Of course, there is a good deal of overlapping in this list, as some people may belong to half a dozen different gymnastic societies. Sport has become a patriotic duty.

More than a century ago, Napoleon declared that in war the intellectual factor was ten times as important as the physical factor. The mind of the German nation is certainly being prepared for a revision of the verdict of 1919. The position is disquieting, and disarmament in the conventional sense will not eliminate the danger. In modern war the most important weapons are provided by powerful industries, by the iron, steel, and engineering industries, by the electrical and chemical organisations. Germany cultivates these industries with assiduity and success. We have been told that the war of the future will be won in the air. Germany has greatly developed her aviation services. In 1925 18,634 flights, with 55,185 passengers, were undertaken, and, according to wellinformed Germans, the development of aviation as yet has scarcely begun.

Nations are born in war often to die in peace. Possibly Germany may be reborn by her experiences of 1914-18. The bonds between Germany and Austria are stronger than ever. Sentimentally, Germans and Austrians are united. If, owing to her defeat, Germany experiences a vast expansion of industry, and if, owing to her victory, England continues to consume her strength in a Class War, then before long Germany must defeat us in the fields of industry. A house divided against itself cannot stand. New Germany is built not on the shifting sands of social theories propounded by visionaries and intriguers, but on the rock of national and racial development, on discipline, order, hard work, and thrift,

Art. 8.-AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS.

The Truth about Publishing. By Stanley Unwin. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1926.

THERE used to be a belief in a perennial feud between authors and publishers, but I think it was always regarded as a matter for jest rather than for serious discussion. Out of it arose the oft-repeated but fictitious story of Byron's Bible-and the amended verse, 'Now Barabbas was a publisher.' I have the Bible in question which belonged to Lord Byron and no emendation occurs in it, but I use the word 'fictitious' solely in regard to my grandfather, for my father often told me that the joke was made by Campbell, in regard to another publisherwho shall be nameless. It is true that Byron, in his dealings with John Murray, varied in his attitude between signing himself Yours affectionately,' and calling his publisher 'a rugged rhinoceros,' but that was Byron's 'pretty way,' and the world knows what good friends they really were.

I have now had fifty-three years of unbroken association with authors of all ranks and all qualities, and have studied the private correspondence of a century before my day, and can say with all sincerity that the very few disputes which are found in those records and experiences, are sufficient only to add an ingredient of sauce piquante to what might otherwise become an almost monotonous tale of personal friendship and harmony.

For some reason which I cannot explain there used to be a tradition of secrecy about the dealings of a publisher, which naturally gave rise to suspicion, but except for works which require anonymity and therefore confidence and silence, this has long passed away, and if any wisps of fog still hang about, it is to be hoped that Mr Unwin's book will dispel them.

It is in fact an excellent book, based on a full knowledge of all processes which go to the production and publication of a book and written with a clearness of style and freedom from prejudice which should commend it to readers. I wish that all authors, present and prospective, would read it, as this would tend to remove much heart-burning and vexation, but I fear they will

not do so; to have a grievance is so much easier than to probe it to the bottom and thereby find out if it really exists.

I repeat that authors (a word which of course includes authoresses) are delightful people to deal with, but as a class they suffer from two serious drawbacks, with astonishing uniformity. These drawbacks are 'preconceived notions' and 'friends.'

I will take the friends first. Let us imagine a lady, well known in society and charming in every way, but with literary ability inferior to Sir Walter Scott and George Eliot. She writes a novel which is reviewed in a negative and colourless tone of praise, but does not sell. She tells this to her friends, who at once say, 'Is your book really out? I have never seen it, your publisher has done nothing to make it known.' That the speaker has never looked out for a book advertisement in his life counts for nothing. Evidently the want of success is the publisher's fault. Or the friend may have read the book, and being a shrewd man may have formed a just estimate of its merits, but if he is asked by the fair author for his opinion he must praise it. What else can he do? Again the blame is laid on the publisher.

A short time ago I received a letter from an author, in circumstances such as I have described. I have consulted some of my literary friends and they tell me that it is only the publisher who can push the work.' He overlooks the fact that the publisher is just as much interested in promoting the sale as is the author-perhaps more so as he takes all the financial risk-but that he is powerless to force reviewers to review, or booksellers to buy-or readers to read what they don't want.

