“literature-making has not yet taken the rank of a profession, but of late the world has modified its opinion as to the ability of literary people to drive a close bargain, or to manage financial affairs with success. many women and some men have shown that it is possible for a vivid imagination and a brilliant style in writing to go close along with a practical judgment and a fair share of selfish shrewdness in matters of bargain and sale. still, after all, it remains true that a strong majority of literary people are of the micawber genus, with great faith in what is to turn up, always nicely balancing themselves on the extreme verge of expectancy and gazing over into the promise-land of fame and fortune with pathetically hopeful, yet awfully hollow eyes. indeed there is no species of gambling more uncertain in its results or more irresistibly fascinating to its victims than literary gambling. day after day, month after month, year after year, the[91] deluded, enthusiastic, ever defeated but never discouraged writer plies his pen, besieges the publishers and editors, receives their rebuffs, rough or smooth, takes back his declined manuscripts, tries it over and over, sweats, fumes, execrates, coaxes, bullies, raves, re-writes, takes a new nom de plume and new courage, goes on and on to the end. here or there rumor goes that some fortunate literator has turned the right card and has drawn a great prize; this rumor, never quite authentic, is enough to re-invigorate all the fainting scribblers and to entice new victims into the gilded casino of the cadmean vice. the man who manipulates the literary machine is the publisher, that invisible person who usually grows rich upon the profits of unsuccessful books. he it is who inveigles the infatuated young novelist, essayist, or poet, into the beautiful bunco-den of the book business and there fastens him and holds him as long as he will not squeal; but at the first note of remonstrance he kicks him out and fills his place with a fresh victim. the literary micawber, however, does not despair. he may be a little silly from the effect of the summersault to which the publisher’s boot has treated him, but after a distraught look about him he gets up, brushes the dust off his seedy clothes and goes directly back into the den again with another manuscript under his arm and with a feverish faith burning in his deep-set eyes. what serene and beautiful courage, by the way, have the literary women! of course the monster who presides[92] at the publisher’s desk cannot be as brutal to her as he is to men, but he manipulates her copyright statements all the same, so that her book never passes the line of fifteen hundred copies sold. how can we ever account for a woman who has written forty-three novels under such circumstances and has died, finally, a devout christian and a staunch friend of her publisher? poor thing! up to the hour of her demise, white-haired, wrinkled, over-worked, nervous and semi-paralytic, she nursed the rosy hope that to-morrow, or at the very latest, the day after to-morrow, the reward of all her self-devotion would come to her in the form of a liberal copyright statement from her long-suffering and charitable publisher.
“out in the west they have a disease called milk-sickness, an awful malady, of which everybody stands in deadly terror, but which nobody has ever seen. if you set out to find a case of milk-sickness it is like following a will-o’-the-wisp, it is always just a little way farther on, over in the next settlement; you never find it. the really successful author in america is, like the milk-sickness, never visible, except on the remote horizon. you hear much of him, but you never have the pleasure of shaking his cunning right hand. the fact is, he is a myth. on the other hand, however, the american cities are full of successful publishers who have become millionaires upon the profits of books which have starved their authors. of course this appears to be a paradox, but i suppose that[93] it can be explained by the rule of profit and loss. the author’s loss is the publisher’s profit.”
the foregoing is, in substance, the opening part of an address delivered by ferris before the assembled guests of hotel helicon.
