The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-15
"REMINISCENCES OF G. W. CHILDS


Chicago Times Herald.)
1t is something to be handed down to
posterity as generously good,' even
though it be upon the trade mark of
a cigar; and l think George w. ChildS
would have liked its His blanleless life
was always open to the public; he was
not averse to greeting in the market
places, and his right hand held no Sc
crets from his left. Liberal, but not
| lavish, he was rarely imposed on, and
when he was he resented the oHenSe.
A clerk in the business office of the
Ledger once applied for leave OF alb
sence, in order to attend the funeral OF
his mother When his request was re-
ferred to Mr.. Childs, he made inquiries,
and, finding that he bore a good char
acter in the office granted him two
weeks vacation, with salary, adding
the gift of $500, as he said, to help pay
the expense. A year later the same
young man made another application
for leave; this time to visit his mother,
who was dangerously i'll. Pay him
Off said Mr.. Childs, and give him
permanent leave: a young man whose
mother is seriously i'll after having been
buried for a year is altogether too re-
markable a person for mere clerk on
the Ledger
MIR. Childs kept two people in his
employ, reduced gentlewomen, who
earned their living by the salary he
paid them to investigate the cases
which came to him for help. One of his
pet charities was the providing of por-
tionless brides with trousseaus. 1T
must be a great modification" he said,
"a great modification to a nice girl to
get married without nice clothes, and
I wonder that the need of helping them
has never occurred to other persons be-
sides myself"
The allowance he made for this pur-
pose ranged from S100 to $500. Upon one
occasion he gave a fatherless bride 81
500 for her outfit. But that" he said,
"'was an unusual case The girls father
had been a friend of mine, and she
married into a wealthy family, where
she needed handsome things, so 1 tried
to do for her as her father would have
| done. Besides, her mother had to have
a new dress for the wedding"
One Of Mr.. Child's favorite maxims,
one which ne never grew weary of cit
ing, was that the truest charity is that
| which helps people to help themselves.
1T is much better to give a man work
for ten weeks at So, or for five weeks
at $40 week, than to give him $50 out
right" he used to say. I'm the one case
you save his self-resDect; in the other
first duties of the rich to 9rovide the
poor with work.
When the Hoe Derfecting presses
were first introduced, and the Times
and the Press both adopted them, the
agent, of course, offered them to the
Ledger. Now. next to his clocks, Mr..
ChiIds rejoiced III his presses. Visitors
to the Ledger building were always
shown them along with the other
CT oh a
as ginning as the engines on a man.
of-war. and each one had its name
Ulysses s. Grant, Anthony DreXel, etc.
Mr.. Childs sent the agent to see these
presses, then he showed him one days
paper. Now" said he. will your new
press enable us to print better paper
than we do now?'
ut will save you great deal Of
money" answered the agent. You
can print your paper quite as well with
half the force you have now"
THAT is not the question. Will the
new press enable us to print better
paper?"
The agent was forced to confess that
the Typography of the Ledger could not
be improved, but he expatiated at
length on the saving in labor by the
use of the new press. why, he said,
you will be able to dispense with half
the men in your press ROOM"
Then, Mr. Childs made answer, if
the only actual advantage which your
new press has over our old ones is that
it will enable us to discharge half of
our force, I prefer to leave things as
they are. The Ledger makes a great
deal of money, and L do not care to
make more by throwing these men out
of work. They and their families would
suffer, so l think it is better to keep
our old presses
He always opened his own mail beg
ging letters and all. I CHANGED to make
a call on him one morning when he had
just gotten through with the task. See
there" he said, that pile of letters,
over hundred, and all entreaties for
help of some sort. Most of them are
genuine, too, 1 think. Poor people, it
is impossible to help them all. Here is
one woman I feel sorry for. She is in
bad health and her husband does not
care for a sick wife; he does not like
her having no children. So she wants
me to give her money and railroad
pass to come on and consult a ply
stefan here. Now, if / do and the doc
tor cures her, do you believe the brute
who is not tender to a sick wife will
be any more SO when she is we'll? But
she is evidently in real trouble, so Mrs.