The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-02-10

original proprietors was dead, another
was absorbed in the management Of
another enterprise, and the third was
Indifferent. The paper was being pub
lished at a weekly loss of $1,000. I'm
der these circumstances Mr.. Childs,
against the strong advice of bis friends,
bought the Ledger for d sum a little
exceeding the amount of its anHhal
loss.
The Success of the Public Ledger.
The purchase was comnleted Decem-
Der 4, 1864. A week later the new pro-
prietor doubled the price of the paper
and advanced the advertising rates to
the compensating point. At first the
shock to the establishment was
severe. Both subscribers and adver-
tisers fell of, but il few days
the tide turned. At the end Of a
month he made concession which re-
stored the paper to more than its for
mer ascendency by reducing the price
from two cents a day to ten cents per
week, Triaing as this change may
seem at first it was very important in
determining the future of the paper.
The bulk of the population of Philadel-
phia is composed of highly respectable
families whose means are limited and
to whom economy is thing of con-
science, necessity and lifelong habit
The Ledger not only reached its for
nief Standard of circulation and adver-
tising patronage. bHt went far beyond
it and became one of the most profitable
newspapers in the country.
The Benevolence of Mr.. Childs. =
For long time Mr.. Childs gave his
unremitting personal attention to the
management of the Ledger iii al its
departments, but of recent years he
left the main responsibility for its con-
duct to other hands and devoted his
time TO his friends and his numer-
Gus schemes of benevolence. Few
men, either living or dead have such
a record of philanthropy as Mr.. Childs;
whether considered from the actual
amount of money given away or the
wise and judicious manner in which
the benevolence has been dispensed.
The printer has always been an espe-
cial object of Mr.. Child's benefcent
interest, an interest which was
warmly reciprocated. His latest gift
to the craft was sum of money in
connection with n like amount from
the late Anthony J. Drexel, his life
long friend, which formed the nucleus
of the fund with which was erected,the
Printers home at Colorado Springs,
Col.
A mere list of the philanthropic
gifts of Mr.. Childs would oc-
cupy very considerable space.
Among the notable ones may
be mentioned the stained-glass win
dow which hs placed in Westminster
abbey in COMMUNICATION Of the poets
William Cowper and George Herbert;
the monument over the hitherto un-
marked grave of Leigh Hunt in Ken
sal Green; the gift of plot of ground
for cemetery for printers in Phila-
delphia, and the presentation of the
Shakespeare memorial fountain to
Stratford. on-Avon.
His Respect for womanhood.
Mr.. Childs' attitude toward women
was of the highest and noblest. Moth
my ichcSbihB upon "Oiuduhihu Ndo
ever admitted to the columns of the
Public Ledger after be became its
proprietor The mother-in law joke
in its various forms was
strictly and specially tabooed. In
his relations with his wife this chiv-
airy assumed it's most beautiful form.
Up to the very last he displayed to-
ward her the Difference, the courtesy
and the devotion of the lover.