Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 43, Number 226, 3 August 1918 — Page 5

PAGE FIVI Him (Q)CT(D)M RUMELY SUPERMAN V I Amazing Story of the Life of an American Citizen Who Placed German Institutions and Kultur Above the Traditions of His Native Land

THR RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1918.

Rumely Sought to Blind President to Hun Hand Behind the Evening Mail

Warned F. P. Stockbridge Not to Commit Himself with Mr. Wilson and to Assure Him That Newspaper Was Owned Entirely by Americans.

By Frank Parker Stockbridge, Late

By the time I reached New York again. en the Monday after the sinking of the Lttsitauln, the international situation so fur as America was concerned had as tinned a genuinely serious aspect The i t'WKpapers were beginning to discuss the legibilities of war: the "man in the rtreet" was, for the first time since the European . conflict began, beginning to bow his colors publicly. Up to that time mot Americans had been content to keep tlieir war sentiments to themselves; our German neignbors were the vocal one among us, and we were content to "let t.cra rave. Now, as If by common counsel and agreement, Americans were resenting fierman bluster and . braggadocio. Tb loud .mouthed fellows at whom we used to smile pityingly as they chortled their fierman triumph over their beer had sud tlcnly become offensive to lie; we began to realise that these people really justified Germany's ruthlessness; that they had lint been shocked but instead had been tinted by the .death of women and leibics our women and 'our babies-on t! e Lusitnnia. Some of us realized that the torpedo that sent the great Cunarder to the bottom had ended America'e neutrality and welded our people with the Allies at one stroke. "Are you guing rn with this newspaper project?'' I asked Dr. Itumely as soon as I met him it hi hotel. "Certainly. Why not?" he replied. Hard Row for ulril Xetrapa'per. "A neutral newspaper will have n hard row to boe viuce the Lusitnnia sinking," 1 answered. "I told you Inst autumn that America would have to get into this war aome time; this insures it." "That's nonsense," raid Dr. Rumely. You are excited by what the newspaper are savin?. I admit that it was a blunder; the Germans are stupid in their international ltlctions and this was a mistake thnt good diplomacy would have avoided. Rut it will blow over. Wilson won't fight. I have that on the best authority. Besides, the Lusitania was really a Bri'Uu war ship!" "How do you make that out?" "She earrii guns," he replied. "That is denied by every one who knows,' I rejoined. "Of course it is denied, but I have definite information, that I can rely on, that the Lusitania not only carried guns but a great cargo of munitions," he replied, with emphasis. It was my first contact with Dr. Rumlcy s "information from reliable sources." I Mas to hear a great deai tnore of the same nature. In the newspaper business we have a slang phrase lt indicate th? sources of so-called "news" that cannot be traced to any responsible authority. It is called "grapevine telegraph" news. As an operator on the "grapevine" line Dr. Rumely has had few equals in the newspaper business. Mr. MeCliire Deeply Concerned. Mr. McClure was greatly concerned t-ver the possibilities for embarrassment lo the new enterprise inherent in the Lusitania affair. "I shall have to keep a strong hand on the editorial page," he raid. "It will not do to let anything that could be twisted into an appearauce of iro-Oermanism get into the paper now fven though we try to maintain a neutral attitude." We had a long discussion, the rutcome of which was a consultation with Jr. Rumely in which we informed him that the Evening Mail, so far as international relations were concerned, could not mid must not take any position except tluit of backing up the President of the United States "I agree to that," said Dr. Rumely. "The President lias asked the American people to remain neutral; he Intends to remain neutral himself; we intend to publish a neutral newspaper." "Hut the President cannot continue to remain neutral unless Germany disavow the sinking of the Lusitania." I replied. 'This newspnper must follow him to whatever lengths that course takes us." "Germany will not disavow the Lusitania sinking and there will be no international complication," was the Doctor's Tiew. He was certain the President would not push matters to a crisis. "Very well, then," I said, "I am going to put the new management of the Evening Mail on record to that effect. I am going to see the President personally and tell him that the paper i going to stand behind him in all international matters. What shall I tell him about the ownership of the paper? "That it is all owned by American cltivens, of course." replied Dr. Rumely The President was to speak at Philadelphia that night I decided to try to see him there or to make an appointment for a later meeting in Washington. J

Managing Editor of the Evening Mail.

