The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-09-21

When he first bought the Cosmopolitan
netspent about $4,000 in the first few
~eeks IN advertising, and he has been
sPenoing ever since. He put the magazine
On = nrm financial basis. bought his sup
Pnes ior cash and charged cash for his ad-
verusing. He hired the best brains he
couio md to help him. and the result is
inst the magazine now sells ~ well as the
o,dess established periodicals. It has now
sDout 10000 circulation, and is had only
io'uU when Mr.. Walker took hold of it
TWO years ego. It is now making money.
Notwithstanding that it has such men as
Murat Halstead and Edward Everett Hale
among its editors.
OUR ocroGEEARTAN WRITER'S.
Some of the oldest men of the country
are doing their share OF literary work.
Governor Andrew g. Curtin is writing his
"Reminiscences of the War" at his home
IN BeIlefontc, and he tells me he has pile
OF manuscript as big as . dictionary. He
dictates his stories to q very rapid type
writer, young lady whose critical literary
judgment he says Is good, and who can
take down the matter almost as fast as he
can talk. Cassius NJ. Clay is, / am
told, writing away at the age of
30 In his Kentucky home upon
some additional memoirs OF his
career. and I met not long ago
the Hon. John H. Latrobe, OF Baltimore,
who, notwithstanding that he is nearly
ninety, is still writing. This man is one
OF the most remarkable characters in the
United States. He was born during Jeffer-
sons administration, and was q cadet at
the United States military academy when
Monroe was president, was admitted to
the bar during tne administration of John
Quincy Adams. and when Jackson was
first elected he became counsel for the
baltimore d Ohio Railroad and secured its
right-of-way over the mountains. He has
been one Of the counsel for that road ever
since. He was the inventor of the Latrobe
stove. or Baltimore heater, which is known
all over the United States, and he has pub
lished about q dozen works, including law
books, infantry tactics, hints for travel in
Europe. children's books and novels. Now,
at 81. he enjoys novel as well as any
lover OF 20. and his brain is as clear and his
eye az bright as it was when he was boy.
LAWYERS $4,000 CHECK.
1t was John H. Latrobe, who acted as
counsel for the Winans brothers in their
railroad contracts with the Russian gov.
eminent. and heard the other day the
story of how he was engaged by them. He
was in Europe at the time for
his health when he met one of the
Winans brothers, and was asked by him
to go to Russia. Al can't 60 and you can't
afford to pay me what it is worth" ''But
you must co." said Winans. "We have
got to make . big contract and
We need man we can trust We
will pay you any price you want,
and what will you charger" 81 don't
want to co." answered Mr.. Latrobe, but
II do go 1 will have to have 100000"
"Ali right" said Mr.. Winans. and as Gov
ernor Curtin tells the story, he thereupon
took out his check book and wrote him out
. check for the amount. The result was
that Latrobe drew up the contract with the
government, and by this secured the con-
troll of the road for twenty-five years. 1t
was an expensive business, but they made
millions out of it
HOW THE czAR BUILT RAILROAD.
1.-The Winans brothers," said Governor
Curtain, ''were among the first railroad
builders of Russia and the story of their
fortune-making there reads like a ro-
nance. They first came to the notice of
the car from a contract which they took
to build q bridge across the River Neva.
In building this bridge they found that the
current was much swifter than they had
supposed. and the river was deeper. and
the result was that they lost about $50 900
roubles on the job. About tine time the
bridge was completed the car came down
to see it. He was told that the American
contractors had lost on it and the
amount Of their loss. He offered to reim-
burse them, but they refused and said that
in their country men stood by their con-
tracts, and that If they had made $50, 900
instead of losing 150. 900 roubles that they
would have said nothing about it and they
would have considered it q fair business ar
rangement. This reply pleased the car
very much. 1t showed him that the Win
anses were honest business men, and the
manner in which they had made the bridge
showed him that they were good civil en-
gineers. He then told them that he want
ed this road built and survey was made
for the purpose. The surveyors laid out the
road in sort OF zigzag line, taking in the
biggest cities and the best grades. This
survey was shown to the Gar Nicholas.
He looked ct it and then said, That is not
q
map Of Russia he land lead pencil upon
it, resting one end OF the pencil on the city
of Moscow and the other on ST. Peters
burg. There is where l want my road to
run" said he. 1T must be in a straight
line from one city to the other, and the
railroads will make other cities between it's
chief points" The Winans built the road.
and through Latrobe got this twenty
Gxo
twenty years were passed the Russians had
learned all about the road and its machin-
cry, and they wanted to take it out of the
hands of the foreigners. / was minister to
Russia at the time and the Winans heaf-
ing Of this disposition of the car came to
me and asked me what they should do. l
replied, III the car wants the road you had
better sell out to him and fix price on it
when he offers to buy; if you don't, he
will take it on some pretext or other, and
the chances are you will nave to take what
they choose to give A few days after
this Winans was asked TO sell the road to
the government He fixed his price at So
600 900 and got it without word"
CHECKS FOR MILLIONS.
Speaking of this $50 600 check which the
Winans boys gave Latrobe for his legal
services reminds me of a story If Jay
Gould which have never seen in print. 1t
relates to the purchase of the Missouri Pa
cific railroad, which Jay Gould bought of
Garrison. The road was paying good divi-
dends, and Garrison was not at all anxious
to sell. Jay Gould asked him what he
would take for the property. and his reply
was: 1.-TWO and one-half million dollars"
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