Evening journal., 1888-07-06

DAi-e "nsiiiDel VI faluaDle papers to the
'front.'. The money in literature is causing
leading men to look carefully over their
papers, to see whether they have not the
material for book. It was Grants snc.
cess that started Logan and Sheridan ia
work. and know Of a score of statesmen
who are planning volumes. | know of
many who work for magazines. and /
know Of an instance of one senator who
was asked what amount he would charge
for Q short article on the tariff. In replv
no said he could not do it for less than
5000, or about ten cents a word. / know
OF one senator who got 5000 for a short
article Tor The Forum, and the newspaper
men OF Washington have gone into the
magazine held and are making money out
81 1t. George Kennan has made a good
reputation and nice pot of money out of
the Russian articles, which are being puh.
hshed in The Century / have already
told you about the goose that laws the
golden eggs for John Hay and John q.
Nicolay, and know of another rnapazinist
who is also a newspaper man who has
thirty-three articles in the hands of moga.
zine editors, for which he got from SlOO
to $500 apiece. Tho leading newsnaper
syndicates will now pay from $40 to sos
Thousand words for good matter, and
the literary demand seems greater and
greater every day.
l have been collecting for some time
items in regard to the amount Of money
made by authors. It is very fascinatina
work, and it is interesting to know that
Georgo Eliot received $4,000 for "Ro-
mola;" that Scott got over $500 for
.'Waverley" and $40, 000for Woodstock. "
Nilkie Collins "Armadale" brought sos.
900, and poor Goldsmith only got $500 for
his ''Viear of Wakefield "Rasselasr
brought Samuel johnson only $500. and
Dickens made about $50, 600 year during
his latter days at his writings. The fort.
une received from Grants book, which
was sort of history. looks very large
beside the $50,O 600 which Gibbon rot for
his Decline and Fall of the Roman En-
pire, and Scott was paid 100000 for a
Life Of Napoleon" which no one now
ever hears of. VIII Carleton is said to
get $125 for short poem, and Bret Harte
had, you know, a contract for $40. 900 q
year for whatever he might write, and
this was shortly before he went abroad as
consul. Byron received $21 900 for
"Childe Harold, and he got $4,000 for
Don Juan" Victor Hugo made fort.
une out Of his writings, and w. D..
Howells must certainly get between $10,-
600 and $4,000 from Harper Brothers.
He receives, | am told, $4,000 and up.
wards for a short story, and his books
ought to bring him in a great deal Of
money.
AS to the great American writers Of the
past, Washington Irving was the best
paid authsr Of his day. though he made
nothing IKE the amount of money that
similar talent would bring In today.
Fanny Fern received high prices for her
works, and Harriet Beecher Stowe cleared
$40, 600 on ''Uncle Toms Cabin" Still.
when she wrote it she would have been
satisfied with a silk dress in payment for
1t. The book still sells, but whether she
receives royalty or not do not know.
Bayard Taylor made pot Of money out
of his books Of travel, but he did not leave
much when he died Mark Twain makes
perhaps as much as any writer of todav.
He has business faculty allied to remark
able literary ability of the kind the mar
ket demands. and everything he touches
seems to turn into gold. He has written
some beautiful things, as well as some
remarkably funny ones, and it is hard to
realize that the same pen which wrote
'lnnocents Abroad" penned "The Prince
and the Pauper" Of all American
writers, l should judge that Mark Twain
was the most read abroad. You Will find
his books in every country where the
English language is spoken, and many Of
them have been translated.
Mark Twains humor gave him his
starr. and huulor is one of the best pay
ing commodities in the literary market.
Petroleum V. Nasby left a fortune of a
million dollars. Josh Billings died rich,
and Bill Nye is making lots Of money out
Of his lectures and his books, as well as
receiving a royal salary from The New
York World. One of the greatest sue
cesses OF today in bound books has been
Lew Wallace's "Ben Hur," and it will be
astonishing to many Of the highly philo-
sophie readers of this letter to know that
the best paid novelist in the United States
perhaps is Il. p. Roe. Roe's novels sell
in half dozen different editions and they
go everywhere. The editions are run.out
by the hundred thousand copies, and
many of his stories having run through
a big edition in cloth have had equal sue
cesses in paper covers.
As everybody knows by this time Robert
Louis Stevenson's story, now being pub
ished in the newspapers, was sold to
them for $4,000. and this provides for
the newspaper use of the story alone.
Mr.. Stevenson will make a greater
amount than this out of its sale in book
form after it has been completed. Anna
Catharine Green, who, by the way, writes
about the best detective stories of any
American writer today. thinks 50 500 is a
pretty good price for a serial, and she has,
l understand, written one which will
shortly be published.
AS to Washington journalists a num-
Der Of them also have books in hand or
in press and the standard of Washington
literary work among newspaper men is, it
seems to me, advancing. Mr.. John S.
Shriver. the editor of The Home Journal,
at Baltimore, and much noted for his IN
teresting stories about the White House
while he was in Washington as the COR
respondent Of The Baltimore American,
is writing a novel Perry S. Heath has a
book Of travels in press which is quite
interesting. William K. Curtis win shortly
publish book on Russia, l know of a
man who has book on duels ready for
publication. and there are numbers of the
department people who arc engaged in
literary work. Spofford, the librarian. al
ways has his hands full. George Bancroft
picks up his work occasionally, but he
does not write as regularly as ID tho past,
and Professor Jouy, who was sent by the
government to Corea as a naturalist, is
preparing book upon that country. Sun
set Cox is doing no writing at present.
FRANK q. CARPENTER.