Newspaper Page Text
HENRY GEORGE’S OWN
STORY OF HIS CAREER.
Was Once a Sailor, Printer, Tramp, Editor, and
Always an Anti-Monopolist
This is Henry George’s own story.
He dictated it to a New York World
reporter a few days before his death,
and revised it carefully.
“I was born in Philadelphia in
1839,” said Mr. George. ‘‘My father
owned a bookstore and was a publish
er in a not very large way. After
wards he was a clerk in the Custom-
House and remained there quito a
while. I myself began life in Phila
delphia as a boy, working for $2 a
week in the office of an importer of
crockery. I did writing, carried
bundles or turned my hand to any
thing elso there was to do.
“After that I went into the office of
a marine adjuster, but I was very
anxious to go to sea. My grandfather
was a sea captain of considerable note
in the early days of Philadelphia. He
followed the sea from the time he was
eight years old. He had taken part
in the war of 1812, and had been cap
tured by the British. I suppose I in
herit my love of the sea from him or
from hearing my father talk about
him. At any rate I went to sea, ship
ping as foremast boy on the old ship
Hindoo, an East Indiaman of 500 tons
burden. I sailed from right here iu
Now York, leaving the foot of Thir
tieth street, on North Biver, going
to Melbourne and then to Calcutta.
“When I got back to Philadelphia
after this voyage I was about sixteen
years old, and I felt like staying at
home a while. So I went into the
printing office of King & Baird. There
I learned something of the trade, but
soon afterward I went to sea again,
going to Boston .and back in a small
coal schooner.
“It was on this trip that I got the
ggggggg
idea of going to California. I saw in
the Delaware River a little side-wheel
steamer that was being built for
the light-house service. She was to
be taken to California, and I made np
toy mind to go in her.
“Asa matter of fact, I did go. Off
Hatteras we were struck by a storm,
which came near being the last of us.
I remember it very vividly—how the
squall drove the little cockle-shell now
here, now’ there, now with this side
touching the surface of the waves and
now wilh that, while I and a negro
deckhand worked together, throwing
over bags of coal to lighten her. The
sailing master hung on to-the bridge,
shouting to us through the speaking
trumpet and barely able to make him
self heard as he told us that the work
we wore doing w r as for life or death.
“We came through safely, but con
siderably damaged. Running along,
we went into St. Thomas, then to Per
nambuco and Rio Janeiro, and after
ward to Montevideo. We did not go
around the Horn, but through the
straits of Magellan. It was amostim
pressive sight—the deep clear water
around us and the snow-covered moun
tains in tho distance. We ran upon a
schooner which belonged to English
missionaries who were praying and
working with the natives. We saw a
Fuegans, audthoy
BSkyfe...
made up my mind to return to San
Francisco.
“When I got back I ran across Bond
again, aud again went to printing.
They paid seventy-five cents a thou
sand, or S3O a week, but as I was still
a minor I got only sl2. George Thurs
ton, who is now a captain in the regu
lar army, was my foreman.
“As soon as I became of age I joined
the printers’ union and so became en
titled to full wages. After that I did
first-rate. I worked as a substitute,
doing what printers called ‘subbing’
on daily papers. Then I went to work
on a paper which Duncan was then
editing. I got to be foreman at S3O a
week and he used my name as his pub
lisher until he sold the paper.
“Then I subbed on the dailies un
til four printers started a little daily
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
the payment of a small sum—between
SIOO and S2OO, if I remember correct
ly.
“I worked trying to found the Jour
nal until my clothes were in rags and
the toes of my shoes were out. I slept
in the office and did the best I could
to economize, but finally I ran into
debt S3O for my wash bill. What final
ly broke us up was the threat of civil
war, which created great excitement
and made the news which came from
the East by pony express au absolute
necessity. As we did not have it we
were forced out.
“It was while in these straits that'l
first mat the lady who is now my wife.
