The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-12-11
FEAkY RECEIVES $4,000 FOR
HIS OWN STORY.

cords for Payments to ExnIorerS mr.
Authors.
1t seems probable that many years
will pass before an author receives
a higher price for his literary pro-
duct than Commander Robert E.
Peary receives from Hampton's Mag
azine for his own story Of the dis
covery of the North Pole.
This feature cost Hampton's Mag
azine clean cold $4,000. No rate
per word is specified in the contract,
but 1T Is generally estimated that
Commander Peary is receiving s1.1S
| cash for each word that he writes
for Hampton's Magazine. Benz. B.
Hampton, editor Of the magazine,
makes this statement:
IF you have a desire to estimate
| the rate per word that will be earned
by Peary with his North Pole story.
you would be safer in placing it at
$500 per word that $1.2O. We have
bought only American and Canadian
magazine rights. and Stokes book
rights cover only these countries.
That leaves all the foreign rights to
sell. When they are figured up, the
| totals should amount to 100000 or
even $150,000.
"Peary is not a good business man.
AS matter Of fact, he is a poor man.
Mrs. Peary has been the business
head Of the family, and the Com
mander never loses an opportunity
to praise her for the manner in
which she has labored and borne the
brunt of his quarter of a century of
work in the Arctic. Peary and Mrs.
Peary have sacrificed their material
comfort to this Arctic ideal. Every
dollar they could spare from actual
living expenses has been used to
equip expeditions, so that, when
Peary returned a few months ago,
there was mighty little money in the
Peary bank account.
Record Breaking Lecture Offers.
THE revenue from the books and
magazine work could be greatly in
creased by lecturing, if Peary's
friends can persuade him to go on
the platform. He has had offers that
would net him 100000 for the first
years work, or more, if he would be
willing to stick to it for several con-
secutive months. TIe has received Of
fers from many Of the leading cities
of the country, guaranteeing him as
high as $4,000 for a single lecture.
There can be no reason Cat least
so his friends assert) why he should
not take advantage of the lecture op-
portunities and meet the people, and
let them hear his story from his own
lips.
up to the present time he has not
completed any lecture arrangements,
but it is believed that he may be
persuaded to do so within few
weeks. The chief difficulty seems to
be that this man, who has been living
in the frozen North eighteen out of
the last twenty-three years, has a
genuine diffidence about exhibiting
himself to the public. Peary is
scientist first, last and all the time
He values his scientific achievements
as of more Importance that the op-
portunity to make money. He will
do nothing that does not coincide
with his rigid ideals Of scientists
dignity For example, he has declin-
ed offers from moving picture men,
who want to show his Polar photo
graphs, and offers from talking con-
Germs that want a few reels of talk
to retail throughout the country Of
fers which amount to a tidy for
tune"
Rates Paid Other Authors.
Just why Commander Peary re-
ceived such an exceptional rate for
his story is explained by the eager
competition for it on part of nearly
all the important publishing houses
in the world. Realizing the supreme
Importance Of this, the most wonder
full and last Of the earths hero
stories, they engaged in a bidding
which made figures rise mercurially.
They knew, of course, that this story
had not-like most of the world ro-
mances-been told before. 1t was
the most extraordinary and interest
ing story of fact to be told for the
first, and last time.
1t is interesting to compare the
price paid Commander Peary with
the rates enjoyed by the top-notch
writer's of the world