As I was leaving for the rhiladclphi; train Dr. Rumely drew roe to one side in the lobby of the Manhattan "Don't commit the Mail too far in your talk with the President" he said. "We cannot be bound to follow him in all policies and politics. "I shall use the utmost discretion," 1 assured him, gravely. I did At Philadelphia I saw the President's secretary, Mr. Tumulty, and made an appointment to see the' President himself the following morning in Washington. What is said in conversations with the President of the United States, especial ly what the President says, may not be disclosed publicly. I can only say that the President was much interested, that he understood the whole situation and my relation to it when I had finished, and that 1 understood his own viewpoint and attitude in reference to Germany and the war, Although Dr. Rumely had said he had all his financial arrangements made, there was a long and 'tedious delay before the newspaper was finally taken over, a delay that was rather aggravated than lightened by long sessions in lawyers' offices, ses sions at which Lnmbin und myself would frequently sit for hours in outer rooms, cooling our heels, waiting for Dr. Rumely, who seldom kept an appointment either with us or with any one else. Dr. Rumely attributed the delay to the difficulty in arriving at an exact figure of the Evening Mail's indebtedness; Lambin thought it was because he had not yet got the money. Details of Deal Arraajced. As I was supposed to nave nothing to Jo with the financial affairs of the Daner I paid little attention to the complicated arrangements that were made for the transfer of the' stock and the establishins of Dr. Rumely in financial control. A plan was agreed upon for the organiza tion of two news corporations, the S. S McClure Newspaper Corporation and the Evening Mail Syndicate. The first named was to be the holding company. It was to have an authorized capitalization of $3,000,000 and was to own the stock of the Mail and Express Company and of the Syndicate. Articles of incorporation were drawn up in the offices of Dr Rumely's personal attorneys, and there were also drawn up voluminous sets of bylaws for both of the new companies and for the Mail and Express Company. After these documents had all been pu into shape, satisfactory to Dr. Rumely. they had to be all revised and done over nvain. They were not satisfactory to Mr. S. Walter Kauffmann! . . Neither Lambin. myself nor Mr. McClure had heard of Mr. Kauffmann until .vithin a day or two of the taking over of the Evening Mail. It was evident, however, from the first time we met him that be exercised great if not controlling Mithority over the entire situation, and that Dr. Rumely, for some reason, felt it necessary to defer to Mi Kauffmann's w ishes in every respect. I was to see a good deal of Mr. Kauffmann later, and t.i learn a great deal about nis influence in the affairs of the Evening Mail. He was a lawyer, and the client for whom he war acting was Walter Lyon, then a member of a Stock Exchange firm that has since cone out of business. Renkorff. Lyon & Co. It has taken the United States Department of Justice investigators nearlj three years to discover that Walter Lyoi. was merely a "front" for Captain Heinlich Albert, the paymaster of the Imperial German Embassy! ' Itnmrlr rteeomea Tmpresalve. While all these legal preliminaries wert under way and accountants, with Lambin. were working on the books of the Mail and Express Company, Mr. McClnre, Dr. Rumely nn-i myself had frequent confer ences concerning the editorial policy of the paper. The Evening Mall as it war was an excellent foundation ' to build on Mr. McClure and I were for making the est newjiiaper we knew how; Dr. Rumely was concerned, even before wicquired possession of the property, with having the. deciding voice as to certain classes of features and articles. One day he brought to his rooms at the Manhattan Roger P. Babson. He had arranged with Mr. Babson, he said, for a series of fifty articles. These were to discuss the economic aspects of the war. I was familiar with Mr. Babson 's reputation as a statistician, but I could not see the public interest in fifty articles, even from his facile pen, especially after Dr Rumely named the. price he had promised to pay for them. . I protested against the reckless expenditure of money, for one thing, and against the purchase of articles without consulting the men who were, he

had promise;!, to be in sole charge of theinight. When Dr. Rumely returned next

editorial departments i the paper.

