“Wallace’s Monthly.”
At a very early period in the history of the “Trotting Register” Mr. Wallace perceived the necessity of there being some medium of communication with the breeders which he could control. This was one of several reasons, which need not here be detailed, the outcome of which was the establishment of the publication which has played a greater part than any other in developing the trotting literature of to-day, and in leading American thought on the science of breeding—Wallace’s Monthly. The first number came out in October, 1875, with Benjamin Singerly, publisher, and John H. Wallace, editor. Mr. Singerly was an uncle of Hon. William M. Singerly, of the Philadelphia Record, and had large printing establishments in Harrisburg and Pittsburg, Pa. The first twelve numbers of Wallace’s Monthly were printed in Harrisburg, though published from the outset from New York. Benjamin Singerly died in August, 1876, from which time Mr. Wallace carried on the publication himself, from the little office at 170 Fulton Street, overlooking St. Paul’s churchyard.
In accordance with the time-honored custom in journalism, the first number of Wallace’s Monthly contained a salutatory outlining its purposes and its policy, and in almost every detail that policy was honestly lived up to while Mr. Wallace controlled the magazine. The horse was to be made the leading, but not the exclusive feature; full trotting and running summaries with indexes were to be published; correspondence was invited; and, as a cardinal principle of policy, gambling in any and all forms was to be uncompromisingly fought against. This last detail of policy Mr. Wallace rigidly adhered to always. He opposed public betting in any form and under any pretense, and believed, and acted up to the belief, that if racing could not be maintained without betting it were better that grass should grow on the tracks. The first number of the Monthly contained a descriptive article by “Hark Comstock,” and some selected matter, but was chiefly the editor’s work—mostly concise historical matter, dealing with the early progenitors of the trotting breed.
With each number the Monthly strengthened, until soon it had gathered around it the brightest writers in the country. Notwithstanding this, however, the editorial department was always its strongest feature, and it rapidly became a power in the land. Among the earliest contributors were “Hark Comstock” (Peter C. Kellogg), always a fluent writer, and one of the most versatile special pleaders on horse topics known to the turf press; Charles J. Foster, the gifted “Privateer,” whose work, from a literary standpoint, was oftentimes a model of finish; “Yah Amerikanski” (Spencer Borden), and “S. T. H.” (S. T. Harris), both brilliant, especially in controversy; H. T. Helm, Levi S. Gould, and many others prominently known in turf literature a quarter of a century ago.
Spirited controversy early became a feature of the Monthly, and in these passages-at-arms the editor was generally found taking a leading hand. As a writer Mr. Wallace was always above all things forceful. He fortified himself in theory and fact amply, and his style was so direct, yet comprehensive, that every shot told, and even those who disagreed with him were forced to read and admire these spirited discussions. Mr. Wallace moreover early impressed the public with his uncompromising honesty, and with the fact that, above all things, he had the courage of his convictions. There was no dodging issues, no dallying or compromising with humbug of any sort; a spade was called a spade, and no consideration of “policy” brought a note of indirection into the Monthly’s editorial pages. The personality of the editor was ineffaceably stamped on his magazine, and its influence became potent for good far beyond the limitations of mere circulation.
The magazine became quickly the leader in thought on breeding subjects, and hardly an advanced idea that to-day prevails in this field of literature but can be found first suggested in the Monthly. The first table of trotters under their sires was published in Wallace’s Monthly for 1877; the standard was first suggested in its pages; the pacer as an origin of trotting speed was first advanced in February and March, 1883; it was the first to formulate and advocate and put to the test a scale of points for judging horses; and above all it was the power that educated breeders to an understanding of breeding on truly scientific principles, and brought about an acceptance and appreciation of the laws of heredity as applied to breeding the trotter. And, interspersed with this continual seeking for the light and the right, there was an amount of historical matter published that would make the compilation of a valuable book on the American trotter possible from the Monthly alone. It was, moreover, continually exposing frauds of history and of pedigrees, and was as potent in guarding as it was in discovering the truth. It was the recognized enemy of fraud, of humbug, of false pretense everywhere, and attacked them in high places as well as low, and that its editor incurred the enmity of many whose designs attracted the Monthly’s searchlight, and were thwarted by it, is a fact known of all men.
