Newspapers / Eastern Carolina News (Trenton, … / Jan. 12, 1898, edition 1 / Page 2
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lIENRY GEORGE’S OWN 1 r STORY OF HUS CAREER. 1 [ Was Once a Sailor, Printer, Tramp, Editor, and ; | | Always an Anti-Monopolist. ; | This is Henry George’* own story, la dictated it to * Now York World reporter and revised it carefully. “I was bon in Philadelphia in 1839,” Mid Mr. George. “My father owned a bookstore end was a publish er in a not very large way. After* . wards he was a dark in the Custom* House and remained there quite a while. I myself began life in Phil*, delphia as a boy, working for 88 • week in the. office of an importer of crockery. I did writing, carried bundles or turned my hand to any thing dae there was to do. "After that I went into the offioe of • marine adjuster, but I was very anxious to go to see. My grandfather was a sea captain of considerable note in the early days of Philadelphia. He followed the aea from the time he was eight years old. He had taken part in the war of 1818, and had been cap* toted by the British. I anppoao I in herit my lore of the aea from him or from hearing my father talk about / if ft i lt £ sHh.. v • .y If Idm. At any rata I went to sea, ship ping as foremast boy on the old ship Hindoo, an East Tndjaman of 500 tons garden. I sealed from right here in Hew York, leaving the foot of Thir tieth street, on Korth Biver, going Aral to Melbourne and then to Cal cutta. "When I got beck to Philadelphia after thia voyage I was about sixteen veers old, and 1 felt like staying at hoc* a while. Bo I went into the printing office of King k Baird. There 1 learned something of the trade, but . eoon afterward I went to eee again, going to Boeton and back in a small •It waa on this trip that I got the idee of going to California. I saw in the Delaware Biver a little aida-wheel eteamer that was being bnilt for the light-house sendee. She was to he taken to California, and I made np my mind to go in bar. "is n matter of foot* I did go. Off Hatteras we ware struek by a storm, which earns near being the last of ns. X remember it very vividly—-how the squall drove the little cock l e-ebail now here, now there, now with this side touching the ratface of the waves end mow with that, while I and a negro deckhand worked together, throwing ever bags of coal to lighten hear. The setting master hug. on to the bridge, shooting to as tkroayh the speaking trumpet sad barely able to make him self heard aa he told as that the work we were doing wen foe life or fltfifb ' "We etme through safely, bat con siderably damaged. Banning along, we went into 01 Thomas, than to Per imobnoo sad Bio Jaatfro, sad ifta* ward to Montevideo. We did not go .around the Horn, bat through the /•trails of Magadan. It was amoetlm- Mmwlaa nlinii Ihg alan* tssiav yiHMTV hOB Uggp vIMm VMp around ns sndthamow-oovered moon- to° after the close of this trip. I had in tended logo to Oregon, where I knew a family, one member of whioh was a niece of Governor Carry, but it was the time of the greet Fraser River gold excitement, and I have never been to Oregon yet I left the ship and joined the rash for the Frnner River region. “1 made my way in a topsail schooner to Victoria, which was then a Hudson Bay station. I found about 10,000 miners camping there. I also found that the stories of gold were largely false. After working in a store for a while I made my way back to Sen Franoiaoo oa a steerage passenger. There I found Dave Bond, a Philadel phia printer whom I had known. He told me of work I could get to do at the printer's trade in Frank Eastman’s establishment. It did not last very long, and afterward I worked in a rice mill as a weigher. “When this failed I resolved to go to the mines in the interior of the State, and having so other way of reaching them I started out to walk. I was, in fact, what would now be called a tramp. X had a little money, bat I slept in barns to save it and bad a rough time generally until finally I made up my mind to return to Ban ! Francisco. "When I got back Iran across Bond Sand again went to printing, paid seventy-five centsathou or gBO a week, but as I was still a minor I got only sl2. George Thurs ton, who is now s captain in the regu lar army, was my foreman. “As soon aa I became of age I joined the printers' onion and so became en titled to fall wages. After that I did first-rate. I worked aa a substitute, 'subbing' on daily papers. Then I went to work bn a paper which Duncan waa then editing. I got to be foreman at gBO a week and he need my name as his pub lisher until he sold the paper. "Then I subbed on the dailies un til four printers started a little dsily paper called the Journal. Setting the type was the main thing then, as there was no telegraphic news to pay for, and so I was taken into partnership on tike payment of a email sum—between |IOO and S3OO, if I remember oorrect ly. “X Worked trying to found the Jour nal until my slothes were in rags and the tote of my shoes were out. I slant In the oflioe and did the best I could to economise, but finally I ran into debt SOO foray wash MIL What final ly broke ns up was the threat of civil war, which created great excitement the news which Came front the East by pony expreee aa absolute necessity. As we did not have it we were forbad out. “It was while in these straits that I first met the lady who is now my wife. Her people did not regard me with favor under the etrcumeienese, ana l hardly blame them, but the young kMfcf liked promised to perry me. X had nothing, but my friends fixed everything for the Wedding, and a boarding-house, where I ac quainted, agreed to credit os for two weeks' board. As soon as ws wars married ay wills