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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1908)
MEMBERS PT JOHN- S. H A R WOOD. PROMINENT among the interesting and picturesque present-day "Old Guard" of newspaperdom, which will soon be much in evidence on the "firing line" in the fast-approaching: Presidential campaign, are a half-dozen men who, from actual personal ex perience, know .whether the pen mightier than the sword. Henry Watterson, of the Louisville Courier-Journal, a truly National char acter, who was 16 when he wrote his first widely-copied editorial, and be came so excited over his success that he couldn't sleep o' nights, was a staff officer for the Confederacy, and towart the end of the contest its Chief of Scouts. Captain Henry King, editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, was in the service of his country all through the Civil War. During that time he was on the staffs of Generals Grenville M. Dodge and James B. McPherson, and so was in the thick of the fighting. He started his newspaper career as an ap prentice in a "country" office, and, bar ring the years of the Civil War, his whole life has been passed in news paper offices'. General Charles H. Taylor, of the Boston Globe, whose first newspaper position was that of errand boy in Boston, enlisted as a private in a Mas sachusetts regiment when he was only 16, and during a charge on the Confed erate stronghold of Port Hudson, was severely wounded. General H. G. Otis, of the Los An geles Times, who is proud of the fact that he gets out the bulkiest of all bulky Sunday newspapers, received promotion for gallantry displayed in battle both in the Civil War and in the Philippines. General Felix Angus, a power on the Baltimore American for the last 40 otW years, was a dashing Zouave under the Third Napoleon and Garibaldi, in their battles for a united Italy, and a little later he was performing dare devil deeds on numerous Civil War bat tlefields". And Harvey W. Scott, of The Port land Oregonian, at 14 an emigrant farmer boy in Oregon, and today looked upon in that state as its leading citi zen, as a -private, fought Indians In the widespread outbreak of 1855-1857. General Felix An pus. The war record of General Angus, one of the comparatively few members of the "old guard" who is not a native of America, shows a thrill at almost every turm As a member of Gari baldi's famous Flying Corps, adven ture was constantly his portion until the French and their Italian allies had won a united Italy. He dramatically began his defense of the North by sav ing the life of General Kllpatrick at one of the first contests of the war, Big Bethel, June 10, 1861. For this bit of gallantry he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in Duryea's Fifth New York Zouaves, in which he had enlisted as a private at the outbreak of hostilities. He was wounded three times, once when he led his regiment in a charge on Port Hudson, and again by a saber during a hand-to-hand fight with the Texas horsemen in Western Louisiana. He volunteered to lead the charge at Ashland Bridge, and for his Intrepidity In that thrilling work he received com plimentary mention in the report of the general commanding, when the expe dition to -Sabine Pass ended in disaster, Angus, by this time having won a cap taincy by his gallantry, was put in charge of the steamer Pocahontas and ordered to proceed to the blockading fleet off Galveston and notify them of the Federal failure. During the first night out the old hulk ran aground on an unllghted coast and, when dawn came, the artillerymen on board discov ered themselves well within the range of the Confederate shore batteries. Argus, quickly taking in the situation, ordered the horses overboard, and tnough his own mount was a particular pet, overboard he went; and when all the animals had been cast into the sea to drown, tne boat's bottom left its bed of m:id and Angus took his command to safety without the loss of a single man. All througLh Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Angus displayed his accustomed gallantry. He was in the heat of battle in all the important con tests as Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel of the Second Duryea Zouaves, which he had helped to recruit while waiting for his first wound to heal. Sheridan, im$ me I WHO KNOW FROM l """""'"'''ft . i-x w" 1 " a I - , I r?22Hggg i I 1 when ordered by Grant to send his best Infantry regiment to Fort Delaware to guard the Confederate prisoners held there, sent Angus" Zouaves. Thus, when Angus was breveted Brigadier-General of Volunteers a few weeks before the war's close, he had clearly won the honor both in the Southwest and in the Virginias. Late in 1864 Colonel Angus married the daughter of the then senior pro prietor of the Baltimore American. Shortly after the close of hostilities he resigned his comgiission and entered the business office of the paper. From that day to this he has been not only one of the leading newspaper men south of Mason and Dixon's line, but one of Maryland's most- famous residents. As the head of a Republican paper in a state that has generally been' strongly Democratic he has been compelled to take part In many hard battles; and his opponents admit that General Angus has always been able to give as good as he received. Today he is in his sixty-ninth' year, which milestone he will reach on the birthdate of his adopted country. He came here from France, his native land, the year before the Civil War broke out. to take 'a position in New York. When Lincoln called' for volunteers Angus had not yet got a good hold on the English tongue, but before he had been a "Yank" many months he was