I have often tried to trace the origin of sudden and great popularity-when the general public suddenly begins to talk about a book, and I can find no satisfactory answer. Advertising alone will not do it; neither will favourable reviews, though a real 'cut up' sometimes has led to financial success.

It used to be said that Mr Gladstone could work this wonder, and that he had done it in the case of 'Robert Elsmere,' but I know of two cases in which he used his utmost efforts in vain. They were the 'Life of Susan Dabney Smedes,' a member of an old family of English

descent in the Southern States of America, and the Life of Daniel O'Connell.' This last was a book which engrossed him for a time-he wrote articles about it, made a speech about it, and told all his friends about it, but from a pecuniary point of view it was a failure.

Among preconceived notions there is one which is almost universal and almost ineradicable, viz. that publishers do not advertise their books nearly enough.

Now this question of book advertising is an extraordinarily difficult one. Each book must bear its own burden. Here is an example.

A publisher prints a certain number of copies of a book, and these cost him, let us say for the sake of example, 1007. to produce. If all the copies printed be sold they will realise a fixed sum-say 180l. The difference of 80%. has to pay for advertising and profit: if the publisher spends say 501. of this in advertising and out of the remaining 301. has to pay the author, as well as his own share of profit (out of which has to come the charge of warehousing, insurance, staff, bad debts, etc.), the venture is obviously not worth his consideration, even if the whole edition is sold.

Sometimes an author has been so convinced that he is right, and his publisher wrong, that he has said, 'Very well, I will lay out 107. or 201. of my own on advertising.' Supposing his book to be priced at 15s., then 108. per copy is the price paid by booksellers for each copy, and at least twenty copies must be sold as the direct result of the expenditure in order to cover the expense. In no single case have I known this to succeed. This question is very fully dealt with by Mr Unwin, and those who desire to understand it had better consult his book.

If an author is paid a royalty it is sometimes difficult to persuade him or her that the publisher may have realised a loss, and now and then when persuasion has seemed desirable I have shown the figures, but whether even this has carried conviction, I cannot say. It may be that this arises from the difficulty in understanding what the Americans call 'overhead expenses.' It is obvious to all that to print and bind a book costs much money, but some say, ' When the book is ready, surely it can't cost anything to sell it.' They forget that a

publisher has to pay rent, rates, and taxes; to maintain a large staff; to insure his goods; to run the risk of bad debts, etc., and that all this has to be paid for out of his 'profits-in other words, that every pound he receives becomes 10s. or 15s. before it is turned to the payment of authors, printers, binders, and so forth.

In this connexion I have often had to defend the booksellers from the attacks of authors. They divide the proceeds of sales into fractions and show that what they regard as a disproportionately large share goes to the bookseller, but they forget that it is not one bookseller we are dealing with, but many hundreds, and every one of them has to bear his own independent overhead expenses' and to keep a very large stock which is specially liable to deterioration and to becoming dead.

I do not propose to dwell longer on these and similar details but will now turn to other aspects of the question.

Some forty or fifty years ago the late Sir Walter Besant laid hold of certain abuses which undoubtedly did exist in the book trade, and with the best intentions in the world, started a raging campaign—or crusade— against all publishers. Like all eager reformers he had a touch of the fanatic and could only see his own side of the question. Controversy raged; his facts were often disputed and his arguments refuted. I doubt if he could ever have passed a rudimentary examination in the subjects about which Mr Unwin writes, but he founded the Authors Society on the general broad premises that all authors are shorn lambs and all publishers are ravening wolves. That society has grown in wisdom, and unquestionably does useful work, for there are, or there have been, publishers, even in very recent years, whose practices can hardly be regarded as a credit to the trade. In due course the publishers and the booksellers formed their own societies, a step which has led to more open dealing all round; to removal of many unworthy suspicions, and to the benefit of all concerned.

I have had many dealings both personal and official with the chairmen of the Society of Authors and look back on them with unmixed pleasure and satisfaction, for they recognise that our interests are in the main interdependent and not conflicting.

The authors and publishers, after long discussion and