sary matter, put it into type, turned the crank of the printing machine, and attended to the distribution of the paper.

Had they not possessed uncommon talents for the newspaper business they would have failed as did many other publishers, who, better provided with money, were for a period their competitors, and whose names with those of their papers are forgotten. So quick and continuous was the Chronicle's process of development that ere long it shed the word "Dramatic," and in 1868, it became a regular daily newspaper. From the inception of their journalistic work the proprietors had broad plans. In the opening announcement in the very first number of the Dramatic Chronicle, they said "We shall do our utmost to enlighten mankind of the actions, intentions, sayings, doings, movements, successes, failures, oddities, peculiarities, and speculations of us poor mortals here below," which compact statement has expressed the purpose of the Chronicle from that day to this-its constant aim, in other words, having been and still being to get and give all the news, despite difficulties.

So notable has been the Chronicle's success that some readers of the present time, unfamiliar with its history, may suppose that luck favored it or that it had an easy road to travel when it once got on the journalistic highway, but instead it long had to face the opposition of the strong, to endure the contumely which meets the ambitious, and to struggle incessantly as it grew. Numerous, indeed, have been its battles. It struck strong blows at its foes, and did not go down to defeat and ruin because generally these foes were the foes of the people. The history of the Chronicle involves much of the political history of the state. It has been foremost in some of the hottest contests which have been waged in California. It is said now and then that the people are ungrateful, but the career of the Chronicle indicates that it is not unprofitable to be their champion. In the first issue of the daily paper which was put forth by the de Youngs in 1868, they stated that the Chronicle would be a strictly anti-monopolist journal and would be subservient to no money interest and to no railroad corporation.

The importance of this principle and of sticking to it may not be fully appreciated by persons who are unaware of the part which certain wealthy. corporations played in directing the government of California for a generation. Assailing monopolies became the policy and habit of the Chronicle,

and that the people approved its course in this respect was demonstrated by the support given it, enabling it to thrive while the newspapers which-to use a phrase that was often employed in California politics, "Were subsidized by the corporations," languished and died. The fate of the Alta California, for example, was a contrast to the prosperity of the Chronicle. That paper was one of the earliest which appeared in San Francisco, antedating the birth of the Chronicle. In an exciting conflict between the corrupt elements in San Francisco and the great body of the people in the first epoch of the city, it spoke for the cause of the people, and it gained renown and revenue; but in later years it became the mouthpiece of the corporations against whom a spirit of popular antagonism had been aroused, and notwithstanding its established credit and the good name it had formerly won, it declined and finally perished. The Chronicle has always kept its anti-monopoly sword unsheathed, for monopolies keep springing up in California as elsewhere and there is usually an opportunity for an opponent of them to keep busy. The Chronicle has attacked them under the Sherman anti-trust law and the laws of the state, and has materially aided in breaking up such combinations.

Displays of enterprise in getting the news are interesting episodes of the Chronicle's history. Even when at the beginning it was run as a theatrical sheet, depending on advertisements for the necessary funds to keep going, its proprietors sought to give as much local news as possible, and it was the first paper in San Francisco to afford the public information about the assassination of Lincoln in 1865. The custom of most newspapers then was to print the bare facts about an event, and the details were seldom furnished. The young proprietors of the Chronicle reasoned that newspaper readers ought to have as many details concerning interesting occurrences as were obtainable, and they had a chance to put this notion into effect soon after the Chronicle became a daily. The Great Earthquake, as it is still called, rocked the city on October 22, 1868, and the de Youngs with every one of their employes went forth to scour the streets and get all the infortion procurable about the results of the terrifying shake. As fast as details. were secured the men hurried back to the office and put them in type, and three extras were issued in the afternoon, the last one giving all that there was to be told. This enterprise was a novelty for the town, and it gave the

paper local fame. The same spirit was shown as the Chronicle grew, always the desire to outdo its rivals in the race for news being uppermost. Space does not permit a resume of its many "scoops." It became known as "the live paper," and its business kept increasing to such an extent that after moving several times to larger quarters the de Youngs erected a building on the northeast corner of Bush and Kearney streets, then the largest newspaper structure in San Francisco, and published the paper there in 1879. In the business office in this building Charles de Young was shot fatally in April, 1880, by Isaac M. Kalloch, at present an attorney-at-law in San Francisco, the shooting being the outcome of political conditions.

