The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-09-28

The Most wonderful Success oftne Centennial
Year.
10000 LETTERS IN A DAY!


10000 LETTERS IN A DAY.
Young as America is ia art, ard few as
are the names she has yes inscribed upon
the roll of genius, it can not be denied
that we are a plc.ure-loYing people, and
that our patronage Of the fine arts is not
less liDt raj tban that Of any other nation
on he globe. Many ofOur wealthy coun-
trYmen possess collections Of paintings
which include some OF the choice st works
of tie masters, and which are at once the
pride OF the New World and the envy OF
| the Old; while weare enabled to accumu-
lase at our various expositions such gale
rles OF art as would do nodscredit tothe
famous exhibitions of Europe.
So rapid has been the progress " art in
this country, and so successfully has me-
charles been applied to the reproduction
of fine paintings and engra7ings, that ev
cry household in the land is now beaut-
fed by pictures and made more cheerful
by faithful copies from the productions OF
our most talented artists.
Printing, engraving and TYPOGRAPHY, it
may be truly said, nave been reduced 10
fine arts, and are working land in hand
ment Of civilization.
+ Undoubtedly the most remarkable en-
terprise connected with the history ofart
in America, having for It's object the dis
lsemination Of fine pictures, is that Of the
National Art Company, of Cincinnati.
This organization, which, in cooperation
with the newspaper press of the country,
has already distributed nearly half mil
lion copies Of he engraving tamiliarly
| known as the "Three Graces," sprang
| into existence with the beginning Of the
| Centennial year, and SO extenslvey was
| 1t advertised, and SO readily were induce
ments appreciated, that within three
months the business had developed 10
such an extent that it really became one
of the wonders Of the age.
| Arrangements were perfected with the
principal journals III the United States
and the Provinces, whereby subscribers
were supplied with pictures at nominal
price, barely covering the expense of
wrapping and mailing; ON better terms,
in fact, than the publishers Of these jour
nails could have possibly furnished engra-
wings of like quality To their patrons. In
response TO the advertisement inserted
under this arrangement, letters literally
poured ia upon the National Art Com
pany, until within a very brief period
their daily mail assumed the astonishing
proportions Of ten thousand letters. Each
Iofthese letters contained certificate enti-
sling the sender to copy Of the "Three
Graces," anu was accompanied By the
small sum necessary for mailing expenses.
Strictly speaking, these letters came from
every where. Travel-stained letters from
the Pacific slope, with their treasures OF
quaint little golden coin; red stamped let
ters from Her Majesty's provinces with
their enclosures OF Dominion script; for
eign-stamped letters from over the sea,
and long-delayed letters from the mission
airy fields, bearing the fragrance of the
balmy East. Letters daintily written and
neatly folded from misses at boarding
schools; letters prim and precise from
suspicious maiden ladies; Letters scrawl-
ed and crEmpled and soiled from theI
rough hands of laborers, and letters,
professionally illegible, from lawyers and
M. DIS.
/ To attend properly to this mess ofcor-
respondence, and TO wrap, label, address
huO Q1dll SUCH Ill GuuImOQS QOdublAy Va
pictures, of course called into requisition
large clerical force; and the reader can
form dim conception of the magnitude
Of this pushes when be is informed that
it became necessary to increase the corps
of clerks at the Cincinnati postoffice IN
consequence of the additional matter fur
nishtd by the National ART Company. |
Seven hundred dollars worth of stamps
were daily consumed for postage, and an
express wagon was almost constantly en-
ploy ed in conveying pictures in tubes to
the postoffice.
AsG business venture, his enterprise
certainly never had a parallel, and un-
doubtedlY none other ever assumed such
vast proportions in such an incredibly
short time. It is hardly in the range OF
reason that any other publications, either
OF pictures or papers, ever reached SO
many homes as have the "Three Grace"
through the instrumentality OF the Na-
tional Art Company.
Only to think of it! Five hundred