Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-18
Death of the Times-HeroId

In the past century The Star has recorded
the vital statistics of number of Washington
newspapers. None has been quite so dramatic
as the sudden death of the Times Herald
through absorption by the Post.
Politically and ideoogically the two papers
have been at opposite poles. Eugene Meyer OF
the Post, with large personal fortune amassed
in other fields, had made previous efforts to
liquidate by purchase his morning competitor.
After the death of its previous owner and
editor, Mrs. Eleanor Patterson, he almost made
1t. But Colonel Mccormick of the Chicago
Tribune, looking on the matter as sort Of
family affair, beat him to it. 1t was not, the
Colonel explained that he wanted the paper
for himself as much as he did not want Mr..
Meyer to have it. Once he acquired it, Colonel
Mccormick dubbed his new property Fort
Necessity" and he looked forward to the day
when it would become citadel from which the
Nations integrity and prosperity will be
recovered"
There have been indications that the am
munition was running low at Fort Necessity.
At the same time, those who occupied its RAM
parts, or watched them from the rear area in
Chicago, must have felt judging from their
published observations, that the Nations in
tegrity and prosperity were going from bad to
worse. At any rate, the hard facts of life in
the publishing business, in the form of rising
costs and red ink on the balance sheets, seem
to have made a greater impression on the
owners of the Times Herald than the necessity
for continuing an outpost of American prin-
cipleS" here in Washington. So the Colonel,
ailing and not as young as he used to be, has
made a strategic retirement. Measured by the
reported price he received for the property in
relation to what he paid for it, that retirement
has been most gracefully conducted. Mr.. Meyer
In the meantime has been able to combine some
business with what must have been great
pleasure. e.l i.-
The Star is sorry to see the Times-Herald
go. It regrets that Washington has been de-
prived of the ColonePs particular, and always
interesting, points of view on politics and mat
tiers in general. In this Capital City we need,
as much as anywhere else in America, an
expression of the various ideas that compete for
public recognition including those that were
identified so closely with the Times-Herald.
1t is a sad thing for any newspaper to die.
There have been far too many such casualties
In America, each one adding to the trend toward
bought newspaper monopoles.
Here at The Star we feel certain sense
Of personal loss in the passing of the Times
Herald. With that paper, and with it's two
forebears-frst the Times, which would have
reached its 60th birthday today and then
with the younger Herald-there has existed
friendly relationship unaffected by competition,
differences in journalistic points of view, or
such varied personalities in ownership as c. c..
Conn, maker of musical instruments; Stilson
HutchinS, who had also founded the Post; Frank
Munsey William Randolph Hearst, Arthur
Brisbane, Mrs. Patterson and, finally, Colonel
Mccormick.
We have not always been glad to see them
come. But we always hate to see them 60.