Her people did not regard mo with
favor under the circumstances, and I
hardly blame them, but the young
lady liked me, and promised to marry
me. I bad nothing, but my friends
fixed everything for the wedding, and
a boarding-house, where I was ac
quainted, agreed to credit us for two
weeks’ hoard. As soon as we were
married my wife anil I went there.
Next morning I got up at 6 o’clock
and started out to find work on an
afternoon paper. I did not get it, but
I finally found work on the morn
ing papers, aud we paid our hoard.
“My next move was to Hacramonto,
where I worked on the Sacramento
Union and did well. I sent for my
wife, aud it was there that my first
child, Henry George, Jr., was born.
I disagreed with the foreman of the
office, and after doing so returned to
San Francisco and with two other
printers started a job office. I came
near starving to death, and at one time
I was so close to it that I think I
should have done so but for the job of
printing a few cards which enabled us
to buy a littlo corn meal. In this
darkest time of my life my second
child was born. I gave up the job
office and went back to subbing, man
aging to make a living that way until
I began writing.
1 ‘The first thing 1 ever wrote for a
newspaper was a story sent back to
j Philadelphia of how we had buried a
j man who died of yellow fever on the
i voyage when we were near Monte
■ video. About this time Lincoln was
I assassinated, and I wrote au article on
for the Alta Californian. They
it as an editorial and were ns
nil e.i’ue fr
\
orders abrogating an agreement it had
made with me. It afterward attempt
ed to keep my matter off tha wires. I
kept up this fight for the San Fran
cisco Herald, both from New York and
Philadelphia, until finally the paper
got into bad financial straits and I re
turned to California.
“It was during my stay in the East
that I wrote for the New York Tri
bune an article headed ‘The Chinese
on tho Pacifio Coast’—the first article
I ever wrote on political economy.
“When I returned to San Francisco
I found tho Herald dying, and, as the
printers were the only ones on it who
could get money to live on, I went to
work at the case.
“After this I edited the Oakland
Transcript, and made a friend of Pro
fessor William Swinton. Governor
Haight, who was fighting the Paoific
Railroad, offered me charge of a Dem
ocratic paper, the Becorder, and I
took it. It prospered, and I used the
money I made from it in starting a
penny paper iu San 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 ‘Progress
and Poverty.’
“I published it first in a pamphlet
called ‘Our Land and Land Policy,’ of
which a thousand copies were sold at
twenty-five cents each. More might
have been sold, but when the edition
ran out I determined to wait until I
could develop the idea in a way I
thought more worthy of it.
“Our penny paper was printed on
a flat press of the old style, and we
found we could not get off enough
copies to supply the demand or to
make it pay. A man was very anxious
to buy and we sold to him. One of
my partners went to Paris with the
proceeds of his venture, but I re
mained in San Francisco and wan
finally induced by the purchaser of
the paper to take an interest in it for
nothing, as he had lost hope of suc
ceeding with it. We got tho first
Bullock perfecting press ever used in
California, but just as we were start
ing a morning and Sunday edition the
Bank of California failed and brought
lllilllK IF' /
SCENES AT HENRY GEORGE’S HOME, FORT HAMILTON, BROOKLYN.
on a disastrous panic.
“YVe were "pressed for the money
which had been borrowed to buy the
press, aud tlie sacrifices we were com
pelled to make determined me to re
tire. I held a small political office in
San Fraucisco, by appointment for
four years, and during this time wrote
‘Progress and Poverty.’
“I could not find a publisher in the
East or iu England. The publishers
laughed at tho idea of there being a
sale for a work on political economy
written in San Francisco. My old
partner, W. M. Hinton, who had a
printing office in San Francisco, de
termined to risk it, however, and he
printed au edition which sold for $3 a
copy.
