In sending to a number of newspapers the advance sheets of a particularly striking "feature" in one of his numbers of _The Brooklyn Magazine_, it occurred to him that he was furnishing a good deal of valuable material to these papers without cost.

It is true his magazine was receiving the advertising value of editorial comment; but he wondered whether the newspapers would not be willing to pay for the privilege of simultaneous publication.

An inquiry or two proved that they would.
Thus Edward stumbled upon the "syndicate" plan of furnishing the same article to a group of newspapers, one in each city, for simultaneous publication.

He looked over the ground, and found that while his idea was not a new one, since two "syndicate" agencies already existed, the field was by no means fully covered, and that the success of a third agency would depend entirely upon its ability to furnish the newspapers with material equally good or better than they received from the others.

After following the material furnished by these agencies for two or three weeks, Edward decided that there was plenty of room for his new ideas.
He discussed the matter with his former magazine partner, Colver, and suggested that if they could induce Mr.Beecher to write a weekly comment on current events for the newspapers it would make an auspicious beginning.