[Clipping: Capital Hill Observer] Part: 1 of 2
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C~apfft lHill Observer
11Y DEXTER TEED
Born in the midwest, trained in Washington and sea-
soned by -travel, Marquis W. Childs is a newspaperman's
newspaper man who hasn't been disillusioned by what he
has seen and experienced. Cynicism hasn't caught up withhim. Almost daily he says, in
hAmerica you have your faults
but you're still a helluva fine
country despite some of your peo-
ple!"
In his syndicated column, "The
state of the Union," now appear-
ing in The Post, he shows a com-
bination of country shrewdness
and city savvy. He is at ease with
cracker-barrel philosophers in his
native Iowa or with sophisticated
correspondents in his adopted
Washington. But he's a natural
skeptic who likes to find out
what's ticking beneath the sur-
face.
Visited Swedien to Learn
Their-Brand of Capitalism
He has written several books,
including the important and sig-
nificant "Sweden: The Middle
Way." He went to the Scandina-
vian country to find how the
Swedes had adapted capitalism to
fit their particular problems. He
came ack and told America that
the Swedes' system was neither
c mmunism nor fascism.
it had no name, but in essence
t was controlled capitalism with
monopoly curbed. Private owner-
ship and public ownership were
involved. It was social adapta-
uion without revolution.
And because he had done a
thorough job of reporting, he was
accepted then as an authority. By
implication, although he didn't
say so directly, he suggested that
the U. S. should make some of
the same changes in its system.
This explains why he has been
friendly, even when critical, to
the New Deal.
But he didn't need the prestige
the book gave him to be rated as1
one of the best newspapermen
in the country. In the 18 years
he has been on the St. Louis Post-
Dispatch staff, including 10 years
in Washington, he has won a rep-
utation for clear, trenchant an-
alyses of events and what they
mean to the nation.
His life has been peculiarly at-
tuned to political trends-and
what Americans are thinking
about. For in the 41 years he has
lived, he has been a part of con-t
temporary America.
In the Mississippi Ri- er town
of Clinton, where he was r rn, he
grew up a bright and active
youngster. There were no Huck
A4HE'S natural skeptic=
Marquis W. Childs' column,
"The State of the Union," ap-
pears daily on the Post's edi-
torial page-see page 17.
Finns or Tom Sawyers tnere, but
he had a normal, playful child-
hood. His father, William, a law-
yer, expected he would be a pro-
fessional man.
But Marquis didn't want to be
a doctor, lawyer, etc. He had
other ideas. "Why I wanted, from
the age of 13 or 14, to be a news-
paperman I've never quite under-
stood," he admits, but he decided
he would be one. "I should like
to know the mental or emotional
process that led up to that con-
clusion, for it must have been a
curious one'
Fortunately his mother told
him he could make his own choice
of a career, and a maiden aunt,
Stella Childs, entered the argu
ment on his side. His father lost
the case.
Taught English Composition
At University of Iowa
When he entered Lyons High
School he was a good student, es-
pecially interested in writing and
reading books that would prepare
him for a journalistic career. Yet
he was in no sense a "grind," for
he played on the basketball team
and went out for the football
eleven. -Four years at the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin followed-
and he was ready.
His first job was with the
United Press. He worked in vari-
ous midwest cities, including Chi-
cago, but deciding he needed more
education, he obtained a position
teaching English composition at
the University of Iowa. Studying
as he taught, he won a Master of
Arts degree in 1925.
Back with the U. P. again, he was
sent to the New York office. He
must have had varied experiences,
for his comment now is:
"I was shifted from one assign-
ment for which I was totally un-
prepared to another for which I
was equally well equipped."
Back West he went, and this
time he landed with the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch. It proved to be a
fortunate choice, for he was as-
signed to a feature-writing job.
He covered stories in every part
of the country. In 1930 he took
a leave of absence to go to Swe-
den. A subsequent trip to Europe
gave him material for his best-
known book published in 1936.
On The Spot During
The Civil War In Spain
When he was assigned to Wash-
ington in 1934, he developed a
knack for political writing, al-
most immediately. Traveling with
President Roosevelt during the
1936 campaign, he analyzed the
issues involved with a sure touch.
Meanwhile, inspired by the book,
FDR sent a special commission to
Europe to study co-operatives.
The same year Childs turned
out "They Hate Roosevelt," a
book which revealed that most of
the "president-haters" were indi-
viduals who resisted change or re-
form.
Continuing his traveling, he ar-
rived in Spain while the civil war
was raging in full fury. He was
in Madrid and Valencia at timesMARQUIS W. CHILDS comic
Cori LC6 aLs aics him-
to bowl once in a while.
If he has a hobby, it must be
traveling, but he admits he can-
not travel now as much as he
would like to, although he does
cover various parts of the U. S. at
intervals.
Unlike some who have become
famous, he doesn't have a private
office. He works at his desk "like
any working reporter." And he
is convinced Raymond P. Brandt,
head of the Post-Dispatch bureau
in Washington, has influenced-
and helped-him more than any
other person.
Childs likes parties. "Good
company of any kind," he says.
He gets around. Seldom does he
sleep more than seven hours a
night and when he is on lecture
tours it is often less. He doesn't
particularly like to speak in pub-
lic. "But I got used to it by lec-
turing," he says.
He is also accustomed to not
buying many clothes during the
war period. Yet he has always
bought his own, without benefit
of wifely advice. "I'm wearing
the old ones now," he explains.
Childs, by many, is regarded as
the voice of decent Americans
who hope after this war we can
build a better world, on the foun-
dations of the past.
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Teed, Dexter. [Clipping: Capital Hill Observer], clipping, February 21, 1944; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1479496/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Private Collection of Mike Cochran.