Pulitzer_ A Life in Politics, Print, and Power - James McGrath Morris [292]
At the Sun: NYS, 9/22, 10/6, 10/13. 10/19, 10/20, and 10/27/1878.
The most singular: NYS, 10/27/1878, 3.
Although long-winded: NYS, 9/22/1878, 3.
The St. Louis: W. H. Bishop, “St. Louis,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, quoted in JSR, 21; “Remarks of Gov. Chas. P. Johnson,” Birthday Anniversary Dinner,” 4/10/1907, 20–21, PDA.
Encouraged, Pulitzer went: JN to JP, 3/10/1900, JP-CU.
In the early morning: It was so cold that winter that ice closed the Mississippi River for forty-six days. The account of the auction and Pulitzer’s taking possession of the Dispatch is based on reports in the GlDe, 12/10/1878, 1; MoRe, 12/10/1878, 1; and Evening Post, 12/09/1878, 1 and 12/10/1878, 4.
Arnold raised his bid: The receipt for $2,500 for the purchase of the Dispatch was made out to Arnold. (PLFC) It is not inconceivable that the unknown bidder, like Arnold, was working for Pulitzer, who was far wilier in business than he ever let on.
During the confusion: GlDe, 12/10/1878, 1. McCullagh may have had a hand in writing the comment.
The following day: Evening Post, 12/10/1878, 1; Clayton, Little Mack, 132.
The answer was: Pulitzer continued this strategy of deception for so long that later a reporter for the Globe-Democrat complained about “his old tactics that have puzzled many a news-gatherer”: GlDe, 8/19/1879, 5.
Pulitzer’s antics gained: GlDe, 12/11/1878, 4.
St. Louisans already: The size of Allen’s investment was disclosed when the paper went bankrupt five months later. See PD, 5/10/1879, 1.
Dillon’s Evening Post: Further, the Post was wrongly perceived as a pawn of the Globe-Democrat because of Dillon’s identification with McCullagh and his use of the Globe-Democrat’s presses. The Post did have a similar look, but it hardly deserved to be called an “illegitimate offspring,” the description given to it by the unfriendly Republican. For these and other reasons, the Post had not yet found a readership large enough to sustain it.
Although the flagging: For the first time since the panic of 1873, being a newspaper publisher was looking again financially attractive. There were 718 daily newspapers published that year in the United States, a number that had remained relatively stable for four years. With improved economic conditions, the number was beginning to rise again. Nearly 100 new dailies were being launched, a 13 percent increase in the number of papers. This was part of an upward trend. Within a decade the total number of papers would more than double: George P. Rowell & Company Data on the Number of Newspapers and Periodicals: 1868–1908, reprinted in Lee, The Daily Newspaper in America, app., table X, 720–721; Douglas, The Golden Age of the Newspaper, 132.
Pulitzer openly professed: PD, 12/21/1878, 2.
Pulitzer’s timing was: ChTr, 9/13/1872, 4.
The two men: The merger agreement and accompanying documents, PLFC.
The new paper: PD, 12/13/1878, 2; JSR, 65.
The declaration was: Merger agreement, PLFC.
Anyone who knew: GlDe, 12/13/78, 4.
CHAPTER 13: SUCCESS
Before the Post and Dispatch: Figures for the actual press runs are contained in the Fogarty Collection.
In the following weeks: The purchase from Hoe marked the beginning of a long and important relationship between Pulitzer and this manufacturer of printing presses. Within a few years, Hoe would push his engineers to their limits in creating larger and faster presses to meet Pulitzer’s demands at the New York World.
Years before, when: PD, 12/19/1878, 2, quoted in JSR, 45.
He was on to something: Pulitzer’s return to St. Louis coincided with a period when the leadership of the city was changing from an older, conservative group to a younger, more progressive one. See Moehle, “History of St. Louis, 1878–1882.”
Like an editorial Paul Revere: PD, 1/30/1879, and 1/31/1879, 2.
As the campaign: The series began in PD, 2/15/1879, 1. McCullagh, in particular, was singled out because he earned