Obituaries

Newspaper men great in their profession are often practically unknown to the general public. The triumphs, the beliefs, the eccentricities of this or that famous editor will expand into a legend or harden into a tradition within the confines of the trade itself, and yet the man himself will remain for those who read his publication merely a phantom, a dim portentous name one seems to have heard before. Very few of the many million people who read last month the various obituaries of Frank A. Munsey, grocery millionaire and newspaper owner, had any definite idea of the late Mr. Munsey's personality. A famed man was dead. His obituary would therefore be a decorous arrangement of time-worn slugs: "Mourned by his employes . . . his lofty idealism . . . the inspiration of those. . . . He rose from humble beginnings to . . . splendid leadership . . . associates filled the church . . ." De mortuis, nil nisi bonum. The people who skip obituaries skipped Mr. Munsey's; the people who read obituaries read his through to the end, though sometimes puzzling sentences made them stare hard to make sure they had read them correctly--sentences that seemed to say one thing but might--well, that might be taken as saying another.

It remained for William Allen White in the Emporia Gazette to say aloud, in curt, furious English, what so many others were trying to hint. His obituary of Mr. Munsey follows, complete:

"Frank Munsey, the great publisher, is dead.

"Frank Munsey contributed to the journalism of his day the talent of a meat packer, the morals of a money changer and the manners of an undertaker. He and his kind have about succeeded in transforming a once noble profession into an 8% security.

"May he rest in trust!"

The New Republic said:

"Not everyone would state the case as vigorously as does William Allen White; but his main judgment is one with which we feel most journalists who had had an opportunity for watching the career of Mr. Munsey closely will agree."