John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[378] proved harder to carry through than he expected. So far as could be seen, there were already enough daily newspapers in New York City, and hence, with all Dana could do, he could not complete his financial arrangements till well towards the close of 1867. Perhaps the delay was a fortunate one both for himself and for his stockholders, for on January 8, 1868, he wrote:

Thanks for your welcome letter. It finds me in the midst of business.

Just as we were about commencing our own paper, the purchase of the Sun was proposed to me and accepted. It has a circulation of from fifty to sixty thousand a day, and all among the mechanics and small merchants of this city. We pay a large sum for it-$175,000-but it gives us at once a large and profitable business. If you have a thousand dollars at leisure you had better invest it in the stock of our company, which is increased to $350,000, in order to pay for this new acquisition. Of this sum about $220,000 is invested in the Tammany Hall real estate, which is sure to be productive, independent of the business of the paper.

... Remember me cordially to Rawlins and the general. I have written to the latter, asking for the discharge from the Second Cavalry of the young German I wrote to you about last summer. His father is very anxious to get him released from his position as a private soldier. If you can put in a word for him, please do so.

Before leaving that part of Dana's life connected with the Chicago Republican, it is proper to say that the official files of that newspaper were destroyed with the office in the great fire, and, so far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no other in existence. It is therefore impossible to give either the declaration of principles which guided him, or a summary of the views which he expressed on the topics of the day. The most that can be said is that they were