Sunday, August 21, 2016

Horace Greeley to James S. Pike, April 24, 1850

New York, April 24, 1850.
Dear Sir:

Will you write me some letters? You are writing such abominably bad ones for the Boston Courier that I fancy you are putting all your unreason into these, and can give me some of the pure juice. Try!

What I want is a daily letter (when there is any thing to say) on the doings of Congress, commenting on any thing spicy or interesting, and letting the readers make the right comments, rather than see that you are making them. Then I should like a dispatch in the evening, if any thing comes out, especially if any appointments shall have been acted on in executive. You know how to get them.

Well, are you ready to do me $10, $15, or $20 worth of work (you to value it) for a while, until it shall please you to come away or I can send some one on to Washington? If yes, please set about it and send me word. If not, condescend to say so. What I am after is news.

Yours,
Horace Greeley.
James S. Pike, Esq.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 41

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