Show ll 4 RICHARD WATSON GILDER II ili I fj A Olmt With the Editor of the Contuvy Abo ut Mnga nines and Mngnxlno Writers fl I The Chief Marines and Their Place in HleiatureWkil Illustrations Cat j f Articles lloi I th Their Itcighlm ColdMate Tea Hntent deal I 1 hfatine > Was roundedEditorials ill Ml asines The right of the Century i gainst Political fimchinct and Other MattersA 1en IMture of Mr Gilder i I and the Story of His Career j Corrrl < < btd1II1 br Funk O Clrrlor II 111 Ibo Naw NEW YORK June gth 1897 MLT Mr Richard Wation I Gilder In the editorial rooms I > of the Century Magizine Ihe Another day Mr Gilder has qt f rbeen cdilorlnchicl of the Cenlury for Ihe pait sixteen years and has been a part of r the magazine since its foundation foun-dation In 1870 He is i one It n oflhe brightest literary men I of the country and perhaps the ablest i magazine I editor nl lhat the United Sntcs I has produced Still the general public jl know but little about him He is exceedingly I ex-ceedingly modest nnd is averse to hiving v t hiv-ing anything published about himself and his personality Even as to matters I relating to the magazine he said ho did I not like to be Interviewed because In speaking he might seem to bo taking 1 j t I upon himself credit for work which bet be-t longed In part to others He told me that the success ol the Century such as it had been was due not to one man but to n number and that the publishers publish-ers his esiociate editors nnd the corps I ol arlists and writers connecled with them were all joined together in making t the Century what it is This 1 doubt not Is to an extent true but Mr Gilder j Is too modest by hall Hii work for more than twenty years has shown his remarkable genius and today the place I the Century holdi as a great literarait magazine is I largely due to him THE LIFE STORY OF AN EDITOR Richard Watson Gilder is a born I rrfe editor He w as brought up on printers Ink His father the Reverend W H Gilder was an eminent clergyman who varied Ins ministerial and educational work by writing lor the newspapers and who was at one time editor of the Philadelphia tt Ihir I delphia Repository Young Gilders boyhood was spent about the printing cflice ol the Long Island Times In llush I Ifl lll J He learned lo set type long belore he was in his teens Hii first compos k i n j n I i 1 J that he had to stand on the top of a soapbox I j soap-box to reach the tpe cases When hoI ho-I was twelve years old 1 he published at S Hushing a boys newspaper known as I I l i The St Thomas Register and lour r I vears later he and two other bOIl united II oj Ih in editing n campaign journal at Borden t town N J in support ol Bell and Ever < elL for the presld ncy When he was about twenty he ua < R reporter on cne of the newspapers of Newark N I and 1 later with a young companion Nswion Crane started n paper m Newark under f I the rtlta ot The Morning Register I By thli time youne Gilder had become homewhat known In liieriry circles and the Scrlbners nude him fast an eItorial writer and then the editor ol their magazine known ai Hours at home When bcrlbnera Monthly was founded he became its associate editor m connection con-nection withjG J Holland and about the time that the name of the magazine was changed to The Century he was made at the death of Dr Holland diloiIn chief Since then he has written writ-ten for it in pottry and proie nnd today os ln tP many of the strongest ot its I eclitarlali come Irom his pen THE CHEAP MAGAZINE My f chat witli Mr Gilder rovered a wide I range I first f asked as lo the in I lluencc of the ten cent magazine upon those ol higher prices He replied t I suppose It may have some effect I upon some of thehignpriced magazines I I though how much 1 do not know The I cheaper magazines and illustrated i journalism j have a place i in the reading > ut the people of loda and lhat place I ilP rte will not I think to any large degree nimble lect ours ueh pubicUulls ar possible pos-sible through the cheapened procecses ot printing and art reproduction A crlaln grade of such Ihlngs h3 e be II come 0 cheap thaI we eem to be approaching ap-proaching the time when any man may ue his own auther editor and publisher the best pictures e and the n sr literature I cost more than ever At least our ex I t eases in these respects have been greater than ever before 1 er if Then I suppose the Century will not f reduce its price Mr Gilder said I think I not wa the reply The i pobhihers have cot thought of making t any reduction COSTLY F1CTURLS i Are the pictures ol a mat < azine an expensive eleircnt ol Us rnaktup I i asked It depends upon lh = magazine I maga-zine replied Mr Gilder By the halt tone proce a photograph or sketch can be rtpioduced at to much per inch but the liner methods ol