It is usually supposed, and rightly so, that a young man who inherits much wealth is not very likely to make his mark in the world. The career of William Randolph Hearst furnishes an exception to the general rule, however, for, in spite of being handicapped by a comfortable fortune, he has achieved no small reputation as a newspaper editor and publisher. Mr. Hearst was born in San Francisco, California, and is the son of the late United States Senator George F. Hearst. He is the owner of the San Francisco Examiner and other well-known newspapers. In 1895 he bought the New York Journal, later purchasing the Advertiser and consolidating it with the Journal to secure a franchise. In 1900 he founded the Chicago American, which paper has the largest morning circulation in the city in which it is published. At present Mr. Hearst is publishing altogether five large newspapers: two in New York, two in Chicago and one in San Francisco. He is a firm believer in the theory of so-called “yellow journalism,” claiming that with its help he reaches the masses. His papers are noted chiefly for their brilliant editorials. Mr. Hearst advocates the cause of the laboring classes, is a member of congress, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Presidential nomination on the Democratic ticket in 1904.
Edward Everett Higgins.
If you should ask Edward E. Higgins, the publisher of Success, what are the characteristics which have given him his present position in the publishing world, he would doubtless reply, “Courage, persistence and patience.” He has had an unusually varied training and experience. He was born on April 4, 1864, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and, after a preliminary education in the local grammar and high schools, which were then considered among the best in the state, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was graduated as an electrical engineer in 1886. He obtained there the mathematical training which has remained with him ever since, and which has contributed not a little to his acknowledged power of distinguishing between the possible and the impossible in both engineering and business matters. Foreseeing the great future of the electric street railroad, he became associated, in its earliest development, with the Sprague and Edison companies, and it was largely through his efforts that electricity was first introduced into Buffalo and other cities of New York state. Acquiring a large fund of information on street railroad matters at home and abroad, Mr. Higgins became, in 1893, the editor of the Street Railway Journal, and has won an international reputation as a statistical, engineering and financial expert on street railway matters. In 1899 he perceived an opportunity to develop a large and important home publication from what was then a small and struggling periodical—Success—and acquired an interest, intending that it should be merely a side issue. But the phenomenally rapid growth of Success soon called for Mr. Higgins’ entire time, and the result is seen in the fact that Success, with its circulation of over 300,000, now, after only four years’ time, is one of the first half-dozen American magazines in circulation, prestige and general standing, and no paper is more useful or valuable in the home.
Louis Klopsch.
No better example of the zealous religious worker, disinterested benefactor and talented journalist can be cited than the subject of this sketch, Louis Klopsch. He was born in Germany, March 26, 1852, receiving only a common school education. In 1886, after having removed to New York, he married May E., daughter of the Rev. Stephen Merritt. Becoming interested in newspaper work, he became the proprietor of the Daily Reporter, New York. He was also owner of the Pictorial Associated Press from 1884 to 1890, and has had charge of the Talmage sermon syndicate since 1885. On his return from Palestine, in 1890, he became connected with the Christian Herald, which he purchased in 1892. Since that time he has, through his paper, raised and distributed nearly $2,000,000 in international charities. In recognition of his relief work, during the Russian famine of 1892, he was received by the Czar of Russia, and in 1898 the English and Indian governments extended official thanks to him for his services in behalf of famine-stricken India. President McKinley appointed him one of the three commissioners in charge of the relief of the starving Reconcentradoes in Cuba, and for this purpose he raised nearly $200,000. In the spring of 1900, accompanied by Gilson Willets, Mr. Klopsch visited the famine and cholera fields of India, and through his paper, in six months’ time, secured a fund of $700,000 for their relief. He has also guaranteed the support of five thousand famine orphans in India.
Samuel Sidney McClure.
One of the leading magazine publishers of to-day, Samuel Sidney McClure, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, February 17, 1857. Being an ambitious youth, he naturally turned to America, “the land of opportunity.” By his own earnest efforts he succeeded in securing a liberal education, being graduated from Knox college, Illinois, in 1882, obtaining the degree of A. M. in 1887. September 4, 1883, he was married to Harriet, daughter of Professor Albert Hurd, of Knox college, Galesburg, Illinois. He established, in November, 1884, a newspaper syndicate, and in 1893 he founded McClure’s Magazine, which ranks among the most popular periodicals of the day. His national reputation is largely due to this enterprise. His executive ability has made him the president of the S. S. McClure Company, and he has been a trustee of Knox college since 1894. Mr. McClure has discovered and recognized a human need, and by filling that need is realizing his well-merited success.
Frank Andrew Munsey.
The rise of Frank A. Munsey from a poor postoffice clerk in Augusta, Maine, to the head of one of the most profitable publishing houses in the world has been as rapid as it is remarkable. His only capital when he began his current business were his ideas and his nerve; yet, in less than ten years, he has made a fortune. Mr. Munsey was born in Mercer, Maine, August 21, 1854, the son of Andrew C. and Mary J. Munsey. After securing an ordinary education in the public schools of Maine, he began his business career in a country store, and later became manager of the Western Union telegraph office of Augusta, Maine. When, in 1882, he went to New York and started the Golden Argosy, a juvenile weekly (now the adult monthly, The Argosy), his friends thought he was as unwise as he was reckless. It is said that some of them actually proposed an inquiry into his sanity. Having made money by The Argosy, he invested it, in 1890, in a magazine, launching Munsey’s Weekly, which he converted October, 1891, into Munsey’s Magazine. He now also publishes The Puritan and the Junior Munsey, besides newspapers in New York and Washington. Although more widely known as a publisher than an author, he has written several books, including Afloat in a Great City, 1887; Boy Broker, 1888; Tragedy of Errors, 1889; Under Fire, 1890, and Deering Forte, 1895.