Los Angeles herald., 1890-07-28
WANAM AKER.
His Appreciation of Mercantile
Morals.

The public announcement by the post
master-general of the United States that
he proposes to take Photographic copy
of the Encyclopedia britannica and sell
it at very low price and pocket the
meney, is certainly the most extraordin-
airy incident in the history of this very
remarkable administration. Here is
his announcement, which is literally
unique:
DEAR SIR-We can furnish you with
an exact facsimile of the ninth and latest
(1SS9) edition of Encyclopedia Britannica
maps improved and brought down to
date-at 1.50 dolls. the volume.
The set is we'll printed on good paper,
without abridgement, and is one of the
most substantially bound books we have
ever handled.
To let you fully know what an un-
equaled opportunity this is, you can
cents, without any agreement on your
the set-which can be had if desired at
the price first named Q.50 dols. each) },
and be paid for as received.
The set will be in twenty-five (25) vol
umes, corresponding in number and
l..
The total cost to you would be 36. 80 dolls.
We expect to be able to deliver four
volumes month, and to complete the
delivery in November next. You can
arrange to take the books one or more
yours. JOHN WANAMAKER.
Philadelphia, May -, 1890
Following close on the announcement
of the president of the senate that there
are no morals in politics, and that man
may lawfully lie, cheat and steal in
order to get the better of his fellow
citizens in party contests concerning the
administration of the government, one
hardly knows what name to give this
document. The Encyclopedia Britannica
is collection of articles which have
cost the original publishers very large
sum of money and an immense amount
of labor. Without the expenditure of
this money and labor the book would
not, exist.
Although John Wanamaker, postmas-
ter-general of the United States, might
be justified in stealing from the Messrs.
Black, of Edinburgh, one copy of the
Encyclopaedia for the improvement of his
own intelligence, or for his use as a book
of reference when compiling his Sunday
school addresses, on no theory yet pro-
duced by any school of thieves touching
literary property can he steal from
Messrs. Black in order to stock his store,
and for the purposes OF sale at profit,
without becoming thief himself.
In copying the Messrs. Blacks book
by the Photographic process, Wana-
maker:is simply gailty' of connterfeiting.
He is doing what .copiers of bank bills
and .greenbacks call pushing the
queer" His edition of the Encyclopedia
Britannica is neithe, more nor less s,than
green goods" 1t is true that, unlike
the oaunterfeiter, he gives the person
on wkom he "pushes the queer" thing
OF value. The person whom he cheats
is the person whose hills he copies, SO
that his offence, although it resembles
c0unteGeiting externally, in reality
belongs to the category of grand
larceny. Admitting that Wanamaker
may lawfully appropriate one copy for
the improvement of his anind, the fact
still remains that the money he makes
by the sale of the counterfeit property
belongs to the Messrs. Black. In
Wanamaker's drawer, or I'm his bank ac-
count, it is simply "swag," far more so
than the money which ClaUsseil and Pell
took from the Sixth National Bank, and
for taking which they are now TO 60 to
Jail.
We made some fun the other day of
the suggestion of the London Speakes
that the 1875 members of the house of
who voted against the
bill should, on their arrival i'm
London, be treated as 'social pariahs''
or disgraced persons with whom men of
honor could not properly associate
in clubs or private houses. We thought
this suggestion was due to ignorance of
the special conditions of society that
exist in large portions of the country
in which professional authors as
a class are unknown, and the
idea that living can be made
by book-writing is quite unfamiliar to
most Of the inhabitants. The notion,
therefore, in these places, that there is
anything of marketable value in book,
beyond the paper and Typography, is
hard to grasp. 1t is not surprising that
It has not secured firm lodgMent in
The local system Of ethics, and cannot
get congressman to do much "voicing"
or it, as they say. In truth, the strong
sense OF literary property is not very old
,ven in England. So we bespeak patience
ind discrimination of London society
or our erring congressman. But John
Wanamaker, the postmaster-general OF