The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-11-25
Disclosed the Report of the Appraisers of the Estate of
Joseph Pulitzer, the Noted New York Publisher.

The following dispatch giving the
appraisers estimate of the estate of
1 the late Joseph Pulitzer and opinions
4 on newspapers and newspaper making
4 will be of general interest to the read
/ ing public, which largely never gets
| behind the footiIghts of newspaper
4 making. The New York dispatch is
as follows:
NEW YORK, Nov. 21-Appraisal
of the estate of Joseph Pulitzer, pro-
prietor of the New York World and
/ the ST. Louis st-Dispatch, which was
filed today in the Surrogares office,
gives the total value Of the real and
personal property as $1S,525. 1862,
which after deductions for various In
cendital expenses, leaves net value
of s16.843,4S4.01. Mr. Pulitzer's real
estate in New York is valued at 3d.
27S,o00 and his personal property at
SIS. 1862.
The 1890 shares of stock Of the
Press Publishing Company, owner and
/ publisher of the New York World,
| which we're held by Mr.. Puf1t1-r, with
q par of s1oO we're appraised at
i $604.50 each, or total of S3.016, 405
The 9,164 shares OF stock Of the Pull
liter Publishing Company Of ST. Louis,
Iowner and publisher of the Post-Dis-
patch, par value S100, were appraised
at SPLITS each, or total of 81 ,115,717.
i Values placed upon the shares OF
4 stock were based on careful consider
alton of afidavits made by Melville e.
Stone, general manager OF the Assoc
lciated Press: Gen. Charles H. Tailor,
owner and editor of the Boston Globe;
Florence d. White, financial manager
of the World; N. H. Botsford, auditor
and others.
Numerous consultations were held
and arguments presented by the law
yer for the state comptroller and the
attorneys for the estate, and values
were formulated on the basis OF the
tangible assets of the corporations plus
the value of their good Will. The ap
praiser, Joseph I. Berry, found the
good will of the World to be worth
= 81 100000 and the good will value o
the Post-Dispatch to be 100000.
Stones Testimony Considered.
! In arriving at these figures creates
weight was given to the testimony 0
Mr. Stone before the appraisers an,
the financial statements submitted b
Mr.. White. Both showed the extrem
: hazard of the newspaper as an invest
emit, Mr.. Stone calling particular al
tention to the great increase in tn
price of white paper in the last tie
y years and the fact that there was n
: legitimate way for paper to increas
: it's revenue aside from Its advertiser
- and its circulation.
Mr.. Whites affidavit brought out tn
great difficulties under which pape
y labors in such periods as a great wal
- when the public is clamoring for e.
= ira editions constantly and wher
ae there is no proportionate increase {
revenue.
In the year 1898, the year of tn
70 Spanish-American war. when newsp;
'id pers were spending hundreds OF thou
nj ands of dollars to obtain the new
it usine fleet of dispatch boats an
ret spending fortunes in cable tolls, til
New York World found itself facing
deficit OF $4,000 at the end of IL
tn year.
srs Libel actions were another e
Gle pensive feature, the World In IL
CT year 1911 paying s114,105 in verdic
IN and settlements of suits. This su
in Il 4; H. Jp of 1--WE
legations or prosecutions. The ave
age net profit of the World for Il
err last four years was S536,000.
a Mr.. Stone, in taking up the cost
the white paper as an evidence of the
ley crease of the running expenses of
nix newspaper and the cost of printin
ife, showed that it was increasing co
cts stantly, and that to some papers Il
ratio of increase made it absolute
impossible for some papers to recon-
ssh He declared that the newspaper bu
sty. ness was an exceedingly hazardo
of one compared with any other form
The investment.
nd
UGH High Cost OF Paper
ce: 1t was shown that the World in
contracts for paper for the next fl
years had been forced to pay $500
has more annually than the price of t
cot last contract, and Mr.. Stone said til
the the paper certainly could not offs
as this by increasing It's advertisement
for and he did not know of any 9th
The legitimate means by which 1t COT
,me offset it. He added that it could /
its he done by subscriptions. and tho
POD were the only two legitimate ways
revenue subscriptions and advert
ing.