mrs. nancy jones black presided at the meeting; indeed she always presided at meetings. on this occasion, which was informal and impromptu, ferris was in excellent mood for speaking, as he just had been notified by a letter from dunkirk & co. that he was expected to pay in advance for the plates of his new romance, a mysterious missive, and that a personal check would not be accepted—a draft on new york must be sent forthwith. although ferris was a thoroughly good fellow, who cared nothing for money as money, this demand for a sum the half of which he could not command if his life were at stake, hit him like a bullet-stroke. a chance to talk off the soreness of the wound was accepted with avidity. he felt guilty of a meanness, it is true, in thus stirring up old troubles and opening afresh ancient hurts in the breasts of his listening friends; but the relief to him was so great that he could not forego it. “the american publisher,” he went on, “proclaims himself a fraud by demanding of the author a contract which places the author’s business wholly in the control of the publisher. i take it that publishers are just as honest and just as dishonest, as any other class of respectable men. you know and i know, that, as a rule, the man who trusts his business entirely to others will,[94] in the long run, be robbed. administrators of estates rob the heirs, in two-thirds of the instances, as every probate lawyer well knows. every merchant has to treat his clerks and salesmen as if they were thieves, or if he do not they will become thieves. the government has to appoint bank examiners to watch the bankers, and yet they steal. the indian agents steal from the government. senators steal, aldermen steal, wall street men steal from one another and from everybody else. canada is overflowing with men who have betrayed and robbed those who trusted their business with them. even clergymen (that poorly paid and much abused class) now and again fall before the temptation offered by the demon of manipulated returns of trust funds. the fact is, one may feel perfectly safe in saying that in regard to all the professions, trades, and occupations, there is absolutely no safety in trusting one’s affairs wholly in the hands of another. (great applause). even your milkman waters the milk and the dairyman sells you butter that never was in a churn. if you neglect to keep a pass-book your grocer runs up the bill to—(a great rustle, and some excited whispering) up to something enormous. of course it is not everybody that is dishonest, but experience shows that if a man has the temptation to defraud his customers constantly before him, with absolutely no need to fear detection, he will soon reason himself into believing it his[95] right to have the lion’s share of all that goes into his hands.
“now isn’t it strange, in view of the premises, that nobody ever heard of such a thing as a publisher being convicted of making false returns? is it possible that the business of book-publishing is so pure and good of itself that it attracts to it none but perfect men? (great applause). publishers do fail financially once in a while, but their books of accounts invariably show that just eleven hundred and forty copies of each copyrighted book on their lists have been sold to date, no more, no less. (suppressed applause). nobody ever saw cleaner or better balanced books of accounts than those kept by the publishers. they foot up correctly to a cent. indeed it would be a very strange thing if a man couldn’t make books balance under such circumstances! (prolonged hand-clapping). i am rather poor at double entry, but i fancy i could make a credit of eleven hundred and forty copies sold, so as to have it show up all right. (cheers). i must not lose my head in speaking on this subject, for i cannot permit you to misunderstand my motive. so long as authors submit to the per centum method of publication, so long they will be the prey of the publishers. the only method by which justice can be assured to both author and publisher is the cash-sale method. if every author in america would refuse to let his manuscript go out of hand before he had received the cash value for it, the trade would[96] soon adjust itself properly. in that case the author’s reputation would be his own property. so soon as he had made an audience his manuscripts would command a certain price. if one publisher would not pay enough for it another would. as the method now is, it makes little difference whether the author have a reputation or not. indeed most publishers prefer to publish the novels, for example, of clever tyros, because these fledglings are so proud of seeing themselves in print that they never think of questioning copyright statements. eleven hundred and forty copies usually will delight them almost beyond endurance. (laughter and applause). go look at the book lists of the publishers and you will feel the truth of what i have said.
“now let me ask you if you can give, or if any publisher can give one solitary honest reason why the publishing business should not be put upon a cash basis—a manuscript for so much money? the publisher controls his own business, he knows every nook and corner, every leaf and every line of it, and he should be able to say, just as the corn-merchant does, i will give you so much, to which the author would say: i will take it, or i will not take it. but what is the good of standing here and arguing? you believe every word i speak, but you don’t expect to profit by it. you will go on gambling at the publisher’s faro table just as long as he will smile and deal the cards. some of these[97] days you will win, you think. poor deluded wretches, go on and die in the faith!”
no sooner had ferris ended than lucas the historian arose and expressed grave doubts as to the propriety of the address. he was decidedly of the opinion that authors could not afford to express themselves so freely and, if he must say it, recklessly. how could mr. ferris substantiate by proof any of the damaging allegations he had made against publishers of high standing? what mr. ferris had said might be strictly true, but the facts were certainly, very hard to come at, he thought. he hoped that mr. ferris’s address would not be reported to the press (here he glanced appealingly at miss crabb), at least not as the sense of the meeting. such a thing would, in his opinion, be liable to work a great harm to all present. he felt sure that the publishers would resent the whole thing as malicious and libellous.
throughout the audience there was a nervous stirring, a looking at one another askance. it was as if a cold wave had flowed over them. nobody had anything further to say, and it was a great relief when dufour moved an adjournment sine die, which was carried by a vote that suggested a reserve of power. every face in the audience, with the exception of dufour’s, wore a half-guilty look, and everybody crept silently out of the room.
