Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/137

128 wrote frequent editorials on historical topics, and he served as the first president of the Oregon Historical Society, organized in 1898.

On his personal side, Scott throughout his career worked so hard, read so much, studied so deeply that he had little time for the lighter things of life. Even in his home, the thing that was singled out for comment by such men as Alfred Holman, his brilliant associate on the Oregonian for many years, and Charles H. Chapman was his extensive library. He cared nothing for sports. And yet there is every indication that his contacts with his fellows—business and professional men, reporters, printers —were smooth. Printers who worked for him never lost a feeling of admiration and personal loyalty. To the men on the Oregonian staff he was "the old man," and this was spoken affectionately. He was capable of explosions on such occasions as when a pat phrase of his would be ruined by a printer and neglect ed by a proofreader. But this did not always cause a blow-up. There was that occasion, related by the late Alan B. Slauson, when, in the early part of a political campaign, Scott had quoted the literary phrase, "We shall meet at Philippi." By the time the printers and proofreaders had finished and the paper had come out, this phrase in Scott's editorial read, "We shall meet at Philadelphia." The proof reader's explanation that, as everybody knew, the convention was to meet in Philadelphia that year was accepted by Scott, who threw up his hands in despair and let it go at that.

Scott, like a true pioneer, cared little for dress. He had to be reminded when he needed a new suit. On one occasion, as Alfred Holman relates (15), he referred to a battered old hat as having "reached a perfect development," since "nothing more can happen it."

Though Harvey Scott was absent from the Oregonian five years (1872-77) and was connected with the Portland Daily Bulletin for part of that period, the Bulletin connection was short, not more than a few months. He did, however, contribute editorials over a period of two years or so. This part of his career is not emphasized by writers on Scott and the Oregonian, who appear to regard this connection as rather incidental and episodic. One editorial credited to Scott (16) appeared in the Bulletin December 10, 1872. It came on the heels of one of those Republican grand slams in national politics, the Grant victory of 1872. Under the heading "Can These Dry Bones Live?" he argued that there was no use trying to revive the Democratic party after the current licking. . . . "Nothing," he wrote, "is more common than the flippant remark that a party is dead because it has been defeated; and often the observation is far from truth and fact. The Democratic party, however, does indeed seem moribund; not because it has been defeated, but because its ideas and theories are totally rejected by the American people. The verdict of the Civil war appears to be accepted by the country as an irrevocable condemnation of the