"V- - : , Cv'M

I II -TJPi "ttfOT W IN I

"I'll take care of this with a special appropriation," be said. "It will not be charged to editorial expense." He inusted, however, that Mr. Babson's demand that it.'; articles be set four columns wide in larse type be complied with. Complicated Conrsc to Steer. This was only one of many incidentspreliminary to the transfer of the news paper that made me realize th.it I had let myself in for nn extremely difficult game to play. There was a complication of obligations and loyalties, and failure to observe any one of them might makt it impossible to serve the others: vet at any time a situation might arise in which it would be impossible to determine on the spur of the moment exactly when the correct course lay. It was inevitable that news of the iin pending transfer of the Mail should leak out ; indeed, I was surprised that it dM not become known earlier than it did, so many people were by this time in the secret. On May 20 a morning newspaper published an Article from which the following is an extract: "It was reported yesterday that the New York Evening Mail had bren sold or was about to be sold and that Dr. Edward Rumely, of La Porte, Ind.. representing German capitalists, was the purchaser. It was also said that S. S. McClure, the publisher, would be identified with the new management. Despatches received last night from La Porte sa:.d that negotiations for the purchase of the Mail had been in progress Beveral weeks and that it was understood that the pol icy of the paper under its new owners would be decidedly pro-German." I tried to find Dr. Rumely ; he was no at any of the numerous places in whic h 1 had at previous times seen him. I fount" Mr. McClure, who was greatly disturbed We looked up Lambin, and the three ol us set out to find Dr. Rumely. "Why don't you issue a statement denying this?" I asked of Mr. McClure. "I want that statement to come froir Dr. Rumely," he said. "If he does not represent German capitalists it is up tc him to say so. I would like some further issurances from him myself." Spend Nlaht Hunting namely. We spent the entire afternoon am! evening hunting for Dr. Rumely. He was not to be found. Wre camped in the lobbv of the Manhattan . until the sweepers drove as out at two o'clock in the morning. Then Mr. McClure and I went to a Turkish bath for the remainder of the jday he had taken a trip to the country,

iipp- I DRAWN tv F. MATANIA FOR THE SPHERE l,aSP2aJjt S I LONDON, (g) IN THE UNITED STATES Zyzfio SINKING OF THE GIANT CUNARDER. LUSITANIA BY A QERMAN SUBMARINE MAY. 7. 1915'"

he saitl he renewed his positive assurances that no German money was to be invested in the Mail, and promised that when the transfer was actually concluded he would make a public statement to thai ffect. So far as I know he never made such a statement over his signature except to the United States Enemy Property Custodian. I have said that up to the day when the property was transferred Mr. Stoddard did not believe the money would be forthcoming. I think he was still sceptical when he was notified, on Juno 1. to bring his accounts aud the stock certificates of the Mail and Express Com pany to the offices of the Merchants' Ex change National Bank. It took nearly all the afternoon to gather into the directors' room on an upper floor of the bank building the numerous individuals vhoe presence was deemed necessary before the deal could be closed. There were Dr. Rumely and his lawyer. Mr. Stoddard and his attorney and accountant, Mr. Kauffmann and his secretary, officials of the bank anil clerks and messengers from various other banks and trust companies. Twenty persons or more were crowded into the room. Lambin and I. as officers and directors of the new corporations (I had been elected president of both ami Lambin secretary and treasurer) sat at one end of the long table and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Wanted, a Thousand Shares The one fact most clearly apparent was hat nobody present seemed to trust any one else. Mr. Kauffmann produced a cer ;ified cheque for $73o,C00 payable to and ndorscd by Walter Lyon. Dr. Rumely ndorsed this cheque and it was accepted y an offitinl of the bank as a deposit to he credit of the S. S. McClure News taper Corporation. Then the various holders of stock in the Mail and Express company were called upon to . produce their certificates. These were mostly officials of other banks, and they were very ager to see their money first. As cheques were drawn against the newly deposited f 735.000 and certified by an officer of the bank, stock certificates were reluctantly pulled out of brief cases and placed on the table. "Come on," said Dr. Rumely's attorney. "'Who has that thousand shares? When is it?" - "It" was on the table, with a bank rr.es; senger clutching the package tightly. The la..yer held a cheque 'n his hand. The bnnk messenger scrutinized it carefully. the lawyer retaining his bold on the other end of the paper. Slowly the package of

certificates was shoved across the table. The lawyer put is hand on them. Thi bank man reached for the cheque. A.' they stood there, each waiting for th

