February 13 Friday – The deadline for Senator John P. Jones to exercise his option to form a stock company for the production of the Paige typesetter. The letter Jones promised in his Feb. 11 telegram arrived. Kaplan writes,
“…his letter added to this flat refusal only a transparent contradiction: he and other prudent men of substance felt that conditions in the money market were not at the moment favorable for such a venture; moreover, he said, a number of these same men of substance already had large investments in Mergenthaler’s Linotype” [306].
Upon receipt of Jones’ letter, Sam responded:
My Dear Senator Jones:
If you had given me half an hour of your time instead of two minutes, I would have shown you two ways, by either of which you would have been totally relieved of work until work should take the aspect of play; & by one of which financial risk would be disposed of, since none of you would have to put up a cent until I could lay before you orders from first-class concerns for twenty-four hundred thousand dollars’ worth of machines (200 machines) — at which time you could all draw out from the scheme if you preferred, as it could then take care of itself. Can those Mergenthaler friends show orders for a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of machines?
Sam complained he’d spent $40,000 more than he’d dared because he’d valued Jones’ word and if Jones truly meant he’d do whatever he could to help, then why not “take $75,000 worth of royalties for $50,000 & pay it in installments of $1,000 a month, or take $50,000 worth for $25,000 & pay cash down.”
Frederick J. Hall wrote that he’d received Sam’s two letters, one about using too much postage. Hall enclosed an ad proof would appear in newspapers of principal eastern cities. The rest of the letter was given to matters of extra pennies on postage. The proof lists Gen. Sherman’s book at $5 per set cloth, $7 Leather, Library Style, and $8.50 Half Turkey Morocco. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Postage was right after all” [MTP].
Sam also wrote two notes to Frederick J. Hall, concerned about tying up too many copies of a religious cyclopedia and an Indian book.
My apprehension comes from old and sore experience. We printed and bound 50,000 Mississippi’s, and the orders stopped at 32,000. Webster gave the rest away — as he strenuously wanted to do with the 40,000 extra Grant sheets that he printed [MTLTP 267]. Note: Sam also advised him to “Wait till you hear from Miles” and that he’d written to Howells.