was not, however, the sum Of
Mr.. Rand's schooling. He subse-
quently went through a small Mis-
sissippi college and then through
the Harvard Law School. In both
institutions, he worked his way
through. selling peanuts In the
former and peddling aluminium
kitchen ware in the latter. When
he returned from Harvard to Mis-
sissippi, it was his intention to start
practicing law. he tells us. But he
had the temperament Of . true
trader, apparently, and. as a conse-
quence Of a deal, he got possession
Of the Neshoba Democrat, a tiny
weekly sheet. He discovered then
that he was asnewspaperman.
Subsequently, he purchased two
other papers, but for long the Demo-
crat was his sole occupation. He
used 1t In the crusading fashion Of
the best type Of journalism, coun-
try or city. He waged indignant
wars against the unclean streets Of
his town. against poor schools,
against bad roads, against crime,
against corruption in ONCE and 80
on. His neighborhood was In some
ways . bad one, backward In civic
pride and possessed Of . phenon.
enally high homicide rate. But Edi.
tor Rand charged the local evils
with unabated heartiness through.
out the years. From the samples Of
his editorializing which he uses in
his book, he had the heart Of .
Quixote and the manners Of an
Sancho, an excellent combination
for getting things done. obviously.
Only once did he come q cropper,
and that was when the Ku Klux
Klan drove him out OF possession
Of one Of his papers. But he car
ried on valiantly against the "invis-
ible empire" in the other two and
had good results from 1t.
He writes with the professional
heartiness which is the trade marx
Of the we scribe" school, employs
broad humor and drops frequently
into unabashed sentiment. But these
are the tools Of his trade His book
IL vastly more effective for them.
Readers are advised that this is
solid, authentic story. NC. r.