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Wallace R. Farrington

Newspaperman

by Riley H. Allen

Editor of The Star-Bulletin

     He could show a swift thunderclap of tempel when things went wrong.  But his outbursts, always short, were occasioned by small rather than large things.  If anything went seriously wrong he took it quietly, but got into motion at once to right it.  Little errors of judgment or performance ruffled his temper.  But he was quickly over them.  He said what was on his mind in vivid language, frequently, and was on to something else.  He "got it off his chest" and rarely referred to it again.

     His biggest moments were, I truly believe, his quietest.  Certainly one of them was when The Evening Bulletin, which he had "lifted by its boot straps" for nearly 12 years--12 years of constant struggle and solicitude and often with just enough cash to meet next payday--joined forces with The Hawaiian Star.

     This merger, which combined the two evening papers into one assured newspaper enterprise, was a signal recognition, in the most practical terms, of his position in the Hawaii business field.

     A part of those responsibilities, he realized, was to his new associates, and he worked with them as energetically, as--speaking in a purely competitive sense--he had previously worked in newspaper rivalry.

     He took what was in reality a personal triumph with entire quiet.  he remarked,  "This is just another step for us. We now have a bigger job cut out for us than ever before," and turned to his responsibilities as general business manager.

     That night, with a few intimates, he dined at a Washington hotel.  He was the quietest, the least excited, apparently the least elated, of those present.

     To him appointment as governor was just another step, the beginning of a bigger job, and he turned instantly and with no lost motion to his new official responsibilities.

 

     Incidents crowd into memory as I write this...His early newspaper campaigning for better public schools and the stable teacher salary system...His buoyant leadership in the Honolulu Ad Club, which quickly became the noisiest, liveliest and , in many respects, the most effective civic organization of his day...His march at the head of the Boys' Garden Army in a World war parade.  There were no insignia on his shoulder or medals on his chest--but he and the lusty youths who strode with him carried hoes, rakes, shovels--and smiles...

     His keen interest in the establishment of public playgrounds and those early efforts to get and hold beach areas for public use...His emphasis on business organization and operation of public offices---though he never believed simply in berating, criticizing and brow beating public officials...His loyalty to his own staff members when they occasionally were unjustly attacked or criticized by some stuffed shirt or pompous public official...I recall that he once swore out a warrant for assault and battery against a certain officer who had lost his temper and laid hands on a reporter--and the officer was arrested and would have suffered the keen mortification of facing trail in police court if he hadn't apologized...

     While ready instantly to defend his staff members from injustice, he was keenly alive to the importance of being right!  He had scant patience with inaccuracy or with sloppy newspaper reporting.  If he felt that a staff member was wrong, he would say so, and insist that the paper make immediate and suitable correction.  But he intensely disliked newspaper corrections.  "Don't make the mistake in the first place--then you won't need to apologize."

 

     Mr. Farrington combined quick reactions with deliberation of judgment.  He reached decisions with apparent quickness, but actually they were based on long founded convictions and his store of experience.

     He was patient with men and impatient with mistakes.  Often He said, "Every man is entitled to make a mistake on a given matter once.  If he does it twice, he has not been thinking.  If he does it three times, he's a fool!" Yet around the office, staff members used to comment, as they noted his endless patience with some slow and ineffective employe,  "The Old Man can hang onto a lemon longer than anybody else in town."

     Once this remark was repeated to him.  He looked up from his desk, that familiar red flush mounting his cheeks as it did easily when he was stirred to momentary irritation, then he relaxed, laughed, "Yes, sometimes you have to hang on and squeeze a lemon pretty hard if you're going to get any lemonade!"

 

     It was early summer in Washington...He had just been appointed governor, in 1921.  To a friend who was one of a small dinner party the night of his appointment he said, "Well, it's a high honor and an opportunity....But I'm coming back to the paper when it's over."

     He served the territory and his country with full devotion and rare effectiveness for eight years.  In 1929 he resigned, refusing the possibility of appointment for a third term, to return to his chosen field.  He brought to it all his early enthusiasm and interest, plus the remarkable equipment of official knowledge and experience he had gained in those eight years as chief executive of the territory.

     He was in the full time of life and usefulness when illness struck him down, and for nearly a year he was unable to go to his office.

     In that year, though continuously under the physician's care and with constant admonition against physical exertion, there flowered some of his finest work.

     Constructive criticism to his staff--on business, on editorial, on production matters....Some of the best writing he had ever done, some of his ablest editorials....Suggestions and ideas of immediate practical value....A clarity of vision which enabled him to look far into the future of this territory and its people...

     When he died, October 6, 1933, he left an imperishable record.  He had "lifted a newspaper by its bootstraps," founded it solidly in principle as well as in material substance.  He had steered an infant printing business to large size.  He had taken an active and loyal citizen's part in his community.  He had been governor of the territory for eight years, and innumerable improvements in public service, together with enhanced recognition of the territory of Hawaii, testified to his notable administration.

     It is natural then that on this 25th anniversary of The Star-Bulletin's founding we who were associated with him in the founding, and later, should fell that he is commemorating the occasion with us