paper of his own in New York City. They accordingly pur-
chased The New York Sun from Moses S. Beach for one hun-
dred thousand dollars, with the option of taking the machinery
at an additional payment of twenty-five thousand. In pur-
chasing the paper, Morrisson paid fifty thousand dollars in
cash and gave notes for the other fifty thousand secured by a
mortgage on The Sun. They secured as editor of their religious
paper William Conant Church, the brother of the writer of
the famous Sun editorial, "Is There a Santa Glaus?" Church,
being a practical newspaper man, was never thoroughly in accord
with the idea of making The Sun a religious paper, but thought
that he could persuade its owners to be content with the pub-
lishing of a high-grade moral newspaper. He was unsuccessful
in bringing the real owners to his point of view, for they insisted
that they were directed by the Lord to conduct the paper ac-
cording to plans they had outlined. Finding that he could not
convince the " Vice-regents of the Lord " that their plan if carried
out would speedily ruin The Sun, he accepted a compromise
proposition. He was paid a salary in full for the term of his con-
tract and was allowed to spend the remainder of the time in trav-
eling in Europe. While he was abroad, his prophecy about the
paper came true. Morrisson practically lost every cent he had
in trying to make The Sun "a daily lay preacher to the poorer
classes of New York." Fortunately, before embarking upon the
publishing of a religious daily, Morrisson had settled a con-
siderable portion of his estate upon his wife, and she had re-
ligiously and wisely refused to yield her money to be jeopardized
in the publishing of a religious sheet. In throwing out the liquor,
cigar, theatrical, and other irreligious advertisements, Morris-
son had greatly reduced the income from the paper; he had also
increased the expenses to such an extent that the time arrived
when he was unable to meet his notes. Beach still had his lien
on The Sun, and when the notes were not paid, he sold the prop-
erty at the Merchants' Exchange and " knocked it down "to
himself at his own price. The Sun then ceased to begin the day's
work with a prayer meeting in the editorial rooms. The experi-
ment, interesting as it was, almost caused the total eclipse of
The Sun.
