1912–13 Volume 37 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

THE SCROLL 129California. I obtained work in the Yosemite Valley as a laborer.I shoveled snow off the mountain trails, cut timber, mended roads,handled horses and mules, did rough carpentering and acted as guideto tourists in the mountains.In the summer of 1901, I drifted into Tucson. O'Brien Moore,then editor of the Ari2ona Daily Citizen, had the temerity to makeme circulation manager of the paper. I promptly sent bills to theweekly subscribers at the considerably greater rate for the daily, whichroused a storm of vigorous Arizona protest, and blew our preciousJOHNSON'S "MR. COMMON PEOPLE"weekly circulation to flinders. I was incontinently fired, but the cityeditor, as the only local reporter was called, becoming opportunelyindisposed, I was given his job, titles and emoluments and, later,the assurance that I had made good.After few months, I returned to my old birth, the Kansas CityJournal, and a year later, on January 1, 1903, I went to New York.During my first week in the metropolis, I drew five pictures, submittedthem all to Life, and had one of them accepted at the priceof $45. I felt that I had "arrived" but I hadn't. I sold drawings toLife and other magazines, with more or less regularity until 1905,when I accepted an offer from the Philadelphia North American. Ayear later I was placed in charge of the Sunday art department ofthe North American doing occasional cartoons and comics. In 1908I was made the regular cartoonist of the paper to succeed Walt