people to be authors and see themselves in print that they will go to
any length to accomplish authorship.

He cited a case of a carpenter, a man of no education, who was seized
with the desire to write a book, which he did. It was sent to all the
leading publishers, and promptly returned; then he began the rounds of
the second-class houses, of which there are legion. One of the latter
wrote him that they published on the "cooperative" plan, and would pay
_half_ the expenses of publishing if he would pay the other half. Of
course _his_ share paid for the entire edition and gave the clever
"cooperative" publisher a profit, whether the edition sold or not. And
my informant said that at least twenty firms were publishing books for
such authors, and encouraging people to produce manuscripts that were so
much "dead wood" in the real literary field. He later sent me the
prospectus of several such houses which would take any manuscript, if
the author would pay for the publishing, revise it and send it forth. I
was assured that thousands of books are produced yearly by these houses,
who are really "printers," who advertise in various ways and encourage
would-be authors, the idea being to get their money, a species of
literary "graft," according to my literary informant, who assured me I
must not confuse such parasites with the large publishers of America,
who will not produce a book unless their skilled readers consider it a
credit to them and to the country, a high standard which I believe is
maintained.

Perhaps the most interesting phase of literature in America is found in
the weekly and monthly magazines, of which there is no end. Every sport
has its "organ," every great trade, every society, every religion; even
the missionaries sent to China have their organs, in which is reported
their success in saving _us_ and divorcing us from our ancient beliefs.
The great literary magazines number perhaps a dozen, with a few in the
front rank, such as the Century, Harper's, Scribner's, The Atlantic,
Cosmopolitan, McClure's, Dial, North American Review, Popular Science
Monthly, Bookman, Critic, and Nation. Such magazines I conceive to be
the universities of the people, the great educators in art, literature,
science, etc. Nothing escapes them. They are timely, beautiful, exact,
thorough, scientific, the reflex of the best and most artistic minds in
America; and many are so cheap as to be within the reach of the poor. It
is interest