The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-06
he Real Best Sellers
By Frederic j. Haskin.


l8 By Frederic
| 2aRa1eaee1eeoe1 eeaa0eo:zEa
At the end OF every year It Is the.
lpract.ce of book publishers TO go over
Ithefr lists and to give to the waiting
world the names OF the six best sell
erss' for the last year. To have writ
ten book that appears on this LIST
| Is considered q very great honor 60
nave written more than one Of the Six
Is an achievement which very few
have ever accomplished.
But there is an author who pub
fishes his own books In washington
and who annually writes at least two
"best sellers which eclipse in sales
any other publications in this coun-
try. True, his works are not classi-
! fed under the head of fiction, but
they are intensely interesting to
those who read them. and the de-
mand for them grows year by year
until now the call for this author
work Of four or five years ago IS
greater than it ever was ana II 10
steadily increasing.
A Book on Neat.
| The author is Uncle Sam. ASK me
average followers of literature what
! is the best selling book ever pub
lfshed in the United States and ne
will probably hazard guesses running
all the way from Uncle Toms Cab
bly, include ..Trtlby'' or the Bible IN
his attempt TO answer your question:
But the truth of the matter is that
the best selling book ever published
In the United States, judging by the
length OF time 1t has been available,
lis "The Economical Use of Meat IN
the Home compiled and printed by
the department of agriculture.
t.Uncle Sans Cook Book. as the
volume is called by the hundreds Of
persons who write for it every DAY.
is handbook on economy-an at
tack upon the high cost of living.
4 1t is selling at minimum rate OF a
quarter of million copies year
and when 1t Is considered that the,
volume has been available for sew
eral years and that the circulation
jumped to half million copies when
the book received large amount OF
newspaper and magazine publicity q
couple Of years ago. it will be seen
| that its claim to be a Best Seller
| is clear one.
But The Economical Use of Meat
| in the Home" is not the only best
/ seller that Uncle Sam has to his
credit. There are at least a dozen
other publications issued by the De
u
hundred Thousand mark every year.
and will probably continue to sell at
this rate for a decade to come.
A Thousand q Day.
1 How to Grow an Acre Of Corn. !"
and Hints for Poultry Raisers" for
example, exceeded the meat book In
popularity last year. but they are
more recent publications and there
fore cannot be said to have with
3&1,n 4ae,% ne time xua1I a thaS
| the other book. But, even SO, the
department of Agriculture averages
nearly thousand copies day Of
\ these publica lions, In addition to the
tremendous number Of other publt-
lcations prepared for those In need of
them.
Other governmental best sellers.
lin the order of their popularity are:
i:Canned Fruits. Preserves and Jel-
lies. Canning Vegetables in the
Home. ? Poultry Management.
l'.Canning Tomatoes at Home,
Preparation of Vegetables for the
Table" STANDARD Varieties OF
Chickens. t.Pig Management, 4
Meats; Their Composition and
Cooking" and Meat on the Farm:
lButchering, Curing and Keeping:
Food. it will be seen, is the chief
! interest of those who patronfze the
largest book store in the world. To
date, tie Department Of Agriculture
has issued more than six hundred
pamphlets relating to problems af-
| fecting the farmer. These range In
interest from fish to frost. from
cheese making to the cultivation of
casaba melons. from barley to bees;
they include treatises on unfamiliar
subjects like lespedeza (Japanese)
clover, sudan grass and soy beans
and also authoritative information
as to the best methods of preventing
eggs by parcel post, or the extermi-
nation of grasshoppers.
Prepared by Experts.
One of the great reasons for the
demand for Uncle Sans publica-
lions Is because every one of the six
hundred or more bulletins has been
prepared by an expert in the en-
ploy OF the government, and the ma
| jority Of them are illustrated with
| photographs made at the government
tai experiment farms. The govern
ment countenances the publication of
no theoretical works. Everything
that is written has to be the work
| of an authority in that particular
| line. and every book and pamphlet
is twice revised by other experts,
thus assuring absolute accuracy
upon all points. The price at which,
these authoritative publications are
distributed ranges from simple re-
quest for the book UP to a dollar
This price depends upon the cost of
production. Uncle Sam aiming to
distribute his pamphlet without pro-
fit to the government. The farmers
bulletins are, as rule, supplied at
| the cheapest rate.
Il tVFHH. ~.