“Iu January, 1880, I came East
after the Appleton* had agreed to re
publish the book hero. I came on
borrowed money, and left my family
in California, but ‘Progress and Pov
erty’ was a success from the start. I
have no idea how many copies have
been sold. I think considerably over
half a million. There were three edi
tions in German alone, and there have
been editions in Dutch, Spanish,
French, Italian aud even in Japanese
Chinese. From many of these, of
have never received anything
i ■
--j'FK A ||[ -nniftjjtoLfi
but only one ptftujgko supply tho en
tire population wijjf water for all pur
poses. The polimjkiearched my trunk
and found a f>y book on tho
Irish land questifw which they con
sidered dangerous Setter T : iippuso.
“At any rate l ' Jfe , c tho man
sion of the ideation, I
shall never forget I trust it pre
sented with the V of tho village.
Well-dressed poop™ <vere playing lawn
tennis on its • ds. it
had stately trees it and an air
of the utmost resj,” lability and com
fort. Tho squire s >t mo back to the
subordinate magist? e and I was re
committed to the lock-up. In the
moan lime a telegram had been sent to
London, aud Mr. Gladstone I think it
was, had ordered i,,y immediate re
lease( So I was turned out.
“I wrote a letter lo the President,
detailing the circumstances of the ar
rest, and on my return Secretary of
State Frelinghuysen sent for me. Ho
told me that the English Government
was willing to pay tup damages, but I
did not want them. All I wanted was
to make it as plain as possible just
how things were usually done in en
forcing English authority in Ireland."
FEET 2 i-2 INCHES LONG.
They Are tho Smallest lo the United State*
and Belong to a Chinese Woman.
The tiniest feet in the United States
are tho property of the wife of a Chin
ese merchant of Philadelphia. They
are just 2 J inches less than
the length of the ordiffljP, man’s little
finger.
A few days ago tho Oriental super
stition regarding modern inventions
was so far lulled to sleep that tho
owner of the Lilliputian feet permitted
an X ray photograph of her right foot
to bo taken. No morsstfjisshapen thing
was ever seen. In her most freakish
mood nature never dreamed of any
thing like this. No curvature of tho
spine ever approached this curvature
of the foot. It looks for all the world
as if it were part of the frame of one
of those grotesque prehistoric mons
ters that the paleontologists tell us
about.
If little girls in China are not killed
'at birth—a kindly fashion that pre
vails in China—their feet are placed
: in compresses, should they happen to
be of fairly high caste. These com
presses are never taken off for any
length of time until the girl has reached
ail age where her feet grow no more.
In Chinese eyes her feet are perfect.
In the eyes of others she has become
a hopeless cripple.
These deformed feet of the Chinese
women of aristocracy are a potent fac
tor in keeping slavery at high tide.
Unable to walk, they must be con
stantly waited upon, and for this ser
vice sluves are necessary. Fortunately,
the female slaves have feet such as na
a
1 8 Vi
rc-7 V- fjp* ' v *-.
J
SOMEWHAT SLIPPERY STUFF.
Bis Industry In Gathering linrli From
Certain Kind of Kim,
Slippery elm bark is widely used in
medicine to-day. Long ago, when
doctors thought iva*ov, wh " drank
pi. ar vas certain death to a person
with fever, slippery elm came to the
rescue f suffering thousands, and
when it was put in the -a ter the pi
i.oou was allowed to drink it. As tho
years went on, and the doctors grew
in wisdom, new use o were found for
slippery elm bark. There are big
factories iu which this bark is pulver
ized, aud it is prescribed by physicians
and sold by druggists for various uses.
Sometimes it is fora poultice for some
inflamed aud irritated place. Again
it may be used when there is internal
irritation, to soothe and allay the suf
fering. Its uses are legion, and for
years the frugal people who live in
rural districts of the East have hail
lucrative employment iu gathering this
bark.
In later years the Eastern supply
has grown so short that the manufac
turers have had to cast about for new
forests, and have turned to the South j
for their supply. Accordingly, last
spring, Alien Asher, of Memphis, re- j
ceived an inquiry from an Eastern
house wanting from 100,000 to 200,- j
000 pounds of the bark. This was
last April. Mr. Asher inserted an ad
vertisement in the papers inquiring
where aud in what quantities the bark I
could be found here, There were !
hum! i .( sponses* aud a thriving
little industry has been established.
