Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-11

magazine editors. can and do demand
and get prices for their stuff that would
be absurd were such prices not in per-
feet accord with the ancient law Of sup
ply and demand. They are showered
with actual implorations from editors
for stories. Every mail brings them,
not requests, but positive beseechments,
for something-anything- old thing
in the way Of a story. The editors VINO
thus beg the big ones for stuf' are, OF
course the sort of editors-and they pre-
ponderate-who believe that the name Of
the writer is of far more value to a
magazine than the character of his ma
terial. Which explains why it is that 80
many of the top-notchers reach down to
the bottom of old manuscript trunks and
fetch up ye.lowed old stories that they
wrote thirty years or SO ago and got
back in regular rotation from every pub
LEGATION to which they submitted it, and
unload this immature. imperfect, wholly
no-account material upon the beseehing
editors. who are willing to pay them
name attached to it.
Now. what is the use of an editor fool
ing with, and being befooled by, an au-
thor of established reputation who will
resort to such tricks as these simply be-
cause he has what is called the mar
ket'? No use whatever. 50 far as ever l
how many manuscripts written by the
top-notch writing people 1 have inconti-
nently returned during the past year.
simply and wholly because the material
was obviously antique stuff or hurriedly
and sloppily written copy, manifestly de-
signed for the befOolment of an editor
wiling to pay out the large money for 1t.
That's reason number one. Let's take
up another one. at random.
Should it not be perfectly obvious to
the most muddled intelligence that it Is,
always has been and always will be a
big feather in the cap Of an editor who,
by some lucky accident get hold of and
develops some new writer, who after a
due course Of training and suggestion
and watchfulness on the part Of the
editor eventually becomes crackerjack!
Let me put that phase of it on a
plain and very understandable basis.
There died in California the other day
who achieved wide reputation among
the sporting class through his ability to
develop raw boxers into champion prize
fighters. He was looked upon as a
genius at that sort of thing. This man
took Corbett. raw boxer and a bank
clerk. and trained and developed him
until finally he put Corbett into condi-
ton to thrash John l.. Sullivan. He
picked up huge. clumsy man by the
name of Jeffries-a strong, strapping
man, but SO clumsy that he was. when
Delaney got him, ir imminent danger
always of falling over his feet-and made
Jeffries the champion heavyweight prize
fighter of the world. And, when he quar-
relied with Jeffries he rendered such
sage counsel at the ringside when JEFF
fries and the negro Johnson fought at
Rene that the black man easily whipped
the white fighter.
Each of these things was a triumph
for the Trainer Delaney. He had shown
something He had proved that he had
good eye for men Of the type he was
looking for
II hope the metaphor is plain. The
modern magazine editor. in little bet
ter sort of a way, is or ought to be a
trainer of the sort of people he wants
And when he does show the eye to get
hold of men of this kind he's sort OF
editorial Delaney. That's all there is to
it. The editor who thus achieves the
development of perfectly unknown man
and makes that unknown one into a top
notcher gains the applause Of the pub
fishing world-and / suppose one might
nationally say that a magazine editor is
sufficiently human to enjoy applause just
as much as the rest of mankind That
Magazine, certainly did nail a live one
and a conner when he got hold of thai
Scriblets fellow. didn't hep says the
publishing world, and all of this sort oil
thing gets to the ears OF Shears and ht
rejoiceth exceedingly in himself. and
writer in the world who having beer
brought aat by Shears, is pretty likely t.