The morning call., 1893-12-16
HORACE GREELEY'S LETTERS.

The Sun is publishing letters written by
Horace Greeley at the time he was begin
ming life, and excellent reading they are.
Ii was in 1884, when Greeley was % years
old. that he started the Netu Yorker. bav-
ing declined to join James Gordon Bennett
in establishing the New York Herald.
According to AppletGE's Biographical
Dictionary the NeU Yorker achieved
circulation of $500 in its third year, which
was quite remarkable success for those
days; but Greeley writes in 1888 that he
cannot live by it; that his expenses are
$1,000 month, and "last month we only
took in $500" He Says-he would give i
away to any one who would pay its de BITS.
The NeaU Yorker compares unfavorably
with the better class Of weeklies to-day.
but it was not a bad paper. 1t printed
good stories. bright essays on general top
les and occasional political articles which
were anything but dull. The trouble
seems to have been light advertising pat
ronage and the difficulty of collecting
debts. In 1889 Greeley writes that the
paper is self-supporting. except as to The
editorial. which must be done for love-"
The New York Herald was started in
1885. and as Bennett had little or no
udfo pdlU lfOu VIC uicis
The Tribune was started in 1871, and at the
close Of that year Greeley wrote that he
hoped sit would realize profit next sea-
son." but was ''not sangune." All the
work seems to have fallen on his shout
ders. He says that his hours were from
A. NJ. to IL P. NJ, Sundays aud weekdays,
and that The consequence of his hard work
has been severe pains through the back
and shoulders" which often render it i'm
possible to sleep. 1t soon became evident
that the paper was going TO be success.
and as Greeley owned the whole of il his
road TO fortune appeared to be smooth.
But while be was not an extravagant nan.
he seemed to have no idea Of the uses OF
money. He seldom had a dollar in his
pocket. After the Tribune was an as
sured success he sold half of it 10 Thomas
McElrath for $1,000 He kept on selling
interests to supply his pecuniary wants.
and in 1S4S, when the paper was dividing
$50. 600 year, he only owned third of it.
Twenty years later bis interest was re-
duced TO tenth. and when he ran for the
Presidency ana needed the money, ii
turned out that he bad only six shares
left. which he sold for $500 and $4,000 a
share.
1t was believed by many that he in
jured this pecuniary prospects of his
paper by the issues to which he inclined.
such as Fonrierism. spiritualism. aholi-
tionism, etc. But the daring with which
he espOused new doctrines may have
helped him as much as it hurt him. The
conservative class which opposed all
novelties because they were novelties got
all the reading they wanted in the Herald,
the Courier and Inquirer and the Times.
There is always in every community a
class which believes that the world moves.
and wants TO keep track of the movement,
whether it be in the right or wrong direc-
ton. Greeley was known to be honest
and progressive, and thousands of people
who did not accept his doctrine or his isms
wanted to hear what he had to say. There
was a time when he led more minds than
any other American living.
1t is curious 10 observe that, in the days
OF Greeley's youth, people thought more
Of poetry than they do now. The letters
now appearing in the Sun are address ed
to DR.. B. T. Ransom, who seems to have
committed q poem called "RiZpah," which
Greeley pronounces "by far the best uni
versal verse that has appeared in the Nelo
Yorker this year." To this DR.. Ransom
Greeley writes: 81 do hope you will con-
tinue to write verse. l think you have
poetic capabilities, and that 'Rizpah' es-
pecialy gives promise of eminence. AS
to prose, it is not worth writing, except
for bread. To live 1t must be poetry only
unmarked by rhyme. l have written
acres Of It."
If one should advise the present editors
of the Tribune or the gentle men who con-
duct the Times and the Herald, or MIR.
Dana Of the Sun, to let themselves loose
in poetry unmarried by rhyme" that Is
to say, composed after the model of PARA
disc Lost" the expression of their faces
would be q study.