State

Joseph Pearson Caldwell Here was one of (lie greatest editors tlie South ever produced. He was fearless and absolutely fair. His writings played au important part in for in i n g opinions throughout the State. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON said that obituary notices were not written on oath and never im¬ ported verity. This, however, is not an obituary but a coldly conservative estimate of a great life. Joseph Pear¬ son Caldwell was easily the most eminent editor of his day, and his most signal service to his State was in proclaiming the power of an inde¬ pendent press. He. was the first to demonstrate that a great paper could not only exist but could flourish with¬ out its editor being required to “give up to partv what was meant for man¬ kind.” The Scriptures enjoin us to “Mark the perfect man.” I do not claim perfection for Joe Caldwell, for lie .sometimes used intoxicants to excess; but if he did, this was merely the flaw in the diamond of a perfect character — a character still reflected in the press of our State. Born in Statesville He was born to the purple, for his father was an outstanding lawyer and prominent Congressman from States¬ ville, and it was here that the son grew to man’s estate. He never saw the inside of college walls, but he was an omnivorous reader and his mind absorbed knowledge as a sponge ab¬ sorbs water. In his early 'teens he displayed fondness for printer’s ink and soon became editor of the States¬ ville Landmark, remaining at its helm twelve years. He brought to his paper a more than statewide reputation, causing him to become known as one of the ablest editors in the land, for he made its columns gleam and glitter with the impress of a genius. His great gifts soon attracted the attention of the Charlotte industrial magnate and developer of his State, Daniel A. Tompkins, then owner of a moribund paper; and he invited Cald¬ well to become his partner and the editor of the paper, which soon became the Charlotte Observer. Caldwell ac¬ cepted the tender, but said: “If you expect me to edit the paper I’ll edit it, but you cannot tell me how. I'll be damned if I will ever edit a paper By К. C. LAWRENCE where every fellow who owns $5.00 worth of stoek can come in and tell me how to run it.” And not even Tompkins could influence, much less control, his editorial |iolicies. He would listen to and reason with any man, but after talking things over he did his own thinking and he always thought straight. He had a magnetism of manner which bound men to him with hoops of steel, and hundreds worshipped at his shrine. He soon gathered around him such men ns Howard A. Banks, whose powerful pen is yet remem¬ bered; H. E. C. (Red Buck) Bryant, most famous of all strictly newspaper reporters of the South, and who be¬ came his idol’s biographer; and the Moved John Charles McNeill, poet laureate of Carolina. All these men adored their chief and received from him the inspiration of their lives. He was not a hard taskmaster, and Avery and McNeill were free to come and go as they pleased. McNeill would at times disappear for days, for he was a dreamer of dreams, but one day he would turn up with on “October” or a “Oh Holy! Holy 1 Holy!” or with some exquisite picture in prose, racy of the soil of Carolina close to which the poet lived. From the Civil War to 1900 the Carolina press was strictly partisan. A paper was either Democratic or Republican, and any criticism of party policies on the part of an editor was practically unheard of. If a Demo¬ cratic paper chanced to make some criticism of the party policies, it was denounced as a “Damned Radical sheet in disguise,” and the ordinary man on the street had more respect for a paper of opposite political belief than for an independent paper. Indifferent to Criticism But when Caldwell rose to power all this was changed, for he took his motto from Seneca : “Oh Neptune, you may sink me if you will ; you may save me if you will; but whatever happens I will keep my rudder true." This was the fixed principle of his life, and when told by a reporter that he was being criticised by certain parties, his only reply was “Read Acts chapter 20, verse 24.” If you know your Bible you will know that this verse reads “But none of these things move me." When told that a preacher had said that if his subscription had not been pnid in advance he would stop the paper, his only answer was to send the irate minister a check to refund the amount of his subscription- -a check which the minister was ashamed to cash. So independent was lie that he would not accept passes from rail¬ roads nor allow his employees to do so : “Passes are found in the pockets of those bi-st able to pay fare; and they are not there without reason but to influence those who use them.” This from a North Carolina editor in the 'nineties of the last century, when there was no supervising authority to control the issuance of free transpor¬ tation, and when even Judges were known to use them freely. But ho was independent only where questions of principle were in¬ volved. lie was a firm believer in the principles of Jeffersonian Democracy and lie refused to follow his party into the wilderness of Bryanism and free silver. Warned that his adherence to the principles of stout-hearted Grover Cleveland, and that his devotion to the cause of the gold standard would cost his paper hundreds of subscribers, he merely said laconically "let them go." But only six subscribers left the Observer, and as soon as the election was over he got those back with ad¬ ditional accretions. He penned great words: "Defeat is not disgrace; it is not to be reckoned with or accounted when a principle is at stake. But to be both wrong and beaten is un¬ thinkable.” Fair to All Parties With its i«*de|>endence in politics, his paper was Known for it.- absolute fairness. While he intensely disliked Marion Butler, then Populist United ( Continued on page twenty-one)