January 20 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote a long letter on the Paige typesetter to Senator John P. Jones, answering his questions and concerns, laying out the size of the market for rental machines at “12 cents per 1000 ems.” Sam calculated the American business worth $35,000,000; the European $20,000,000. He also tried to build on a suggestion of Jones’:

You spoke of having people of moderate means subscribe for the stock. Which suggests this idea to me: If you & Mr. Carnegie & one other — possibly Mackay? — should organize yourselves into a company, & held the list with good-sized subscriptions, I think the Typothetae of the United States could be depended upon to put up $500,000 among them….

We are offering hundred-dollar bills at a penny apiece, & it would seem to be good politics for a couple of men to sell out their mines & mills & take the entire lot, instead of letting everybody in [MTP].