Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1879-07-05
OFFICE SECRETS

Something Of the Interior History q
sne new York Tribune-Faniilia
Names ON tle Last. @ ~ III d y
Mr. Whitelaw Reid's Editorial Address, ,l.
NOW take another mode OF estimatins
wnat costs to try to meet the demand
lot the Kind OF newspaper to which read
ers nave been educated. From a tabl,
OF comparisons covering a series of YEAR
seiect a few sample figures. :. 49,
You have seen that i'm 1859 the entir,
editorial expenses alone amounted Il
$Sl ,I1o; two years later to $96,lS2, two
years later to $l07, ,525; two years later tt
$l33,8o4; two years later still to $14S.234
Meanwhile the correspondence had rur
up in the same fashion until in one Yea,
it reached $7O.O3S. .--,..,r~--, - -"
Not only was this news procured and
handled In mere costly ways, but there
was vast mass more of It. Note how
the cost OF putting it In type ran up. In
IooS.Y you haYe Seen that the entire eX.
pcnses OF the composing room were $42,
& zoo; NOW take up . few later years. In
1906 they amounted to $S6.609; in 1867
to $9l :0OS; In 1865 to 94.3SS; in 1869 to
to $!OO,796; in 1870 to $lO5,492; in 1871
to $lO7,S27; in 1872 to $113,5lO; i'm 1873
70 $li7,iSO; i'm 1874 to $125,SS3; and i'm
1875 to $154,7S
Something has been said of the enor-
nous increase in editorial expenses, but
few figures of individual salaries will
make 1t clearer. From an old salary
book containing the weekly payments
from lS4S to 1859, l extract from the first
page some items that have now curious
sound. The first entry is Mr.. Sinclare,
Dook'keeper, $l5; the next, Mr.. Sire
6elgh, assistant bookkeeper, $40. Then
follow tMr. Dana, assistant editor, Sl4:
Mr.. Taylor, ditto, $l2; Mr.. Cleveland,
ditto, $lO; Mr., Snow, money reporter.
$i2 Mr.. Davies i'm the courts, 81; Mr..
Iowndrow.. police reports, 81; Mr.. Au-
gustus Maverick, proof reader, Sc; Mr..
GiDson. snip news and importations, $I4:
Mr. March, Washington correspondent.
SlO; MIR. Robinson, ditto, $l5 Now skip
10 the last page of this same book con-
tanning the payments for the week end
ing on the 3lst of December, 1859, Very
largely the same men made the paper.
Ii had grown, as the record on the same
page shows, from the weekly use of 1857
reams for The daily to the use of 49f
reams. Below these items stood the per-
sonal list, more than doubled now in
length, but with the same leading names.
heading down it now, we pick out Mr..
Sinclair, bookkeeper, $4S: Mr.. Strebeigb.
assistant ditto, $50; Mr.. Dana. assistant
editor, $48; Mr.. Ripley, ditto, $25; MIR.
Tray, ditto. $40; Mr.. Towndrow, S14:
Mr. snow; money reporter, $50; Mr.. Glib
son, snip news and importation, $2S: the
washington correspondents, $57 so, the
Count Gurowski, $40. But the latter was
not weekly payment, and was lun-
usually high. Many Weeks the good
Count, who was only employed ..by the
piece, got nothing, and the entries op-
posife his name were mostly for sums of
20 or $lO. On she books, a little further
Dack, George William Curtis figures as
city editor at $40 per week, and Henry
j. Raymond, as second on the paper. rose
gradually from $S to $780, Richard Hill
dreth wrote apparently '.by the piece. -
and ms monthly payments ranged from
$lOO to $20O-sometimes more. In 1855.
William Henry Fry Lad risen to sos ner
week; and the next year James Peck was
paid 'for the whole winters work at
WASH .Igton." the gross sum of $2O2 80.
Bayard Taylor was credited $5 apiece for
his California letters, but on his return
Mr.. Greely moved and carried an ad-
vance to $40, on the ground that .'they
made hit" ii. G's own name appears
regularly on the lists of those days at $50
per week. He afterward had it cut down
to $40; and there never was SUBSEQUENT
advance which he did not resist. Once in
deed there Is an entry to the effect that Mr..
Greeley protested at some length against
the advance in his salary, and gave for
NAL notice that he did not intend to earn
any more than he was now receiving"
For ten or a dozen years past it has been
my duty to fix the salaries on this same
book. have found plenty of gentlemen
who might triithtully enough have given
this last notice, but not another who
made the preliminary protest! i5'.L z
Does the gentle reader, expect that the
will or can return to these
'prices before the WARP" <'i i--'-' li..' =
= .l-f ~ -