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Show Why Blaine Left Journalism X. Proprietor of Portland Advertiser Would Not Raise His Salary, So He Quit and Turned to Politics. This Btory of how a refusal to raise James G. Blaine's salary practically opened up a political career before him was told me by two competent authorities, an editor of Blaine's old paper, the Portland (Me.) Advertiser, during the Maine state campaign of 1878, and, some years later, by Hannibal Han-nibal Hamblin, Lincoln's second vice-president vice-president and later senator from the state of Maine. "Senator Hamblin," I asked one day, having recalled the story told me by the Portland editor, "did you ever hear that Blaine's career might have been entirely different had he been granted the raise in salary that he desired de-sired when he was editor of the Portland Port-land Advertiser in 1857?" "Oh, yes, I know about that story, and I know it to be true," responded the senator, "and I am certain that Blaine's career would at least have been greatly delayed to say nothing of being different had he remained as editor of that paper. "Mr. Blaine," continued his senatorial sena-torial colleague both were in that august body at the time "was one of the associute editors of the Kennebec Journal for two or three years after he first went to Maine to live. His work in that position was so noticeable notice-able that the owner of the Portland Advertiser secured him as that paper's pa-per's editor. The salary was twelve hundred dollars a year. "As the end of the first year of Mr. Blaine's service with the Advertiser approached, he and its proprietor had several conferences about re-engagement. Mr. Blaine thought that he ought to receive fifteen hundred dol- lars a year, and be was willing to bind himself for a number of years to the Advertiser if he could get the desired raise of three hundred dollars a year. The proprietor admitted that Mr. Blaine was perfectly justified in asking ask-ing the increase in salary, because he was worth it; but, added the owner, frankly, he could not afford to pay so much money. In those days, you know back in the late fifties fifteen hundred dollars was a large sum of money down in Maine. "Well, Blaine thought the situation over for some time, and finally came to the conclusion that he was worth fifteen hundred dollars a year, If he was worth a cent, and that he did not propose to hold down his editorial position po-sition for less than what he was worth. So, parting in a most friendly spirit with his employer, Mr. Blaine returned to Augusta whither he had gone to Portland, and he had not been there long when he was nominated and elected a member of the legislature. legis-lature. He was four years a member of that body, and for two years he was its speaker, and that before he had finished his thirty-second year. In that body he discovered wherein his real ability lay; and so, I say, had he not returned to Augusta when he did, and all because he could not get the raise in salary that he wanted, his great political career would undoubtedly undoubt-edly have been considerably delayed, and maybe who can tell? he might have become a great newspaper editor edi-tor instead of a great statesman. I have always believed that Mr. Blaine cherished at one time a strong secret ambition to become the editor of a great newspaper, and had he remained in Portland with the Advertiser a Boston Bos-ton or a New York newspaper might have tempted him thither in time." (Copyright, 1910, by E. J. Edwards.) |
