THE HABIT OF SAVINGNew York Sun, Philadelphia Record, and the Trenton (N.J.) Times,
which brought me in an average of one hundred and fifty dol-
lars a month, for this was a good news territory.
I learned a lesson on the Star that eventually shaped the
course of my life. I found out that there is a great deal more
money to be earned by selling advertising for newspapers than
in writing for them. Advertising brings grist to the mill.
I put over one advertising stunt on the Star--a write-up of
the south Jersey oyster industry, paid for by the oyster men-
that brought in three thousand dollars cash, which the publisher
divided with me fifty-fifty. I had never seen so much money
at one time in all my life. Think of it! Fifteen hundred dollars
-25 percent more than I had made in two years of school
teaching and odd tasks.
Did I save this money or any part of it? I did not. What
was the use? I could do so much with it to make my wife, boy,
mother, and sister happy that I let it go far easier than I had
made it. But would it not have been a fine thing if I had put
this money away for a rainy day?
My work in Bridgeton attracted the attention of Sam Hud-
son, New Jersey correspondent of the Philadelphia Record, who
was a shining example of that type of newspapermen whose
greatest pleasure in life is doing things for others.
Sam told me that it was time for me to get located in a
big city. He thought I had it in me to make good. He said
he would get me a job in Philadelphia. He did, and I moved
with my wife and baby to Germantown. I was given charge of
the advertising department of the Germantown (Philadelphia)
Gazette, a weekly newspaper.
At the start I did not make as much money as I had
earned in Bridgeton, because I had to give up my newspaper
correspondence. The news for this section was covered by
289