Recent from talks
Richard Lloyd Jones
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Richard Lloyd Jones
Richard Lloyd Jones (April 14, 1873 – December 4, 1963) was an American journalist who was the long-time editor and publisher of the now defunct Tulsa Tribune. He was noted for his controversial positions on political issues. The son of a notable Unitarian missionary, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, he was a co-founder of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Richard Lloyd Jones was the only son of Welsh born Jenkin Lloyd Jones and Susan Barber. He was born April 14, 1873, in Janesville, Wisconsin. He was named for his paternal grandfather, Richard Lloyd Jones. His father and mother were both leaders of the Western Unitarian Conference. In 1881, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father had been called as the settled minister of All Souls Unitarian Church. A biography says that Richard was athletically inclined and proficient in a number of sports, including swimming, skating, tennis, and horsemanship. The article suggests that there was some tension between the boy and his parents, who had high scholastic ambitions for him. During his youth, he left home to work on a Nevada sheep ranch, but his parents insisted that he return home and pursue higher education. He studied for a while at the University of Wisconsin, then entered the University of Chicago, where he graduated with an LL.B. in 1897 and a LL.M. in 1898.
Jones worked briefly as a lawyer, but did not stay long in this profession. In 1899, he was hired as a reporter and editor by the Telegram of Stamford, Connecticut. He was an editorial writer for the Washington Times from 1900 to 1902, and an editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine in 1902–1903. From 1903 until 1911, he was a writer and associate editor for Collier's Weekly, working under the publisher Robert J. Collier.
In 1905, Robert Collier and Jones collaborated to buy the old Abraham Lincoln farm at auction in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Then they organized a fundraising campaign to establish a historic site, which was opened during the Lincoln Centennial in 1909. The first board of trustees for the site included Jones, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan and President William H. Taft.
From 1905 until 1911 he was a member of the Federal Prison Labor Commission. This service confirming in his mind that the system reformed nobody, but turned them into hardened criminals. He editorialized, "...our whole prison system is born of ignorance and arrogance; it is medieval; it is the most fruitful factory we have for making criminals. They do not reform but confirm criminals. They break down self-respect when, what the individual needs, and what the state needs, is self-respect built up."
By 1911, Jones had decided to buy his own newspaper. His friend, the Wisconsin senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr., helped him buy the Wisconsin State Journal. He and his paper supported La Follette until 1917, when the two broke over the issue of American entry into World War I. Jones supported American involvement, while both his father and Senator La Follette vigorously opposed it. His city editor resigned to found his own newspaper. Realizing that he had made powerful political enemies, he decided to sell this paper and move out of the state.
In 1919, Jones learned that businessman-philanthropist Charles Page wanted to sell one of the two newspapers that he owned in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to Jones's grandson, David, his grandfather met with Page and told him, "Charlie, you've got a paper and you don't want one. I want a paper and I don't have one. Sell me your paper." The deal was done and the Tulsa Democrat became the Tulsa Tribune on December 1, 1919.
Jones immediately took up a long-running local political issue: the Spavinaw Water Project. Tulsa leaders had been studying alternative sources of city water since at least 1915. The two most viable candidates were Shell Creek, owned by Charles Page, and Spavinaw Creek. The Tulsa Democrat, then owned by Page, naturally supported Shell Creek, while the rival Tulsa World, supported Spavinaw Creek. Page's proposal was rejected when tests showed that the quantity was inadequate to meet Tulsa's expected needs and construction of the Spavinaw project began in 1922.
Hub AI
Richard Lloyd Jones AI simulator
(@Richard Lloyd Jones_simulator)
Richard Lloyd Jones
Richard Lloyd Jones (April 14, 1873 – December 4, 1963) was an American journalist who was the long-time editor and publisher of the now defunct Tulsa Tribune. He was noted for his controversial positions on political issues. The son of a notable Unitarian missionary, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, he was a co-founder of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Richard Lloyd Jones was the only son of Welsh born Jenkin Lloyd Jones and Susan Barber. He was born April 14, 1873, in Janesville, Wisconsin. He was named for his paternal grandfather, Richard Lloyd Jones. His father and mother were both leaders of the Western Unitarian Conference. In 1881, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father had been called as the settled minister of All Souls Unitarian Church. A biography says that Richard was athletically inclined and proficient in a number of sports, including swimming, skating, tennis, and horsemanship. The article suggests that there was some tension between the boy and his parents, who had high scholastic ambitions for him. During his youth, he left home to work on a Nevada sheep ranch, but his parents insisted that he return home and pursue higher education. He studied for a while at the University of Wisconsin, then entered the University of Chicago, where he graduated with an LL.B. in 1897 and a LL.M. in 1898.
Jones worked briefly as a lawyer, but did not stay long in this profession. In 1899, he was hired as a reporter and editor by the Telegram of Stamford, Connecticut. He was an editorial writer for the Washington Times from 1900 to 1902, and an editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine in 1902–1903. From 1903 until 1911, he was a writer and associate editor for Collier's Weekly, working under the publisher Robert J. Collier.
In 1905, Robert Collier and Jones collaborated to buy the old Abraham Lincoln farm at auction in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Then they organized a fundraising campaign to establish a historic site, which was opened during the Lincoln Centennial in 1909. The first board of trustees for the site included Jones, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan and President William H. Taft.
From 1905 until 1911 he was a member of the Federal Prison Labor Commission. This service confirming in his mind that the system reformed nobody, but turned them into hardened criminals. He editorialized, "...our whole prison system is born of ignorance and arrogance; it is medieval; it is the most fruitful factory we have for making criminals. They do not reform but confirm criminals. They break down self-respect when, what the individual needs, and what the state needs, is self-respect built up."
By 1911, Jones had decided to buy his own newspaper. His friend, the Wisconsin senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr., helped him buy the Wisconsin State Journal. He and his paper supported La Follette until 1917, when the two broke over the issue of American entry into World War I. Jones supported American involvement, while both his father and Senator La Follette vigorously opposed it. His city editor resigned to found his own newspaper. Realizing that he had made powerful political enemies, he decided to sell this paper and move out of the state.
In 1919, Jones learned that businessman-philanthropist Charles Page wanted to sell one of the two newspapers that he owned in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to Jones's grandson, David, his grandfather met with Page and told him, "Charlie, you've got a paper and you don't want one. I want a paper and I don't have one. Sell me your paper." The deal was done and the Tulsa Democrat became the Tulsa Tribune on December 1, 1919.
Jones immediately took up a long-running local political issue: the Spavinaw Water Project. Tulsa leaders had been studying alternative sources of city water since at least 1915. The two most viable candidates were Shell Creek, owned by Charles Page, and Spavinaw Creek. The Tulsa Democrat, then owned by Page, naturally supported Shell Creek, while the rival Tulsa World, supported Spavinaw Creek. Page's proposal was rejected when tests showed that the quantity was inadequate to meet Tulsa's expected needs and construction of the Spavinaw project began in 1922.
Recent media