After Charles de Young's death M. H. de Young alone conducted the paper, and made it even a greater power and more remunerative property than it had been before. Such was the increase of its circulation that about 1890 Mr. de Young found it necessary to move again so as to secure more room, and he erected the present home of the Chronicle, at the junction of Market. Geary and Kearney streets. This was the first tall, fire-proof building constructed in San Francisco. Previously it was feared that tall structures would be cracked or overthrown by earthquakes, but Mr. de Young's experiment, which was undertaken after he had studied the construction of strong steel-frame buildings in eastern cities, showed that this fear was groundless, and then high office buildings became quite numerous in California's metropolis. The junction of the streets mentioned is now known as "Newspaper Corner," the other morning papers having buildings on other corners, which were put up after Mr. de Young's, his being opened in June, 1890. The monetary value of the Chronicle is now estimated to be about $5,000,000, as it is supposed to be earning a fair rate of interest on that big sum, while aside from his newspaper Mr. de Young is reputed to have holdings which are worth millions of dollars. He is a sagacious business man and a keen judge of real estate, and it is generally understood that his investments for a considerable number of years have yielded large profits. What a great oak has been developed from the little Dramatic Chronicle acorn!

The Chronicle is the only daily newspaper in San Francisco which has been under one management from the beginning. The proprietorship of each of the others has changed more than once. Of all the men now engaged in the newspaper business in San Francisco, Mr. de Young has been in it longest.

He knows every detail of the business from the top floors where the contents of the paper are written, the pictures are prepared and the matter put in type, to the basement, where the swift presses throw off the printed pages in the early morning hours. He knows how an editorial should be written and what point should be made by it; what should be the form of the local and telegraphic news and what the relative value of important news where machinery and ink and paper and all other materials should be bought; and what every man on his long pay-roll is doing daily. The complexities of the advertising department were mastered by him long ago. In short, the Chronicle is essentially M. H. de Young's paper. He and it have grown up together. His travels abroad benefit the Chronicle as well as himself, for on his trips to eastern cities, where he is well known, and to Europe, where also he has many distinguished acquaintances, he notes whatever new ideas arise in newspaperdom, and the Chronicle gets the advantage of them. His knowledge of the world enables him to judge as to the news of the world, and as to how it should be obtained. Some years ago George P. Rowell, an advertising agent of New York, who was known all over the country, and who made a study of the newspapers of the United States so as to decide wisely where to place the advertisements of his clients, said "The San Francisco Chronicle is the best conducted paper in the United States," and since then its merit has not decreased. The general verdict concerning the Chronicle in California at this day is that it supplies all the news, discusses the questions of the day intelligently and ably, and is about as fair as a daily newspaper can be.

Mr. de Young has for many years represented this state on the board of directors of the Associated Press, but the Chronicle had to fight hard to gain admission to the Associated Press, and until 1876 its San Francisco rivals, who were receiving the telegraphic news sent by that eastern organization, succeeded in keeping it out. For its independent telegraphic service it had to pay comparatively heavy tolls, and as it strove to be foremost in the eastern and foreign news fields its special dispatches entailed large outlay. After it got the Associated Press service, it continued its special telegraphic service which has never been excelled. The Chronicle was the first paper to teach the California public to expect extensive accounts of important events from distant places. It also began the custom here of celebrating special occasions

with large editions. When type, machinery, and paper were not so easy to procure in San Francisco as they are now, these mammoth editions were notable.

When at home Mr. de Young, millionaire though he is, goes to his office daily, and gives personal attention to every department of his paper. When away from San Francisco he keeps informed as to what is going on at the Chronicle office. He has engaged at times in political strife and has served with energy and ability on World's Fair Commissions, but he has allowed nothing to lessen his devotion to the Chronicle. For eight years he represented California on the Republican national committee, of which he was vice-chairman, and he was a delegate to several Republican national conventions. He was a candidate for United States senator in 1892, and remained in the balloting for nearly two weeks, when he withdrew so that the deadlock might be broken. It was thought that Governor Markham would appoint him to fill a vacancy in the senate, but Senator Perkins was named instead. In 1898 when reports that he was an active candidate for senator were printed, Mr. de Young made a public announcement, in which he said: "I am not a candidate for United States senator. I have in past years been an aspirant for the United States senatorship; but realizing that the questions to be settled for this government by the Republican party are of more importance than the private ambitions of any individual, I am anxious for the success of the Republican state ticket, and shall bend my energies exclusively to that result, as I hope every Republican will during the ensuing campaign."

In 1889 Mr. de Young's interest in World's Fairs began, he being appointed in that year as commissioner from California to the Paris Exposition. Afterwards he became a member of the National Commission for the World's Fair at Chicago, and he was chosen vice-president of that commission and placed on the board of control. His perceptive faculty and ability to dispatch business quickly were shown in these positions. Then he conceived the plan of the California Midwinter International Exposition, the project being announced by him on May 31, 1893, at Chicago. The exposition opened in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, on January 1, 1894, and, to the surprise of those who deemed the undertaking rash, it proved a success under Mr. de Young's direction, over $1,260,000 being taken in and a surplus being left after the payment of all expenses. Subsequently he was appointed by the