The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1862-07-23
Strawberries and Cream for the Tribune
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SHAKESPEARE declares that sweet are the uses OF
| adversely. Poor Greeley, Of the Tribune, must
have found the uses Of adversely sweet; for
| they have led him to strawberries and cream.
In o recent issue of his pestilentiai paper we
are officially informed that the Tribune Associar
ton has purchased shree thousand dollars
worth of strawberry plants. and will give one
of the plants to each new subscriber to the
Tribune. The idea is novel, and must have
originated with poor Greeley HIMSELF for he
was always in favor Of vegetarian diet. We
are really quite pleased with the plan Of attach
ing strawberry patch to the Tribune Office,
and 90 rescue the announcement from the OBJ
security of the Tri6une's columns-for the cir
culation Of. the Tribune now just about equals
| the number of dollars it has invested in straw
berries-and give it the publicity of our i'm
mense issue without charging poor Greeley
even half price for the notice
This is by no means the first time that
we have been called upon to sustain the
failing fortunes Of the Tribune by adver-
Using Its extraordinary gift enterprises-the
only sort of enterprise in which the Tribune
excels Before the abolitionists succeeded in
! involving us In civil war, the Tribune was get
| ting along with some degree of comfort; and
| by pandering to the anti-slavery sentiment by
| receiving hire as party hack, with negro
driver and by keeping sharp eye and q large
pocket open for any chance jobs at Washington
and Albany, poor Greeley managed to make
both ends meet and keep the wolf from
his Office door. Tho Southern darkey
not only hoed corn and picked cotton
for his master on the plantation, but also
brought many pretty penny to poor Greeley's
till by the publication Of highly spiced stories
Of the imaginary wrongs Of mythical Uncle
Toms. When the Tribune first started, poor
Greeley invoked to his aid all the evil spirits
which at that time ragged rampant in the coun-
try. He was Fourrierite, a Free Lover, a Ora
hamite, a Phalanxite, IN Owenite, tetotaller,
little bit of a Mormon and strong abolitionist
As the organ of all these pernicious sects, the
Tribune prospered greatly for while but the
good sense of the people stranglsd these isms
one by one, until the Tribune had only aboi-
tionism for its support. That it has used this
ism well no one can deny; but, as Faust raised
the devil only to go down below with him, SO the
T'ibauae's internal and inevitable niger, after
serving it faithfully for many years, became its
destroyer at last. Continual anti-slavery agita-
ton gave few insane Southern fire-eaters a
pretext for secession weak executive allowed
secession to become armed rebellion, and re-
bellion resulted in civil war. The nation sud.
denly found itself tbrottled by the negro, and
the Tribune, which had always been crazy with
the negromania, was the very first victim to
the negrophobia which ensued.
In few months after the war began, the
1sibsae's circulation had fallen of moro than
one-half; its receipts for advertisements
amounted to zero; its popularity was many
degrees below zero, and its name became a
hissing and a reproach. At the end Of year
poor Greeley announced cdtorially, In tue
style of his "Just Once" confession, that
he had lost money by the publication
Of his paper. To be as particular as Mr.. Grad
grind in regard to facts: the Tribune stock
holders were informed that the paper had lost
about three thousand dollars during the year.
and that some Of its stock must now be bought
in at par to prevent the holders throwing it
upon the market at any price it might bring
1t would be painful and melancholy task to
describe poor Greeley's shining during that
period, or to recaptulate consecutively the
various devices to which ne resorted to raise
the wind. The Tribune dabblcd with lobby
jobs and bid high for the Corporation advertis-
ing. Then Greeley announced his gold pen and
gift enterprise lottery, which. as our readers
will remember, we charitably advertised at
half price. With lis customary gratitude ---he
will not even thank us for this article-poor
Greeley repaid our kindness by sending Sc
cret circular to our advertisers begging them to
transfer their favors to the poor Tribune. This
poor Greeley imagined an iniallible way Of
making friends; but, from the Pope to patent
medicines nothing in this world is infallble
and the chief result Of this undetermined pro
cceding was the despatch Of special messen-
ger from the Tribune Office 10 beg the HERaLp's
mercy. We forgave the criminal, though We
detestcd the crime, and had just begun to en-
terrain hopes Of poor Greeley's reformation.
when we detected him in the dirty'business Of
jobbing in government contracts The Tribune
Office had been transformed into gun maui
factory; Dana, the best OF the bad lot OF T,i-
tune writers, was kicked out because he was
almost honest, and the 7fi5unes contract
bureau at Washington, in charge OF sam
Wilkeson, was transferred to New York Some
government contracts do not pay, however, az
some gold mines yield no gold. The Trib,o,e's
contracts were OF this Improbable sort and
only made bad worss for the people began to
understand why poor Greeley wished the war
continued and his guns used to murder better
Americans than himself. In a paroxysm Of
jealous despair, Gay, the leading Tribune editor
next to Greeley, wrote to correspondent,
THE HERALD is constantly ahead Greeley
storned at Gay, and sent OF handbiAs TO the
county towns Of Pennsylvania, calling public
meetings TO denounce the HERALD and subscribe