Evening star., 1952-03-30

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that either Mr.. Gaddis or Mr.. ven-
sable was bound to win. IF there
are other candidates" said our re-
porter, they have no chance. Why?
Because they do not advertise in The
Evening Star"
Such practices, Of course. were not
peculiar to The Star. On the con-
trary. they were typical Of news
papers Of the time. and more typical
OF most other papers than they were
4 Of ours. But the fact is that The
Star. along with other newspapers.
had . good deal to learn about its
public responsibility. It has been
learning ever since.
"A MAN named Crosby Noyes had
much to do with the first stages
OF this learning process. A native Of
Maine, he rode into Washington on
q farmers wagon on New Years eve
In l847. aged "a and with $l.61 In his
pocket. He learned his way around
working as bookstore clerk, as q
theater usher, as string correspond
ent for q number Of Northern news
papers. and as local route agent for
the Baltimore Sun. He came to work
en- The Star in, 1853, and soon was
serving as Wallach's right-hand man,
at a salary Of $12,a week.
The editor relied on him; the city
and the Government officials here
trusted him. When Abraham Lin
coin finished his second inaugural
address, 1t was to young Mr.. NoyeS
that he handed his script-The Star
made the text in that evenings edi-
ton.
In the postwar years. as Wallach's
preoccupation with the rustic life led
him further and further astray from
his office desk. Crosby Noyes took
more and more control of the papers
routine operation. When the chance
finally came to buy The Star in 1867,
he was ready and willing.
Four friends Joined him in that
100000 purchase. There was Clar-
ence B. Baker, who had been business
manager under Wallach. There was
Alexander Shepherd, a municipal
politician whose faith in Washington
with The Stars help-was to bring
the modern city into being. There
was George w. Adams, able corre-
spondent for the New York World
and several other out-of-town news
papers. Finally, there was Grand
father Kaufman. He had put out
a small newspaper in Ohio before he
came to Washington during the Civn
War to work for the United States
Treasury Department.
These five published the paper for
one year as "Noyes, Baker and Com
pany." until the present Evening Star
Newspaper Co. was formed un-
der a special charter granted by
Congress. Clarence Baker dropped
out in matter of months, and Al
exander Shepherd sold his interest
to the other partners in 1874. The
Adams, NoyeS and Kaufman fam
lilies have carried on ever since.
Under the dominant influence Of
Crosby Noyes as editor. The Star
was to grow and prosper for another
40 years. It also was to take long
strides along the road leading away
from the old idea of personal journal-
ism. toward the new ideal OF news
papering as a carefully organized ex-
ercise in public responsibility.
TT IS not necessary. for our pur-
i poses, to trace in detail the course
of this development during the late
10th century. In the first place, the
change in outlook was not the result
Of any sudden, dramatic decision-it
came about slowly. almost imper-
ceptibly, over the years. In the sec.
ond place, we cannot reconstruct to.
day the thinking which went into
that change. All we have is the evi-
dence in the pages Of file copies of
The Star that the change was taking
place.
What matters to us is that The
Star did lot Of growing up in this
period. This can be quickly demon
Strated.
In. the fateful election OF 1860, Mr..
Wallach himself covered the various
political conventions for the paper.
His reports were about as balanced
and detached as so many sermons
comparing the diScomforts of hell to
the glories Of heaven. In the 1900
election, on the other hand, The Star
proudly reprinted a letter 1t had sent
to each Of its special correspondents
in the field. Here is what our writers
were told: ''The Star is independent
In politics, and your correspondence
must be from an absolutely non-par-
tiSan standpoint. OF course, we want
the probabilities as they appear, but
in no-wise biased"
Crosby Noyes had an even more
concise way Of making the same point
for his editorial staff. when in
doubt" he told them again and
again. "stick to the facts, and moth
ing but the facts" It became q sort
Of by-word with us.
ME years obviously had brought
4 a new appreciation of the need
for impartiality in the news columns.
The growing process was equally
observable along other lines.
The Star. for instance. still was
primarily local newspaper. in the
sense that 1t Is q local newspaper
today-in the senss that the people
Of Washington. their interests and
their welfare, remained its primary
concern and that it had no am
bitions to speak to or for q larger.
national audience. But there was
q new horizon as to the interests and