Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1898 — HOBSON REFUSES $50,000. [ARTICLE]

HOBSON REFUSES $50,000.

Merrimac Hero Declines an Offer to • Lecture. An offer of $50,000 for a number of lectures has been refused by Naval Constructor Richmond I*. Hobson. This offer was made by a New York lecture bureau, and the reason for his refusal was stated by Hobson to a friend. "Before the sinking of tho Merrimac," he said, “my lectures would probably have not been worth 50 cents. The sinking of the Merrimac seems to have made them worth $50,000. The work that so suddenly raised my stock in literary trade was done in simple execution of my duty as an American naval officer. I did not feel that 1 had u right Io use the performance of that duty fur my financial betterment. I therefore declined the offer of $50,000."