Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-09-12
COOPERATIVE WRITING.
Walter Hesant's Scheme to OutwIt Grasp
 ing Publishers.

Walter Besant's Scheme to OutwIt Grasp
 ing Publishers.
 Cooperative enterprises have not in this country been successful. Their stockholders have not been able to hold them to close, economical and pushing management. Conflicts of interests and insufliciency of rewards have spoiled the theoretical beauties of the schemes and driven high-clasS talent away. In one branch of industry, however, CO., opcr;lt on should reach high plane of sal .siact on. The profession of author ship has been grumbling from the earli- est days of literature over the troubles Of nub icauon. Most toilers in the bus int ss of rejected manuscript have pet plant which they tendefly cherish in the r son s-the suspicion that there is tI comb ne of "ins' against them. It frequently does happen that literary work of high merit is rejected by pub fishers and editors sometimes, after repeated re ;ections, it finds it's way to brilliant success
 If ins ances of such fortune were not frequent, literature and publishing would be superhuman trades. Most great new productions discoveries and inventions in art, commerce and indus try have been rejected at first by the ex- perts, Experts must be guided by well- established ru es, They must in the course of their avocat on, reject thou sands of crude and worthless innova- tions and must hold back their patron age from ideas which have already been better carried out by men with standard reputatious As smuch genius is required to Tnalyze, wei rh and make a place for 2 new wGrl of any kind as to construct it. Genius Is as rare among expert judges as among virtuosL Besides thero is heavy risk in exploiting a new inventor or author, It is an un- dertaking which involves not only money, but tie reputation of the man who assumes the possibility.
 Money and reputation are precious to publishers as to all other respectable men. Mir. Walter Besant, the Lnglish novelist and editor, has organized the Incorpora ted Society of Authors. For the purpose of fulfilling the desires and ambitions of the members, the society will publish a magazine: Mir, Besant expects that the cooperative magazine will outwit the inimical publisher and present to the public the works of authors at small cost. In the commer> cial parlance of the day, the society of literary producers will deal directly with their customers, and eliminate tho m,ddleman. The vast and increas ng numbers of American writers-too vast and too rapidly increasing for the capac- ities of the present publishing and read ing machinery of the Nation-might take up Mir. Hosant's co-operat tive scheme, and get at the public by a short cut. In th!s as in all cooperative ex- periments, human seltishness and van ity would initiate aga nSt success
 The able writers would expect more recognition and rorhaps more pay than an equal division of hon ors and prof tS would admit. The inferior ones wou d grumblc at any thing but an equal di- vision. Civl zation has not leveled the 1 natural and artificial inequalities of men and women, and a cooperative SO ciety of authors would grind against that deep-fOunded truth. Still, the authors might take some chances upon that weakness of the cooperative theory. They would not be risking a great deal, and in sight of all would be the prospect of getting before the pub lie, whose admiration and money are the dear p. izes of endeavor.-Kansas City Times