, 1878-01-25
ENCOI RNGENENT Ot NNtNl' ~
NIHuENHlp.

dc,,Ilpmauf oft the nrN>pap'r press
IL q, p.uiu'Iy evident that 900 some
hanch,, oi literature, encourage
mcut ani progress hav" not Kept
pace With the progression oi "'"'I
nations We believe that American
genius and industry ar" fully capa
bic of rivalliug the very best pro
ducts in every field Of intellectual
labor, if ,hs incentives To cIertion
are here made As powerful as those
which foster the famous literary
works of other countries; that the
aggregate Of native talent at leasl
equals that of anv other land, and
that, il our products in any one de
partment are inferior, II is because
accidental drawbacks have prevented
the liberal extention of the kind
and degree of encouragement neces'
sarv TO produce the best results.
Effective literary labor, of all des'
crip,ions, is, to a great extent, as
much a matter Of business as mer'
camille or mechanical pursuits, the
conducting of an intricate and pro
tracted lawsuit, or the successful
prosecution of surgery. The desire
or ability to directly or indirectly
benefit mankind forms an essential
element of every creditable industry,
whether the labors by which it is
prosecuted are mainl y physical or in
tellectual; but this fact does not
destroy the necessity of offering
sure and attractive pecuniary in
centive for every act or work con-
sidered useful for the promotion Of
the general welfare in an age and
country so practical to the United
States Of 1878. There is, perhaps,
nothing more essential than the cul-
tivation of wheat, but there would
be sorry prospect Of abundant
crops if farmers were never en-
couraged by the hope Of realizing
fair reward for sowing, reaping,
harvesting, and threshing their gold
en- sheaves.
1t would scarcely be necessary to
repeat these obvious truisms if the
impression had not been widely dis,
seminated that great authorship
stands apart from all other achieve
ments as thing that can be hoped
for and anticipated in the absence of
the pecuniary inducements which
are universally regarded as necessary
to ensure all other manifestations of
human energy and talent. There
are people who seem to expect that,
while fair-if not liberal-monsy
reward is needed to call forth the
exertions of the laborers engaged in
every ordinary trade, vocation, pro.
fession, and pursuit, authorship will
bloom in the arid deserts of poverty,
and genius gleam like glow-worm
in vheerless garrets. But the utter
falsity of this idea is disproved by
the literary history Of past ages and
the present time.
The capacity to perform great
literary labor has often been mani
tested in the absence of a direct
pecuniary reward. For some of the
great literary works tha: have de-
lighted and benefited mankind, the
authors received but a miserable
money return, or no pecuniary re-
compense whatever; but while these
circumstances have tended to devel-
op and strengthen the false opinion
we are endeavoring to combat, they
do not furnish the slightest excuse
for the continued maintenance of an
error that has already wrought great
injury to this country. The talent
to become physician, or a lawyer,
or a statesman, or an inventor, q
good farmer, or successful mschau-
ic, is often displayed by young tyros
before they earn q fee or weeks
wages; but who does not know that
It would be downright folly to ex-
pect steady and useful labors from
men who have shown capacity for
either of these pursuits, if they were
doomed to hopeless poverty as an
inevitable penalty of an attempt to
follow the natural bent of their
genius?
Already, in the United States,
OF branches OF literature
have been we'll established; but they
are mainly those which have held |
out strong or attractive hopes of re.
Newspaper writing
and publishing have sustained an
immense amount of talent and
energy, and various causes have
combined to assure comparatively |
liberal and certain support for educa-