The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-08
THE WORD AVALANCHE.
The Paid-For Articles Slowed IN the
Safes of the Magazines.


New YORK, Oct. 6.-Robsrt Bonner told
me three or four years ago that the Ledger
could be run for five years on the manu-
script then paid for and slowed away in his
safes without the purchase of another line.
Still he was constantly buying, and by this
time is doubtless eight or ten years anead.
The Century and Hdrper's Magazine, it is
claimed, could be publiS ed for fifteen years
on matter already accepted. A sensa-
tional story paper inferior to the
Ledger claims to have on hand serials
enough for ten years to come. And the
story is the same in all periodical publica-
ton offices where matter is allowed to ac-
cumulate. Yet the avalanche of words
poured forth by the victims of cdcoetheS
scrtbeRdi continues with seemingly ever
increasing volume. The editor of a maya
zine told me recently: 1--WE receive on
an average about twenty p ose and as
many poetical manuscripts per day. They
vary in length and subjects greatly, but
have a harmonious style-that of utter
badness Not one in a hundred is worth
passing to a second reader for considera-
ton. The tiers generally send along let
tiers, trying to influence publication
through sympathy with their ambition, or
their misery, or by giving fictitious idea
of their social. political or literary promi-
hence. or course no attention is paid to
such letters. Each manuscript has to go on
its own merit--or demerit. Many of them
can be sufficiently judged on their first two
pages, and sometimes a story Is rejected
without any reading at all, simply because
its length units it for our use.
l do not think we could keep
up with the constantly inflowing mass, if
we did not adopt such short cuts in read
ing and judging manuscript. No, instead
of getting more than our share, have no
doubt there are other offices where much
more matter is offered than in ours. One |
know of that gets from fifty to sixty manu-
scripts a day. All sorts of people send
in stuff, but the most prolific and
persistent in their contributions are those
who have absolutely no qualifications as
writer's"
From a rather carefully prepared APP
proximate estimate of the manuscripts sent
in to the leading daily, weekly and monthly
publications in New York, Philadelphia
and Chicago only, it appears that there are
not less than 5000 of them daily for which
the writers expect pay. Some are, of
course, poems or short articles, but very
many more are stories, running from 1000
TO 4S,0 900 words, aud sometimes to much
greater length. 1t is not too much, there
fore, to put their average at 5000
words, which would only be about
one and a half columns of a news
paper. That counts up to the astounding
total of 10,500,000 words per diem, or
63, 900, 900 for tue working week And that
is figured upon IA conservative basis. leaving
out altogether that very large percentage Ct
the enormous mass-generally fictlon-that
the writers would feel amply remunerated
for by the joy of seeing it in print and their
hope of consequent literary fame. And
beyond those $500 900 words a week
enough to moro than make up entirely 762
newspapers of the size Of the six-page New
York SuH-are more catadupes of word:
overwhelming the thousands of publicatio L
Offices in other parts of the country.
JAMES II. Connolly.