Mr. Asher tells the story of the hark
in this maun er:
“After looking into the matter care
fully I found that there was any quan
tity of this bark to be had in this sec
tion. In Mississippi, Arkansas, Ten
nessee and Alabama I found, by ad
vertising, that this bark was very
plentiful, mostly on ridges contiguous
to rivers, creeks or bodies of water, and
I immediately corresponded with sev
eral hundred persons who had an
swered my advertisement, telling
them I wanted the bark iu large quan
tities, and endeavored to secure all
this bark I possibly could. The mill
which wants it desired to get from
100,000 to 200,000 pounds annually.
This, of course, is a large quantity of
the bark, owing to the shape in which
it is desired, and the fact that, when
dry, it is not nearly so heavy as when
stripped from the tree.
“If the people would pay particular
attention to gathering this bark for the
market, it is so easily gathered, aud
requires so little work, that it would
be quite remunerative, especially as
it can be gathered from the time the
sap rises until the fall? It is not nec
essary to cut down or kill the trees.
It is better to not cut them down nor
kill them. If enough bark is left, the
parts stripped will be covered thicker
and better iu time. All that tlie mill
requires is that the outside, or rough
part, of the bark, betaken oft’clean to
the white part of the bark; then, that
the bark bo thoroughly dried, aud
while drying protected from the
weather. If it is left out in the
weather, so the rains and dew3 fall on
it, it will mildew and become discol
ored. When protected from the
weather, and thoroughly dry,it is almost
perfectly white. After tlie rough part
of the bark is taken off, it can be
stripped from the trees in any width
and in pieces from three to twelve
feet long, and then doubled over itself
three to three aud a half feet long be
fore drying, so that, when dry, it can
be made into nice shipping bundles
easy to handle in transit.
“I dou’t think tlie people realize
liow much could be made in this man
ner bv men and children engaged iu
farming, and it is really an extra duty
and can be performed when the crops
are laid by or when the weather is too
wet to plow or do other field work, or
at any spare time. The frugal East
ern people have been gathering it for
years to supply tlie increasing demand
of manufacturers and druggists.
“We pay 31 cents for tlie dry bark.
So far most of our supply has come
from Northern Alabama, Crittenden
County, Arkansas, and along the line
of the Illinois Central Railway as far
down as Grenada, Alias., but we could
handle many times what we now get,
and would be glad if greater numbers
of people would become interested in
this industry. Many might find it
more profitable than cotton. —Mem-
phis Commercial Appeal.
Avevffgp Height of Men*
During the war measurements were
made of over 1,000,000 men in the |
United States Army, and it was found |
that the average height of men born
iu the United States was (it. 3 inches.
According to Topiuard, the average
height of Englishmen, Scotchmen and
Swedes is 67.4 inches; Irishmen, 67;
German, 66.2; Frenchmen, 65; Danes,
66.2; Kussiaus, 65.4; Chinese, 61;
Bushmen, 62: Laplanders, 60.7; Amer
ican Indians, 68.2; Patagonians, 70.3.
Taking these measurements as a beds,
the average for the world would be
about 05.8. Natives of the United
States, it will be observed, are taller
any other representatives of the Cau
casian race, and it is au interesting
fact that residence on this continent,
or, at least, tho northern part of it,
tends to develop all the races in re
spect of height, weight aud muscular
power. Thus, in the army rucarmo
ments referred to tho average h ight
o'. foreign-born citizens v. ' ih.'.u
atsr than the av 'are >r. then- .c
--v ive countries. Tin*
of :is 1". ur:s is • p ■ :a
jg? IDEAL GRANDMOTHERS.
J* Women Who Enow the Laws of Nature r.nd Cbffy
jr Them Ivlay Live to Green Old Age.
