Joel Chandler Harris' life of Henry W. Grady including his writings and speeches

by Unknown

THE Atlanta Constitution came into being in the seething chaos of reconstruction. The name suggests the issue of which it was born and the cause which gave it life and strength at the beginning of its career. Georgia was being reconstructed under military supervision, against the will of a vast majority of the people, and there was no journal published in Atlanta which gave adequate expression to the sentiment of a million people. The old Intelligencer, which had been the clarion of war times, was no longer equal to the emergency. It had bravely breasted the storm of war, dodging about between bomb-shells and issuing forth defiant, one day in one town and one day in another, sometimes even setting up its press in a box car. But for the more trying times of reconstruction it was not adequate. The fiery tone and dauntless attitude were gone and it began to counsel for the things that were. While the people were idolizing Ben Hill for his superb defiance and applauding the unreconstructed and unterrified Toombs, there was no paper to voice the deep and unconquerable sentiment against reconstruction and for the re-establishment of the State constitution.

It was then that the Constitution appeared. When Messrs. W. A. Hemphill and J. H. Anderson bought a little sheet called Public Opinion, and put Colonel Carey Styles in charge as editor, he named it The Constitution, and the name became its shibboleth and its issue. The editor was a bold and fearless writer and a fiery and impetuous orator. His editorials glowed with defiance of the reconstructionists, and his speeches were iridescent with burning denunciation. Writing and speaking on the side of the people, he made the paper immensely popular, and the enterprise of the proprietors kept it rolling on the crest of the tide.

From the first the Constitution was a more enterprising news-gatherer than any of its contemporaries. It was the first to employ special correspondents in all parts of the State and the South. The system which has since become comprehensive and well-nigh perfect was then in its beginning, but it was something new in Georgia, and attracted attention. It was in this way that Mr. Grady was employed to go with the press excursion which passed through North Georgia, looking and writing to the development of the resources of the State, and his “King Hans” letters on that trip gave the first news from the important points of the excursion.

In those early days the Constitution was not without literary attractions. The associate editor with Colonel Styles was Mayor J. R. Barrick, a genial gentleman, much beloved by his acquaintances and known to the public as a scholar and poet. He had been a protégé of George D. Prentice, who had recognized in the young man literary talent of no common order.

In those days editorials were of the first importance. The State was being reconstituted, and great questions that went down to the foundations of government were being discussed. The orators of the day were Ben Hill, Toombs, Alexander Stephens, and scores of lesser but not inconsiderable lights. Speeches were matters of vital importance to newspapers and the public, and the leading orators were always stenographically reported. The modern synopsis would not then suffice. There were giants in those days, and the people hung upon their words; their utterances must be given in full. Editorials must rise to the same level, and great questions must be handled with the same dignity and earnestness. Men were not too busy to think and read, and they demanded mental pabulum that was strong and rich. Talent was at a premium, and its services easily commanded good pay. The owners of the Constitution were the first to realize the priceless value of Mr. Grady’s genius, and when he was yet a college boy under age, Mr. Hemphill, who had lived in Athens, where Mr. Grady grew up, made his guardian a proposition to buy an interest in the Constitution for Mr. Grady on condition that he should take the position of managing editor. From then until Captain Howell employed him in 1876, the Constitution never lost sight of Mr. Grady. While attending the University of Virginia he contributed to the paper, and on his return he was engaged by the editor to represent the Constitution on the press excursion referred to above.

The mechanical appliances of Southern newspapers at that time were vastly out of proportion to the matter then carried. The Constitution was born and swaddled in a store-room on Alabama Street. It was a long room with a skylight, and printer’s cases were arranged along the wall on either side. In front was the business office, and in one corner a little room was partitioned off for the editors. There was a freemasonry between printers and editors, and the whole force glowed with enthusiasm for the cause which was epitomized in the paper’s name.

After reconstruction became a fact the State swarmed with aliens, and the people were goaded to fury under negro and carpet-bag government. The Capitol was infested with unknown men suddenly thrust into power, and they carried extravagant measures with a high hand. A Republican Governor was in office, and the venerable Secretary of State, Colonel N.C. Barnet, lately deceased, had gone out, carrying with him the great seal of the State, which he refused to allow affixed to any official act of men ushered into office by the military authorities. The State was involved in lottery schemes and loaded down with railroad bonds on which Treasurer Angier, a sturdy Republican, had refused to put his signature. The sessions of the Legislature were held in a great opera house sold to the State by private parties for an enormous price. In the building was a restaurant, confectionery shop, and velocipede rink. It was a scene decried, and the proceedings of the Legislature were daily denounced by the press and people. Among the boldest and most scathing critics of those disgraceful transactions was the Constitution, and its editor in his public speeches smote the participants hip and thigh. The fight was on for the redemption of the State, and it was waged without ceasing till the yoke was thrown off and a Democratic Governor was elected in 1872. In all that fight the Constitution was the leading newspaper, and from the beginning the battle was waged with the uncompromising fervor that had characterized its opposition to the reconstructionists. In both these contests it was with the people, and in its columns they found free and full expression. The bitterness of those days has died out, and many of the sturdiest opponents have become friends; differences of judgment have long since been allowed admissible, but the friendships cemented in the heat of those contests are deep and abiding, and for its gallant services then the Constitution is still endeared to the people of Georgia.

With the redemption of the State from negro and carpet-bag rule, there was no local political issue of transcendent importance. The State was safe, and people began to look about and take account of what was left from the wreck of war and reconstruction. The country was in a deplorable condition, and its rehabilitation almost a work of despair. In the midst Atlanta had begun to rise out of the ashes, and the brave spirits that gathered here had already made a name for the new city, which began to be looked upon as something more than a Phoenix; but all around was desolation. The plantations were in a deplorable condition, fences were rotting, and houses were going to decay. The first flush times of peace and greenbacks had passed, and the panic of 1873 left every interest depressed. It was then that the effects of war and waste were fully felt, and then that the stoutest hearts were tried. Labor was restless and hard to control, the planter was out of funds and interest was high, real estate outside a few favored localities was depreciating, and the farmers were almost at the point of desperation.

In all this hopelessness there were a few hopeful spirits, here and there one that could chirp. The hot days of politics were past and the newspapers must look to other fields. The Constitution was the first to look to the development of the State’s resources as the new opportunity for journalistic enterprise. This was a reconstruction in which the people could take part; the Constitution had fought the one, it would lead the other. From that time until now development has been the Constitution’s most important mission, and in that field its most earnest efforts have been put forth. Constructive journalism was a new thing, and the Constitution became the pioneer. Men might differ on matters of public policy, but no one could afford to differ with a newspaper devoted to building up its environment, its city, State, and section.

Here in Atlanta the effect of this new policy was first felt, and here are its richest results; but helpfulness is contagious, and everywhere the Constitution touched there was a better feeling, and on account of that feeling it touched farther and farther. Coupling with this constructive policy a news system of unprecedented thoroughness, the Constitution became inseparably connected with the life of the people. It was in touch with them everywhere in Georgia and the surrounding States, and finally its beneficent influence spread throughout the whole South, inspiring, encouraging, building up. While some old statesmen were conducting in its columns a discussion as to whether Georgia was growing richer or poorer, the policy of repair was unremittingly pursued; and before the death of Alexander Stephens, who had cried out that the State was going to decay, the signs of new life had already appeared and people began to talk about a New South.