Evening star., 1935-02-24
CHAPTER XLnH.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

CHAPTER XLII.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
"HE world loses more by Josh
Billings death than by that
Of a Vanderbilt or a Jay
i Gould. The death Of mil
lionaire is often more Of q
blessing than otherwise. His tightly
boarded money is then divided and
goes into general circulation. His
brains which, when he lived worked
solely for himself, are no loss to hu-
manity. The world is neither the
richer nor the poorer for his living.
How different with a man like
Josh Billings! The product of his
wit which has made the sides Of hu-
manity ache with laughter, remains
in printed form. The world has added
to its treasure in his living and his
death cuts of the faculty which,
bound up in him, can produce its like
no longer. So 1t is also with the poet,
the novelist, the great inventor.
1t Is true Josh Billings received
price for all he did, but such values
are above price. Humor is better paid
in America than any other class OF
literary activity Josh Billings re-
ceived S25, 900 for his magazine work
alone, and his profits from his writ
ings ran into the hundreds Of thou
sands. Mark Twain, one Of the rich
est literary men in America, owes his
wealth all to his humor. He annually
sells his funny thoughts for as much
as a Presidents salary and the best
thing about it is that his salary lasts
as long as he does.
Noted Humorists.
petroleum v. Nasty" at 50 has an
income Of over 100000 a year. The
foundation of this is the wit of his
letters put into poorly-spelled Eng
lish. He is worth a million dollars
today. The Detroit Free Press has
built up an immense circulation
through the funny sayings Of M.
Quad, for which it is said $4,000
year are paid. Artemus Ward was
receiving $l2 week from the Cleve-
land Plain Dealer when he discovered
his gift of humor. whereupon he at
once began to command a respect
able salary. His lectures paid him
we'll; and while in England he wrote
several articles for Punch for each
of which he received $500.
Bret Harte's literary reputation Is
largely founded on the streaks Of fun
and pathos that run through his
stories. He, at one time, got $4,000
a year from the Atlantic, though 1
understand the Atlantic thought 1t a
bad investment.
At the time he found he could mar
ket his thoughts, Josh Billings was
an auctioneer In New York State.
His first venture, The Essay on the
Mule" he sold for s150; about a
year ago he declared he had never
written a better piece of humor. In
speaking of humorists at Saratoga
last year, Josh Billings said:
THE business is being overdone
Every paper now t.as its funny man
ano the professional humorist is on
the decline. l believe in short para
graphs or sentences, in the expression
of thought rather than pages. 1t is
the phrase or sentence that IS remem-
bered. Humor must be based on truth.
I never make jokes about religion.
am a firm believer and like the man
who believes in something. 1t is be-
cause a thing is ludicrous and at the
same time true to nature that people
like it. Genuine humor lasts forever,
because it is true. You soon get tired
of hearing q man tell stupendous
lies"
Hilltop Comedians.
There are humorists on Capitol
Hill as well as in the writing pro-
fession. A few years ago Senator
Lamar, finding that he had weak
looking Jersey bull calf on his hands,
decided to name it for Senator George
C. Vest, stating his belief that such
a great title would put red blood
into its veins. He was not mistaken
The poor ragged calling, under the
influence of milk, Mississippi air and
Vests name, grew rapidly. In time
it became a goodly animal. 1t was
not of the purest breed, however,
though it had some good ancestors.
So Senator Lamar finally sold it to
Senator Mcpherson of New Jersey.
The change of climate seemed to
help the young bull. In the course
of a year or two it became the chief
of McPherson's whole herd. and only
the other day at the New Jersey State
Fair it took first premium OF the
Jersey cattle Of that great State.
The Syndicate Game.
Mr.. S. S. Mcclure, the man who
furnishes nearly all the leading pa
pers of the country with stories by
first-rank authors, told me today how
he happened to get his idea of the
syndicate newspaper scheme. Said he:
Il was recovering from an attack
of typhoid fever when I saw that
three or four papers had combined
and were buying short stories from
Bret Harte, Mark Twain and William
Dean Howells. could see no reason
why a good story or article by a
famous writer might not be pub
lished in a number of papers at such
q rate as to pay the author well