Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-05-27
THEBOOK OF THEDAY
SOMETHING ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF
"COIN's FlNANAkcIAL SCHOOL,"

Novel Method Of Booming Free Silver
Coinsge--How Man with an Idea start
cd To Teach Finance To the Masses and
) Ended by Amassing Big Fortune.
by all odds tho most phenomenal popu-
Lar craze Of tho century, always excepting
"Trilby" and "Unclo Toms Cabin" ~
tha. which has followed tho publication OF
"Coin's Financial School"
It's author IL Mr.. William Hope Harvey
OF Chicago. One day Mr.. Harvey said to
himself, 81 will write book that will rev.
olutionize the world on the money ques-
tion."
And this Mr.. Harvey has done IL was
loaded with free silver from cover to cover,
and its arguments were 50 plausible that
converts came easy, and the first and Sec
ond editions were speedily sold out
The west and south absorVei tho book
In great quantities and read 10 with the de-
light Of a young lady with new novel.
IL circulated among the farmers and gave
new incentive to tho hopes OF the free sill
verites. Every newspaper editor noticed II
oditOrially, and the gratuitous booming it
gained helped to roll up It's circulation into
the hundreds of thousands Already up
ward of 450, 900 copies have been sold. by
October the author expects To have reached
the /, 200, 900 mark.
It was book Of mystery. It's obscure
origin helped It's success, and the question
with everybody has been, Wbati Is the cause
Of 1t all, and when will the craze cease?
Mr.. Harvey has written two other books
"A Tale of Two Nations and "Coin Up
10 Date"-which have brought the circu-
lation Of all three up to 600,0
Hnp6raIa NJ aditorialo ara daily amman
ing in the leading papers Of the country in
controverson or defense Of the arguments
i'm COINS Financial School," and one
Chicago paper has employed j. Laurence
Laughlin, professor Of political economy
In tho Chicago university, to write edi-
torial replies to 1t.
The author of this remarkable book Is
by birth n West Virginian. Buffalo, near
Charleston, w. Va, Is his native place,
and he IL n lineal descendant Of the emi-
nent anatomist William Harvey, the dis
coverer Of the circulation of the blood. He
Is 43 years of age, married and has four
children, two boys and two girls.
BY profession he is q lawyer, having
been admitted to the bar when he was but
10 years of age. His education was OBJ
tained in country log schoolhouse and
in West Virginian academy. In u broad
or sense he Is educated by experience and
travel. His favorite studies were arith-
metic and history; he has passion for
statistics. The Congressional Record in
terests him more than novel.
In the early spring Of 1893 Harvey was
living In Ogden, Utah. He had invested
in real estate In Denver, Pueblo and Salt
Lake and estimated the value Of his prop
erty at 100000. The panic came and he
found that he could not realize One-half
that sum on his possessions. For some
years he had been a student Of financial
legislation, especially with reference to the
silver question, and being firmly convinced
that single standard was inimical to the
interests Of the people, he decided to go to
Chicago and start weekly paper for the
purpose Of creating sentiment favorable
to free silver coinage He started such n
paper and gave it the name of Coin.
"Whilo L knew 1t would be difficult for
such paper to get circulation in the
east" said Mr.. Harvey to n correspondent,
81 believed that the people in the west who
thought as L did on the question would
assist me to the extent of making the pa
per self sustaining. In this was mistaken
and the paper died. but out OF it rose the
spirit Of Coins Financial School,"
Harvey was a good advertiser, and be-
one bid for public favor which came near
capturing the town. He hired a coach
drawn by four white horses and driven by
a coachman in resplendent livery to parade
the principal streets of Chicago, while a
small boy in the vehicle, dressed to repre-
sent "Coin," distributed copies of his pa
per-
"About this time" said Mr.. Harvey, 81
made u proposition to Joseph Medill, the
venerable editor of The Tribune and if he
had accepted it my book probably would
never have been written. L proposed that
nc should argue the gold side of the qucs-
ton, and that l should argue the bimctal
lie side, the discussion to be carried on
through the columns of Mr.. Medill's pa
per over our respective signatures. He nei-
ther accepted nor refused my proposition.
He never answered my letter, but since
Coins Financial School has become q
success Tho Tribune has devoted more than
100 columns of its space in answer.
"a representative Of The Inter Ocean
then made me the same sort Of proposition
had made Mr.. Medill, except that the pa
per was to employ a man to argue tho sin
gle standard side This proposition also
fell through, and was informed at the
time that Lyman j. Gage, president of the
First National bank and n fnancior of in
ternational reputation, had gone to the
proprietor of tho paper and protested
against such an Arrangement have late
ly been assured that Mr.. Gage did not do
this, but / thought SO at the time, and IL
was one of tho reasons why l made him
such prominent scholar in Coins Finan-
cial School
AT this time the book had not boon
written. / clearly saw That my Dappr was
not going to be n success ard attributed
its coming failure partly To the fact that
the treatment Of financial questions there
In was too diffusc too scattering. II was
not sufficiently compact, and many of tho
articles were written from scientific
standpoint, entirely over the people, heads.
thought IL over and concluded that the
way 60 get the middle classes and common
I,nD,.ln .llLl.. L..