The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-05

It is told of Sir Thomas Upton that
upon one occasion when he was on
shipboard great storm arose. The
captain of the ship feared the craft
must founder, but as a last resort de-
termined to jettison a considerable part
/ of his cargo. When Sir Thomas heard
/ that boxes and bales were to be thrown
/ overboard-it was near the English
! coast-his alert brain hit upon a smart
advertising scheme. With marking
| pot and brush he painted upon every
package to go over the side, Drink
Liptons Teas" When the fiotsam
went ashore and the beach combers
gathered 1t up they read the advertise
ment with interest, and the newspa-
pers made a great spread of sensational
news out of the perilous position of the
ship, the throwing over of part of the
cargo and the shrewd scheme of Lip
ton. Thus he turned his danger into
a first-rste business stroke. Now there
is an effort to make it appear from
recent developments that Sir Thomas
makes not only his perils, but his pas
times serve him in a business way.
This may account in great measure for
the Upton luck" that was so fire.
quently commented on while the Irish
baronet was in this country as a chal-
lenger for the Americas cup.
David n. Barrie. who was the per-
sonal representative of Sir Thomas
during his two contests for the cup,
has brought a suit against him for
S11 SIS, claimed to be a balance due
for services rendered. These services
nature it is alleged. In considerable
part. they were to get Sir Thomas
name into the newspapers as often as
possible; to keep him persistently be-
fore the public. I'm any event" wrote
Sir Thomas to Mr.. Barrie on one oc-
casion, get my name into the papers
as often as you can. You know how to
do it,"
The purpose Sir Thomas had in mind.
according to the allegation of Mr.. Bar
rie's attorney, was not so much to win
glory in the event of his lifting" the
cup as to sell more tea and coffee to
the American people. Indeed, accord
ing to the authority named, the yacht
races were a secondary consideration
the prime object being to secure the ad-
vertising that participation in the in
ternational race would procure for the
owner of the Shamrocks 1 and II.
Meanwhile it is not to be forgotten
that while Sir Thomas was devoting so
much time to yacht racing some of the
directors of his company held a meet
ing and protested against his giving
so much time to sports. They asserted
that the business was suffering from
his absence, and that dividends would
have been larger If he had given more
time to business and less to yacht
racing. And Sir Thomas himself de-
MES emphatically that his yacht racing
was any part of an advertising scheme
So far as business is concerned, he
says, his yachting has been a source
of loss rather than of gain.
Meanwhile, the people of the United
States think we'll of Sir Thomas. He
whether he Is an equally good adver-
tiser does not make a great deal of
difference. He certainly did not float
any tea remnants from either of the
Shamrocks and so far as the informa-
ton goes he did not talk shop while
he was over here for sport. Mean
while, the progress of the case against
him will be watched with some interest