The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1890-04-11

cold. II was determined TO tulu a
corporation which should %monnpolize
the entire business of making srhnUl
books in this country, and should
make such books as it pleased under
the cover of lis monopoly. This cor
pOration, which includes ID. Appleton
& Co., OH the sc~h5ol-bhok side of the
house; A. S. Barnes IL Co, I%vison,
Brakeman Il Co. and Van Antwerp,
Bragg ~ Co, was formed.
The new corporation is to be kHldcr
the business management Of Mr.. Cath
cart. the manager for %Ivis0n, Blake
man & Co. The manufacturing is tc
be done in part by the Appletons aud
in part in the brooklyn manufacturing
establishment of a. S. Barnes IL Co.
The corporation is to have quarters OF
its own aud the several houses COM
posing ii are to 20 ont of business as
school-book publishers. The plan is to
appeasc public wrath aud allay public
apprehension at tbs outset by cheap
ening prices. 1t is intended 10 make
4 reduction OF about 10 per cent. on
the price of bnoks al the outset and
TO regain this by subsequent advances
" tA'i Nv 5iif VI INT ilItlfftJiN SlldlI
be firmly fastened upon The pubic
throat.
II may be said that The New York
houses have reluctantly gone into this
| scheme and there is reason To believe
that th1 monopoly is not To be free
from Il yoly stalwart competition
FORMATION OF THE TRUST.
Inasmuch "a the houses that have
formed this scheme have never been
50 prosperous rs during The last five
wears, il is evident that The new m we
ment ha> NOT been forced upon them
by any stress of circumstances, and
there Is NO excuse OF necessity Tor it.
II is simply Il scheme OF monopoly for
the control of educational npccssarics
The effects likely to flow from thiSarr
various. The smaller houses, in the
first place, a'c Ia be driven out OF the
business, and they. are expected To
come, hand in hand, begging to be-
bought Il at whatever price they
may he thought worth under c%otnpul-
snry sale. The effect upon The quality
OF sChupl-boOkS must necessarily be
disastrous for several reasons. The
houses concerned have hitherto been
rivals, Each has published is own
sci ot schoul-books, each aiming Ia
make them >cXCrllrnt AS possible. 1t
has been the practice of each to buy
every new book or set of books offer
ed them which seemed in any |iunpor-
taut respect to be superior To those al
ready in use. These superior books
were purchased 10 be used il their u.s..
promised profit, and 10 b. suppressed
If their usc did nut seem necessary
that is 10 say, If, for example, Il hisln-
~ or gratnmer published by a house
was already IN general use aud rould
be successfully pushed ia competition
with others published byOthcrho.lse Sc
II new history or grammar pnr-
chased would be locked away in u
safe.
Inlsmucli as The introduction of
new scI0oi-bonk is always accom-
plislcd by the free exchange of the
new tor the old Or by the sale OF The
new b nk at half price to introduce il,
a new book was only published when
II would seem to BIZ Il uscfi! weapon
in The fight. Nevertheless new To- okS
were frequently published, not To b.
put into competition with tho books
already published by the same house,
but To be used as additional means of
GRO Tding oIl books of rival firms.
Every new devise which seemed to
Improve text books was adopted by al!
the houses, so far as possible. This
was manitcstly necessary.
Under the monopoly system, moth
ing of the Kind will b. requisite. Ii
VIII not he necessary either to i'm
prove the books ia Use. or to offer
much choice among them, or To bnN
new books of a superior kind when
offered. The sole consideration on The
part OF the monopoly will naturally
be that of profit, and The most profit
able thing they can do will be TO with
draw from active circulation those oI
their books now on sale on which the
profit is smallest. These are manly
the very best books, because they are
the books of rccoghiZcd authors, whose
copyright claim upon them Is a con-
siderable item of exprnse. 1t will 40!
pay to push a book on which the au-
thor must receive n percentage, when
the same house has another book OF
the same class on which there is no
such charge.
If III one department, COR instance,
there are now three or four principal
books published in rivalry with each
olheT by different houses, aud one of
those is subject 10 an aulhor's royal
ties, that one naturally will not be
,f.,.ga.l rtrRar, pplyyl lA..p1 -
anywhere so long as the
boards aud superintendent can
be induced TO accept either of the 9th
ers. Such a book could be pushed
only in two way II could be intro
luced into schools where no book on
he subject was already la use, or il
could be pushed into scL.Ouls where
Dne or the other uf its rigais was in
use. The first field i OF course, IN
tinitcsmal in its size. In or,icr TO push
book in the other it would be neccs- :
'arv TO sup.Dlant those already ia use
by one of The processes already mem 5
Toned and at considerable expense. =
But if the new corporation owns all :
Of these books ii will naturally lot {
push this one IN that way. 1t will not
;are 10 spend any money crowding
its W books on which il pays no
,npyright ia order to introduce its
book on which it pays a copy
light. On the contrary, the best thing r
I can do for itself will be to suppress /
he book In question aud push the
'thers without its rivalry. In a case
where a non-copvright book is better
han a copyright box, or as good, no