After all, I had to remember that he had taken over The World when its
circulation was less than 15,000 copies a day; that he had been for
thirty years and still was its dominating spirit and the final authority
on every matter concerning its policy, its style, and its contents; that
he had seen its morning circulation go up to well over 350,000 copies a
day; that at times he had taken his stand boldly against popular clamor,
as when he kept up for months a bitter attack against the American
action in the Venezuelan boundary dispute, and at times had incurred the
hostility of powerful moneyed interests, as when he forced the Cleveland
administration to sell to the public on competitive bids a fifty-
million-dollar bond issue which it had arranged to sell privately to a
great banking house at much less than its market value.
Before leaving the subject of newspapers I may describe the method by
which Mr. Pulitzer kept in touch with the news and put himself in the
position to maintain a critical supervision over The World.
An elaborate organization was employed for this purpose. I will explain
it as it worked when we were on the yacht, but the system was maintained
at all times, whether we were cruising, or were at Cap Martin, at Bar
Harbor, at Wiesbaden, or elsewhere, merely a few minor details being
changed to meet local conditions.
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