Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-10-20

hoe. AT the age OF IL he went to work
in his uncle's dry goods store ut Buffalo.
There he clerked for seven years, and
proved an apt assistant, occupying his
spare hours mainly with reading.
The uncle failed and young Dana re-
manned for two years assisting in UNI
tangling the skeins of the raveled bust
ness He was determined TO go to col
lege and, at the age of 20. perfected ar
engagements for entering Harvard. He
made excellent progress, but his eye
sight failed him and at the end of the
second year he was obliged to abandon
the work
The necessity of outdoor work to
build up his health was painfully APP
parent, but the desire to remain in touch
with intellectual companions was equally
strong and it is not strange that he
association, which had just been
founded by Nathaniel Hawthorne,
George William Curtis, Margaret Fuller
and others. Young Dana was assigned
to the mana cement of the fruit depart
ment. The history of this ill-starred en-
terprise is familiar to ALL but it is
worthy of note that it has been recorded
that of all the enthusiastic colony Mr.
Dana was the only member who showed
any real adaptability in combining intel
lectual and agricultural pursuits As
his eyesight improved. he devoted part of
his time to aiding in the publication of
The Harbinger, magazine devoted to
social reform and kindred subjects.
There is little doubt this work directed
his bent toward journalism rs profess
sion.
His First Real Newspaper Work.
Leaving Brook Farm in 1914 he went
to work on the Boston Chronotype, a
daily newspaper, and with the exception
OF his government service during the
Civil war his connection with news
paper work remained unbroken I'M
I'll Ill health compelled an abandon
ment of active work q few weeks
ago. Versatility was an essential
qualification for position on the Chro-
notype, and Dana wrote editorials, read
exchanges, handled copy" read proof"
and made himself generally useful-au
for the munifcent sum of 81 IA week.
Determined to better himself. he went
editor of the Tribune under Greeley.
When the French revolution broke out
Dana conceived the idea of going abroad
as the Tribune's correspondent Greeley
frowned OH the idea, thinking he lacked
fitness for such a responsible position.
But Dana, with the decisiveness so char
acteristic Of his whole career, was de-
termined to go. Finally he made an ar
rangement whereby he was to write n
letter a week TO the Tribune for $40
apiece. By ''syndicating" other letters
he raised his prospective receipts to $40
a week. He WenI 20 Europe, leaving be-
hind his bride, who had been Miss Eu-
nice Macdaniel. He remained in Europe
nearly year and his letters built IN
quite q reputation for himself
On his return from Europe Mr. Dana
went back to the Tribune, this time re-
ceiving a salary Of $40 a week. Later
he was given $50, and there the salary
remained until an enterprising rival pa
per offered Greeley's Man Friday 500 y
week, a figure then unheard of in Jour
nalism. Mr.. Dana, in a recent reminis-
cent talk, related that he went to the
Tribune management and told of the of
fer. The managers told him that Mr.
Greeley only drew 500 and that it would
not do TO have Il subordinate draw a
higher salary. Dana was finally offered
500 and he consented to stay And he
continued to work for this salary until
he went into the war department
Most historians give to Dana the credit
for having been the balance wheel in the
editorial machinery of the Tribune.
Greeley. they say, was too much a man
of one idea to make a complete success
of a newspaper. 1t was Dana, it is
claimed who saw to it that variety was
provided; who, in fact, made it mirror
of events and a chronicle of the best
thought of the time. Incidentally he gave
some attention to the business Office and
succeeded in rendering the circulation of
the Weekly Tribune past the previously
unseen mark of 100000. So closely as
ISOLATED with Mr. Greeley it is not
strange that Mr.. Dana should have be-
come quite a factor in politics. While
he had done everything in his power to
aid Greeley in his ambition to get into
the United States Senate and had other
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