Mr. Grady declared his unshaken affection for his partner, and pledged his aid to him in his purposes to unite Atlanta and keep the sale of liquor within bounds. As for his own part in the campaign, he expresses himself in these remarkable words:
When everything else I have said or done is forgotten, I want the words I have spoken for prohibition in Atlanta to be remembered. I am prouder of my share in the campaign that has ended in its defeat than of my share in all other campaigns that have ended in victory. I espoused its cause deliberately, and I have worked for its success night and day, to the very best of my ability. My only regret is that my ability was not greater.
This reunion of the owners of the Constitution was the prompt example which set a pattern for the community. Within a year from the close of the bitterest campaign in Atlanta’s history, one in which many a house and many a family was divided against itself, the acrimony had almost entirely disappeared. The wounds of the campaign were healed and the soreness of defeat had disappeared; Atlanta was re-united, and on every side were signs of prosperity and good-will. In another twelvemonth she had to enlarge her girth a quarter of a mile all round; nine hundred houses were built, every one was filled, and there was a pressing demand for more. The Constitution turned from this struggle with its owners more strongly cemented by personal friendship than ever before, and in the closing weeks of 1889 the paper touched a higher mark of prosperity than it had ever known.
After Mr. Grady’s death the Constitution pursued the even tenor of its way. Saddened by that great calamity the late editor’s associates realized that there was great work for them to do. The succession to the management was as natural as the passing of one day into another. Mr. Clark Howell, Jr., eldest son of the editor-in-chief, had been on the paper six years, first as night editor and then as assistant managing editor. In Mr. Grady’s absence he had been in charge, and in taking the position of managing editor at twenty-six years of age, he assumed duties and responsibilities that were not new to him. He was fortified by an extensive personal acquaintance formed not only in his newspaper experience, but in two terms of active service as a representative of Fulton County in the Legislature, having been nominated for the first term before he was twenty-one years of age.
Mr. Howell won his spurs as a newspaper man before he was twenty. On graduating from the University of Georgia in 1883 he went to the New York Times as an apprentice in its local department. It was Captain Howell’s policy to throw his son on his own resources, and the moderate allowance during college days, was almost entirely withdrawn when young Clark went to New York. A young reporter working on twelve dollars a week was sorely put to it to make ends meet in a great city like New York. From the New York Times city department Mr. Howell went to the Philadelphia Press, assisting in the news editing department. It was while he was in Philadelphia, with very little cash, that he seized an opportunity to make some money and a good deal of reputation. Samuel J. Tilden was being urged to allow the use of his name for the second Presidential nomination. He had not said yea or nay, and the country was anxiously awaiting his decision, for his consent would have settled the question of Democratic leadership. Mr. Howell went to New York for the Constitution, and his interview with Mr. Tilden was the first announcement of the old statesman’s determination not to enter the contest again. That night Mr. Howell telegraphed the news to two hundred papers, and the interview with the sage of Gramercy Park was read on two continents. The young journalist who had scored a scoop on all the ambitious newspaper men of the country received flattering notices from the press, besides the comforting addition of $400 to his almost invisible cash.
Mr. Howell then came on the Constitution as night editor, and was afterward promoted to the position of assistant managing editor. What native ability and six years of training did for him was made manifest very soon after he assumed his new responsibility.
For days the letters and telegrams of condolence and tributes to Mr. Grady filled the paper, and to that and the monument movement all other matter was, for the time, made subordinate. When at last the burden of the people’s grief had found full expression, the Constitution turned itself with renewed vigor to its work. Captain Howell was on deck, the new managing editor plunged into every detail, and soon a general improvement was the result; the Constitution took on new life. Then Mr. Howell turned on all his energies and put the magnificent machinery at his disposal up to its full speed. The daily issues drew daily commendations of their excellence from the press, and the first twenty-four-page Sunday’s edition was pronounced by many the best the Constitution had ever issued.
The people realized that the Constitution, though it had suffered a great loss in Mr. Grady’s death, was still in strong hands, and from all parts of its territory came renewed expressions of confidence and sympathy. So the Constitution continues its work, enlarging and improving as it goes, ever looking to the future while it cherishes a magnificent past which it could not and would not let die.
Letters and Telegrams