In writing of the Union as it was in 1871 Mr.Fairfield made the comment that literature was hardly represented at all, and journalism only by Manton Marble of the "World." As had been the case of Thackeray and the Athenaeum of London, Mr.
Marble, at the time of his first candidacy, had been blackballed.

The objection, also as in the case of Thackeray, was ascribed not to the personality of the man, but to his profession.

But Mr.Marble was eventually admitted through the efforts of a member of the Board of Directors, who declared boldly that not a new member should be elected until the blackballs against the journalist had been withdrawn.

Robert J.Dillon, landscape gardener, and J.H.Lazarus, portrait painter, were almost the sole art representatives, and in 1871 J.Lester Wallack was the only actor on the club list.

Wallack's great contemporary of the stage, Edwin Booth, was a member of the Century and of the Lotos.