Why Did Joseph Pulitzer Raise Money for the Statue of Liberty?

David Senra, reading James McGrath Morris, says Joseph Pulitzer raised the money for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal in the New York World, and the campaign sent the paper's circulation soaring. France had paid for the statue. The United States was supposed to pay for the pedestal. By the time Pulitzer got involved, the fundraising had died and they were short by over $100,000. He treated it as mass crowdfunding. A penny or two pennies was enough, and every donor's name would be printed in the paper. More than 120,000 people gave. In less than five months he raised the money required. Morris writes that the public service was also good for business.

That attention fit a paper Pulitzer had already made look different. The city's front pages were gray, unbroken type, and on a newsstand they were indistinguishable. He had wanted illustrations in the World since he bought it. He hired a cartoonist and paid him more than twice the salary he paid his reporters, then found every excuse to add pictures. Many of the readers he wanted were still learning English. A great many people, he said, had to be educated through their eyes.