Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-09-08

Special Correspondence.
n ONDoN, Aug. e9.--The literary
agent, who vas recently SO saw
asely sssailed In a magazine arti-
Gle by Henry Holt. the American
publisher. has found an able champion
in David Christie Murray. the well
known novelist Mr. Holt described
the agent as "a very serious detrlment
to literature aud a lesCh upon the su-
thor. The business OF the literary
agent Mr.. Murray says. is TO see that
The author receives his fair and proper
share Of the product of his own labor.
II he had not been wanted, he would
never have arrived The publishers
themselves have made him necessity.
How he asks. can a literary agent
be a serious detriment TO literature UNI
less he exercises some deteroratlng in
Auence upon the quality VI the work
done by his clients. and in what re-
spect can he do that In which the pub
lisner does not do the same? SO far
from The literary agent being detri-
hAfiNA1A w ANNloAhiAr Nv - a Hihtt us
iinct aid TO the production OF his
clients best inasmuch as he relieves
him OF the harassing necessity Of chat
fering for his own wares. And quite
apart from that the writer OF books
Is safer In the hands OF man whose
interests are everywhere colncident
With his own than he Is In the hands
OF one whose pecuniary position Is adj
Nefsely affected by every penny he
unavoidably makes over 10 the author.
Even II no publisher IN the trade were
TOO anxious 10 strike A good bargain in
his own behalf, the agent would be
worth his fee"
Mr., Murray has no sympathy with
the lamentations that are sometimes
raised over what Is termed the Com
liberalization Of Literature" There
Is hardly any more offensive cant IN
the world thsn that which pretends
that real literature Is not produced
for money he says. Much Of the
greatest would have been left undone
II there had been no money to be got
out Of Il. The sharp tooth Of necessity
gnaws he man Of genius until Il drives
him Ia his desk. He would often be-
well content TO let his great thoughts
escape IN talk. or to dream his creams
In silence, But he has Abbotsford to
make into A feudal mansion. and we
get the Waverly novels: or he has his
old mother to bury, and he turns ont
'Rasselas.' Docs anybody suppose
lazy Goldsmith would have given US
The Vicar Of Wakefield n he had seen
no potential coats and ruffles and bowls
Of punch IN quilts and ink and paper?
The money doesn't make the genius. but
IL calls Il Quit wakes Ii from It's
easy arm chair II puts Il on lis mettle.
Thackeray wrote Vanity Fair as
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet'-in the
way Of business. Non olet pecunia.
Money leaves no faint on these achieve
ments any more than II does anywhere
else on sincere work.
Several authors IN these DAYS COM
hine literatur and commerce and APP
parently got quite as much satisfaction
from the money they make by the lat
ter as they derive from the earnings ~
their pens. George r. Sims wrote
many hair-raislng thrillers In the shape
OF melodramas before he thought out
his recipe for his now well known hair
restorer. There may be connection
between the two. but, at all events,
'Tatcho" has brought it's inventor n
comfortable fortune, which is added 10
yearly. II any may Judge by the costly
advertisements which appear IN the
papers a few years ago. John
Strange Winter" wrote r recipe for
re-thatching bald heads and promptly
placed It on sale under the name OF
Hair Food which. according TO adj
veftiscments. may he obtained from
her publishers" This is a combina-
tion Of literature and commerce with
vengeance. Sir Gilbert Parker is one
of the busiest men IN the world Of
commerce. and this perhaps Is the rea-
son why 30 little has been heard Of
him lately by the reading public. The