Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-29

A.
are not working and who command, even
the lowest Of them, living salaries notoniy
in an open market, but where there are
multItudes or people ready and ANXIOUS 10
write for nothing. In no branch OF trhde
! for literature Is trade AS well as an
/ art-can this anomalous condition ne
found where workers hold their own, De
handing and receiving good wages Tor
work which an innumerable army clamOrs
to do for nothing.
The rewards Of magazine writing are
/ meagre even TO the most successful. Ju-
mus Henri Browne, certainly most de-
lightful writer, is quoted as saying that
be was never able 20 make more than
/ $4,000 year by the hardest kind OF work
on the magazines. Mrs. Frances HOdg
son Burnett, when the Scribners were
ADVERTISING her the loudest, did not re-
1 ceive 81, 800 year from the magazine. !
I think she did not get more than Sl2j a
/ month for Il monthly part Of one OF her Sc
! rial stories, besides the royalty on the
/ book when it was published her con-
! tract forbade her to write for any other
/ periodical. Imagine a newspaper writer
/ Of Mrs. Burnetrs relative reputation
working for about 5000 a month all told,
/ and forbidden to write for any other pup
/ lication Tho most money contributor
can make out of a magazine 10 by serial
; q
IN book form. 1t is case in which the
/ interests OF the author and publisher are
peculiarly associated, the popularity Of
| the book being an advertisement for the
magazine in which it first appeared-but
as for the actual money paid for the serial
! parts it is probably not large. AS for
the salaries OF one editor-in-chief OF a
/ magazine, and one or two subOrdinRtes,
/ imagine they are good as the magazine
y M 70 p,iNr two ont h~ga, aluV
/ workers it can afford to do something
/ handsome for them. | may be permitted
/ to say that the magazine cditOr's salary
( is easily earned. The practice mentioned
above OF ordering an article from some
distinguished Thomas, Richard or Henry,
In the literary world, as one would order
pair OF trousers Of an artistic tailor,
very much slmpliies the already simple
duties Of the editor. The consequence Of
this system is that mistakes are printed
in the magazines which are never allowed
to creep into great metropolitan journals
subjected to the rigid supervision of a
trst-class editor. What would any Of the
great dallies think Of printing an article,
I as HGfper'S did some months ago, speak
ing of the wife of Andrew Jackson presi-
ding over the White House dur ing his
administration? And it was only the
other day another article was published
in the same magazine representing the
Prince cOnsOrt as alive and kicking in the
year 1852. Nor is raising the dead the
| only idiosyncracy of Hdrper'S. 1t pub
lished a piece recently in which the wych
hazel was boldly misspelled as switch ha-
EEL" in the title and table of contents, as
well as In the body Of the piece, The Cen
tdrg'S blunders are even more ludlcrOus
than Hdlpe1'S. Last year 1t had an arti-
Gle on the White House which, for con-
tinental misstatements. exceeded any
thing can call to mind in periodical lit
erature. l counted nine mistakes which
anybody could verify by five minutes
view of the White House, and then l had
not got to the end Of the article. The
Century, however is never SO amusing as
when il make an excursion into classical
fields. 1t will be remembered that 1t pro-
posed some time ago that a monument
should be erected to President Garfield
inscribed: ''Strangulatus pro Republica."
Now, 1t is a shame to hold President
Gartield's memory responsible for that
bull of Bashan. Although not an accom-
plished classical scholar. Garfield knew
better than TO translate "strangulatus
pro republica" as the Century did. If
the Centurg'S scheme were carried out 1t
would mean that President Garfield was
choked TO death accidentally or bow
strung as a criminal. "StranQulatus
sum" would make sense, but ''strangu!a-
tus pro republica," is dog Latin of the
most canine description. 1t is respect
fully suggested that ''strangulatus pro
republica' be inscribed on the tomb of
the eminent classicist of the CenttlTB when
his services to that able periodical have
worn him out. Another example of the
callow and shallow editing OF the CeHtUr0
may be seen in an article on Daniel Web
ster, published last winter. Among other
! inaccuracies, il spoke Of NJ. Webster as
Young and unmarried man in 1924
/ when he was married in 1908, and the
same time-1S24-as ian early date in
/ his career as lawyer, when he was then
~ years 0ld-and the whole essay would
have been discreditable to a village week.
| ly In point OF composition and editing
| Even the Athens Of America can furnish
some surprising bulls In the columns Of
! It's magazine. | well remember q pitiful
editorial wall being set up in the atlantic
/ Monthly that such a good and torcefu
expression as "fred out" should not be
legitimate English. 1t is legitimate Eng
fish, and stamped with the mint-mark Of
no less master than William Shakes
peare. If the editor OF the Atlantic haC
have minded what he was about hC
would have known that in Shakespeare
! 144th sonnet occur these lines:
Yet this shall meier know, but live in doub
Till my bad angel fire my good one ont.
The gathering together OF these absurd
mistakes is not the result Of labOrioui
search on my part; they are mere random
| recollectiOns. II l were TO 40 10 worl
regularly to see how many ridiculous
blunders / could find in the first-clas,
magazines, | could rake up two or three
billions without any trouble at all.
think the most wholly amusing thing
| ever read In the magazines was the com
ment on the last Presidential election
The atlantic and LippiHc0tPS were Sc
renely unconscious in their Decembe
issues that the great revolution had oc
CURED. Hdrpel'S remarked with equa
truth and perspicacity that 1885 was no
a Presidential year. But the CeRtDrl
has Il political philosopher who fol
pure unconscious humor surpRsso
anything outside OF the oracular Bunsby
II had four articles entitled, re
spectiyely, 1.-The Degradation Of Politics, >
"rhe Recent Legal-Tender Decision 3
"POlitical Work for Young Men,
and "a Grave Responsibility" In IN,
editorial TO young men, they are solemn,
warned thus: "DO not think that desul
tory magazine articles car compass TN
desired end" No, we don't. Nobody be-
lleYes that desultory magazine articie
can compass anything. But IL is in ~
Grave Responsibility" that the Cenfti7f
publicist scars. He sagely remarks 81
the responsibility OF the Independent
"a l. a..