Jther to let go, it made a scene for tin "movies !" Slowly and in this fashion the stock of the Mail and E"xpress Company came oui of bags and packages and was handetl across the table in exchange for certi fied cheques. Once the holders of th stock fully grasped the fact that it was real money, the transactions moved a little faster and the look of doubt and suspicion that had been worn by most of them gave place to expressions of delight. Lambin counted' the certificates as they were gathered in. Then the count was checked up. The total was a thousand shares short! "Who's got that thousand shares?" demanded the lawyer. One of the bank messengers produced them from h;s bag. Every one reached for his hat and all began talking at once. At last the big game was on ! To a newspaper man the most interesting and the funniest things that hap pened durijg Di. Rumely's control of the Evening Mail were events involving the technique and practic.'; of newspaper making rather than the manifold manifes tations of a point of view on bis part that was anything but neutral. 1 shall try to resist as far as possible the inclination to burden this narrative with tales of technical blunders and absurdities that would have wrecked the property even a!l:e M. Uuitiely Company had beei a recked had it not been for a constant steady inflow of new capital. It 'was the same story over again, ... effort to :w pose a mass of uew am tutried ideas or ideas that were old am md been discarded by experienced news , aper 'men oa a tnisiitess that wasn't -tfong enough to stand tLem. I think tin looks of the Mail and Express Compaiij vill bear me out in the assertion that Dr. Rumely had curried out his oft repeated threat to go to Germany.' and har ;iay?d there for a year, the newspaper would have made a profit in 191G instead; -f ft loss of .lo0.000 or so. Just as in the management of tht Rumely company at La Porte, Dr. Rumely in the Evening Mail scattered new ideas ngnt ana leit, demanding their instant I execution, expecting immediate result ( i ir -!

aim ueiuy supping me oiame to otuers j business manager and his staff and myself for' their failure. - Those who refused toicnd my staff was continuous and eomnlet.

be made the "goats" were promptly and j

bitterly accused of conspiracy to under-'best

nine his authority, of failure to "follow hrough" or of inability to do team work And as in the Rumely Company, the .dace was infested with a constant pro--essiou of "experts." Dream of Notion Picture Magazine. The Evening Mail had for many years jublished an illustrated Saturday maga;inc supplement; it was, I believe, the triginator of the Saturday supplement dea, so far as New York city is con-

ernea, at least. I irst came along a moion picture "expert" who persuaded the loetor that he could convert the Saturlay magazine into a motion picture -eekIy and make $100,000 a year with it. He didn't that goes without saying. Then i pentleman of Austrian birth I have forgotten ihe name, but the memory of his personality will linger long was introduced by Dr. Rumely as the "expert" who would put the Motion Picture Mail on its feet, lie had made a great suc cess with illustrated weeklies in Berlin and Munich ! This "expert" made himself such a nuisance that cne department h'ad after another served notice on Dr. Rimely that either he would resirn or the man from Vienna must kep away from him. Finally the "expert" disclosed his great scheme for giving the Motion Picture ?.fail a mi Hi on circulation he would print the photograph of a nude woman on the front cover of every issue ; that was the way they did it in Germany ! Exit expert. Exit also, after a while. r!if Motion Picture Mail. Effort to Print Good Newspaper. Leaving ail question of German pro pa anda out of consideration for the mo ment, there was a decided and conscious effort from the beginning, on the part of t'lose charged ith responsibility for the different departments of the newspaper, to make it the best newspaper possible under the 'fouble handicap of the doctor's meddling inefficiency and the stigma of pro Germanism which had to be met and overcome at every turn. There was the test team work I have ever seen in any rganization. .Mr. Lambin, tie first business manager under the sew regime, had refused from the beginnicg to consider more than a three months' engagement: he had Committed himself to another concern before we tound n:m. tie brought m as his succ essor an extremely able and efficient man. The co-operation between the new . When the Question was one between the interests of the paper and some ruin-

