John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[159] spite of the hard times it proved to be a great success. It was thoroughly revised in 1873-76 by the original editors, aided by many additional writers, and may still be regarded as the principal American work of its time.

As might be supposed, his receipts from the copyright on these works, although intermittent, proved to be an important addition to Dana's income. He had become a shareholder in the Tribune on his return from Europe in 1849, and his salary as managing editor had been increased first to twenty-five, then to forty, and finally to fifty dollars per week, so that his earnings, his dividends, and his copyrights enabled him and his family to live in great comfort, if not in luxury, till the outbreak of the war between the States. With the large amount of literary and journalistic work which he carried on, especially for six or eight years prior to his separation from the Tribune, it may be fairly assumed that he found but little time for actual composition. As a matter of fact, he did less and less editorial writing himself, and what he did becomes more and more difficult from this time on to identify. Here and there a trenchant paragraph or a short editorial summing up an argument which had been carried on mainly by others, or “putting the cracker” to an article sent in by a member of the editorial staff, was the extent of his daily contribution. His work, like that of a skilful general, was rather in planning the campaign, making the orders and assignments, and seeing that the various movements conformed to the plans of the day, than in doing all the fighting himself. To the selection of his correspondents and his regular contributors he gave his personal attention, and to the very end displayed unusual skill and uncommon judgment. While managing editor of the Tribune he acquired the habit of making up the daily paper, and his remarkable skill in this part of the work was conceded by all.