J. R. RATHOM.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1918, Page 5

J. R. RATHOM.

EDITOR ..AND SECRET, gERVKZb . MAN.. . , ; , \ : 'AN AUSTRALIAN BORN*. LOXG CAREER OF ADVENTURE. Few individual journalists liave craat" ed more "stir" during the war than John Revelstok# Rathora, the editor of v the Providence (Massachusetts) Joili-n-, al, which published a long series of' extraordinary revelations regarding the! German machinations in tho States. His enterprising and daring : work wm a powerful factor in arousing' the country to the truth regarding the: trickery of the German official* in: Washington, and was characterised bj»j Ingenuity and adventures a£ «rtra»r- ! dinary as those of a eenSational film drama. ' «

Who is this Rathom? writes Mr F. j A, Russell, in the Sydney Sun. Who! heard of him before the wax dow! did hs come by that devil-m^y-oftxe; humor that pitchforkfid Hw into the career that mado him famous!

The answer to the last question is! that he always had the soul of the Adventurer. The man who was to achieve I the distinction of rousing tho United! States to a sense of the danger i&liej stood in from the Hun invasion was ap- j propriataly enough ushered into the; world on the anniversary of tho tte-j claration of Independence*, He tfas i born on 4tli July, 1888, in Melboufcje.j A Melbourne nablio school, Scotch 001-/ lege, ibegan his education, and a school in England, almost, an famous, completed it, for he entered Harrow after he ieft Australia.

While ho was yet c.t school he felt the double itch of the wanderlust and the pernicious desire to wield the pen of a journalist. ,The unfortunate boy; was soon to have tastes gratified to the full i

Ho Was only a lad of 18 when the war in the Soudan broke out, and gave him the opportunity to commence a life of adventure which has never ceased. The Melbourne Argas conferred on -him lh6 titlo of War Correspondent, and he saw the trouble through e3 tile accredited representative of that piper. Australia was too tame for Itia testless, driving spirit, and when he wfes 20 aa opportunity camo to him which he embraced with enthusiasm. *?lio £un-'i bury Expedition to New Guinea was jiist starting, and Rathoin joined the little party, &ad for the next few months groaned cr.d sweated ia the; vapor bath whose name ia Papua. Per-: haps he had lin.d Ilia fill of tropic,heat, though not of adventure, for less than two years afterwards 'he was freezing, in Alaska, a member of the party led by. that fine American sailor, Lieutenant S'chwatka, whose name has been csurved so deeply in tt9 hiaftiry of Alaskan Exploration.. The world muat iiavo seemed a very tame place to Bathom after that strenuoUh year 1890. Nothing was stirring, and ho remained in journalism, "waiting for hell to pop" It duly popped, Cuba being the corner where the lid blew, off. Tho Chicago tlera'.J betas cm-ions lo inform its readers' <n the process of putting the lirl on again, sent Bathom as sls war corrcspondciii' to explain how. Tins he did with excellent effect, for ho was promoted to staff correspondent on the Chicago Record-Herald on his return.

There followed a quiot period, and since ho could not Cr.d fresh adventures ha busied himse'if in writing' cf those he had had, cr>d American magazines -bear witness to aia activity and hi?, powers of description Then cams fresh excitement, this time in industrial warfar?, for he was selected during the big 1 meajfc strike in 1004 to present the ca.se for the masters. Ilia intervention help- ■ ed materially in settling' the strike, la 1912 he hecamo editor and general manager of the Providence Journal, the position ho holds to-daywhich he has made a voice for 4 the Allie?, trumpeting the faith for which our men have died, in tones so arresting that even the hostile party in -the States has been forced to listen. He is the most quoted leaderwriter in the Eastern State 3, and for two years the phrase "the Providence Journal will eay to-morrow" waa practically in stereo in hundreda of journals, while editions ci the biggest dailiea have been kept back to enable Waders to see what John Revelstoke Rttthom, Australian fighter out of uniform, and sound British patriot, had to remark about the unspeakable Hun at thß gats; of the United States.