L IntiMnjllhuniiE afci a 'mi flUBim rt lft WiiiMMiil iICi out or impractical order from Dr. Rumely there was no question where oar duty lay. Dr. Rumely was the nominal bead of the organization, the by-laws providing that the vice president should be the executive. We were both officer and director! of the company, however, and on the i-ooka a large stock interest was held, ot in Dr. Rumely's name, but in that of Walter Lyo:.. We did not know Walter Lyon I am not sure bot I met him .once in Doctor Rumely's rooms at the Manhattan aud we did not know whether be represented himself or somebody else. No Bed of Itoara. For a long time tve had a strong ally in Mr. S. Walter Kauffmann. the lawyer who represented the controlling interest in the Evening Mai.. - Mr. Kauffmann always referred to this interest as "my clients:" naturally, I never asked hint wbo they were. Hia clients, however, were apparently interested at first in puting the Evening Mai! on a paying basis, and for a year or so, until he went to Germany in 1916, he not only backed up every reasonable position taken in opposition to Dr. Rumely's desires but apparently waa in a position to enforce his decisions upon Doctor Rumely. After his return from Germany his power, in this respect seemed to have been curtailed: certainly he exercised far leas control over the internal affairs of the Evening Mail than he had formerly wielded. It may be gathered from the foregoing that life on the Evening Mail was not exactly a bed of roses. It was not. And in the editarial end of the paper using the term in its broaJ sense of includi:;; news, "features" tnd all other reading matter the problem was further compli cated by a very definite responsibility. first to America and American, 'principle and, second, to the readers of the newspaper. With Dr. Rumely's consent I had pledged the paper to the support of the President in his foreign policies. Dr. Rumely had assured Mr. McClure and me that the paper was to be neutral, and we had joined the euterprise on that representation. We very quickly discovered that "neutrality" was a word susceptible of more than one interpretation. It would be unneutral, for; instance, to accept the conclusions of the Bryce report on German atrocities, but it was perfectly neutral to denounce Great Britain for that nation's "interference" with American commerce! Activities on Editorial Fase. I cannot say that I was surprised to discover that Dr. Rumely's conception of neutrality was made t.i Germany. His disclosure to me of hia German viewpoint bad been so complete that I had expected noth'ng else: I was surprised only at his apparent lack of fineness in his efforts to Germanize the Evening Mail. To Mr. - McClure, however, th situation as it quickly developed came n a surprise and a ahock. His regard ' r Dr. Rumely was affectionate, almost paternal. It srtieved him to the heart 4o sec a dozen letters to the editor Justifying the sinking of tlic Lusitania, for example, printed on the same page with one of hia own decidedly tin-German editorial arti cles. . For vtry early witbit. a few days after control of the paper passed Dr. Rumely asserted his personal control of the editorial page and began to dictate not only ihe aiibjecta and tenor of editorirj articles but the character of oiber natter appearing on the page. Mr. McClure protested to the Doctor (-rnin and again, and I was not silent. More than once Mr. McClure ttaeatened to take his name down from the bead ot the editorial page. One of the surest mer.ns of keeping the paper on the straight course. I believed, was to ma l it as far as possible with men whose Americanism could not be ques tioned ; men, too, when I could get tbem, who would take a vigorous stand in opposition to any effort to pervert their view point There were many such, I .soon found, alrealy on the fnff of the Ma.l. Staff as Whole Good Mea. It was not a large staff, but except for a few "pensioners" such a every news paper that has been long under one mangcraent tccamulates, it was a good staff f capable craftsmea in the arts and trades that enter into the manufacture t a modern newspaper. A few who did not fit itto the scheme of things were let -ut, with rejret Naturally, it was not always easy to get ?ood r.ewspaper men to work on a paper that was publicly under suspicion of pro Germanism. It would have defeated the. very purpose I was trying to serve to reveal it. I was of course under suspicion among those who did not know me, having come into the organization with Dr. rtumely. It soon became apparent that .nen whom I brought into the organiza tion were suspected by Dr. Kumely of ba. ;ng unfriendly to him. -Not ail of these suspicions, I have sine iearned, were well founded. But nobody who saw the procession of unmistakably Teutonic Journalists and near-Journalista that marched in and out of Dr Rumely's private office daily couid have had any aoubt that every pro-Uerman newspaper man on this side of the Atlantic had got the tip that the Mail had paased Into German hands. . . By the end of 1915. six months after ths Mail had changed hands. Mr. McClure ha ' given up the fight and was on his way to t-urope with Henry Ford and the peace party in the Oscar II.. and Dr. Rumely had arranged a nice little chute, carefi.ii. greased, down which he proposed to slide me. I didn't want to slide. It was not that I valued or erjoyed my Job particularly a Job as a job has never ddmi. to me very strongly and I have rone alone rice!y for years at a time without a lob. But to step out at that time didn't appeal to me as a sporting thing to do. (In the next article Mr. Stock bridge tells how Dr. Rumely's ac- . tivities began to arouse the inter est of the Secret Service).