Tale of Two Cities

And why, in April 1919, would the Chicago Tribune have society notes for New York and Washington, D.C.? Was this a second city form of low self-esteem?

No.

Society notes were common columns in newspapers of that day. The columns would chronicle who had whom to dinner, who was a houseguest of whom, who was opening their summer house, who was closing their city home, and who was leaving for Europe on what ship.

Keeping track of the society New York and Washington was reasonable considering the former publisher of the Tribune, Joseph Medill McCormick (known as Medill), became the senator from Illinois the month before. Medill was the brother of one of the co-publishers of the Tribune, Robert R. McCormick. The other co-publisher and first cousin of the McCormick brothers, Joseph Medill Patterson, would soon be leaving the Tribune for New York to create a new newspaper New York Daily News in June.