five thousand dollars a year, and that a new daily in New York
ought to do equally as well, aroused the interest of George
Jones, a banker of Albany, New York. It must be confessed,
however, that the starting of a new paper in New York had
often been the subject of conversation and the chief topic of a
long correspondence between the two gentlemen. In 1848 Thur-
low Weed, who had founded The Albany Evening Journal and
made it one of the most influential political sheets of the Empire
State, was seriously thinking of retiring from journalism.
Through George Jones the editorship of the paper was offered
to Raymond, whose work on The New York Courier and Enquirer
had attracted attention even in Albany. Negotiations failed to
materialize, but the establishment of a new "Whig vehicle of
intelligence in New York" was repeatedly mapped out. Nothing
definite was done until Raymond, leaving journalism temporarily
to go into politics, had been made Speaker of the Assembly at
Albany. The remark about the success of The Tribune was ut-
tered as Raymond and Jones were crossing the Hudson in the
winter of 1850-51. Action, which spoke louder than words,
brought about the firm of Raymond, Jones & Company to start
The New York Daily Times on September 18, 1851.
Raymond had been well trained for the task he was about to assume. While still a student at the University of Vermont he had written for Greeley's New Yorker. Later, he became a paid contributor to its columns, and after The Tribune was estab- lished he was made one of the assistant editors and the chief reporter at the magnificent salary of ten dollars per week. In the field of reporting he achieved distinct success. Even The Boston Post, a Democratic daily started on November 9, 1831, and The Boston Atlas, a Whig organ started on July 2, 1832, ad- mitted that Raymond was about the only journalist who could faithfully reproduce the speeches of Webster whose Latin phrases were too much for the ordinary reporter. Leaving The Tribune in 1843, Raymond joined the editorial staff of The Courier and Enquirer, with which he was connected until 1850, and in which he disputed the supremacy of James Watson Webb as a writer on political topics. In addition to his regular duties he also wrote New York letters for Western papers.
