Seward daily gateway., 1925-12-22

of countless disappointments and bit ter reverses, was not unlike that O an Alger hero, although his ultimate
 success out-did the imagination O
 even that famous writer.
 Born in the little town of Mercer
 Maine, August 21, 1854, he has beer described as lone of those many
 bare-footed country boys who star
 life with more in their heads thar in their pockets" He attended the public school of Mercer for a while but soon felt the urge to make mon- ey. His first job was in the coun- try store, where he served as general utility boy.
 Was Telegraph Operator
 From there he went to a telegraph office, learned to handle key, and was sent to Augusta, then an impor- tant publishing center. His work became an obsession, and .he hated it. He knew he could do big things. The four walls of a telegraph office, he wrote years afterward, "were to me as the cage to a tiger yearning for the boundless freedom of the jungle"
 Il was so sure of myself" he con- tinued, that I would willingly have given 10 years of my life, without compensation, for a chance with some of the big concerns of the country ry-railroading, steel manufac- turing, shipping, banking, or any of the great staple industries"
 Publishing Germ Enters Life.
 Gradually the publishing germ en- tered his blood. He drew up elabor- ate plans for a magazine and sub mitted them to various persons with money, but ''an enterprise so hazard ous as publishing, and managed by man who had no practical experi- ence, did not appeal to them"
 Finally, his scheme was laid be- fore man more daring than the rest-a stockbroker-a arrange ments were made to begin publica tion of The Argosy. The broker agreed to supply $2,5OO, and Munsey having $500 which he had saved, promptly invested it in manuscripts. With these he started for New York.
 When he had opened his little of flee, he drew one of his new kitchen chairs up to the eight dollar table and wrote for the $2,5OO. A few days later he collapsed over that same table. The broker up in Maine had changed his mind. He would keep his money. This MT. Munsey described as ''jolt number one
 Takes Scheme to Publisher
 Next he took his scheme to a pub- fisher, who offered to bring the mag azine out in his own name, retain ing Munsey as editor and manager Two months later the first number appeared, and three months after that the publisher failed. This was jolt number two"
 The insolvent publisher owed the editor and manager of The Argosv something more than a thousand dol lars in salary, which the latter took for the goodwill of the infant week. ly paper. Writing of this period, he described it as "the beginning of struggle such as no man is justi- fled in undertakings He had no capital, and no means of raising money. Many advance subscriptions had been received and the money spent. No one had any faith in the magazine, and it could get no credit.
 Borrows $500 from Friend
 Borrowing $500 from a friend in Maine, he fought on to keep what little life the publication had. In the winter of 1886 he wrote his sec ond serial story for The Argosy. Ii was called "Afloat in a Great City," He ground out 5000 words a. week | by candle-light, after long days of struggle at the office. When he had finished this, he looked back on the four years of drudgery that he had lived through since coming to New York. As a reward, he found that his debts amounted to about s16.- 900. This was "jolt number three"- the worst of all.
 His serial story, however, had help ed the circulation, and money start ed to come in. He increased the size of the magazine and raised the price. As fast as the money arriy- ed, 1t was used for advertising. In five months he spent $95,OOO and dis tributed 11,500,00O sample copies of the Argosy. It was then called "The | Golden Argosy." He had 20 men | on the road east of Nebraska, dis trlbuting samples. In New York he had no bookkeeper, no editorial