New-York tribune., 1902-04-26

a. Frank L. Stanton's first book, entitled
us of the Soil" was published some years
hvD. Appleton & Co. A second book of his
asO - ,riu in the fall. be brought out by the
ern, as holiday offering.
-. 1ower South in American History" by
inter, CARROT Brown, will be issued at
.1,a Macmillan Company His essays va
" rb,e,ss Of Southern political and social his
have been attracting attention in THE At
- Monthly" during the last eighteen
.hs He has also written of American par
- and brief biographies OF Andrew Jackson
"a stephen A. Douglas In this book Mr.
-,u-o has brought together some published and
h,ished chapters. AS the work OF Har-
"a lac+urer his point of view is unusual, be-
&c unlike most philosophical students of our
S,r+orv he got his Southern sympathies by birth
- rearing in the heart of the black belt, and
-. earliest associations were with the ruling
,ss Of Southerners during their efforts to re-
aero the South from carpet baggers. while his
,ot,onal spirit. his candor and his training in
,,r,orical inquiry due TO twelve years as
.,5ent and officer at Harvard, back and forth
sron North 20 South year after year.
,rho n,aint Of the librarians as to the prices
.,ev are obliged TO pay for books under the
ocant rules of the American Publishers As
oiotion has moved a Well known publisher TO
his mind concerning the matter lhlS man
.rrees with the energetic expression of opinion
oer+lv quoted in this column as TO the move
er+ On the part of librarians TO have the 10
-. can't discount whicn is all they entitled
= under rhe present arrangement, increased.
He had this 10 say:
For some time libraries have been buying
,ots altogether too cheaply. The competition
to- library business has been very keen. and.
.bere being no trade regulations, librarians have
,ean successful IN getting houses to bid against
o.o,, other. shaving discounts more and more
ob wear until the rates have reached such
,,o,n+ that a very large proportion Of the library
srrtrass to-day is done without any direct net
oe. m the dealer. The bookseller must content
s,rosslf with profit on occasional book and
u1.h the incidental advantages connected with
-,s business Not only is there no net profit on
-. or the live current books. but often there
&c no or scarcely any, gross profit Many DOCKS
re sold TO libraries at one cent on the dollar
os,-,,oa on actual cost some even at actual
cost
rorbe supplying Of libraries is in one sense
..,h,,r business. I believe there is no other
..,b,,g business which requires so much IN
,o,pgance care and patience, as well as such
large amount Of detailed work, and am Ger
,an that there is jobbing done in no other ar'i-
c,e of merchandise such very TRIVIAL mar
en even when the amounts involved are very
much larger.
.1 -aoe,tlv asked a hat manufacturer the price
of a certain grade Of straw hats he SAID we we
.eu them fer 50 Cper dozen), the jobber gets 81
- tho retailer sells them for 81 80 each 1
sr,ressed NV surprise at the large margin al
1o,rsd IN the iobber. Said he: The 1opoer
wants at leas. S3 dozen, even though ne puys
and sells the goods in large Quantitles
..rh,nk If q book johber getting that proper
.,ou of profit on material handed pv hliii' anu
think OF the difference Of getting ana ll'oiciiie
TWO hundred dozen hats, representing 'alue
q. s. 400 to $500, and the expense connected
with library order for current DOORS ihNoi'i-e
even a much smaller value!
Nearly thirty years ago, when the discounts
+o ribrar,es were by no means as great as thes
nour are il was found that the business old hot
Weld q living profit 20 the dealer, and an agree
rnent was made among the Leading houses "
maintain a uniform discount Of ~ per cent
rbere was lack Of cohesion in the nloNeiiieii"
however and. the agreement having peeh 'ie"
cd disingenuously by several OF the houses' !"
n,as found TO be futile, and was dropped al
together.
.a1ho -,r.ser+ terms on which libraries can buy
,a.- convYirht books are terms that have been
A,e5 not by the booksellers, although 1naoe
r-incnally for their benefit, but decided upon
after very careful consideration by the Pupiish-
ars, association. an association which includes
every house of the slightest Importance.
.Tt is worth while TO point out that these
terms affect only the copyright books exclusive
~ ACTON nrblisbed since May. 1901. There was
never a time when standard books, especially
non-copyright ones, were sold so low, and wher'
ON tho average they were so well made, even in
the very, zy,cheap editions as to-day. Presumably
lhra-ies will continue to buy these books as
cheapy as they have been buying then- Inc
Increased net cost TO them on the class anecleu
by the restrictions of discount bears a very
small percentage TO the total amount eXpendeo.
The librarians must be perfectly well aware
that the business has been done for them on too
rneagre a margin, and that it was inevitable
that one of the first moves Of the Publishers
Association would be to establish a rate which
would leave the bookseller living proht
Miss Ellen NJ Stone the missionary, Is nara
ct work on q book which will recount her expe-
riences from the time OF her capture by the paio
of brigands up to her release This bit OF dog
raphy will be published by Mcclure. Phlllps O.
Co under the title six Months Among Mace
donian Brigands" Parts OF il will appear IN
"McClure's Magazine" beginning in May. Miss
Stones narrative emphasizes the fact that the
kidnapping of herself and of Nine. Tsilka was
purely a political move and in sense a pri-
vate enterprise. She phiIosophically bears Wit
ness TO the fact that she was treated with al
the consideration possible under the clrcufn-
stances and that her kldnappers were actuated
by motives Of patriotism and not of sef-inter-
est. Their object was to obtain money 10
buy arms for the Macedonian cause Although
Miss Stone and Nine. Tsilka were compelled to
travel twelve hours more a day. underwent
almost incredible hardshps and were in con-
stant expectation Of death, the missionary re-
turns unbroken in health and spirit Her book
will probably appear in the fall