giving commands in a voice that had no trace of accent or doubt In it. General H. G. Otis, now in his seventy-second year, and for tho past quarter of a century . in California journalism, began his gallant soldier's career p a private in a volunteer Ohio regiment in June of '61. Mustered out over four years later, in the meantime he had been wounded twice, won a captaincy and breveted major and then lieutenant-colonel for "gallant and meritorious conduct'' on the field of battle. One of Colonel Itia' fellow fighters in the Twenty-third Ohio was Major McKlnley. At that time the two struck up a friendship that lasted until the latter's assaslnation. It- was this friendship for President McKinley, as well as a desire to respond to his country's martial call once more, that led Otis to get into the scrimmage that began in 1898 and made us a colonial power. Appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers n May of that year, by his' bravery at Caloocan, in the Philippines, where he led his -brigade to the capture of that town, he 'was brevetted Major General less than a year later. . He was then 62. A few months later he re turned to his editorial desk, to resume his warfare with his pen. The General's pen, by the way, has been about as productive of . dramatic incidents in the life of its owner as THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JWE aQm ACTUAL EXPERIENCE THAT were the two swords he carried in his country's cause. A man who has never been afraid to say what he thinks, he was once forced to resign as editor of Ms paper because he -had said some pretty hard things of a 'leading citizen of Los Angeles. At the time he ssrld what he did very few persons believed the General's accusations; . later on, how ever, they were proven true. At another time a rival edlto sought out the Gen eral in a theater box 'and when he would not apologize for making, certain deroga tory remarks ,of his visitor, there was trouble straight way. One of the Gen eral's recent fights was with the labor unions; 'and so determinedly was it waged by both sides that it attracted the attention of the . entire "newspaper world and much la' Attention as well. , Before he went to i-os Angeles and took hold) of thfe struggling weekly that he has developed into one of the leading papers of the -country, Otis' got his news paper training as foreman in tie gov ernment printing office, as editor of- the first Federal soldiers' paper, the Grand Army Journal, as Washington correspon dent for an Ohio daily, and cs head of a paper in Santa Barbara. He was one of the men who nominated Lincoln the first time, and he has been active in the councils of the Republican party since war days. Despite his three score years and ten he is exceedingly active, and like the old-fashioned editor, keeps his hand and eye on every department of his paper. ' Captain Henry King, the veteran editor of the SC Louis Globe-Democrat, left a newspaper office to go to the war and when the war was over, although fortune pointed in another direction, it was to a newspaper office ' that he returned. There are- many older editors than he, but few have seen as many years of continuous service. With the exception of the four years in the army i' has been practically lifelong. He was but a smai. boy when he was apprenticed to the Qulncy Whig at Quincy, 111.", and he stayed with the Whig until he became its editor. That is a habit of his. He stays.' When the CiWl War broke out he did not vquit; he took a vacation, enlisted as a private in an Illinois regiment, got into the thickest of the fight before some people knew it had commenced, and stayed with the army until the shooting was all over and there was nothing more to be done. Then he returned to, his Job at- Quincy. Atter four years of war, however. Captain King found the fine old, Illinois town a trifle dull. He had been in the midst of alarms and rather liked them. Just about that time Kansas went into the alarm business in a large and ex ceedingly attractive way. King went to Kansas and grew up with it; stayel with it during its days of stormy poli tics, of ravenous grasshoppers, and wlth- i ering drouths. He became the editor of the Topeka Capital, . the most influential paper in the state, and was one of the most potent factors in the development of the lusty and rantankerous common wealth. He would have been in Topeka yet, no doubt, but Fate had one more move for. him, just one. Fate in this Instance was Impersonated by Joseph B. McCullogh, who invited Captain King to become associate , editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. That was' in 18S3, 25 "years ago, and he is still with the Globe-Democrat, its editor-in-chief" since" 1897. One who served The Oregonian for many years, asked to .write a sketch of Mr. Scott said: ' v " , "Not long since, a visitor in Portland from Melbourne having . heard his host mention Mr. 'Scott as a distinguished citizen,' asked how the editor had earned his title. ' " 'He does the thinking for Oregon,' was the witty reply. 