o get the lion's
share of the profits. They care nothing for the logic of the situation.
What did a grasping palm ever care for logic which told against itself?
An American author has just shown by indisputable figures that many of
our publishers treat the writers of books as badly as the worst Hebrew
sweating shops do their employees. An author in one instance worked for
years upon a book which had every prospect of not being ephemeral. He
signed a contract with a firm of publishers to receive a ten-percent.
royalty only after the first thousand copies were sold. The work had
much free advertising and sold well, as many booksellers testified. More
than two years have elapsed since it appeared, and though clerks in book
stores still say it sells well, the author has never received a cent for
those weary years of labor. He knows there is an Indian lurking
somewhere in the forest, but one author is not powerful enough to enter
and dislodge the enemy.

It may do us good to know that the English Society of Authors protects
writers from dishonest publishers; but why should not our authors form a
union of their own and enjoy the same advantages? It has been shown that
our literary men have been repeatedly imposed upon; that the publisher
in many cases takes all the profits; that his accounts are not open to
the verifiable inspection of authors; and that this is one of the few
exceptions of the kind in all business, that one of two interested
partners is alone allowed to audit the accounts.

Mr. Besant has shown that in England the perfectly honest publisher is a
rare exception. Are Englishmen less honest than Americans? Or is it true
that human nature is very much alike everywhere and easily warped to
look at things only in the line of its own advantage, wherever that can
be done without coming to the knowledge of the world?

There will, of course, be strong opposition on the part of publishers to
the formation of any protective authors' association, which would insist
that the writer know the exact facts in those cases in which he is to be
a partner in the share of the profits from his own work. If only a few
authors joined the movement, publishers would undoubtedly combine to
boycott them; but here, as in England, safety will be found in numbers.
There is not a railroad in the United States that dares select any
special engineer and treat him unjustly. The Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers is too strong to admit that fo