Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-10-30
CHE aW.g, GhruuifIe,
RecolIections of a Busy Life.
By Horace Greeley.
From the New York Ledger.
GETTING INTO BUSINESS.

From the New York Ledger.
. GETTING INTO BUSINESS.
Having been fairly driven to New
York two or three years earlier thSn 1
, deemed desirable, was in like manner
= impelled to undertake the responsible
ties of business while still in my TWEEN
ty-second year. My friend Story, bare
lly older than myself, but far better
acquainted with city ways, having been
for many years the only son of poor
widow, and accustomed struggling with
difficulties, had already conceived the
|, idea of starting pFinterY, and offering
, me partnership in the enterprise. -
! His position in Wall street, on the
Spirit of the Times, made him acqusint-
. ed with Mr.. S. j. Sylvester. then a
! leading broker and seller of lottery
tickets, issued a weekly Bank Note
Reporter" largely devoted to the ad-
vertising of his own business. and who
offered my friend the job of printing
that paper. Story was also intimate
with DR.. w. Beach, who, in addition
to his medical practice, dabbled con-
siderably in ink, and at whose office
my friend made the acquaintance of
young graduate, DR.. II. d. Shepard,
who was understood to have money,
and was intent on bringing out a cheap
ldaily paper, to be sold about the street
then novel ides-daily papers being
presumed desirable only for mercantile
men, and addressed exclusively to their
wants and tastes. DR.. Shepard had
won over my friend to belief in the
Ipracticsbility of his project, and the
latter visited me at my work and my
lodging. urging me to unite with him
in starting printery on the strength
of Mr.. SylYester's and DR.. Shepard's
proffered work. l hesitated, having
very little means-for had sent good
part of my past years scanty savings
to aid my father in his struggle with
the stubborn wilderness; but Story's
enthusiastic confidence at length
triumphed over my distrust; we form
ed the partnership, hired part of two
rooms, already devoted to printing, on
the southwest corner of Nassau and
Liberty streets, Opposite our city's
present postofhce,l spending our little
all (less than $200J and stretching our
credit to the utmost for the requisite
materials. | tried Mr.. James Conner,
the extensive type founder, in Ann
street-having very slight acquaint-
ance with him, formed in the course of
frequent visits to his foundry in quest
of ''sorts" TYPE found deficient in the
several offices for which had worked
at one time or snother)-but he, after
hearing me patiently, decided not to
credit me six months for the $40 worth |
of type / wanted Of him, and he did |
right; my exhibit did not justify my
request. / went directly thence to Mr.. |
George Bruce, the older and wealthier
ounder, in Chambers street, made the |
same exhibit, and was allowed by him /
the credit l asked; and that purchase
has since secured TO his concern the
sale of not less than $50, 900 worth of
type. l think he must have noted
something in my awkward, bsshful
ways that impelled him to take the
risk; for my show of means did not
justify my requirement of credit.
The Morning Post-Dr. Shepard's
two-cent daily, (which he wished to
sell for one cent)-was issued on the
first of January. 1888. Nobody in New
York reads much Except visitors
cards) on New Years Day; and that
one happened to be very cold, with the
streets much obstructed by a fall of
snow thr oughout the preceding night.
Projectors of newspapers in those days,
though expecting other people to ad.
vertise in their columns, did not com.
prehend that they also must advertise,
or the public will never know that their
bsDtling has been ushered into exist
ence; and DR.. S. was too poor to give
his sheet the requisite publicity, had
he understood the matter. He was
neither a writer or man of affairs; had
no editor, no reporters worth naming,
no correspondents, and no exchanges,
even; he fancied that a paper would
sell, ifremarkable for cheapness, though
also for the absence of
every other desirable quality. He was
said 10 have migrated. while youth,
from New Jersey to New York. with
81 500 in cash if he did, his capital
must have nearly all melted away be-
fore he had issued his first number
Though his enterprise involved no out
lay OF capital by him, and his weekly {
ou.goes were less than $500, he was
able to meet them for a angle week
only. while his journal obtained cir
of but two or three hundred
copies. Finally, he reduced the price
TO one cent; but the public would not
buy it even at that; and we printers, /
already considerably in debt for mate .
rials, were utterly unable to 90 on be-
yond the second or third week after /
the publisher had stopped paying.-
Thus the first cheap-for-cssh daily in I
New York-perhaps in the world-died '
when scarcely yet month old; and
We printers were hard aground on a lee l
shore, with little prospect of getting /
off. a
We were saved from sudden bank S
ruptcy by the address of my partner, v
who had formed the acquaintance of a S
eccentric Briton named Schols, T
who had taste for editorial life, and I
who was somehow induced to buy the l
wreck of the Morning Post, remove it
70 an Office Of his own, and employ C
Story SIS foreman. He soon tired of his {
.hriftless, proftless speculation, and 1
-AASN IL v Dub We udQ m6AQIlme -
our endorsements by
he help of the little money he paid d
or portion of our materials and for C
ny partners services. Meantime, the q
managers of the New York Lotteries, o
hen regularly drawn under State II
auspices, bad allowed portion of their 81
etter-press printing to follow Mr.. Syl- o
'ester's into our concern. and were e.
paying US very fairly for it; doing S
most of the composition. For two or
hree months after DIR. Shepard's col Y
apse, was frequently sent for to work p
g substitute in the composing room g
# the Commercial Advertiser, not far h
rom our shop; and l was at length b
'ftered regular situation there; but 5.
'ur business had by this time SO i'm. e;
lroTed that l was constrained TO de fs
line. Working early and late, and Ii
ooking sharply on every side for Jobs, al
Fe were beginning to make decided p,
when my partner was drown b.
d July 9th, 1881 while bathing in N
he East river, near his mothers resi- pl
lencs in Brooklyn. and | bitterly lie
nourned the loss of my nearest and ty
lesrest friend. His place in the CON OC
'ern was promptly taken by another az
oung printer, friend of the bereaved b
amily, Mr.. jonas Winchester who sa
DON married Story's oldest sister; and st
re thus went on, with moderate but bI