The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1867-12-18

mainly undiciplined opponents of a
great party than, in the ttricter sense
a party themselves-did | feel that
such a journal was consciously needed,
and would be fairly sustained. l had
been a pretty constant and copious
contributor generally unpaidD to near
ly every cheap Wing Journal that had
from time to time, been started in our
city most of them to fall after very
brief and not particularly bright career;
but one--Ths Ne,r York Wing, which
was throughout most of its existence,
under the digniiicd and concientious
direction of Jacob b. Moore, formerly
of Til Nec Hampshire Joupal-hal
been continued through two or three
years. My familiarity with its histo-
ry and management gave me confidence
that the right sort of cheap Wing
journal would be enabled to live. |
had been ten years in New York, was
thirty years old, in full health and Wig
or, and worth presume, about $4,000
half of it in printing materials. The
Jefcrsonion, and still more The Log
Cabin, had made me favorbly known
to many thousands of those who were
most likely to take such paper as |
proposed to make The Tribune; while
The New Yorker had given me some
literary standing and the reputation of
a useful and we'll informed compiler
of election returns. In short, | was in
a better position to undertake the cs-
tablishment Of a daily newspaper than
the great mass of those who try it and
fail, as most who make the venture do
and must. | presume the new jour
mails (in English since started in this
city number not less than one hundred
whereof barely two The Times and
The World can be fairly said to be still
living; and The World is a mausoleum
within the remains of The Ecening
Star, The Amer;cap and The Courier
anil hqpirer, lie inumcd; these hav-
ing long ago swallowed sundry oftheir
predecessors. Yet several of those
which meantime lived their Iitt.c hour
and passed away, We're conducted by
men OF de,ided ability and r'pe cxpe-
riencc and were backed by pccuniary
capital at least twenty times greater
than the teariully ina dcuuate sum
whcrcon | started The Tribune.
On the intellectual side, my vcnturc
was not 50 rash rs it seemed. Ny
own fifteen years devotion to newspa-
per-making, in all its phases, was
worth far more than will be generally |
suppogcd; ard had already secured
a first assistant in Mr.. Henry J. Ray
mond, WHO hay ng for two years,
while in college at Burlington, VT,
been valued contributor to the liter
ary side of The Ncp7 Yorkcr-had |
hel to the city directly upon gradua-
ting, late in 1910, and gladly accepted
my offer to hire him at So per week |
until he could do better. | had not |
much for him to do till The Tribune |
was started then | had enough; and
| never found another person, barely |
of age and just from his studies, who
evnccd so much and so versatile abil-
ity in journalism as he did. Adler
and stronger men | may have met;
clevcrcr, readier more generally ell
cicnt journalist, | never saw. He re-
mained with me eight years, if my
memory serves, and is the only assist
ant with whom | ever felt required to
demonstrate for doing more work than
any human brain and frame could be
expected to endure. His salary was
Of course gradually increased from
time to time; but his services were
more valuable in proportion to their
cost than those of any one else who
ever worked on The Tribune.
Mr.. George NJ. Snow, friend of my
own age, who had had considerable
neutrality-suspicious., took charge cofthe
Finantial and Wall-strcct department
then far less important that it is now
isl and retained it for more than twen-
ty-two years; becoming ultimately q
heavy stockholder in and trustee OF
the concern; rcsigning his trust only
when lin 1863 he departed for Europe
in ill health; returning but to die two
years later. A large majority of those
who aided in preparing or in issuing the
first number Lal proceeded or have
followed Mr.. Sro to the Silent L.ni;
but two remain, and are now Foreman
and Engineer respectfully in the rint-
ing departmcnt-both stockholders
and trustees. Others doubtless, sur
vive who were with us then, but have
long since dritted away to the West,
to the Pacific slope, or into some other
employment, and the places that once
knew them know them no more.
Twenty-siyy years witness many changes
in city like ours, aposition
like mine and | believe that the only
man who was Editor Of a New York
daily before inc, and who still remains
such, is Mr.. James Gordon Bennett of
The Herald.
About five hundred names of sub
scribcrs had already been obtained for
The TriJune-mainly by my warm
personal and political friends, Noah
Cook and James CosgeshalI-before
its first issue, whereof | printed 5000,
and nearly succeeded in giving away
all of them that woald not sell. l had
type, but no presses; and SO had to
hire my press-work done by the
"token !" my folding and mailing must
have staggered me but for the circum-
stance that had few papers tc mail