Show Paris Booksellers Using W War ar as asI 1 I Pretext f for of or Raisin Raising of af Prices PARIS PARI PARIS April ril Although h no one doubts th their ir patriotism Paris booksellers ers are not at all au d inclined disinclined disinclined to turn an honest penny at the expense bf bf th the wa war i They h have ve rease the the p price ice of books on their shelves since March 1 and are now charging 70 cents cents for the ordinary Fr French paper covered volume that used to to- tobe be sold 60 for tor or cents The only taul fault found with the increase the Paris Temps says is th that t the the dealers talk of the Increase in the price of paper paper paper pa pa- per and blame the cost of their their books bookson on the war Well VeIl the war has a broad back says the Temps No o one can blame the the- dealers for taking advantage of of- the law Jaw of ot supply and demand and their I I volumes are not of ot prime prime necessity so they cannot be accused of hurting the thc nations nation's safety The syndicate of dealers dealers deal deal- ers era announcing the change allows the public to believe that the price of paper has caused all the trouble toube This is not true It Is not that paper has not grown dearer dearer no no one knows better than the newspapers that it has But so far j publishers alone have suffered Some of them have taken 10 per cent off I their rebates on school books but hut none lone of them has bas diminished by a single I centime the reductions allowed on the price of books now now sold at 70 20 cents which formerly were offered at 60 cents These books are sold to retail dealers by the publishers for 42 cents each Just as they were before the war and just as if it the price of ot paper had hadnot hadnot hadnot not increased The Initiative of the extra price charged purchasers Is due exclusively to the retail dealers If the public accepts this overcharge so much the better for tor the dealers who profit by it But the booksellers must not Imagine Imagine imagine Im im- Im- Im agine that all the benefit will be for them The publishers have not yet de demanded demanded demanded de- de their share but as soon as the new prices are established they will do so Authors will begin to think that the royalties they had on a volume at 60 cents are not enough on one of 70 cents and those wl whose ose works have havo a large circulation will make themselves heard It will ba be only the weaker publish publisher publisher- err errand and authors who will suffer The customer customer cus cue tomer most probably spend about as much for tor books as before consequently consequently consequently conse conse- he will buy less Life will be harder for all authors who do cio not make big s 's sales les with their works ork Those whose editions run to copies or more will lose nothing nothings perhaps perhaps- they may gain But those who only had 2000 or copies sold will run the risk soon of not selling any Whether good or bad for the bookseller bookseller book book- seller the Temps lemps concludes the change Is certainly a menace to literature litera litera- tur ture |