reproduction cost a great deal With in the tngn 1 I crs must adapt IhemseUei to thenrtUti 1 and not the artists to the ingMvers We use ditterem methods with liiferent pictures stlecllng the ones vhichwlll bring out the btst ert results without ic I I Karu to cost If info can be done by enjravmi the picture Is given to the i I engrve II by some other proce I we choi lie that As lo the cost of pica Illres pic-a single illustration bcmelimcs J Ctsts more than no article We have pld a high as three or four hundred dollars lor a Ingle illustration We aim 10 have In every iSlue at leasl onlic lure hich ill be worth mor than tin 1Ico 01 the magazine SVIf LITEaATURE 1 Can you gKe me any Ideaol what m agazims pay lorthetrreadirgmattirf UiUerent mapazlnrs pay different 1 rices plied Mr Glldrr The l > ilcei paid in the Century ollice vary ac ording to the value of the article to th I < petal 1011 01 the tor and to othr lIog Sumo atcles lOa nOI COlt more Ihan Ir houand words while for others we nude pay as much or m than Jtoo per thou land words 1 liii true thai yiu pild I Nicola and L I rcoiY lor lhr Lr < of Abraham Yei laid Mr Glider Ttc Cen tury Company paid that amount to secure se-cure the recollections o1 Nicolay and Hay for the magazine We lia 1 v I r IhpearJa eif vlh al times paid liom fif < r mousanddollars or n lirzn articles osenh jeflcrson recivcd Juooolor his recollection and there me a number ol other casts ol high prices which I might mention TIIK UNKNOWN WRITER Dut these men Mr Gilder were all famous how about the unknown writer Has he any chance In thf editorial rooms of the m < idem migazme Many peope believe that only the wtlunss cl men ol established reputations are considered con-sidered by jou magmnc fditori I tbr ij 30 That Ii not true replied the editor of the Century The n w rller has every chance The ompctit on br good mitter h I too great to at ow an editor to pass over any manuscript without con sideratlon The hope of every editor Is tint he nny be able to secure some new Jl W rebeJi mrsneso light in tne literary sky He Is so nxlous to do thii that lie oten exig eratei the discovery ol some slight ulcnt He ii aUajs illcovering that he has made mistakes in the past and I have said that an editors hell Is paved with Ihe minmcripis I which he has rejected re-jected I but which he withes he nad accepted ac-cepted He has turned Hum down only to find that some other editor Ins I discovered dis-covered genius in them Th rciill is iJ IN J that he fe atrald that lie may rnisi find Ing the spark 01 genlu In the new mfnuscilpls belore him and he olten gives the new writers too much chance HOW MAGAZINES TREAT UANlSCKirTS Do you mean to tell me hat every manuscript that comes to the office ol the modern magazine Is opened orcl rend Yes With Us every article which Ii I not especially crdtrcd by the editors is I read and sometimes reread bore Ills submitted lo the chlf editors W hav a number 01 readers Rnd an eI Ie Is I sometimes read by five dllleteit oencni before it is accepted In some cases Ihe article may be of such a chir actcr that the first leuler sees that it will not do for Ihe magazin nnd 11 goes no farlhe Articles that ure ordered especially es-pecially by us gemrally come lo the editors without the examlnatlen ol other redtn BUI at tm Ihe chlel editors ihemselvei are the first to look over Ihe new manusciipti Can a man hope to make a living by writing lor the magazines Mr Gilder I asked A number ol persons are now dcinz so wai the reply WHY Till AMATEUR FALLS What < lvice wOllld ou give to a yount < wller whu I ansiou to suc cedl Toalnnys write Ihe very best thai Is J I In him aid lo be rever sati > fi < d with inytlnng less than Mi but Whatlithe chiel trouble with new irrilers Why do Ihey not lasi 1 think it ii because they wme hlefiy for the sake of getting their mater ter into print and not to do tne best that Is m them The a nati ur ofien seems to Milk that U hli article can be put I shed that that Is all that can be Ut med lie ferls also fiat alter he hs lad one or Ino tuch publications the nagaz nes me open to him i and m hint that he may write t ii good t enough 10 publish So he dashes ell some hmg and send It on the rounds Instead pulling all the in puatlcn study and thought Iheie hl is in i him mo his aitic c to produce a woik of f ailinttead I ol keep Ing the matter by him I i nnd work K it over he ecnts It oil at the cless cl Ihe lust drall content with mediocrity or at least with much less than the best work thaI is in him ONLY OUR IFR Ckm ACCEPTED But after all Mr Gilder only a very lew articles are accepted out ol those which the magazmei tecelve Yes was the reply that is true Uecjn use only bctctn four and five per cnt of thejrucles which are tent to us The manuscripts which we