An Editor

The Atlantic Monthly for September appeared on newsstands and in it a biographical chapter, The Portrait of an Editor, by Don C. Seitz, Business Manager of the New York Evening World. The chapter was taken from Mr. Seitz' book of the same title soon to be published.* With the permission of the Atlantic Monthly, the New York World also published the chapter, the subtitle of which read: "Joseph Pulitzer as He Was."

Said Mr. Seitz of his late friend and employer:

"He was always interesting, seldom companionable, taking all he could from the minds of others, but rarely giving much back, his method being to reap the benefits of an aroused defense. Thus he became a great hunter for facts. . . .

"Mr. Pulitzer read omnivorously. ... Like most of us who were fed educationally on Homer in our youth, Mr. Pulitzer reserved the Odyssey as a treasure to be enjoyed in later years. He had long looked forward to the celebrated episode of the wooden horse. Coming to the event he found it described in seven rather dull lines. 'I was so d--d mad,' he remarked, 'that I could have kicked Homer!'

"He did not care to have an inside share in moulding matters, wishing all his efforts to appear openly on the editorial pages of his newspapers.

"Extravagant as he was in expression, Mr. Pulitzer valued judgment that waited on facts. In one of the changes of a generation in the office, when the old heads vanished almost altogether, he caused each of the younger moulders of opinion to be given a beautiful set of gilded scales from Tiffany's--the hint was quite plain. ...

"To compress cables and telegrams a considerable code was developed through the years. For himself he selected the cipher word 'Andes,' modestly taking the name of the second highest altitude on the earth's surface. He commonly went by the code name in office conversation. . . . Colonel George B. M. Harvey was 'Sawpit'; James Gordon Bennett came over the cable as 'Gaiter' and William R. Hearst as 'Gush.' For William J. Bryan, two code designations were used: 'Guilder' and 'Maxilla,' the latter possibly a delicate reference to jaw. Pomeroy Burton became 'Gumbo,' perhaps as he himself said because he was 'so often in the soup.' The code amused Mr. Pulitzer and he was forever tinkering with it.

"When the World passed its 100,000 mark every employe received a silk hat with Mr. Pulitzer's best wishes. He usually closed all argument with a bet when the talk grew too strenuous, and the wager took the form of a hat--fre- quently five hats. . . ."

*By Simon & Sbuster.