The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-07
LITERATURE AND BOOZE.

Five times as much money IN 1903, 1T
is estimated, was spent for literature as
for "booze." Under this slang term for
drink is doubtless included all kinds of
intoxicants from cider to absinthe. and
under literature every grade of type in
binding from reprints of Shakespeare to
the latest novel of Marie Corelli. 1t
would be amusing. were 1T possible. to
see if the drink did five times the harm.
How much cognac, for instance. could
fairly be set against an edition of three
hundred thousand of a new novel by Hall
Game? How much beer would equal in
sodden consequences the seasons output OF
fictionized history? Good books, whether
of he imagination or of information, sur
pass in inspiration the finest beverage
ever quaffed and celebrated by Omar or
John Keats, but ordinary books cannot
compare in efficiency as evils with the
common abuse of whiskey. Therefore, we
take the drink expense to be a misfortune
more han five times as great as the mis-
fortune caused by the sum wasted upon
what our esteemed contemporaries cheer
fully describe as literature Where drink
makes criminals. novels make nothing
worse than idiots. m
worse than idiots.-Coliers Weekly.
The February Atlantic begins with a
singularly able leading article by Charles
A. Conant, vice-president of the Morton
Trust Company, of New York, on wall
Street and the Country" Mr. Conant is
already well known as a thoroughly in
formed and vigorous writer on financial
economics, and this cogent statement of
the important part played by operations
in al in, ho
condition Of this country is a notable
contribution, which at the present time
is likely to interest an especially large
number of readers. Mr.. Commits con-
clusion as to the inter-Eelations of Wall
Street and the startling combinations of
capital which America has recently seen
is particularly to the point.
The Cosmopolitan Magazine owners, who
printed the first really great cheap month
ly magazine, has begun the publication
of q beautiful monthly "The Twentieth
Century Home" The first number is a
thing of beauty. The illustrations are
of the best quality and the table of con-
tents embrace forty features by distin-
gushed authors. The marvel is how such
a magazine, the product of the best writers
can be sold at retail for ten cents. We
hazard nothing in predicting that 'The
Twentieth Century Home will very soon
become one of the most popular of Ameri-
can monthlieS
HoUGhton, Mifflin e Co. announce the
publication this spring, in limited edi-
ton, OF volume of Louisiana Purchase
Papers" containing a paper by Thomas
Jefferson on the Boundaries of Louisiana
together with the famous Journal of Will
liam Dunbar recounting his journey up
the Re-, and Washita rivers. Both these
invaluable additions to Americana are of
the utmost interest.
The last chapter has been written in
the life of LONELINESS" the little silver
Yorkshire dog whose story, in Mrs. Eliza
beth Stuart Phelps Wards book by that
title, made such a stir in anti-vivisection
circles a few years ago Mrs. Ward now
has new dog which she calls Fay"
In the reports from London of the best
selling books, Kate Douglas Virgins
"Rebecca" appears as favorite both
in England and in Scotland. 1t still
holds its position in New York city
among the six best selling books as
given out by the trade each week, and
libraries all over the country report in
great demand
Mr.. Richard Whiteing is known as a
novelist through THE Island" Number
5 John Street. and THE Yellow VAN
An admirer of those books has been look
ing up the history of their author, and