As Collier's roving political reporter, Walter Davenport had a free hand to go where he pleased, and, within limits, to write what he wanted. He liked the job. He also liked his farm in Winsted, Conn., which had a lot of shade maples and easy chairs under them. But last week, 57-year-old Walter Davenport became editor of Collier's, the eleventh in a line which has included Norman Hapgood, Finley Peter Dunne and Mark Sullivan. His immediate predecessor, Henry La Cossitt, was out after just two years; the brass thought he was tightening Collier's free-swinging ways too much.
After 21 years as associate...