His ruin was predicted over and over again. But as he paid as
he went along, he alone would be the sufferer. He was assailed in
various ways. Men sneered at his writers, as well as at the method in
which he made them known. He had no competition. Just then it was
announced that the Harpers were to put a first-class weekly into the
field. The announcement was hailed with delight by many classes. Men who
had been predicting Bonner's ruin from the start were anxious to see it
accomplished. He had agents in all the leading cities in the land. These
held a monopoly of the 'Ledger.' The book men and newspaper men, who
were left out, were quite willing to have the 'Ledger' go under. The
respectability and wealth of the house, its enterprise, with the class
of writers it could secure, made the new paper a dangerous rival. Mr.
Bonner concluded to make the first issue serviceable to himself. His
paragraph advertising was considered sensational, and smacking of the
charlatan. He resolved to make it respectable. He wrote half a column in
sensational style: 'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy
Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--and so on through the half
column.
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