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]
