The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-12
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK

I murmured something about plain
living and high thinking.
Yes; this is the top floor,' he said.
quietly. 1T is not a pretentiouS es-
Establishment, but our needs are few.
and my wife's tastes are as simple as
my own. May 1 ask you, sir, whether
you have interviewed any other pub
Usher in his homer"
/ replied that I had not, that 1 had
begun, as it seemed fitting, with Mr.
Greatheart. Americas most famous
publisher, whose spring and fall cat
alogues contained more famous au-
thors and Best Sellers than the lists
of any two other publishers
"And you assumed" he commented,
that 1 was "a man of means with
enough, say, to live in an apartment
house and keep a carriage. / read
that in your face as you entered
l was obliged to confess that / ex-
pected to find a man of his position
housed amid somewhat different sur
roundings.
My income is barely sufficient for
my daily needs" said Mr. Greatheart
with a trace of bitterness in his voice.
my wife, a noble woman, helps by
doing sewing for the neighbors. Nor
do know of a single publisher who
is in better circumstances than my
self"
You amaze me, sir!' cried. 'The
popular impression is quite other
wise
THE popular impression is usually
wrong. 1 assure you, sir, that the
American publisher places Literature
above material prosperity, and es-
teens himself fortunate if he is able
TO provide for his family even so mod
est a home as that which you see be-
fore you"
But surely" said I, the profits Of
book-making were never greater than
today"
True. And royalties were never SO
high. The authors reap all the prof
it's 1t is they who occupy the apart
ment houses, who keep carriages, who
are to be found in Capri, or Rome or
Paris, or cruising in their yachts
| through summer seas"
But your great successes, your Best
! Sellers"
"On Is or 20 per cent royalty the
more Best Sellers 1 publish the more
money 1 lose. 1t is only by publishing
| a magazine on the side that L contrive
to keep the scales even. If published
nothing but successful novels 1 should
be sold out by the sheriff, and my lit
tie wife would be without a roof for
her head
was deeply affected, and Cor a
space there was no sound in the room
save the scratching of my pencil.
How, sir" 1 asked presently, do
you account for the prosperity of Mr.
Plates, the publisher. whom 1 know
well. He lives in style and keeps his
carriage. Perhaps he has an indie
pendent income"
pilates is printer. or a reprinter, -
replied Mr.. Greatheart. He issues
only reprints of old books, which he
sells in sets at a dollar a month Dead
authors ask no royalties. That is not
being a publisher; that is not devoting
ones life to the cause of Literature
One cannot serve both Literature and
MammOn."
AS Mr.. Greatheart spoke these ring
ing words the door opened and his
wife entered-a brave-faced little wo-
man, plainly but neatly dressed. She
had been to a delicatessen store. she
explained, and smilingly, even gaily,
exhibited her purchases-three kinds
of sausage, rye bread and dill pickles
l must stay and take supper with
them. she said.
But I was compelled to decline the
invitation, as / already had dinner
engagement at the Waldorf with a ia
nous Indiana author
I was rather glad of it. | confess.
for the dinner proved uncOmmonly
good But as I sat slipping my cham
payne and smoking the expensive CT
gars my host provided, the picture Of
Mrs. GTeatheaTt doing her needlew0rK
by lamplight rose in my mind. And
when my novelist friend informed me
that he had just signed a contract
with Mr.. GTeatheart for another book,
on fat royalty of 20 per cent. I felt
so sorry for the publisher that I
could barely murmer my cOngraJula-
lions. BERT LESION TAYLOR.
Downright 1905 nv JOSeph 2 ROyVIaS !