continued to attend the meetings of the Committee, and in February 1874 he was elected a Vice-President. After his public duties prevented him from taking any active part in the management of the Hospital, he was always ready to give his advice and assistance on any occasion. of anxiety or difficulty. . . . For all these benefits his name can never cease to be remembered with gratitude by the Committee and the friends of the Hospital, and the memory of his connection with it will ever be cherished as one of its chief honours and encouragements.

CHAPTER III.

1854-1893.

EFFECT OF THE

REPEAL OF THE NEWSPAPER STAMP DUTYGROWTH OF THE BUSINESS SMITH & SON BECOME SOLE AGENTS FOR THE TIMES'-FAILING HEALTH OF THE SENIOR

INCREASING

WORK

ITS EFFECT UPON YOUNG THE FIRM BECOME CONTRACTORS FOR RAILWAY EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS AND JOURNAL

ADVERTISING

THE PRINCIPLES OF PRIVATE LIFE CARRIED INTO BUSINESS
AFFAIRS THE LENDING LIBRARY SET ON FOOT-PUBLICATION
ITS SUCCESS AND ABANDONMENT
PRESENT ASPECT OF THE STRAND OFFICE-EARLY MORNING
WORK-DESPATCH OF NEWSPAPERS.

OF CHEAP NOVELS

It is now time to trace some further steps in the development of the Strand business, and record circumstances which contributed to its

success.

Besides the expansion of newspaper traffic resulting from the rapid increase of the population of the United Kingdom, and perhaps in a greater degree from the spread of education, the business of journalism, and its handmaid, news-agency, received a sudden and extraordinary impetus by

VOL. I.

E

the abolition of the newspaper stamp-duty by Mr Bright's Act of 1854. The immediate effect was a reduction in the price of newspapers, and an enormous increase in the demand for them.

The standing which the energy of the elder Smith had already secured for his business in the days when he worked it single-handed, the indefatigable pluck which he had shown in carrying out his principle of "first on the road,” and the perseverance which the new firm had maintained in deserving the confidence of the public as well as of publishers, enabled Smith & Son to reap the full advantage of the sudden expansion of the trade. On June 21, 1854, the most signal proof was given of their pre-eminence in this respect by a circular issued on that day from the Times' office, intimating that the proprietors of that powerful journal had determined that for the future "all papers required by Messrs Smith & Son for distribution in the country shall be delivered to them by the Publishers before any other Agent is supplied. Country' is understood to include all railway stations, and to exclude London and the Metropolitan districts, as defined by the Post Office. Messrs Smith & Son will distribute for the London Agents, at a fair price, the Papers required by them for the service above defined."

The

A.D. 1854.] THE TIMES' WAR CORRESPONDENCE.

67

The importance of this document, which really amounted to a charter of monopoly in agency for the principal journal in the world, can scarcely be overestimated, and the effect was practically to place the firm out of reach of the competition alike of Clayton's and all others which had exercised the elder Smith so sorely in bygone years. It did even more than this, for it obliged every wholesale agent to come to Smith's for his supply of the 'Times.'

The relief afforded to newspaper proprietors by Bright's Act of 1854 put them in a position to deal worthily with the Crimean War, which broke out in the autumn of that year. Telegraphic communication had been established since the last great European war, and the Times' was the earliest to take advantage of it by sending out the first of the class of war correspondents, Dr W. H. Russell, whose graphic despatches enabled people at home to follow day by day, not only the events of the war, but the fortunes of every regiment engaged in it. This gave an immense impetus to the circulation of this enterprising journal, and, of course, was to the advantage of the firm which had become their sole country agents.

The business had by this time grown to a scale far beyond the failing powers of old Mr

swoon.

Smith; the scheme and details of organisation devolved entirely upon his son, who from that day forward was practically the managing head of the firm. It is true that the old gentleman still continued to busy himself in the office as often and as long as his health permitted. He used to drive down in his brougham from Kilburn about nine in the morning, attended to correspondence, and pored over the ledgers, till, as sometimes happened, he fell down in a His presence, however, far from helping business, was a hindrance to it, for the breakdown of his health, while it left his will as imperious as ever, had told disastrously on his temper. Yet his son, however sorely he must have been tried sometimes, never failed in loyal support to his father's authority. One day a customer came into the office to complain that a bill which he had already paid had been sent in a second time. Old Smith vowed that such a thing was impossible, and maintained that the bill had not been paid. The customer was equally confident that it had been settled, lost his temper, and roundly abused his would-be creditor, upon which young Smith left his seat, and, saying quietly to the justly irate customer, "I can't allow any one to speak to my father like that, sir!" led him to the door, and assured him that