ial affairs. It is
unfortunate for the book trade that these schemers selected books as
the particular kind of merchandise upon which to exercise their
ingenuity. They admit that their agents are expected not to canvass
the merits of the book, but to "sell their story." They might have
done the same thing had they chosen jewelry, bric-a-brac, rugs,
paintings, stocks, bonds, or anything else as the subject for their
exploitation. The reliable publishers are hoping that at no distant
date the schemers will take up some of these other lines, although
they bear no grudge against the latter.

If any prejudice exists in the public mind against subscription books,
it is caused by the illegitimate use of books as a means of "fooling"
if not of swindling the people. There are many honorable men and many
houses of the highest class who are engaged in the subscription-book
business. These should no more be classed with such schemers as I have
described than Tiffany's with the diamond merchants who ornament the
fronts of their stores with the three balls. The leading legal lights
of the world and the gentry who frequent the police courts are all
called lawyers; the eminent surgeon who performs marvellous operations
involving incredible knowledge and skill and the half-breed who used
to pull teeth in front of the circus, the brass band drowning the
shrieks of his victims, are both called doctors. The eminent divine
and his ignorant colored brother may both be preachers. Intelligent
people know how to discriminate between these, and do not condemn the
one for the faults of the others. And so the intelligent and honorable
book agent who represents a thoroughly reliable publishing house
deserves to be differentiated from the fellow who comes with a lie on
his tongue, for which an unscrupulous schemer is directly responsible.

The subscription-book business, in the hands of honorable men, has
performed a great service to the whole country, by putting good books
into thousands and hundreds of thousands of homes, where, but for
them, there would be little to read beyond the newspaper or the
magazine. The best publishers have found it the most practicable
method of distribution for their more extensive productions, and
thousands of thoughtful men are glad of the opportunity to receive the
representatives of such houses and to have the best of the new
publications promptly brought to their attention.

SELLING AT AUCTION

By John