Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-24

tune-A Harlem Miser-ViIiard's Dudes
Robbed.
Correspondence Of the lfornino Yeaos.
New YORK, Sept. 21.-When the news
boys went through the streets Tuesday
morning calling out, "IiDleS, two cents"
people thought the little fellows. having
been stuck" that is, having purchased
more copies of that paper than they could
sell, were trying to dispose of their stock
at half price. Those who made the re-
| quired investment of course discovered
that it was the newspaper and not the
newsboys that had reduced the rates.
The reduction is the talk of the town. and
conjecture is rife as to the reasons for it.
One view is that the Times is not paving
/ property, and that it was forced to make
the reduction in order to increase its cir
culation. AS a matter of fact, the Times
! was never more prosperous, and never
had larger circulation, except during
election time, than now. Another theory
| is that the new departure is for a pOliti-
! cal purpose. There may be some fOunda-
| ton for this view, for men connected with
! the paper, who, however. are not perhaps
! in Mr.. Jones' confidence, say that the
! Times is to be the organ of IA new partv.
J
/ purpose Of enabling it to preach its doc
/ trines among those who can afford to paw
but two cents for their newspaper. The
remarks of the Times yesterday, apropos
of their reduction, confirm this view.
What effect will the Times new de-
parture have Oh its New York rivals is IA
/ question which has been asked many
| thousand of times the past iOrty-eight
hours, and to which the replies have been
various. The fact that the Tribune yester-
day lowered its price from four cents to
three is considered by a large number a
proof that the example of the Times will
in time be followed by every paper in the
city, whatever its present price, and that
there Will be reduction all along the
line. The Herald is expected to lower
It's price to two cents as soon
as Mr. Bennett can be personally
communicated with, and some say it NAV
even sell for a penny! This last is not
unlikely, if the story told concerning its
reduction from four cents to three, half
dozen years ago, is true. Mr. B. is said |
to have ordered the reduction bv tele-
graph from the Union Club, where he had
been drinking great deal too much cham
pagne. He forgot the order almost as
soon as he sent it, and. when he read the |
announcement of the change of price in
the Herald the next morning, he rushed
down to the office for the purpose of de- !
captating somebody. On being shown
his telegraphIc order he retired from the |
field convinced as well as silenced.
That the SIN will before long shine for
all for one cent is confidently expected by
many, but it must be taken INTO consider
alton that thousands Of people think life
is too short to allow the reading of an
eight page paper every dav. Already a !
large proportion of the SUMS subscribers |
read it not because it is cheap, hut be- |
cause they find in it all the news in con-
denSed form, and such will continue to |
read it in preference to the Times, not |
withstanding that the price is now the |
same.
SHOULD THE "sUN" HALVE IT'S PRICE. |
and should the other journals reduce their
price in proportion, the effect on salaries |
will be unfortunate for the EMPLOYEES In |
this light the step taken by the Times on
Tuesday was personal misfortune to |
almost every reporter and newspaper |
writer IN New York. For reduced receipts |
means reduced salaries, and, if the reduc- |
tion is general, the employees will be |
obliged to submit to it. as nothing can be |
gained by changing their employer. The |
IU0Une, however, is an exception, and !
will not reduce the salaries Of its employees |
whatever happens, for the reason, as one |
of them said yesterday, they are as low |
as they can go already. The paper in !
question is like the economical man, who. |
ny IL COuIoG VI Sl bltlildllC IRuutIlOn Oh MS !
horses food, got the poor beast down to a |
straw a day, and would have caused him |
to live on less had not the animal died.
The cheapening of the Times is terri |
bic blow to the Tribune, and the halfway |
measure which is intended to parry it is |
considered to be more confession of |
weakness than an attempt at self-defense. /
No man in his senses certainly will pay |
three cents for the Tribune when he can /
get Times for two, if he wants to get |
the worth of his money. The Tribune |
should have reduced its price to two cents |
or made no reduction at all; relying, in |
the latter event, on It's clientage of hide |
bound partlsans, to whom money is no |
object, and who prefer a political organ
to a newspaper. The IribUBe'S reduction !
to three cents, by the way, was not de-
cided upon, it is said, until midnight yes
terday, which accounts for the awkward
ness OF its announcement to that effect.
The Republican Convention yesterday
put in the field ticket which will surely
be beaten unless the Democrats commit
political suicide by Quarreling among
themselves. Owing to its being an off
year, however, even if they are "harmO-
niOas," but comparatively small frac-
tiOn of Governor Cleveland's unprece-
dented majority can be realized. Arthur,
too, will make every effort to redeem the
State, as his nomination next year depends
upon it. Had his friends managed more
wisely, he might hope for success with
good reason.
, IT Is BECOMING EVIDENT
that Clarkson n. Potter died far less
wealthy than he was considered to be-
His family have been obliged, IN addition
to giving up their horses, to rent his house
in Gramercy Park, and retire to his country
house in New Rochelle The additional
income they will thus receive, however,
is the handsome sum of $4,000 a year.
was told number of characteristic
stories the other day about a Harlem
mlser, who, is reported to have an income
of nearly half million of dollars year.
lie is ''fOrty-nine'er," and half of this
amount comes from the rent of property
III San francisco, which he bought for
almost nothing, before California became
state. When he was in San Francisco
his only son died, and he is said to have
transported the body to this city for bur-
ial in keg of whisky, which he after
wards sold 10 the keeper of popular bar
room! According to another story, he
employs his single servant in turning in
side out and making over the envelopes
of the letters he receives, which he is thus
able to use a second time. For fear that
the poor slavey may take advantage of his
being a widOWer, he has hung a si0n in
his hall bearing the Legend
. The house-keeper Is not my wife. but a.
hired servant.
He dresses worse than the average
tramp, and his scare-crow figure is often
seen wandering around Harlem, and pull
ing ancient nails out of old boards and
fences. These he straightens, with the aid
of his housekeeper, and, when he has col
lected sufficient quantity, he sells them.
His single extravaganza in life of nearly
three score years and ten, was the DUR
chase at the Centennial Exposition. of
Washington's coach of state. He per-
mitted it to remain in the permanent eX-
hibition until last spring, when he had it
forwarded to him by rail- To the heavy
vehicle, which was built to be drawn bv
four horses, he harnessed a single
brOken-dOwn steed that, with much
urging, began painfully to drag
it from the Jersey City ferry to |
Harlem. Fortunately, at Twenty-second
street and Fourth avenue, one of Bergh's
agents saw the tOiling and over-laden
beast, and put stop to the further pro-
gress of the coach of state until second
horse had been brought to it's aid. Since
being put to this additional expense by
the 5. f. T. L. Q. &. T. A., our miserIV 1
friend never mentions Mr.. Berghs name |
but with curses. This pOssessOr of half
a million year who, living on next to |
nothing, is every year richer by nearly
his entire income, is not known to have a |
single relative to whom he may beuueath |
the wealth which he has spent lifetime
in accumulating, and which lie must