19103 A Picturesque Journalist 



manifestly unequal as a whole in their social and M y hope- 

 political contributions. I attempted a quiet and f ulvie 

 unprejudiced statement of conditions as they are, 

 with an expression of belief that time would bring 

 slow betterment especially as vocational training 

 raises the economic level of the negro and mulatto 

 along lines laid down by Booker T. Washington. 

 After the conclusion of the address I was encouraged 

 by a brief speech from a gentleman who had been 

 across Canada to Victoria, where he had spent some 

 days studying American problems, and who assured 

 the audience that my conclusions were sound! 



From William T. Stead I one day received an 

 invitation to call at his office and go with him for 

 luncheon to the Savoy. He received me in very off- 

 hand fashion. I had taken some pains to array myself 

 in top hat and frock coat, but apologized as soon as 

 I saw my host, who wore a loose gray sack, by no 

 means new, and a gray cap which he tucked into 

 his pocket on entering the hotel. His conversa- 

 tion was immensely entertaining, everything he 

 touched being picturesquely illuminated. Devoted 

 to peace, after the Boer War he actively opposed all 

 persons instrumental in bringing it on, finally driv- 

 ing every one of them from office; yet he did not 

 seem wholly estranged from the idea of war as a 

 noble sport. William Randolph Hearst interested 

 him, and he said that if Hearst could be converted 

 to a definite progressive policy he would be an 

 immense power for good because of his journalistic 

 skillfulness and his vivid ways of putting things. 

 "If moral interest were added, what a man he would 

 make!" But to my mind Hearst was past reclaiming; 

 he never had and never could have any permanent 



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