and I want there. Next morning I got up at 8 o’clock sad started out to find work on an afternoon paper. I did net get it, but X Anally found work os the morn-, log* papers, and we paid our boerd. “My next move was to tfeommento, where I worked bn the Sacramento Union and did well. I sent for my wife,- and it was thorn that my first child, Henry George, Jr., was born. I disagreed with the foreman of the offioe, and after doing so returned to San Francisco and with two other printers started a job office. I earns near starving to death, and at one time I was so close to it that I think I should have done so bat fen the job of printing a few cards whioh enabled oa to buy a little oorn meal. In this darkest time of my life niy seoond child was born. I gave np the job offioe and went book to tabbing, man aging to make a living that way until I began writing. “On my return to San Francisco I wrote an article for the Times, which resulted! in my being made news ed itor, and I afterward became chief ed itor—a place I held fox . a year or so. From the Times I went over to the Chronicle, of whioh I became manag ing editor, but I did not like Charles De Young, and I went to the Herald. It was a new paper, and I came East in its interest. My wife had already come ahead of me to Philadelphia. “I had come East to make a fight to get the Associated Prase despatches for my paper. They were refused, and the Western Union finally gave orders abrogating an agreement it had made with me. It afterward attempt ed to keep my matter off the wires. I kept np this fight for the San Fran- [ tH* vitw T»ote> 'f SCENES AT HSHTO GEORGE’S HOME, EOBT HAMILTON, BROOKLYN. cisoo Herald, both from Now York sad Philadelphia, until finally the paper got into bad financial straits and Ire turned to California. “It was during my stay in the East that I wrote for the New York Tri bane an article headed The Chinese on the Pacific Coast'—the first article I aver wrote on political economy. "When I returned to San Francisco I found the Herald dying, and, as the printers were the only ones on it who oould get money to live on, I went to work at the o«se. "After this X edited the Oakland Transcript, and made a friend of Pro fessor William Bwinton. Governor Haight, who was fighting the Pacific Railroad, offered me charge of a Dem ocratic paper, the Recorder, and I took it. It prospered, and I used the money I made from it in starting a penny paper in Ban Francisco. "The articles I. wrote, supporting Haight in his anti-monopoly fight, at tracted attention, and about this time I also developed the idea which was afterward worked out in and Poverty.’ *T published ft first .in a pamphlet called 'Our Land and Land Policy,' of whleh a thousand copies were sold at twenty-five osats each. More might have base sold, but when the edition ran eat I determined to welt until I could develop the idee in. away I thought more worthy at it “Our penny paper was printed on a fiat prees of the old style, end we found we scold not gft off enough sop lee to supply the demand or to make ft pay. A manwas very anxious to buy and ws sold to aim. One of my pertain want to Paris with fho pro seeds of his venture, bat I re mained la Ban fruifsw end wae finally induced by the pavehaaer at the paper to take aa Interest in it for nothing, as be had loot hop* of sue seeding with it. We got the first Bullock perfecting press ever used in California, but just as we were start ing a morning end Sunday edition the Bank of California failed and brought on a disastrous panic. “We were pressed for the money which had bean borrowed to buy the press, and the sacrifices we were oom- Slled to make determined me to re «. I held a small political offioe in San Franolsoo, by appointment for four years, and during this time wrote 'Progress and Poverty.’ “In January, 1880, I came East after the Appleton* had agreed to re publish the book here. I came on borrowed money, and left my family in California, bnt ‘Progress and Pov erty' was m sucosss from the start. I have no idea how many copies have been sold. I think considerably over ball a million. There were three edi tions in German alone, and there have been editions in Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian and even in Japanese and Chinese. From many of these, of oourae, I hare never received anything at all.” When asked about the trip to Eng land and Ireland which he made about the height of the Land League agita tion, Mr. George recalled the fact that he was twice arrested as an enemy of the English Government. He was io Connemara when the first arrest took place. This was at Lobhrea, and the seoond was at a miserable straggling village fifty miles farther on. It was this second -arrest which most im pressed Mr. George. "The charge against me," he said, "was being a stranger and a danger ous character who had conspired with certain other persons to prevent the payment of rent The police surround ed me and forced me in to what in some parts of this country would be sailed the hoodlum wagon. X was carried to the police station under n formidable guard, and after being cross-examined was locked up. • "From the window of my cell I could study the misery and squalor of the village, Illustrated specially by the fact that it had thirty-two policemen, bnt only one pump to supply the en tire population with water for all pur poses. The police searched my trunk and found a oopy of my book on tho Irish lend question, which they con sidered dangerous matter, X suppose. "At anyratel was taken to the man sion of the squire for examination. I •hall never forget the contrast it pre sented with the-misery of the village. Wall-dressed people were playing lawn tennis on its beautiful grounds. It had stately trees around It and an air of the utmost respectability and com fort. The squire sent me beak to jhe subordinate magistrate sad I wae re committed to the look-up. In the meantime s telegram bad been sent to London, and Mr. Gladstone I think it wae, had ordered my immediate re lease. So I was turned out. . . "I wrote a letter to the President, detailing tits droumetanoee of tha ar rest, and on ay-return- Secretary of State Frelinghuyesn rant-for me.. He told its that the English Government wee willing to Ray me damages, bat X did not want them All I wanted wee to make it as plain as noariMajapt how things were usually done in an forelng English authority In Dal and. I '. