E. W. Howe was well known as a small-town Kansas journalist, but on a smaller scale of fame than his younger friend, William Allen White. Centering his career almost exclusively in Atchison, Kansas, Howe was probably more representative of deep Midwestern currents than White was. The Atchison Globe served as Howe's platform for thirty-three years, from its founding in December 1877 until he sold it to his son Gene on 31 December 1910. Even after 1910, Howe continued as a columnist.

At the time of his death, his former employees recalled that Howe most wanted to be remembered as a country journalist. He chose the path of common sense, and he became known as the Sage of Potato Hill--the name of his rural home near Atchison--and also as an eccentric. A reporter for the Nation magazine called him "something of a crank" principally because "he has refused to surrender his rustic illusion...