The Press., 1894-02-08
DEATH OF A PHILANTHRoP1sT


 DEATH OF A HILANTHROPIST
 George w. Childs, editor of the Phila- delphia Public Ledger, died last Saturday at a. m., after lingering illness. No American was better known than MT. Childs no character more universal | ly respected and admired than his. His | life was an illustration of that progress | iveness that has marked the lives of many great men, but the qualities for which the famous publisher will be remembered in | future years, are those which have not who have gained renown-the qualities of | the heart and hand.
 He was a philanthropist, a patriot, | public spirited citizen and the highest 1 type of successful business man. Dur ing his lifetime he made millions and he | devoted his wealth to the betterment of his fellow men.
 The character of MT. Childs was pecu- liar and exceptionable in this respect that he united a strong, commercial, money making aptitude with a set of qualities rarely found in association with the trad l ing instinct, and not generally supposed to be natural development or accessories of that instinct. It is not upon his gifts of large and general import and signifl- canoe that his memory will rest. These are less significant than relations of the man to his fellows in the daily and inti- mate affiliations of fe:1ployer and employe, and in the crucial tests of all for rich men, the attitude toward and connection with the cause of laborers generally. His fame as philanthropist, as lover of his fel- low men radiated from his own newspa- per office, grew out of his relations with those in his employ. From one end of the country to the other he is known as the patron saint of printers.
 | George William Childs was born May | 12, 1899, in Baltimore. During his ear Hest days he showed a peculiar aptitude | for money making. At school, even, he struck many a bargain with his play mates, and during the hour when school | boys were at play he employed the time as errand boy. At the age of thirteen he entered the United States navy and passed fifteen months at Norfolk. But that was uncongenial, and when he returned to Bal timore he sought employment in book store kept by MT. Thompson at Sixth and | Arch streets, where he worked from early morning till late at night as clerk and er- rand boy for the muniticent sum of $3 8 week. He frequently attended auction sales, and in this way familiarized him. self with books and their titles to such an | extent that he was soon sent to represent his employer at sales in New York and Boston. Five years later he set himself up in a modest business in a small room in the old Public Ledger building. From that he graduated into more pretentious l book publishing concern, which was known under the firm name of R. E. Pet erson Co.,, afterwards Childs & Peter son. The next ten years saw prosperous days for the young publisher During that time the finn issued a number of well known books, and made so much money that when Mir. Childs retired from the book business he was a rich man, though but thirty-four years of age.
 It was during his career as publisher that he formed those friendships which lasted throughout his life and which dis tinguished him as few Americans have been distinguished. The friendships with the Drexels, and particularly with A. J. Drexel, had been formed and this grew closer and closer as the years went on On December 3, 1864, MT. Childs bought The Public Ledger from Swain & Abell At this time the newspaper was losing about $4S0 upon every number of the pa- per which it issued, although to all ap- pearances it was as prosperous as ever. MT. Childs bought the newspaper for about $200, 900. He adopted radical meas ures and made some sweeping changes in the policy of the paper, and soon estab- lished it upon firm and lasting basis. He was hard worker and devoted his entire attention to building up the new enterprise. In this he gained unbounded success.
 One of the greatest monuments to his goodness of heart is the Childs-Drexel UnionPrinters' Home at Colorado Springs, which was opened early in 1892. This is but one of many, for through half cen- tury he has been going about doing good, relieving the distressed, assisting all men and displaying at every turn the qualities of true Americanism. He was known across the ocean almost as we'll as he was known here. He numbered among his intimates men of all nationalities, in the highest walks of life.