KENNEDY JONES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3571, 10 July 1912, Page 7

KENNEDY JONES.

“INVENTOR” OF THE “DAILY MAIL/’ FORTUNE FOR AN IDEA. There was an exceedingly interesting article in a recent- issue of the London “Daily Mail” on the subject of London newspaper changes. The writer, who scarcely veiled his identity under tV- noiii-de-ulume of

••Nemo,” stated with apparent deep knowledge that many important changes were impending in the journalism of our time. Strange to say, he omitted to give his readers the news of a change which in any importance far transcends that of any newspaper upheavals with which ‘ Nemo” regaled his readersThere was not a word about- the momentous change which lias taken place in the “Daily Mail” itself. Tiiis is nothing else than the retirement of Mr Kennedy Jones, one of the principal proprietors, the man in w hose brain was born the idea of the “Daily Mail,” the man whose fertility of resource, originality, courage, initiative, and vast knowledge of newspaper-making contributed to the making of a property that stands forth as one of the greatest newspaper romances in the history of journalism. Mr Kennedy Jones has sold his inteiest in the "Daily Mail,” leaving a gap that can never be filled. It is scarcely more than 20 years since Kennedy Jones, reporter, came to London from Birmingham, seeking a position in the metropolis. He was unknown save to a few of his former Birmingham colleagues who had preceded him at the capital. Eventually lie found a place at a modest salary in the “Morning,” the cuily half-penny daily, where, in an incredibly short time, lie was advanced to tl'.e position of chief reporter and then news editor. Next he found ;>. corner as chic- 1 reporter in the “Sun,” an evening paper, then under tV control of T. P. O’Connor. The Old Days. He worked incessantly. His ability his brilliancy, Ins “nose for news were uncanny. The man had tee energy and spirit oi a dozen, and ret he found it impossible to bvnig iiis income above a few hundred pounds a year. Those were the days when iournaiists were not so well

paid as they are now. The old penny papers were satisfied to amble on with book reviews and high politics from abroad, paying little attention to originality either in news or literary contributions, while the half-penny, press had not yet made sufficient impression to warrant the engagement of the best writers, editors, and managers. But there was within Mr Jones a burning desire to go ahead. He was cno of those men to whom sitting still means moral and physical death. Even in hits then small way he showed his genius, his restless activity, in. a thousand and one ways, so that men said he would either go ahead very fast or go down witli equal precipitancy. By -one of those master strokes, half luck, half intuition, which nemo to most men and are seized only by the few, Mr Jones succeeded in obtaining an option on the “Evening News,” then a derelict vessel ploughing aimlessly through the turbulent Fleet Street seas, bound almost assuredly for Sargasso, where so many newspaper craft’s had gone. He had the option, but not- the money; but this, again by a master-stroke, ho secured from Mr Alfred Harmtw-crth, now Lord Northcliffe; and so Kennedy Jones was metaphorosed in a day from a struggling reporter into an opulent proprietor, for the “Evening News,” under his guiding hand, became an instantaneous success, turning df yearly loss of many thousands, into an annual profit of £40.000. The first- week, indeed, under the new auspices, showed a profit. The Buzzing Erain. Next came the “Daily Mail. ’ Mr Jones, now become known as suggested it, and lie became cue or its owners. Day after day, year after year, the little square-jawed, deter-mined-looking man, with an everburning cigarette in his moutsarin Carmelite House, devising, sen erring thinking, arguing. His brain worked like' a circular saw V-zaing around at- a fearful pace. Ideas flowed from him like an Alpine cascade. Ho had enough ideas and inspiration to fill the paper a dozen times e ver an I to equip a con ole of hundred. !e : keen men. During the Boer Mar. “K.J.” worked wonders. The “Daily Mail ' mac-a a new class ot readers in tne- country; it provided news from the front in advance of the Government, sc- that iti many important instances the newspaper informed the Mar Office hour a before its own official imormatici came along. Behind all this, unknown to the general public, was the liiito man in the upstairs room, with tho cigarette between his teeth. He worked quietlv and unostentatious]”, bud with great and almost overwhelming effect. He could put bis finger car the public pulse with unerring certainty and prescribe newspaper treatment. lie knew how to dress n shop

wincow. ids? count put a mg strawberry at the top of the basket. Eo was five ideal man tor tee '‘uaiiy Mail." whose sporadic flashes if genius invariably reflected the ir-inh cr “K -I.” Some time ago Mr Jones becaxco seriously ill. An operation, which :t was at first reared might- prove iata>, left him weak and helpless for a long time, and he has now sold h:s great interest in the paper. He leaves it rich beyond the wildest of fits Birmingham dreams: another illustration of the great things that can come to a man if he be but equipped with three things—brain, industry, am.l entsrorise. He had a.ll these, an.l the “Daily Mail” was for years a mirror of “K.J.’s” brain. Now he has gone, and his place* can never be filled. Tn most businesses there is no man who canned be replaced. Not so In tie model* newspaper office, where personality and initiative mean everything. When' the man goes something of the very life-blood of a newspaper seems to go with him. There is always that in--tint ate toueu. that little hun. ...i tn..., which shows that a. genius has* beetii at work on a thing. Every great man* must of necessity inspire his collet • trues with, his own personality _az.fl skate their work accordingly. But, after all, these are only imitators, and imitation is sham : and sham :a & oivi disclosed. You can't iraitaio Rembrandt, or Sargent; yen ear.A stand behind the wings and make ah audience believe that Felice dyne is sending forth trills when it is only a clever machine that you Pare devised : and—-you can never imitate "KM.”