This, in brief, was the character of the Monthly from its foundation, until it passed out of Mr. Wallace’s hands. To follow its detailed history through the nearly sixteen years of Mr. Wallace’s editorship is not the purpose of this article, but the rather to group the salient factors that made it what it was, and that have secured for it an enduring place in trotting history.
The Monthly was from the first illustrated, and the progress in horse art is well demonstrated by tracing through its pages. Its first drawings were made by James C. Beard, who came of a race of artists, but whose attempts at horse portraits were wretched caricatures, one and all. Still, they seemed to be the best, or rather the least bad, then obtainable. Mr. Wallace, however, was painfully cognizant of the lack of truthful portraits of horses, and was not less delighted than surprised when, one September day in 1878, a young man came into his office, and exhibited drawings that were so obviously truthful portraitures that they were a revelation in horse art. A rapid questioning as to whether he had drawn them, and where he had hidden his light so long, developed that the young genius was Herbert S. Kittredge, of Pennsylvania. He was immediately engaged, and his work in the Monthly was the first reputable horse portraiture in American literature. This gifted, self-educated genius died in May, 1881, long before his prime, and when his powers were daily developing. He was the forerunner of Whitney, Dickey, Morris, and others whose ability to faithfully portray horses is acknowledged to-day. He had not the mechanical aids—notably the camera—or processes which they so freely call into play, but in true artistic ability to draw faithfully, it is doubtful whether this undeveloped master was the inferior of any artist who has yet made horse portraiture a specialty in any country.
From year to year the contributory staff of Wallace’s Monthly increased, and always had in its membership a number of the leading breeders and students. For many years Mr. Wallace did practically all the editorial work himself, as in fact he did the registration work. But this gradually outgrew him, and soon his office staff began to increase. First he removed the office to 212 Broadway, not far from its first location. Then in May, 1887, the final move was made to commodious offices in the Stewart Building, at Broadway and Chambers Street, when the office staff had grown until more than a dozen assistants were employed on all the publications.
Among the earliest editorial assistants on the Monthly was C. T. Harris, later trotting editor of the Spirit of the Times, and still more recently of The Horse Review, a faithful and conscientious worker. Later Gurney O. Gue, a clever writer, and exceptionally well grounded in facts of pedigree and record, occupied a desk with the Monthly, and is now one of Mr. Dana’s “bright young men” on the Sun. In 1886 Leslie E. Macleod became associate editor, and continued in that capacity until 1890. He subsequently became managing editor of The Horseman, and later editorial writer of The Horse Review.
Of contributors, among the best known may be named, in addition to those enumerated as identified with the Monthly at the start, General B. F. Tracy, Allen W. Thompson, Samuel Hough Terry, “Mark Field” (Jas. M. Hiatt), “O. W. C.” (O. W. Cook), Thos. B. Armitage, “Mambrino” (H. D. McKinney), Otto Holstein, “Bill Arp,” “Aurelius” (Rev. T. A. Hendrick), A. B. Allen, “Fidelis,” Harvey W. Peck, Benjamin W. Hunt, “Roland” (Leslie E. Macleod), Major Campbell Brown, F. G. Smith, Judge M. W. Oliver, Prof. Chas. T. Luthy, Colonel F. G. Buford, John P. Ray, “Vision” (W. H. Marrett), H. C. Goodspeed, and others.
The last number of Wallace’s Monthly issued under Mr. Wallace’s editorship was published in July, 1891. It then passed to the American Trotting Register Company, at Chicago, and its degeneration was rapid, and in a few months it died for lack of brains. Robbed of its virility and of its purpose, without editorial direction, and aiming only to lead a harmless existence, and to say or do nothing to offend any one of a score of directors and hundreds of stockholders, it soon began to lead a useless existence, and dropped out of the notice of thinking men. It became the antithesis of all that it had been, and its end was a pitiable one for a publication with a history of sixteen years of fearless, honest, able direction.