The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-01-13
PRIZES OF THE PRESS.
FACTS ABOUT THE CHIEF EDITORS
OF NEW YORK.

Letter on the Subject by John Swim
ton, the Well-Known Editor.
Copyright 1897
New YORK, Jan. 12-The glittering
prizes that may be won by ambitious
writers for the New York papers can be
seen today by looking into the embel-
hshed quarters of the leading editors of
the city. Almost all the men who now en-
JOY tame and fortune hereabout, as masters
of the press have risen from the ranks of
poorly paid scribblers, whose notes are so
OFTEN rec1unted in long metre and short.
venture t. say that the proportlol of oar
aS1lrants in this vocation who secure sue
cess IS as great as it is in any other line of
life, whatever, including even stock job
berry, land speculation, railroad building,
or tenement raising. ! am aware that this
a ertlon will be challe ged, but the
more fully it is looked into by those who
know tie peer of New York, the more
surely will ii stand beyond dispute
Take but a few facts like unto many
others of the kind that might be given.
L knew Whitellw Reid when, in is ma
turity, he lived on a small stipend as the
Washington correspondent OF the Cincin-
natl Gazette. He is now owner of the New
\ ork Tribune, proprietor of its Tall
Tower" in City Hall square, and million
are who dwells IN a palace that belongs to
himself
[ knew f. L. Godkin, man of Irish
birth, when he drew his pittahce of $50
week as writer for the Times. He is now
the proprietary editor of the New York
Eren{Hg Post, and enjoys an income from
1t higher than that of most Of the ids in
Ireland
/ first saw Charles A. Dana when he was
a writer on the Tribune under Horace
Ii HnN., ,F
New York Sun, the owner of lovely
island on the sound, where he resides in the
summer, the proprietor of city mansion
in which he lives like a prince, and had the
happiness few days ago of interviewing
the pope in the vatic IN.
l knew Joseph Pulitzer ten or twelve
years ago when he was getting but a
limited reward for the manuscripts he sent
to the Sun. He is now the owner of the
New York World, a millionaire many times
over, and the author OF newspaper projects
that are bewldering in their range and
magnitude. From the time that he was a
private soldier in the union army till he be-
came writer for the press and up to this
time, his ca eer has been lively
| knew his younger brother, Albert Pu-
liter, when he wrs clever reporter for the
Herald. He is now the owner OF the New
York Morning Journal. which has en-
riched him far beyond tue hopes that grew
in his brain ten years ago.
l know George jones, who, however, did
not bolst of his manuscripts when he had
no notion Of the fortune that has enabled
him to raise the grandest newspaper edifice
in the world. In the New York Times no
now possesses wealth beyond the dreams of
avarice.
Two years ago Ro ert p Porter was a
writer who had no conception Of what the
fast-revolving suns were to b ing forth for
him. He is now owner ana editor OF the
New York Press, a daily paper that bears
the impress of powerful uand, and is
surely at the beginning If a great career.
Then there is Oswald Ottendorfer, who
70 merly made lean bills as a reporter,
but who is now the owner of the New
York Stdpts Zeitung, through his mar
riage to tie wealthy widow of its founder.
AS TO the New York Herald, that came
to its present aifiuent proprietor by inherit
ance from his energetic sire, who began his
career in New York as poor slave of the
pen.
Here, then, is roll of the names of the
c lit1rs who are tod ~ at the head OF the
lea hing daily papers of this city. 1t
sh Jws that nearly all of these papers are
now owned by men who were once, aud
some Of them not long ago, ''mere scrib-
blers," anxi usly looking for the means
of life in their ink bottles. Surely they
have won prizes as glittering as any to
be seen in this great ely. Surely the edi-
torial business here offers attractions to its
devotees not less alluring than those OF any
other. Surely there is fair hope of success
for the young writers VINO arrive to secure
wealth and power through the press.
Surely il is not necessary for every big
wigged father who is ambitious of wealth
for mis- pc terity to shake his head whea his
SON tries to cultivate a literary taste. The
press, at least in this locality, has been a
good mine, with veins that yielded rich re-
turns 10 the hands Of many endowed with
the skill to work its machinery.
do not know tho press Of all our cities
as well as know that Of New York but it
is probable that the foregoing sentence is
not less applicable elsewhere than it Is
here.
And yet there Is need Of new daily papers
in this city, which is growing like a mush-
room, but must leave that fact to be
found out by those who would like to pro-
vide them
As a matter Of fact, fortune does not
wait upon all the men, or n 1.-THE of them,
who try their hands in the d lily press Of
New York. la past years | have Known,
aasl how many journalists, the peers in abil-
ity of anyof those here spoken Of, wno have
been shipwrecked by their newspaper smbi-
ton. Some Of them died from grief, and
oLuets geJ hNe III uesDhlT. IL WcIb NhFu
to toll what are victorious qualities
for an editor, and / am not composing an
essay on that .ubject, but the greenhorn
may as well know that there are several of
them, as is shown by the records OF this
city. II is not a theory, but rather expert
ence by which we are confronted. Then,
be, de all the rest, AS Napoleon once said,
after every preparation TO secure victory
has been made, one other thing is needed,
AID that is, < cd luck"
W nat las be- here said Of the dailes Of
the city might be applied 70 a la ge pro-
portion Of Us weekies. / could name far
more than a hundred Of our weekly papers
that are mluts 10 their owners from Bon
ner's Ledyer 10 Jovey's BreiCer'S Journal,
and neatly nll were started as these two
were, by writer's or printers Of very narrow
means. The story OF our monthly maya
zines is Of different kind, for all Of taem
were established by the capital of wealthy
publishing Il ms
Not few of the tyros Of the periodical
press here have won prizes Ia other H. Ids
like Henry Willard, whom / once knew AS
a reporter for one Of our city papers, or
Augustln Daily, the theatrical manager,
VINO had many years Of experience / re-
porting, Or Stedman tue poet, or Howell
the novelist, or Stanley the African ex
plorer, or o. ers too numerous 10 mention
There is plenty Of encouragement for tho
you. z fellows who are to-day climbing the
lower rounds OF the ladder Of journalism,
though IL hold, true that the profe sion is
degraded by those who follow II for the
sake Of Def and elevated only by those