Memoirs of an editor : fifty years of American journalism / Edward P. Mitchell.

DANA AND HIS PEOPLE

225

multitude upon the beach. "What is?" I had inquired, to
which, in deep and solemn tone, he replied:
"Struggle!"
For about six years this distinguished Communist, labor
agitator and amateur of all sorts of upsetting political
notions held a rather responsible post in The Sun office.
His presence, however, made little impression upon the
features of the newspaper in detail, and none at all upon
its policies and general course. This was not because of
any lack of ability on Swinton's part, for he was a capable
and experienced craftsman, but simply on account of his
professional sense of fidelity to an employer which thought
on all subjects in a manner quite different from his own.
He was a journalistic trusty, with access on honor to dynamite which he never dreamed of attempting to use, no
matter how his fingers itched to get hold of the sticks and
set them off. He would make at East Side meetings
speeches violent enough to wake the snakes, and then
come down to Printing House Square and indite perfectly
dispassionate editorial paragraphs on the internal affairs
of Honduras, San Salvador, or Costa Rica, for the politics
and economics of the Central American Republics were,
for reasons of safety first, the especially assigned province
for such writing as he did. And no matter what the temptation or opportunity, John Swinton was always true to his
trust.
I think this peculiar relation with a tame firebrand in
the domestic establishment always appealed more or less
to Mr. Dana's sense of the humorous. He was fond of
Swinton on account of former associations, and there was
always in his own mind, ever since the days of Brook Farm

and Fourieristic imaginings, a sort of lurking sympathy
with those who still held to his long-discarded theories of
social regeneration or reorganization. Swinton himself
was not wanting in humor and played his part in the
strange relationship with artistry and gusto. To all who