The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-12-11
PEARY GETS
$4,000 FOR
STORY ALONE
THE NAVAL COMMANDERS TRIP
PROVES PROFITABLE-HAMF-
TONS MAGAZINE BREAKS ALL
RECORDS FOR PAYMENTS.

It seems probable that many years
viii pass before an author receives a
! higher price for his literary product
than Commander Robert z. Peary re
! ceiyes from HamptOn's Magazine for
! his own story Of the discovery OF the
north DOle.
This feature cost HamptOn's a clean
] cool $50 600 No rate per word IS
specified in the contract. but Il is gen
orally estimated that Commander
! Peary is receiving SI.1S cash for eacn
word that he writes for Hampton s
! Magazine Benz B. Hampton, editor
/ Of the magazine, makes this state
| meut:
] II 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 il at $3.50
per word than SI.20. We have bought
| only American and Canadian magazine
rights, and Stokes book RICH cover
only these countries. That IL Is all
the foreign rights to sell When they
are figured up, the totals should
amount to 100000 or even $4,000.
"Peary is rot a good business man.
AS a matter of fact he is a poor man,
Mrs. Pcary has been the business head
{ -
never loses an opportunity to praise
her for the manner in which she has
Iabored and borne the bTunt Of his
quarter of a century of work in the
Arctic. Peary and Mrs PeaTy have
sacrificed their material comfort TO
this Arctic IDEAL. Every dollar they
could spare from actual living ex-
penses has been used to equip eXpedi-
/ tiOns. so that, when Peary returned
few months ago, there was mighty
! little money in the Peary bank &C
count.
Record Breaking Lecture Offers.
The revenue from his books and
magazine work could be greatly in
creased by lecturing, if PeaTys friends
can persuade him 20 so on the plat
/ form. He has had offers that would
net him one hundred thousand dollars
for the first years work, or more, If
: he would be willing to stick to il for
several consecutive months. He has
received offers fTern many Of the lead
ing Citigs OF thu country, guaranteeing
him az high as $4,000 for a single lee
turse
There can be no reason lat least,
so his friends ASSERT why he could
not take advantage Of The lecture op-
POTtUnitieS AID meet the people. and
let them hear his story from his own
liTs.
Up TO the pre4ert time he has not
completed any Lecture arrangements,
but it Is believed that he may be per
sUaded 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
tWCnty-thTee years has n genuine
dihidence about exhibiting himself 20
the public. PeaTy is a scientist first,
last GTd all tho time He values HIS
scientific achievements as Of more i'm
pOrtance than this opportunity to make
money. He viii do nothing that does
not coincide with his rigid ideals Of a
scientists dignity. Fer example, he
| has declined offers from moving pic
JuTe men, who want to show his polar
photographs, and offers from talking
concerns that want q few reels Of talk
TO retail throughout the country
offers which amount TO Z tidy fortune
Rates Paid Other Authors.
Just why Commander PeaTy received
such an exceptional rate for his story
IS explained by the eager competition
for it on the pan OF nearly all the i'm
DCrtant publishing houses in the world.
Realizing the supreme importance of
this, the most wonderful and last OF
in a bidding which made figures rise
nercurially- They knew. of course.
that this story had nOJ-Iike most OF
the world rOmanCe5-been told before.
il was the most extraordinary and in
ieTeSting story of fact TO be told for
the first and last time.
It IS interesting to compare the
price paid Commander Pearv with the
rates enjoyed BY the tOP-nOtch writers
of the world
EE-pTesident Roosevelt receives for
his African hunting stories q dollar
word Rudyard kipling is supposed TO
receive the highest prices paid auv
author OF fiction. For the --le--sa and
American rights Of kim he received
$4,000 Sir Arthur Conan DovIa nit
enc Of the highest marks when he re-
~f1Fed sixty cents word for the
american serial rights Ct his later
sherlock Holmes" stories. This com
pares auUsingIv with the rate of s.
per thousand wOrdS-Or Cna-ff.b Of
cent a wOrd-recoived for his first ana
generally considered best stories.
High prices for literary work began
practically with the great success OF
Sir Walter Scott The condensation
for his Life OF Boaapa-ra~ AVERAGE
$3.50 for each day OF work spent uron
Thackeray was offered $1,000 for
Henry Esmond" and he Jumped a.
"a proposition Both Dickens and
Hugo made good money bur w9en
Eugene Sue drew 100000 for his Va
dsriuC JCw'-a novel of probably ND
ward Of 500 COO vords-the literary
world gaSped- Prices have risen
steadily, With the increasing . c-s=s
Of publishers and the growth e.. uaea-
zines. No author. however. in all the
history Of literature has ever made so
much money for each actual word in
literary product q viii Commander
PedTy-
he FdgeTneSS OF publishers for
Commander Pea-vs forthcoming S-o--v
and the exceptional price Maid marx
49, --------