The sun., 1896-10-04

A Free Government Press Wanted 60 Raise
the Price of Manuscripts.

A young man who is able to earn a few dollars
| now and again by contributing to various peri.
| odicals published in the metropolis was riding
on n way train between Utica and Albany the
! other day. when Mohawk Valley politician
boarded the train. Taking seat beside the
writer the politician began at once to talk about
the issues of the present campaign. and argued
in favor of the election of Bryan. His argument
was the familiar one to the effect that nothing
more was needed to bring up the price of silver
to that of the gold than a law properly passed
by the national Legislature.
Tho law" he said, now provides for the
length OF the yard stick. the number OF hours in
days labor in Government employ. the wages OF
Government servants and the number of grains
OF gold in dollar, and these facts no one dis
pntes. And yet these goldbuGs say that this
great nation is unable to FIX the price of silver
They talk about the laws of supply and demand
ns II they held the monopoly OF wisdom in such
things; but 1t stands to reason that II the Gov
ernment will take all the silver that Is offered to
1t and will coin 1t into dollars, the demand is
created at once. The law is all that is needed.
Well" said the writer. I've been en- what you
call a gold bug WANTED to get the best money
the most Of the things want, because don't
get very much money anyway. But YOU have
SIwen nT me me ,rrs new I iden You sec am writer
the market is bad very bad, Why. every big
magazine IN New York gets about one hundred
manuscripts day, although 1t can print only
ABOUT dozen or SO month. And IT 10 Just
about as bad with tho Sunday papers.
But your scheme for marketing silver has
nm idea IN IT worth my consideration. | had
never thought about IL in this light before. but
the Government runs printing offlce us well
AS mints. and IL Congress would just pass the
law, why. the Government could take all the
manuscripts that and the other fellows turn
out and make them into books Why. there is
Just the samo kind of combination among pub
fishers that there is among bankers-a cofnbi-
nation to enrich themselves out of the sweat of
the producers OF manuscripts. They cannot get
along without us any more than tho bankers
can exist without the products of labor.
but the publishers few and rich,
while we are many and poor So the
publishers have ground our faces. They have
set up their own Standardized up what you
might call u gold standard in literature-and no
other kind of manuscript will they coin into
books, so to speak. have always supposed there
was no way of escaping their tyranny. but your
idea OF making the Government mints establish
price for silver bullion contains an idea
worth consideration. 1t furnishes u key to tho
situation between publishers and writer's. II
you people will raise a cry for free Govern
ment press for the use of producers of manu-.
scripts, as well as free mint for the OF pro-
ducers of silver-if you will put your ba nners
the inspiring motto 16authors to ublisher -
you will flnd the toiling masses behind you in
creased BY all the writer's whose work Is rated
by the pu blishers at the silver standard"