Mr*. Pin! mm Says When We Vir.h.to Nature’s laiwt
‘ Our J’uiii-hment Is l*n>n—lf \VVt,oqJJitao
Providence has allotted us each at least seventy
rtlfc’feviiZ rfpSssr* years in which to fulfill our mission iu
life, and it is generally our own fault if
® Nervous exhaustion invites disease.
S r, statement is the positive truth.
K - .-ryjfepfeWhen everything becomes a burden
SjCjffti''',jjy LfjtreqlwEr'• ■qP and you cannot walk a fi\v blocks
v vSSk* gL>- I v-'ithout excessive fatigue, and you
T A break out into perspirations easily,
7M j / jfe’i It and your face flushes, and you prow
,r W/ J 1 excited and shaky at the least provoca
ffe V *l\ tion, and you cannot bear to bo
fSS.b'fß i \crossed in anything, you are in dan
-1 , m tat 4-81 t ger; your nerves have given out; you
' need building up at once! To build
* up woman's nervous system and re
store woman’s health, we know of no better or more inspiring medicine than
Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. Your ailment taken in time can b#
thrown off, if neglected it will run on into great suffering and pain.
Here is an illustration. Mr.s. Lucy Goodwin, Holly, W. Va., says:
“ I suffered with nervous prostration, faintness, all-gone feeling and palpi
tation of the heart. I could not stand but a few moments at a time without
having that terrible bearing-down sensation.
“ When I commenced taking Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound I
only weighed 108 pounds, and could not sit up half a day; before, however. I
had used a whole bottle, I was able to be about. I took in all about three bot
tles of the Compound, aud am entirely cured; now I weigh 131 pounds and
like anew woman, stronger and better than ever in my life."
So it transpires that because of the virtues of Mrs. Pinkham's wonderful
Compound, even a very sick woman can be cured and live to a green old age.
He Believes in Witches.
Near Galena, IU., there lives an old
German wood sawyer named Conrad
Seip, who declares that he is con
stantly tormented by witches, and, as
be appears to be perfectly sane, his
statements have attracted the atten
tion of a large number of investigators.
He is about 70 years of age, Is well
educated and is still an earnest stu
dent and reader. He says that he is
constantly surrounded by witches,
who often try to take him up and fly
away witli him. To defeat this pur
pose he wears about his waist a sack
iike belt filled with chunks of lead and
weights his ankles with minerals to
such an extent that he is barely able
to drag one foot after the other. He
subsists entirely upon herbs, which, he
says, keep the witches away at a safe
distance, and eschews ail kinds of
meat, vegetables and other food usu
ally eaten by man. He lias a number
of cheap alarm clocks, which are set
for every hour in the night, under
the belief that their striking will keep
the witches away from his house. The
latter is a miserable hovel located on
the outskirts of the city, where he
dwells alone. The place is almost
filled with bottled toad3, lizards,
snakes and other repulsive objects,
which, he says, possess an occult pow
er influence which protects him, to
some extent, against injury or harm
by the witches. These articles appear
on every hand and in al! sorts of re
ceptacles. There are also scores of
dried snake skins suspended from the
. mortariess rafters, and a number of
skeleton,! of dogs and cats, most skill
fully articulated and polished, are set
up on a shelf over the old man’s bed.
Before meals and on retiring at night
ho repeats various incantations to pro
pitiate the witches, and when about
his work, and not talking to other peo
ple, he constantly mutters and talks
to the hobgoblins, by whom he claims
to be at all ti-.-'s surrounded.
How Berliners ‘‘Spruce Up.”
The men of Berlin have an odd habit
of brushing and combing their hair
and whiskers in public. In the rest
aurants aud cafes men pull out their
implements and “spruce up” while
waiting for their orders to be filled.
They do not take the trouble to leave
the table, either. In the foyers of the
Berlin theatres there are many mir
rors. Theoretically they are placed
there for the convenience of ladies. As
a matter of fact the men are the prin
cipal users. Five minutes before the
- - : : -ip a rcan may be seen
standing before every mirror indus
triously using brush and comb. One
minute before the curtain rises all
hands place brush and comb Duck in
their pockets, and with a well-groomed
appearance and self-satisfied smile
they march down to their seats. —New
York Commercihl Advertiser.
