New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-20
Tribune. T'mrS.
EXPENsEs IN ExTRAORDINARY TIAEi


The expenses we have been considering
have been tlken from ordinary years Let us
now see what they are in extraordinary
times. When q great war Is raging iii Euro
pean countries with which we have close re-
lations, through trade, travel and immiGra-
ton. the New DIRK reader demands az prompt
ana complete, II not as detailed, news us does
the London reader, and great journal can
not afford To dsappolnt Its constituency by
failing TO meet this demand. see now WlidC
it costs, remembering that IN lSoJ telc-
graphic expenses were thought enormous
when they had reached an annual total or
S1l 679. In the FrancO-Prusslan war, 1 HE
TRIBUNEs Geographic Olll, largely payable III
gold was $50, 3O3 81. ltsaddItlOnalb bill Tor cor
rcSp0ndcnce, also mostly payable III gold, was
$I3 ,263 46. Other journals quite possibly
spent more those that did not suffered by 1t.
Now take another mode of estimating what
il costs 10 try to meet the demand Tor the
kind of newspaper TO which readers nave
been educated. From IA table OF comparisons
covering IA series OF years L select lew sam
pie figures. 800 , ID.
| You have seen that IN 1859 the entire edi-
torIal expenses, including all Consequences
on TIE TRIBUNE Amounted 10 94o,lZo. IN
1866 the editorial expenses alone amounted
to ISL 775, and the correspondence to P49,-
300 more. In 1867 the editorial alone had
swollen TO $S4,77o: two years later to $780,
1872; two years later to $lOI,o2o; two years
lat,r TO Sl33,S54; two years later still TO
SI4S. 234 Meanwhile the correspondence had
run up IN the same fashion, until III one year
1t reached $7O,O3S.
Not only was this news procured and
handled in more costly ways, but there was a
vast mass more OF it, Note how the cost OF
putting il IN type ran up. In 1893 you nave
seen that the entire expenses OF the COM
poslng-rOom were $42,256. Now take up
few later wears. Ia 1866 they amounted to
Ss6. 6Og III 1867 to S9l,OOS; III 1868 to
.fg4 .3SS in 1869 to TlOO,769; IN 1870 TO
SiU5 492 in 1871 10 $lO1, S27; ID 1872 TO
SII35IS; in 1873 90 TlI7lSO; Ia 1874 to
pI255S3 /; and III 1879 70 Sl04foS.
EDuOAIAL SALARIES of TWENTY YEARS AGO
Something has been SAID of the enormous
increase in editorial expenses, but 4 few fis-
ures OF individual salaries will make 1t
clearer. From an old saary-bOok containing
the weekly payments from 1913 to 1888,
extract from the first page some items that
have now curious sound The first entry is
Mr.. Sinclair, bookkeeper, $15; the next Mr.
Strebeigh, assistant bOokkeeper, $40. Then
follow Mr.. Dana, assistant editor, SD; Mr.
| Taylor, ditto, So; Mr.. Cleveland, ditto, $40;
Mr.. Snow, money reporter, ST. hir. Dawes,
in the courts, "a Mr. TOwndrow, police re-
ports, ST. Mr.. Augustus Maverick, proof
reader SO; Mr.. Gibson, ship news and I'M
portatons 81; Mr. March, Washington cor
respondent, $40; Mr.. Robinson, ditto, $40.
Now skip TO the last page of this same
book containing the payments for the
week ending on the 31st of Decem-
Der, 1859. Very largely the same men
the record on the same page shows, from the
weekly use OF 1854 reams for the daily
TO the use of 494 reams Below these items
stood the personal list, more than doubled
now III length, but with the same leading
names Heading down 1t now, We pick out
MIR. Sinclair, bOOlkceper, SIS; Mr.. Strebelgh,
assistant ditto, $50; Mr. Dana, assistant
editor, $4S; Mir. Ripley, ditto, $50; Mr.. Cay,
| Inuyubrnv G11. Ne
Snow, money reporter, $50; Mr.. Gibson ship
news and ImpOrtotions, SZS; the Washington
correspondents, $57 80; the Count GmoWski.
$40. But the latter was not q weekly pay
ment, anu was unusually high. Many weeks
the good Count who was only employed =" by
the piece got nothing, and the entries oppO-
site his name we've mostly FOR sums Ut 20 or
! $40. On the books, a Ittle further back,
George William Curtis figures as City Editor
AT $50 per week, and Henry }. Raymond, us
| second Oh the paper, rose gradually from ~
To $50. Richard HIidreth wrote apparently
"by the piece" and his monthly payments
ranged from one To two hundred dollars
sometimes more. In 1855, William Henry
Fry had risen TO 500 per week; and the next
| year james >. Pike was pad " Tor tho Whole
| Winters work at Washington" the
! gross sum OF S2O2 30. Bayard Taylor
/ was credited 70 apiece Tor his California
! letters, but ON his return Mr. Greeley moved
| ana carried an advance to TlO, on the ground
| that "they had made mt" ii. G.'s own
name appears regularly on the lists OF those
| days at 500 per week. lie afterwards had II
cut down 10 $40 and there was never a SUBJ
sequent advance which lie did not resist.
! Once lnGeed there Is an entry 10 the effect
| that Mr.. Greeley protested at some length
/ against the advance in his salary, ana gave
| formal notice that he did not intend 10 earn
any more than he was now receiving" For
| ten or u dozen years past, 1t has been my
! duty to fix the salaries on this same book.
| have found plenty OF gentlemen VINO might
| truthfully enough have gwen this last notice,
but not another who made the preliminary
protest
Does the most rigid economist expect that
| the eWspapeTs Will or can return to these
| prices before the warp
| Or TO pass from the mere question OF sald-
| res. does he wish the pages ot markets, for
| oign ANA domestic, TO be sent once more by
post, tho foreign news to come by steamer
| the pages OF Geographic dispatches, special
ana Associated Press, To DE replaced by clip
! pings from the exchanges and news-letters
| sent by mail Does he Wish the actual amount
! OF matter gwen him oacn morning reduced
over OBe-hait and does he wish tue age OF
| iOur-tlltho of 1t increased from tWenty-fOur
hours 10 three weeks, before he Is permitted
10 see i'll
1HE RATIO OF RECEIPTS 10 EXPENSES.
But, we may be told, ali this Is unnecessary
and deceptive. OF course your expenses have
increased, but so, propOrtlonately have your
receipts. Wei, to that the baiance-sheet
affords an exceedingly arsumentatiye answer.
On business Of half million in 1859, as
IL 2-cent paper, The TRIBUNE made net
profit of $4,000. at the beginning OF
1879 we found that on % business of
nearly three-quarters OF million as
a 4-cent paper, 1t had made $S5,559. The
fluctuations IN the interval mad been At least
sufficient 10 show that III IL matter OF such
! magnitude 1t was not wise to hunt for any
more risks than We already had. In times OF
great excitement, Presidential years. and the
like, the volume OF business of course runs mp.