The Forrest City times., 1890-02-15
Tho coodsr.sd History


 Tho Coodsrssd History.
 The representative ot the Goolspeed Publishing Company, of Chicago. is in Forrest City delivering the !" Bingraph- ical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas. as per agreement made last fall. when their agents were here taking subscriptions and gathering material for the book The Memoirs are not of the character. nor does the. book cnntaiA the historical and bio- graphical matrrril many uf the sub scliuers seem tn have eXpeeted. N mlr Mr. Gibbons, the head agent. who t,,ok subscriptions in this county. presenter his prospectus and could not. of course. have actually promised any more than it's face indicated, hts fluent explana- tory remarks accompanying the pros pectus was well calculated to leave the impression that the buok would contain an exhaustive history of St. Francis county. and in addition an elaborate and very ull fife skrtch ot each person subscribing Sl5.OD for the book. Alter cOnversiug with several of he subscrih- plS. we conclude tiis to be theIr opinion. People ought not to expect more than they see down in black and white. but it is weli-kupWn that they are readily and easily made ta expect more, and are Greatlv disappointed when those expectations are not gr3tiiied The Memnns IS | result of mechanical art aud skill, k all any one could ask. The matter is srefullN arranged; the priut- ing is neatly done aud geographically il meets the approval of the most par ticuar The number uf pages k about S00. and IS illustrative of what we mean tiy people expecting more thIn is promised in black and white. Mt GibboaS said ta gs repeatedly aud We are toid h. said the same tp others thai he oniX promised 1000 pages iu the history. while he felt sure the bool1 would contain not less than laD0, and very likely l500 pages No one, cer- tainly, had the right to expect more than 1000 pages, but we all know human nature we'll enough to know that eight of every ten persons being told this would expect more would expect the largest number of pages mentioned But where is Mir. Gibbous2 Discharged from the employ of the Goodspeed Publishing Company in l.ss than three weeks after he had tiuished cauvassing St. Francis county: and under what obligation IS that company to carry out his verbal promises, made on his own responsibility so as to do a Eig business and ingraliate himself with the company. Mir. Gibbons and his subs lever, ono of whom. We are told. |. were discharged few weeks after they worked this county, and therefore all obligation of the Goodspeed Com pany to fulfill their promises is Ut an endl impressed the idea when taking subscriptions that fdlly loo large. double column pages would be devoted to the special history of St Francis county. The book shows less than six and | half pages of such special his tory, and about 5o pages devoted to s2 biographies. and IS another reason for some uf the people feeling the disap- pointment so keenly. The philosophy uf every day lite. k the deepest philosophy there is, and right along this liue IS material for much philo~ sopheal reasoning. In the preface the publishers say. nothing promised is omitted, but tAc subscribers seem to be ef the opposite opinion. and the mat ter has now taken an attitude which iu- dleates the company wiilsaNe tn appeal in the courts to collect many of their fAsAfA t~AtAA aMHstAF lt4tRkt3s " V Naf N3A believe the company will gn into oanrt s,t all, for they know fan Well tAa, no jury would give them sl3.0l for m nr. dinaiy book ot sla pages a book simi lar iu mechanical make-up, quality of paper. etc, to such as hundreds oi other publishers are gladly selling at from S3,t0 to $iO1 Fer copy. IAs' Geudspeed Company understand tladt t Ina on the around uf unreasonable chaugt $. It would require a great deal oi cheek M-iuWl to ask jHgg to compel fel luw-citi4en to pay slo Uu ter S3 01 book The preface. also, las these words, ID reivleace to tue Suhitcts of the biographical sketches: Coming as they dn irom liig must il,usirinuS families If the state, We will nu; l comment un that phase ot what they promise and o.aita bHt cam | rs strain saving, while some uf them Arp aglpBs the ncat peaplrut the county. the aboFe clause sounds very ridiculous, and the reading oi the names uf some whose Geographical sketches appear. wfl cause tAe most "illusttiaUs families 0t thlS county to wrinkle the,r uuSrs ii' astonlShment at placing them so much higher han they deserve, We all knaw when thOse Suuug men were here t,sk- ing subscriptions to "ihe History of .Arhausas, they did not luok for the 'iIiustrionS families alone, but wlUte data for the sketch uf aus one, regard less of standing who would sign a sub seription to pay sl5ou for the no0k l, provided, however, Inquiry proved that there was probability ot his being madS to pay 1t, The truth is, tue agents were wiling io write up the his tory of my one, without asking whether noble or ignuble Ii lie was willing to pay sl5.on for q book, and they never. as Mir. Gibbons often sad to us. made iu- quiry of subscriber except as to his ability and willingness to pay debt of about sl600. Apply common sense to the matter aud We must say all parties have acted naturally; just about Us people usually do in such mat ters. IL Is the universal verdict that more was promised than was given, and that the book is far short of the value of Sl5.oo.