A Simple Fire Extinguisher.
Hand-grenades, the simplest form of
fire-extinguisher, can be made at home
cheaply and easily. And it is well to
have at hand a simple contrivance for
extinguishing a small fire at its start.
Take twenty pounds of common salt
and ten pounds of sal ammoniac (ni
trate of ammonia, to be had of any
druggist), and dissolve in seven gal
lons of water. Procure quart bottles,
of thin glass, such as are ordinarily
used by druggists, and fill with this,
corking tightly and sealing, to pre
vent evaporation.
The breaking of the bottle liberates
a certain amount of gas, and the heat
of the fire generates more, thus work
ing its own destruction.
A NoniciiHlciil Notion.
Some folks actually believe tliajt they (Min
( tire sUin through their -'tinnachs.
n,\s abemed on it* face absurd on tbe face ; t
i <• man who believe too, because h.s disease
s ‘.. IVS i' ij,j Js t there. = there till he uses
It’s tho only i fe and- 'ti n cure
j- r Ringworm. Eczema anil other
ji ; ; r ; t itions. Good for Dandruff, too.
A I- (trufr tfori'd, ft)cents, or by mail from J. T.
. w hup trine. Savannah, Ga.
\ bird iu the hand is worth • *vo ie the bush;
v i; • is-* not tbe opinion of the bird.
Rudy arc! K i pli
Un ; written one of hi.-* best stories for the
1.8 18 vo ame of Db* Youth's
Din-Mi : of tin -u-iiii San
■ a •'
TRUTHFUL LADIES
SPEAK OUT
©Pocahontas, Tenn., writes:
Have used I>r. M. A. Sim
mons Liver Medicine l 5
years. It cured me of Pal
pitation of the Heart;
Sick Headache and Fe
male Trouble. My Hus
band uses it for Bilious
and Malarial dieorderw-
In this section it ia aa
staple as Meat and Dread.
\Ye think it. much Su
perior to J. XL Zeilin’t
.3 Liver Medicine.
Jenifer, Ala., writes: Jhnv
used Hr. M. A. Simmons
Liver aiedicine U 0 years.
It cured J. M. Clark of Sick
—Headache, and M. L.
Powell of Heaviness and
/ Tired Feeling. Have used
h “black Draught” and Zei-
J a," y !in’s Regulator, but find the
Kw l)r. 31. A. Simmons to be
o*2 the best Medicine.
Lono, Ark., writes:
Have used I)r. M. A.
Siminuns Liver
'w Medicine 20 years for
q 34 . Sick Headache, and
1 rL cannot speak too highly
\ -sr- of it. Have used Zeilin’s
Liver Regulator, also
y ■ “Black Draught,” but
Y.iJiaLl- ' found both very inferior.
. ' Cobden, 111., writes:
y For ver at, d Fe
~ biS mnlc Troubles
j'T§ nothing except Dr.
VL> tj M. A. Simmons
Y*- P Liver Medicine did
V k me any good. “Black
,ngood.
Corn
responds readily to proper fer
tilization.
Larger crops, fuller ears and
larger grain are sure to result
from a liberal use of fertilizers
containing at least y% actual
Potash
Our books are free to farmers.
GERMAN KALI WORKS,
93 Nu*sau St., New York.
w-' Pi
£1 ell U '<&#
PREVENTED BY TAKING
“Our Native Herbs”
the
Great Blood Purifier aiu! Liver Reliefer,
DAYS’ TREATMENT $!.00
Containing a Registered Guarantee.
.12 page Hook and Testimonials, FRE2£.
sent by mail, postage paid. Bold only by
Agents for
THE ALONZO 0. BLISS CO.,Washington, D.C.
Snaffle FREE INFORMATION
Klondike Seattle, Wash.,
Chamber of Commekcr
Alaska I;; ' r • EA, ''■
- 1 iLE, Klondtnt'. At •