May 24 Friday – In Elmira Sam responded to James B. Pond (Pond’s letter not extant), attempting to “strike out something definite and get down to business” on the American leg of the world tour. Sam numbered eight conditions and offers: He would give Pond a fourth of the profits except in San Francisco, where Sam wanted four-fifths. Wherever he talked outside of San Francisco he must talk two nights, “so as to practice two readings & give Mrs. Clemens a rest.” He wanted to read six nights and three matinees all in the same week beginning on a Monday in S.F., where he expected to use three different programs. He wanted the S.F. matinee tickets to be no less than one dollar; the night readings the same but fifty cents extra for reserved. He preferred a hall seating from 1,000 to 1,500, fearing he could not talk in a larger place “with ease & effect.” If the readings were done in a theater he had no objection to various ticket prices for location. And lastly,

8. Am not willing to be sold out in San F. unless at a high figure. We can run our own show there.

Sam wanted a telegram if the terms suited Pond. He also questioned Pond’s courage, perhaps as a negotiating ploy:

I am a little troubled because you clearly seem to have lost some of your sand — & when one’s agent is afraid, it disables the lecturer. You propose 4 readings for me in San F. — a town of half a million people. I filled 3 great houses there 27 years ago when the population was 100,000; and Maguire, proprietor of all the theatres in town lost his temper & called me a fool because I didn’t talk ten nights. I am expected to talk 14 times in Melbourne, another town of half a million; & I mean to talk 10 times there. Now, you see, you would reduce that to 4; & I wouldn’t approve.

Sam then asked Pond to write his nephew, Samuel Moffett, editor of the S.F. Examiner, and ask him to use his influence. Sam also included Joe Goodman, Ambrose Bierce and Arthur McEwen, “to start a gradual & carefully devised boom in the papers — gradual at first, then warming up as we approach.” He wanted it hinted that a Saturday night press banquet and speeches prior to the talks there would be attention getting. After his signature he suggested Pond contact a S.F. “agent of good judgment” and asked, “What was the price of Stanley’s tickets? — in Frisco” [MTP; NB 34 TS 10].

Fatout writes of Sam’s changed or thwarted plans to include San Francisco on the tour:

“For some reason this plan miscarried. Mark Twain offered the curious explanation that San Francisco would be unprofitable because too many people were out of town in midsummer. Possibly he could not find a hall that suited him; perhaps somebody’s less than eager response out there offended him. The upshot was that the itinerary avoided California by taking a northern route across Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Washington” [On Lecture Tour 242]. Note: see Sam’s June 11 to Moffett, where he wrote that Pond advised against S.F. anytime before October.