'And he's been doing it ever since I came here, 40 years ago.' "Mr. Scott is a Journalist this word is not misused when you speak of him who preserves the ideals set up and the traditions honored Horace Greeley, Charles A. Dana, the first Samuel Bowles and Henry Watterson; yet he keeps his paper abreast of the rapidly changing spirit of the times. While he has added all the 20th century features that popu lar taste demands, the editorial page re tains the old vigor, the Intellectual rich ness and the abounding catholicity that have ever marked him for distinction in American newspaperdom. "All ,his life he has been a student. From every source he sought knowledge of the motives that have stirred men to action. He -knows every movement that has. resulted in jnankind's uplift and every great National and racial error. Ho is quite as familiar with the history of civilization as Buckle himself. In Mr Scott is jcombined by heredity and sever est mental training the pugnacity and humor of Scotland, the philosophy of the German school, the literary quality ancient Jewish writers and of Paul, and the poetry of Shakespeare. Very much of his store of knowledge and his view of things, great and small, that affect the welfare of the world, he has given to his readers. This is his -life's labor; he will probably keep it up the next ten years. He has an ample fortune, but he can't break tho habit of hard work that he began as a child on a backwoods farm in Illinois 60 years ago. "When ex-Senator H. W. Corbett, the first president of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, died, Mr. Scott was unani mously chsen as successor. To him fell the burden of making the fight before Congress for an appropriation. He per formed that work perfectly, and then s -- , 7,. 108. - THE PEN IS over the loudest protests of tne directors and the city generally, he resigned, leav ing to others the glory of the later suc cess. He couldn't divorce himself from his daily work. In recent years he has made a deep study of the mysteries of Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry and is now Grand Orator of that order In Oregon-. "It has been said of him by a family friend that he never retires -without read ing a chapter from the Bible or an act from one of Shakespeare's plays. He is on intimate terms with the classic writ ers of every age. "Mr. Scott opposed states" rights and hated slavery, therefore he naturally af filiated with the Republican party. He was its voice in Oregon when the state had more Southern sympathizers than Union men, and he has fought its battle every campaign since. His first notable edftorial was on the assassination of Lincoln. No editor or publicist In the land wrote more ably1 and effectively against the free silver fallacy than' he. This craze seized the, people of Oregon. They, were swift to punish Mr. Scott for stoutly opposing financial error and dis honesty. His paper lost so heavily in subscriptions and advertising thht dis aster, if not bankruptcy, was threatened. He fought back still harder. Some esti mate of Mr. Scott's influence may be made from the election returns In 1896, when Oregon stood solidly for the gold standard--the only state west of the Rockies soNdlstinguished. He appeale-1 then, as he did before and ever since that-great crisis, straight to men's rea son. His habit of thought bars htm from indirection. , . When, McCulIogh died in that year there were many who said his place could not be filled; that his successor whoever he might be, would rattle around In his chair like a ten-penny nail in a dessicated gourd; but when Cap tain King entered the vacant place he occupied it fully and completely. Tho paper was not the same, for Captain King is a man of strong personality, and has ideas of his own; but it was none the less enterprising, forceful and bril liant, and he has kept it well abreast of the advancement of journalism. . He, like Otis, is a newspaper man of the old school who believes in moving forward with the times, and he wants to work, the throttle himself. He dic tates policies, writes editorials, orders news, glances at proofs, and personally directs every department of his paper. From noon to midnight every day of the year he is at his desk and busy.1 But his office door is always open and any man or woman boy or girl who wants to see him may do so without the for mality of a card. A certain sternness of countenance and parsimony of words are the safeguarew of his time, but there MIGHTIER. THAN THE SWORD are many who have found that his heart Is as tender as a woman's, and there are few men with a keener sense of humor. Harvey V. Scott. At the age of 70, sound in body, in the intellectual vigor of 50, Harvey W. Scott,' editor of the Portland Oregonian, continues to put his impress daily upon the great newspaper that he created. His vocation and his diversion are hard work. To this ha has been trained since child- L- hood. At 14 he came "the plains across" from Illinois with his father, a farmer who settRd in the wilderness of Oregon in 18S2 and began conquering it with axe and plow. The sturdy boy, a giant in frame and muscle, did a man's share In winter and attended for a few months the poorly equipped school. As a private, at 17,- he fought, Indians in the wide spread outbreak of 1855-57. The war over, young Scott determined to obtain an education. His father was still working to make a home for the large family. The boy had to face a task of paying for his education him self. At halt a century's distance it is not easy to see his struggle for a hand ful of money In a sparsely settled frontier where everybody was poor. But he had ambition and courage. He worked in saw mills, taught school, chopped wood, worked on farms, helped his father, em ployedvhis spare hours in reading his tory, the Bible and Shakespeare and at 21 entered Pacific University the oldest west of the Rocky Mountains and at 25 received his diploma as its first grad uate. Two' years thereafter," v. hile reading law and serving as librarian in the Portland Library, he was' engaged as editorial writer of the Oregonian by its owner and publisher, Henry L. Pittock, with whom he Is associated at the present day. Some twelve years later he bought a large in terest in the enterprise, which he still owns. "Note his personal' resemblance