Evening star., 1952-03-30

50, he made his prophetic point quite
clearly enough for comfort.
This was the era of the emergence
Of the yellow press" and the prac-
tices Of Journalistic sensationalism
that go with the name. Crosby
Noyes saw to 1t that The Star not
only resisted the new doctrine, but
also took the field as its sworn foe.
He blasted away at what he called
the modern penny dreadful
packed with horrors" murders,
rapeS, elopements. divorces and so
on. He predicted that in the long
run this sort Of thing would never
have chance against clean, sane,
reputable journals"
"HME all this was going on, q
~ number Of younger men were
growing up with The Star. The
ideas they acquired and the lessons
they learned were to affect the char
acter OF the paper for nearly half
century.
There was Rudolph Kaufman.
eldest son Of the original Samuel.
whose son Max now is The stars
esteemed vice president. Rudolph
came to the paper in 1875. He was
one OF the first Washington reporters
to cover his assignments on 4 bicycle.
and became managing editor in
1893. serving in that position until
his death in 1927. There were
Thomas c. Moves and Victor Kauff-
mann. both Of whom went to work
in 1889. Tom become city editor and
then news manager. Victor made
ms contribution as Sunday editor.
But the men of the then younger
generation who were to lead The
Star through the period of its great
est growth-the first team, SO to
speak-were Crosby Noyes' two elder
sons. Theodore and Frank and
Fleming Newbold. Frank Noyes'
rother-in-law.
Theodore Noyes joined The Star
STAN in 1877, and 10 years later was
named associate editor. He sue
ceeded to the editorship upon his
fathers death in 19O8-he held that
post until six years ago, when he
died at the age of SO. Gentle. kind
y-and extremely stubborn-he de-
voted his journalistic career to three
basic propositions.
First. the people Of Washington
must have the same right other
Americans have to vote for their
National Government.
Second. the rest Of America must
recognize an obligation to help sup
port the Capital of the United States
OF America as the Nations City.
Third, The Star must always tell
both sides of every story.
No Washingtonian needs to be
persuaded as to the Importance of
the first two pointS-and experience
seems to indicate that many nom
Washingtonia are yet to be per.
suaded. For the moment, it is the
third point which concerns us. Theo-
dore Noyes made an absolute fetish
OF it. If any one had valid COM
plant that The Star had unfairly
omitted essential facts from any
story, The Star would write that
story again. It might be days later
but the full, unbiased report had to
be given.
On his editorial page. Theodore
Noyes Stunned equally the pretense
OF omniscience, the bludgeon Of in
vective. and the needle of satire. He
believed he had more chance of con-
verting sinners to his point of view
by gentle persuasion than by hotly
attacking them. In all his life, he
never used a typewriter. He made
his views known to his Subordinates
on The Star by memoranda scribbled
on the. backs Of envelopes. letters and
galley proofs-or, when illness forced
him to stay at home, through the
medium Of an old-fashioned. two
handed telephone.
In those later years, much Of the
burden Of directing the papers edi-
torial operation fell to his nephew,
Newbold Noyes, The Stars associate
editor. But Newbold Noyes died in
1912 and Theodore kept in constant
touch with the Office almost to the
day Of his death.
THE second son, Frank, was pri-
= rnarily concerned with the busi-
ness side of The Stars operations
he served as president of the COM
pany from 1910 until q year before
his death in 1948. In this capacity
he led the paper through a remark
able era Of physical growth, for it
was the two decades between 1910 and
1880 which saw The Star converted
from prosperous small-town busi-
ness to the great metropolitan en-
terprise we know today.
But Frank Noyes' interest in jour-
nalism. and his knowledge of it. went
far beyond considerations of business
management. He had had eight
years experience editing a news
paper in Chicago and he had in
herited from his father the same
stern code that made Theodore the
newSpaperman he was. The full sig
nificance Of that code is the more
readily appreciated in Franks case
because. as first and long time presi-
dent Of the modern Associated Press,
he projected these ideas beyond the
walls Of The Star Office into a field
where they influenced the whole
course Of journalism in this country.
And the bread which The Star thus
cast on the waters Of the outside
Journalistic world infallibly returned
to have magnified effect on our
paper. l
Frank Noyes did not. of course,
create the A. p. in his own image. It
was the need for an impartially re-
liable Y1eWs.patherin0 service NIT