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. While excavating for a pond on the farm of L. V.Harkdeas, near Doner ail, Ky., reoentiy, workmen discovered the bones of a mastodon. Rarefied air has (men found by Herr Levinstein to produce strong fatty de generation of heart, liver and muscles, with death through deficiency of oxygen. It is proposed to ereot a tablet in honor of Professor Giuseppi Sonarelli the discoverer of the microbe of yellow fever, at the University of Sienna, of which he is an alumnus. It has been ascertained that the pith of the sunflower is the lightest solid known, its speciflo gravity beingo.o2B, while that of older pith—hitherto re garded as the lightest substance, is 0.09. Cork is 0.24. That certain beetles are by no means frightened by lead foil has long been recognized, but it is rather discourag ing to add one more to the number of these cnlprita. Ed. Btioh of Nauheim, reports that a box somewhat worm eaten was lined with lead. After awhile boles one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and distinctly spiral, ware noticed, and traced to the beetle Tetropium luridum, Linn., whioh was not yet on the lint of lead esters, or rather lead destroyers. A cousin of this insect has been known to be de structive to lead chambers. There are, unfortunately* many insects and ani mals devoid of that sense for the snored rights of property which we expect of everybody but ourselves. The most important feature of the present Anglo-Rgyption expedition against the< Mahdi is the auoeeesful sinking of wells in the desert between Wady-Halfa and Abu-Hamed. The presence of water at such a distance from the Nile has never been suspected, either by Europeans ov natives, and bids fair to revolutionize not only the desert tribes, but the entire conditions of desert life. Indeed, the problem of converting tbe great African des erts into fertile territory seems to be at length in a fairway towzrd solution, not by means of letting in tbe sea, as proposed by Count de Leseeps, but by the'sinking of wells. Water is evi dently to be found everywhere in the African deserts, provided one digs deep enough. flaw Bis Heart Boat. Last November, James Hall, a young man at Shelby ville, lad., while hunting, accidentally discharged bis shotgun while the barrels were resting in an oblique position across the left bTeast, The result of ilie accident was that the flesh and the ribs oov«r --ing the chest cavity were torn away, exposing to full view the pericardium, revealing the motion of the heart., The phyaicons who were first called said Hall would die in a few hours. Another physician from this oity was called and saved his life. To cover the hole where the ribs and flesh were shot away a silver plate was fastened to the ends of the exposed ribs. Skin-grafting did the rest. Hail at that time was sixteen years old and possessed of a wonderful physique. His case is the second one on record where a man saw his own heart beat and lived to tell the story. The leading medical publications of this country and Europe secured de tailed accounts of the case and the treatment. 1 Hall had always been a pretty good kind of a boy, but there were bet ter ones. He faced death’ with cour age. During his long sickness his disposition seemed to undergo a change, and now he has signified his intention of becoming a minister. His parents ore poor, bat they have managed to secure some money, and he is now ready to start to College.— Indianapolis New* The Ink Bacillus. An interesting discovery was recent ly made at Leipzig, namely,the ink ba cillus, aa it has been named. It has often happened that dangerous blood poisoning has besn caused by wound ing one's self with an inky steel pen. In Professor Marpman’s bacteriologi cal institute they have succeeded in finding the micro-organism in ink whioh excites the blood. It has been ascertained that many inks, particu larly school inks, contain bacteria. Oqt of fifty-seven different kinds— most of them mode with gall—the ma jority contained bacteria. School'ink* oolored with an < aniline dye, even though the bottle hod only just been opened, contained the micro-organisms already mentioned, and the number of bacilli was the greater the longer the ink hod been exposed to the air. From such on aniline ink, whioh had been in an open inkstand for three months, a speciflo bacillus was iso lated and mice were inoculated with it. After four days they died of blood poisoning. The fact that gall apple inks get oovered with mold is a very old fact Indeed—now the ink bacillus is known. . A 1 4 - nr " -- -1,-- | flSMtei Id Amsoas Miwisht. Bob Borrower—According to. my memorandum book I owe «en dollars. Lon Lenditt (nsrvotlsly)— N* Bob —ft is only five, Bob Borrower—Tbe deuce, you My. The* just let me have another V to straighten opt my book, will /out-* Peek.; * ’ * - 5v %' **V
Eastern Carolina News (Trenton, N.C.)
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Jan. 12, 1898, edition 1
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