to the Iron Chancellor. Bismarck- and he wore born fighters, and in no battle did they quail. Early in the 80's a bunch of Denis Kearney's sand-lot disciples in vaded Puget Sound from San Francisco. They drove all the Chinese out of Ta coma and burned their habitations. Then they invaded Portland. Mr. Scott took up his sword and declared that this out rage must not be repeated on Oregon soil. He was in imminent danger of as saslnation; The Oregonian building was menaced by dynamite. But within a week he had so aroused the civic pride, conscience and loyalty of Portland that the town was literally under arms. Mer chants, bankers, capitalists and profes sional men In one group. Civil War vet erans In another,- the police in still an other, slept with their -rifles in their 3 hands. The Irresponsible jawsmith; didn't hold a 'mass meeting,' which was to be the signal for attack on Chinatown, but slunk back to San Francisco like whipped dogs. In this local crisis, Mr. Scott stood. simply for law and order. "Public speaking is not to his, taste, though on all great occasions, he Is in vited to make an address, and he seldom declines. He has little of the art of ora tory, yet a few weeks ago when he at tended as an honorary pall-bearer tho funeral of the oldest reporter of Tha Oregonian and was called upon by thi minister without previous note or hint, to say a few words, he made the most impressive address I ever listened to; and It was my good fortune to hear Ingersoll nominate Blaine and Wendell Phillips) speak of Daniel O'Connell. "Mr. Scott Is deeply religious, though he has no patience with man-mada creeds that are held up as the epitome of divine truth, lie is easily the most profound theologian of the Pacific Coast, end nothing gives him more keen de light than public controversy with a churchman. He never fears his adver sary; the stranger who throws down the gauntlet usually feels sorry for himself when it's all over and he retains all his ife a wholesome respect for the editor a wisdom and skill in polemics.. Mr. Scott has done his full sharo toward treeing the human mind from superstition, but always with true reverence for God. "It Is embarrassing to write an esti mate of a conspicuously prominent man when you arc restrained by the thought that he may read it; still Oregon will bear me out in saying that measured by the highest intellectual standard, by tha most rigid rules that may be applied ta what we call character, and by his in fluence upon his fellow citizens. HarVej Scott is the foremost man of Oregon." Genral Charles II. Taylor. The first newspaper job of General Charles H. Taylor, like Scott a private in war. yielded him $1 a week. He left the Boston Traveler, on which he had been printer and reporter, to go to war, and when his fighting days were over he returned to that office. In tho evenings he studied shorthand, and when William Lloyd Garrison renounced his allegiance to the anti-slavery fight, he had become so .expert with it that he was able to take down the speech verbatim. Then, because the Boston papers did not con sider the speech worth giving space to, young Taylor, then 20, sent his copy to New York and received by return mall a check and an offer from the paper to become its Boston correspondent. The first year of his n ljority Taylor earned $4000 with his pen, a feat truly unusual in the history of writing. Like Otis, Scott, Watterson and other famous- members of the "Old Guard."; General Taylor "made" the paper with which his name has been connected so long. He became the Globe's "big man" when it was only a year old and in dan ger of going under, and he but 27. He started in with the idea of turning out a paper for the toiling masses and not for the Harvard professors, a policy which speedily brought him Buccesa. Today ha is recognized in newspaperdom as on of its leading authorities on what the great mass of people wan.t to read. Gen eral Taylor gets his military titlo from his service on the staff of Governor Rus sell. Henry Watterson. As every reading American knows, Henry Watterson has been one of the country's most-talked-about men for a quarter of a century. Indeed, he even has been mentioned -seriously several times for nomination for the Presidency. Of course, his editorial utterances have been read by countless thousands. It is doubtless true that no other editor now living has his editorials so widely read by laymen or followed so closely and commented on so frequently by newspaper workers. He,, too, is distinguished among the "Old Guard as its best public speaker. As an after-dinner orator he is excelled by few, and his oration delivered at the Chicago World's Fair gave him the reputation of being possessed of a silver ' tongue as well as a wonderfully' gifted pen. After Watterson had returned from tin war he and two other young fellows res urrected the Nashville Banner with JlOOfl raised by the father of one of the part ners placing a mortgage on his farm. And legend hath it that the first week of business the partners made enough money to lift the mortgage and purchase a good stock of supplies besides. At any rate, in less than a year the Banner had the inside track in Nashville and there were no longer eight, but just three dailies in that city. Watterson's success in Nashville se cured him the managing editor's chair of the old Louisville Journal. He had not been in that city long before he set about to bring his paper and its bitterest rival, the Courier, together. He succeeded the year he went to Louisville and became the real editorial power behind the -com bined enterprise, though he did not. suc ceed to the title of editor until a year or Continued on Pase"8.