No one can read the life of George W. Childs without a feeling slowly
coming over him that the possibilities of our country are indeed very
great. Certain it is that when we see so many examples showing what has
been done by poor boys from the farm, we are forced to exclaim that we
live in a free country; despite what some say we reiterate, our country
is free.
George W. Childs, at the age of ten, became an errand boy in a
book-store in Baltimore, and after a period of over a year in the Navy
which he served later, he removed to Philadelphia and once more entered
a book-store--his natural calling. After four years' apprenticeship,
when less than twenty, with his savings he opened a small book-store on
his own account.
"Where there's a will there's a way," so believed young Childs. He
determined to one day be proprietor of the _Philadelphia Public Ledger_.
"Aim high that you may not strike low,"--how true that adage is. When
you see a boy make up his mind to do something; if he makes his actions
correspond with his words, you can rest assured that it will be done.
Sickness may come; disappointments will follow, but all must be
overcome.
Jerome B. Rice determined to succeed in the seed business, but just as
success seemed about to crown his efforts that terrible disease,
rheumatism, came and deformed him. He lost the entire use of his lower
limbs, but his brain was spared, and his determination was unshaken. An
invalid chair was bought, a colored man wheels him every morning to his
office door where loving hands gently lift him, chair and all, up the
steps of the beautiful building now occupied and owned by Jerome B. Rice
& Co. Nearly thirty years have passed and Jerome B. Rice has not taken a
step, but during that time, despite all obstacles, the firm of Jerome B.
Rice & Co. has become one of the leading seed-growing concerns of
America. Young men with the same chance he had are apt to say, "It's no
use." We answer, "Where there's a will there's a way." "To think a thing
impossible is to make it so."
George W. Childs determined to own the _Public Ledger_. He determined to
own the leading paper of the great city of Philadelphia, and he was a
poor boy. Was this presumption? If it was he has proved its
practicability. If he was building an air-castle he has since placed a
firm foundation under it. He labored hard in this little store of his;
he built his own fires; he did his own sweeping,--it was the same old
story; he hired done nothing that he could himself do. He made some
money--not very fast--but a good average profit, and he saved what he
did earn. He mastered the publishing business, and he developed a marked
business capacity in that line. A man usually fills the notch for which
he is fitted: I was about to say--I will say that he fits himself to the
notch which he does fill. Sometime we see men in subordinate positions
who apparently are capable of the best, but a careful study reveals a
screw loose somewhere; there is a weak point, and invariably that point
is the one thing which stands between them and victory. "Neither do men
light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candle stick, and it
giveth light to all that are in the house." So said Christ eighteen
hundred years ago; is it not so to-day? As young Childs had ability, and
it was apparent, what matter it how old he was or where he came from?
All the world asks is, "What can he do"?
The publishing firm of R. E. Peterson & Co. sought his alliance, and the
firm of Childs and Peterson became known far and near. Do our readers
call this luck? He now became a successful publisher, and seemingly his
cup was running over, so far as this world was concerned, but it will be
remembered that years ago he determined to own the _Public Ledger_,
provided he lived. He was alive and his purpose still remained. He was
waiting and watching. The _Ledger_ was a penny paper--the war broke
out--stock went up--the management was weakened by death and other
complications, the _Public Ledger_ was losing nearly $500 every time it
went to press. The paper, great as it was, was losing $3,000 a week--at
the rate of $150,000 a year. Now was Mr. Child's chance. In vain did
friends entreat; in vain did wise business men shake their heads; Mr.
Childs felt that his time had come, and he bought the paper, paying for
it nearly $150,000. The new proprietor changed things; the paper was
made a two cent issue, and into the _Public Ledger_ he now threw his
whole soul. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the
flood leads on to fortune." It is even so; he had purchased the _Ledger_
at the right time.
Not one man in a hundred can successfully edit a newspaper; not one
editor in twenty could edit the _Public Ledger_ with success. Yet, Mr.
Childs is one man out of the hundreds--he is the _one_ editor out of
that twenty. He determined to publish only the truth; all claim to do
that, but Mr. Childs does it. The paper grew, and on the 20th of June,
1867, the _Public Ledger_ took possession of its new building. This new
building cost half a million of dollars, and is one of the finest in the
city. At its formal opening many of the most distinguished men in the
country were present.
Mr. Childs has been largely instrumental in establishing a small city at
Wayne Station. He owns a large tract of land which he has divided into
building lots of about an acre each. Any one desiring a home can get one
by paying one-third down, and he is also furnished plans from which to
select his ideal of a home. The houses built from these plans cost from
$2,000 to $8,000 each. Mr. Childs and his partner, Mr. Drexel, have
expended about $2,000,000 exclusively for beautifying the city.
Years ago Mr. Childs told a gentleman that he meant to prove that a man
could be at once liberal and successful as a man of business, and the
princely hospitality of this good man has demonstrated, beyond doubt or
contradiction, its practicability. Dinners to newsboys and life
insurance policies given to the wives of his employes; such acts make up
the history of his life. The late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania once
said in a speech: "Some men pursue military glory, and spend their time
and energies in the subjugation of nations. Cæsar and Napoleon may be
named as types of this character. But the tears and blood which follow
violence and wrong maculate the pages of history on which their glory is
recorded. Others erect splendid palaces for kingly residences, and
costly temples and edifices for the promotion of education and religion
in accordance with their particular views. But views of education and
religion change, buildings waste away, and whole cities, like
Herculaneum and Pompeii, are buried in the earth. Others again win
public regard by the construction of means of communication for the
furtherance of commerce. The canals, railroads, and telegraph are
glorious specimens of their useful exertion for the public good. But the
marts of commerce change. Tyre and Sidon, and Venice are no longer
commercial centres. The shores of the Pacific are even now starting in a
race against the great commercial emporium of our continent. But Mr.
Childs has planted himself in the human heart, and he will have his
habitation there while man shall dwell upon earth. He has laid the
foundation of his monument upon universal benevolence. Its
superstructure is composed of good and noble deeds. Its spire is the
love of God which ascends to Heaven." Such a monument is, indeed,
"A Pyramid so wide and high
That Cheops stand in envy by."
Is not that glorious success? But if the name of George W. Childs was
not a synonym for charity and philanthropy, the fact that he has
demonstrated beyond doubt the possibility of making a newspaper not only
pure and clean, but also proving that people will buy wholesome news, as
well as trash, and thus refuting the opinion that the people are wholly
responsible for the vile matter that is circulated, ought alone to
commend him to the world as a great benefactor. Worldly reasoners and
great financiers, wiseacres and successful editors prophesied its
failure, but what mattered this to George W. Childs? When a boy he
determined to one day own the _Public Ledger_; he accomplished that.
When a man he determined to elevate the tone of a newspaper, and thus
prove the fallacy of the opinion that "A newspaper must print all the
news, no matter what, or else fail";--he has here also fulfilled his
desires. Surely, "Where there's a will there's a way."