The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-09-16
GOT SMALL FEES FOR WORLD CITY
doted Lecturers Certainly Not
0verpaid for Services.
Jshn B. Cough, for instance, Is Said to
Have Received the Huge Sum
Of s! for One Evening.

'T wonder what Charlie Chaplin or
acme other Famous parsonage Of the
stage or screen, would say if he were
offered II bushels Of potatoes or a
hahn. for an evenings work p
I, It was the old crouch himself, speak.
Ing to a fellow worker during the
anck hour In a busy downtown office,
aceording to the Chicago Daily News.
The old crouch had just finished read
ing an article in which present-day
salaries Of stage and screen stars were
spoken of. and /. might be said that
the reading Of this bit of news GER
tainly did not tend to brighten up his
gloomy disposition the least bit.
But the fact remains that people
equally as well known in their day
worked an evening for potatoes. ham
and other trifing amounts, for the old
crouch hin,self said he knew it to be
8 fact. One Of. his co-workers asked
10 be shown and he was.
Z, In the good old ylyceum days back
IA 1852, when John B. Cough was IN
Els prime, 1t is disclosed that he re-
eeived about 81 lecture, each lecture
taking about three hours.
And it can be seen from files OF
newspapers that once at Andoyer,
N h, those responsible for the lecture
paid Mr.. Cough with ham instead
az with currency, and the speaker was
apparently satisfied with this fee.
Ralph Waldo Emerson. who was one
of"the shining stars Of the lecture
world during his day, was glad, to ac-
eept So as payment for an evening,
Willie the ,oid crouch pointed out that
one time HeHry Ward Beecher was
paid u bushels Of potatoes for an
evening of his time.
According to the records, it was In
1859 when the cost Of lecturers started
Is. rise. During that year the Salem
Beeum astounded the people of that
community by paying DAME! Webster
$1oa for a two-hour talk. and It
created q mild sensation.
). This doubtless started something -
for after that prices continued to rise.
1nzthe e7Os Mark Twain held out for
md received $500 a night.
Then Beecher, taking his cue from
Twain, became holdout and he con-
tfnued to hold out until the ante for
one, night Of his services had been
raised to $1s9ee, this being the very
hsst 81 600 fee ever paid lecturer
fl this or any other country.
Major Pend, accepting the $1,000
mark. later contracted with Henry n.
Staniey for series of 100 lectures.
agreeing to pay him 100000 for
them. The major did not lose any
money on thissin spite Of the fact that
every other promoter in the country
Was convinced Of the fact that he had
6acome weak.minded in his advanced
wears. The fact that the first OF this
series Of lectures given in New York
netted $4,000 proved that the major
was not so wrong after all.
seft,s not right" the old crouch con-
tinued. 'Here we work hard week
after week For q small pitt1nce and
these lecturers actors. fighters and
ball players get thousands Of dollars
for a few hours Of fun. There ought
TO be law against it."
About that J. time the lunch pertod
ended, much to the delight Of the 9th
or workers, who were trying to relax
ana who could not because of the OLD
crouch and his wsiling.