The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-05-16
A JOURNALISTS SUCCESS.
Joe PuIitzer's Various Career-Laborer
Cabman, Editor, Congressman.

George Alfred Townsend.l
Joe Pulitzer has got 1000 majority for
congress in this city. He is of rare tpye
here, and it is generally believed that his
stock is Polish with one side Hebrew. He
claims, however, to be a Hungarian.
Certainly his family did live in Vienna
for some time, and there Joseph visited
his mother until her decease, a few years
ago He must have had some education,
for he readily got hold of the English
language, and is very good speaker in it.
He must have had some business ex-
perience or derivation, for he has seized
upon expedients and opportunities for
making money, and nearly everything he
has taken hold of he has sold to advantage.
He does not seem to keep anything very
long.
During the war he was a common
soldier. He then settled at St Louis as a
laborer, even driving a cab. Intent on
getting ahead, he was employed by an
emigration society to get up news for lit
tie sheet they published. The news in
this sheet recommended itself to the pro
prietOrs of the principal German news
paper in st. Louis, who employed Pulitzer
to get them up similar news. His com
bined salaries were about $40 a week at
this business In time he was able to
raise the money to buy an interest in the
German newspaper SChurz and he had
a falling out about that time Schurz
wanted power, Pulitzer wanted money.
Some of Pulitzer's acquaintance were not
satisfactory to SchurZ. He sold his in
terest in the German paper for large
profit and then, buying a small German
paper of no value, sold its news franchise
to Mckee, who was afterwards convicted
in the whisky trials, for very respectable
amount
He then essayed to get into politics, and,
I think, was in the state legislature. He,
at any rate, was a member of the last con-
stitutional convention of Missouri.
Finally, he got hold of an evening paper
in st. Louis, and, being good judge of
men. built it up to piece of property
worth 800 a week. His enemies in
st. Louis beat him for the state legisla-
ture badly. Keeping his property there,
he turned his attention to New York, and
was for years and years trying to get hold
of the broken down World This paper
at last fell into his hands, when its
owners had grown sick and tired of pay
ing its bills. and of being deluded with all
kinds of expectations of a big trade.
Pulitzer had younger brother, long a
reporter on The Herald, who had already
started a penny paper here, which now
has large circulation, and is generally
well spoken of. The elder Pulitzer revo-
lutionized the newspaper business in that
town by publishing an enterprising sheet
of eight pages for 2 cents, and advertise
ments for next to nothing. The Herald
and The Times had to follow suit when
they saw what an inroad he was making
upon them. Just as he had gripped
moderate success the passion for pub
lie consideration led him to run for con-
gress. Pulitzer is Democratic man in
affabilities, does not talk much about
high purity, believes in the cohesive globe,
and he is at this moment as much in
quired about as any person in New York.