Evening star., 1941-04-07

tended Notre Dame University and
then went to Chicago for job. He
was put to work on the Chicago
Herald, when, on his first assign
ment, he turned in a story that
needed neither rewriting nor editing.
That was 1898, when he was Is
years old. His brilliance became
so quickly apparent that the Record
sent him to London, and in England
he witnessed the departure of the
British troops for South Africa and
the war with the Beers. From Lon
don he covered for the Record the
Boer War developments. and by
1901 he had attracted the notice
of one of the best pickers of foreign
correspondents in the history of
American journalism-Victor Law
son.
Mr.. Lawson of the Chicago Daily
News was building up a great for
eign staff, and he chose Mr.. Vile
for Berlin in 1901 "Filling in" for
a vacationing correspondent of Lord
Northcliffe's Daily Mail, Mr.. Wile's
American reportorial technique, plus
the willingness of visiting British
Minister to talk, produced a story
that attracted Northcliffes atten-
ton. That noted publisher made a
proposition sufficiently attractive for
Vile to switch allegiance from the
Chicago News to the Daily Mail.
Mr.. Vile left Berlin after the
jailing episode, but he was the last
correspondent with British affilia-
tions to leave. He was never one to
give an inch when he felt that his
rights were being assailed by people
who did not want him to have news
which he felt he had a legitimate
right to possess.
Served as Intelligence Officer.
He went from Berlin to London.
where he was on the Mail editorial
staff, and then returned to the
United States. From 1917 to 1919
he was attached to the Intelligence
Section. General Headquarters. A E.
F., and he has been since 1919 a
lieutenant colonel of the Military
Intelligence Section, Officers Re-
serve Corps, U. S. A.
AT the outset of the Paris Peace
Conference he accompanied Presi-
dent Wilson through France, Bel
gium, England and Italy, and then
he attended the conference. When
he returned to the United States,
he had a very successful tour as
a lecturer on the Swarthmore Chau-
tauqua. and on the strength of it
Cyrus H. K. Curtis engaged him as
chief Washington correspondent for
the Philadelphia Ledger.
In 1923 the forward looking Mr..
VILE, whose instinct for news was
also an instinct for keeping up with
the times, began to broadcast
weekly commentary on the news
from Washington before chain and
network broadcasts existed. He be-
gan with the original WRC Sta
ton here, then conducted by the
Radio Corp. of America. He Joined
the Columbia Broadcasting System
in 1929.
Introduced Hoover to Radio.
With Columbia he pioneered in
transoceanic broadcasting with news
broadcasts from the London Naval
Conference. He also introduced
President Hoover to the radio audi
ence in the original presidential
"fireside" chat, September 18, 1929.
Mr.. Hoover later sent Mr.. Vile the
notes of that broadcast as a Christ
mas present.
The title of his broadcasts for Co.
lumbia was The Political Situation
in Washington Tonight" He had a
dynamic delivery and broad back
ground of knowledge which made
him popular with listeners.
In 1882 Mr.. Vile reported the
Geneva Disarmament Conference
for Columbia, and he placed the
League of Nations on the air in
March, 1882, when it was debating
Japan's aggressive move against
Shanghai
In honor of his radio work, radio
station operators in his home town
OF La Porte two years ago requested
permission of the Federal Communi-
cations Commission to call their sta
tion VILE.
Favored Women in Politics.
Mr. Vile was an early enthusiast
for feminine participation in politics.
Twelve years ago he forecast that
within decade the widows bloc"
in Congress would number 80
women.
Meanwhile, he was hard at work
on his newspaper work for The
Star and the papers which sub
scribed to his news service-Chris-
tion Science Monitor, Toledo Blade,
Newark Star-Eagle, Chicago Daily
News, Los Angeles Express, Japan
Advertiser in Toxic and the London
Sunday Times.
When the present war broke out,
Mr.. Vile was among the first men
TO- &l.s-