New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-10

naners took execution to these suggestions
and the next few numbers of The Tribune are
devoted to the useful and agreeable work OF
anasyzing and dissecting its esteemed con-
temporaries One Of them appears to have re-
torted by personal attack on Mr.. Greeleys char
acter, and the brilliant fury with which that was
met must have taught 1t the value of discretion.
The controversy seems to have ended here, happily.
no doubt, for both the parties TO it.
Only two persons are living who par
ticipated in tho publication Of these initial num-
hers, and of the two bat one remains in the
service Of The Tribune lie is Mr.. Thomas n.
Rocker, now the secretary of The Tribune Asso-
citation and the pride and glory of It's business
Office In one capacity or another Mr.. Rocker
hes had to do with the publication of every
Tribune that has come from the press from April
10, ls41, until April 10, 1891, and IL Victoria,
Queen and Empress will take the trouble to re-
call her feelings when she awoke and opened the
shutters on her jubilee morning she will be able
70 appreciate the state Of Mr. Rockers mind to-day
No one not similarly placed possibly can MI
Rocker was employed in Mr.. Greeleys first COM
posing-room, and soon became its foreman. With
his own hands he made up the forms from which
the first Tribune appeared. Every incident oil
that notable night is as clear in Mr.. Rockers
memory to-day as is the clean pearl print that
news matter was wholly contributed by Mr..
Greeley and Henry j. Raymond who had formerly
been employed on The New-Yorser.
Mr.. Greeley was the sole proprietor Of The
Tribune when it first appeared, but approaching
his limitations in about three months he aSso-
ciated with him Thomas McElrath as q partner
and business manager. About $4,000 copies were
then being circulated. and the success of the
venture was assured 1t had started as penny
paper but at the beginning of its second year the
price was raised to two cents, and the weekly re-
ceipts supplied constantly increasing surplus
over expenditures. In these earliest years three
other notable men, In addition to Mr.. Greeley and
Mr. Raymond were attached to the enterprise.
One of these was Bayard Taylor, another Charles
A. Dana, and the third George Jones' Mr.. Taylor
and Mr.. Dana were employed in the editorial
rooms, and Mr. Jones sold papers over the counter.
The campaign of i S44 brought The Tribune into
the full measure of public favor. Mr.. Greeley
loved Henry Clay as man, and admired him be-
yond comparison as statesman. No one OF the
vast army of Mr.. Clay's ardent champions worked
with such zeal and devotion as the Editor of The
Tribune. Personally and through the paper he
argued and pleaded highland day, and every night
and every day. and it may be doubted if his
grief and bitterness in the hour of his own defeat
twenty-eight years later were so keen and
deep as the sorrow with which he announced to
his readers the overwhelming defeat OF Henry
Clay. From that moment the batteries of The
Tribune were turned upon the shareholders and
the Abolition agltators in almost equal degree.
Its fixed policy was the Identification of the Wing
party with the cause Of freedom. The Polk
Administration opposed with sturdiness and
vigor. The annexation Of Texas and the Mexican
War brought out steady fire of protest, and If
as projects they We're not beaten, certainly they
were shorn of their worst ambitions and their
worst results were prevented. During this period
of The Tribune's history, from the Democratic
triumph of 844 to the Wing victory of lS4s, it
took its place the leading American newspaper.
1t was filed with great achievements. Mr.. Dana
was managing editor, and its news department
was remarkably interesting and complete. Mr.
Taylor was supplying his famous letters from Ger
many Science, social philosophy and commercial
affairs were handled with marvellous skill, and
already the paper had won its way into the
affections Of thoughtful and patriotic people. 1t
during this time that Fanny Fern wrote this
illustrative account of the attitude held toward
IL by all sorts and kinds of the population. She
had sent out for a copy, but her messenger had
returned without it. The newsstand supplies
were exhausted. So she undertook to find one
herself, and coming presently upon AN old buck
ster-mann seated under huge faded umbrella in
the sun, she asked IL he had Tribune.
"No, msam," he said, decidedly And then, as
the autboress told it, this conversation ensued:
"'Why, yes, you have f" said I, laying my hand
on the desired number.
s'Wel you can't have that, ma am he replied,
for haven't read it myself
al But I'll give you three cents for it!'
s'Nopr'
"'Fourl'
"'Nopv
"'Ten!
No, you couldn't get it for dollar. It's
The only copy I've got left and won't sell it till
I've had the chance to read it through MYSELF
"You should have seen, said Fanny Fern, con.
GLIDING, the shapeless hat. the mosaic coat. the
tattered vest and the amazing trousers that
were educated up to that Tribune"
- This sight was not rare one as the years went
on. The Tribune yves a class paper, but the
class was not determined by the kind of clothes
people wore or the amount of money they could
command. Brains and conscience were the quail
ties to which The Tribune appealed. and wherever
they lived it found a home.
In Is49 Mr.. Greeley and his partner decided
to put their enterprise into the form of joint
stock company. The inventory Of the material
, and fixtures belonging TO the Office showed value
T Of Sl7,3I1. and it was thought that 100000
might fairly represent the worth of plant and
goodwill The stock thus distributed ;
Horace Greeley, 81 1-2 shares; Thomas
MeElrath, SO 1-2 shares George NJ. Snow,
shares; Robert NJ. Strebeigh, shares Bayard
Taylor, shares; John F. Cleveland, shares ;
Thomas N. Rocker, ! share, and George Hall,
] share. All Of these original stockholders were
then employed on the paper Mr.. Rocker and Mr..
Hall are the only ones now living. and Mr.. Rocker
Is the only who still holds bis original share.
II is No 90 Of the SERIES and the gold is not coined
that could buy 1t. Mr.. Dana, then in Europe
as correspondent for the paper, soon became a
member of the corporation and the holder of ten
shares. He remained with The Tribune during a
period Of great prosperity, to which his genius
literally contributed.