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Thus Whitman's relations with the New York Tribune in the 1870's and the early 1880's were not only cordial, despite the brief hostility during the Buchanan incident, but also remunerative. As we can see from references to payments, Reid was not miserly in his treatment of the poet, and, with the exception of two articles, he freely opened to Whitman the pages of one of the most influential newspapers of the era. Such was Reid's interest that he permitted the poet to act as his own publicity agent. That Whitman's contributions were not always of the highest caliber is probably in part the responsibility of the Tribune, which preferred, according to Henry James, "'newsy' and gossipy" reminiscences to more substantial fare.[20]
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