WHEN THE "SUN SET."

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 April 1914, Page 7

WHEN THE "SUN SET."

ROMANCE OP A GREAT NEWSPAPER OWNER. Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, the famous proprietor of the "New York World" who died on October 29, 1911, was one of the most remarkable men in America. A Hungarian by birth, he went, when a lad of sixteen, to the States, with only a 20-franc piece in his pocket, and at his death was worth millions. His early occupations were driving a hearse, farm hand, stoker, coachman, and waiter in a beer-garden. Then he joined the United States cavalry, and served through the Civil War, at the end of which ac went to St. Louis, and became a reporter on a German paper, the "Westliche Post." The proprietors were just contemplating ruin when young Pulitzer took it over as man-aging-editor and made it a success. He saved money, bought the "St. Louis Post Dispatch," made a fortune out of it, purchased the "New York World" for about a million dollars, and made a million and a quarter dollr.rs profit out of it. He attributed the success of his paper to the fact that HE PUBLISHED MORE NEWS AND FEWER OPINIONS than European journals generally do. He was a member of the Missouri Constitutional Convention in 187.), and was elected Representative in Congress for New York City in 1885----87, but resigned his seat after serving but a few months. In 1903 he gave 1,000,000 dollars to Columbia University, New York, to endow a school of journalism, and maintained fifty-two prize Pulitzer scholarships in various leading American universities for New York high-school graduates chosen by annual competitive examination. Mr. Pulitzer had the misfortune to suffer fiom blindness for the last twenty-four years of his life. The terribly hard work which he experienced in his youth exacted its penalty in shattered nerves and a persistent mist before his eyes. He was recommended to retire from Congress and seek rest in a yachting cruise. One evening just before sunset, when his yacht was steaming towards the Black Sea, Mr. Pulitzer was sitting on deck reading, when suddenly he was in darkness. "Has the sun set so soon ?" he asked, anxiously. "Not yet," replied a companion. "But it has," said Mr. Pulitzer, to his companion's amazement. Then the millionaire knew what had happened. "Please take me below," he said, "and tell the captain to put about."