annually annu-ally receive amount to about 10 coo Wean We-an print only aboJt 400 so you sec we must reject nuny very good articles As it is we buy more tnan we should Thee is I a neverending temptation lo purchase new mailer and Die remit ii that wehaveaireat amount ol literary capital stored away upon the payments for which we receive no inteiest and une of which we shall never be able to use HOW A CHEAT MAGAZINE WAS rOUNDED You have been with the Century Ince its beginning Mr Gilder will you please tell me how the magazine was ilarttd What ii now called the Century Magazine replied Mr Gilder was durlll Ihe firt ten scars ol i s exist enc e kuovni ni icrilners Monthly It was founded by the Sirlbucis J G Holland and Rusuiil Smith Tho idea originated with the Scnbners They uiJ been publUlnnK an illustrated monthly under the title ol f Hours nt Home Then Mr Scribner prorocd to Dr j I G Holhnd that he thuuU come U Nevi YOlk and tojeihtr they siouU Icund a magiDe with illutrauons J G Hoi land 1 had been ver > successful as one ul the edlters of the tpnnyfieUl Republican Republi-can and his hook Imu hd a vcn wide ale The Ilmotliy Tltccmb ktteib winch fust ppoeared in the Republican had ben plIDlhbeu in book arm by tha Scribncrs and had had in enormojs cu culul4l Holhcdb Life of Lincoln had been very widely readand so ilso had his potmHitterS cet Whe1 i Mr bTibner asked Dr Hollanl to join him in the fourdmg ol a magazine Dr Holland replied re-plied that he wou J do > o piovided Mr bcribner would allow him tu choose a partner To ilin Mr Siritiier consented consent-ed and Dr Holland chose Mr Iojwell Smith wro took a tnud ol the slock and became Ihe buheis manager of the new enttrpme Bel re Ur Holland died Mr bm th bought a Irge i part ol his stock having alrtndy bougnt out the bcribncr interest The prmcpil workers work-ers on the magazine and on S Niclioln < also became stockholders Hie name ol the magazine was changed to Tne Century SHOULD A MAGAZINE HAVIi OPINONS 1 here referred lo the eaitorhl features feat-ures of the Century It it > ou know he only magazine of the world which aken sties upon leadln quest ons end which aims to discu > 9 the great movements move-ments in arl scierce I soT ty politics end religion I asked Mr Gilder where t his l Icmrs of the Century otignited lie replied There were edlorlals in Ihs maza zine from Ihe start Dr llolln 1 hId a depulmnt entitled rap 01 Ih Time which exnre ed the opinions of he id tor uoon things winch were up pernoil We have the same department depart-ment toda Do you think Lch editorials have much weight Mr Gildel I think tint a maaz no like Urn can do a great dral to help along in lIe uork ol relorm The CenlUy has done what It coul to bring alKUt an urpartisan vicory for sound money t think we accomplished something In aiding in UK y IIf n111 f nveithrow ol the Loui1nl loiter Ihe War Series and the Life of Lincoln have done much to moderate the feeling bt wecn the people of the North and outli and there ore other similar things irfght mention UOWN UlTlt THE nOSSES What do yeu consider the leadm ssue belore the country 10daI 1 askcil askcilWe We blicve replied Ihe editcr of he Century that one of the greatest novcmenti going en in Christendom is he erowlnir Interest In the government of cltlei We are helping lo arouse pubic pub-ic tcmimem 1 In this milter roW have lubllbhed papers by Dr Washington Gladden Dr Shaw und others riiatn o it with I a view I to Increasing civic I pi riotism among the people We ale advocating ad-vocating the leparation of city politics from na loiul politicsanil we shall on pose the political machine wherever it Interferes with civic development What succesi are oil liavm I I thinkrep led Mr Gilder that he pecpie are row beginning to realize that cur cities ale behind those ol the rest ol the world in honest efficient and itogrosslve municipal government The josvs have already dhcivertd that their selfish and moropolutic distribution I distribu-tion ol patronage ii I bdng Interfered with and they riu now making their last altark upon civil service reform Du you mean bv that Mr Gilder that the tlijs of bJlsm are num bred II by nurrbired you m n that boss sm is about trri lo die I wouU say that Si believe that it will be a long lime belore the system will entirely pass away I I do think however that our people are bgmmrn to wake up to the fact that the political machines are mere labor bureaus I bu-reaus each having its tetptc ive clientage client-age the members ol wh ch It tries to I keep Inrfliclal wcrk without regard to I merit 11 on the other hand U Is said that Ihe merit sjstem may also be called a labor bureau It cm be asserted that its it-s one working for the interests ol the who c ptople and especially or these ol the poor man CF |