Evening star., 1934-05-25
What's What
BehindNews
In Capital
Writing Roosevelts'
Earnings Put at
$4,000 Total.
BY PAUL MALLON.

S---A4
HERE is lot of national back.
stairs whispering about how
much the writing Roosevelts
L are making out of their liter
ary efforts.
Such talk has undoubtedly been In
spired by Congressman who charged
that White House royalties woulc
bring more than a million dollars q
year. Another Congressman publicly
said a half million. Neither knew
what he was talking about.
If you check around among the
right people on the inside Of the pub
fishing and magazine trade. you car
get a good idea Of the facts. The
White House and the publishers con.
slider their writing contracts as per-
sonal and confidential. and they prob
ably are right about that. But mer
on the inside of the writing game
know what is going on in their trade
and their expert judgment cannot be
far wrong.
Estimate Is Unofficial.
You may accept the following facts
as unofdcial, but authoritative:
President Roosevelts first book
Looking Forward" has sold approx
mately $4,000 copies at $250 retail
The gross income from it, therefore
was around $4,000.
Unquesttonably, the President
received better royalty than
giuen ordinary writers. 1t Uould
be somewhere between gnd IS and
20 per cent, probably the latter.
On that basis. the royalties from
his first book uOuld amount TO
about $4,000.
has, to date, reached just about tht
sale of the first book. 1t will not sci
any substantial amount beyond it:
present sale. 1t also retails at $3.50
so the royalty from it will be approxi-
mately the same as the first.
If you figure the total income Il
date from the two books at between
s25,000 and 100000. you will be JUS
about correct. Mr.. Roosevelt has done
no Otner writing.
Mrs. Roosevelt's best contract L
supposed to be with a womans maga
zine for a monthly article. There i.
fairly good information available thaI
this contract calls for $1,000 per ar.
ticle. The total proceeds so far can.
not be more than $4,000 to $4,000.
Mrs. Roosevelt's Income.
The First Lady has writer for sew
eral feature news syndicates. receiving
$500 an article for some articles anc
less for others. These are the one.
which appear in Sunday ne wspaper'
over the country. 1t is not possible
to estimate the proceeds of thes,
closely. but they netted less thar
$1,000 in the last year. Occasiona
other magazine articles have brough
about $4,000.
An estimate OF 10000 for Mrs.
Roosepelts total output to ddte
1Dould be considered fdir. This
means that the literary production
OF the President and Mrs. Roosevelt
lods about $4,000 for the first
year.
These are unusually good return
for writing, as writing goes. They ar,
certainly sufficient to keep The vol
away from the door. little more thar
just enough to entertain all the wolves
who have to be entertained by tn,
Executive.
They offer just about a respectabl,
private income to meet the demand
of White House occupancy. For in
stance, most Presidents have drawn
much larger sums than these from
their private incomes when they coulc
afford to. The presidency certainly
cost Mr. Hoover that much beyond hi:
salary.
Coolidge Keeps Inside.
There Is congressional appropria
ton for entertainment and travelling
but only Mr.. Coolidge and a few 9th
ers have been able to stretch that Il
cover the requirements Of the Office
Also, President Roosevelt will be tn,
first President to pay income taxes OF
his salary. These will amount t,
around $l2,500.
All business arrangements for Mr.
Roosevelt's writings are handled b,
the Presidents confidential adviser
Louis Howe. He also handled Mrs
Dalls work. Howe knows the busines
thoroughly and gives nothing away
Unquestionably, he aids In the prepa
ration of the articles, and puts hi
final o. k. on them before they go out
but he does very little ghost writinI
for his literary charges.
Other members of the family re
ceive much less than the parents. Mrs
Anna Roosevelt Dali is supposed t.
have received $75 to $100 for most o
her magazine articles. Son James go
$4,000 for a series of news stories h
sent from the yacht Amberjack dur
ing the Presidents cruise last Sum
mer. Son Elliott Is under a regula
contract as aviation editor for groul
of newspapers at figure around $40,
900 a year.
Receipts from these undertaking
over the past year would be no NOR
than $1,000.
II you add then, all up, you
iDiH find that the total income OF
the entire RooseDelt family from
literature iods no more than $67,-
900 the first year.
That Is q far cry from the day
when authors were supposed to liv
on crusts of bread in garrets. It i
also long way from 100000 o
100000.
Copyright. 1934)