Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the New York Tribune, was born in Xenia,
Ohio, October 27, 1837, and is a graduate of Miami university, Oxford,
Ohio. After leaving college Mr. Reid entered journalism, becoming
editor of the Xenia News. In 1860 he was legislative correspondent,
and a year later was war correspondent for several newspapers. In 1862
he became Washington representative of the Cincinnati Gazette. After
a period spent in the service of the government, including the acting
as librarian in the House of Representatives, Mr. Reid in 1866 tried
his hand at cotton planting in Louisiana. But the newspaper instinct
was too strong in him to warrant his being anything but a writer. In
1868, therefore, he became a member of the editorial staff of the
Tribune; in 1869 he was appointed its managing editor and has been
its editor-in-chief and practical proprietor since 1872. In 1877 he
declined the appointment of United States minister to Germany and
again in 1881. In 1889 he was United States minister to France, was
special ambassador from this country to Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in
1897, and was a member of the Peace commission in Paris in 1898. He was
nominated for the vice-presidency in 1892. Mr. Reid is the author of a
number of books on political and journalistic questions. His life has
been full of many but faithfully discharged duties.