28 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jan. 



exchange advertisement. We declined and have never regretted 

 doing so. 



The pound rate law under which we secure a very low rate of 

 postage on our periodicals, was framed to benefit the people 

 and to aid legitimate journalism. 



When a house selling microscopes comes forward to publish 

 a periodical, ostensibly to benefit the people but really to 

 scatter its own advertisements at pound rates it does a dishonest 

 thing and disaster is sure to come — as sure as night to follow 

 day. 



People in other Hnes of business understand these principles. 

 Thousands of houses contract for advertising by the wholesale. 

 The money they spend would support several class journals. 

 Why do they not establish such journals and drive to the wall 

 their competitors since they have such superior conditions for 

 so doing? The money spent annually by Charles Marchand, 

 whose advertisement appears on our cover, amounts to more 

 than $50,000 and is distributed to nearly all of the 200 medical 

 periodicals of the United States. He could afford to publish a 

 medical journal that would exceed all others in its literary 

 merits, for the sake of covering page after page with his own 

 advertisements, but he has sense enough to scent the disaster 

 sure to overtake dishonesty. He will do nothing of the sort. 

 The great success that his remedies are meeting proves his wis- 

 dom in patronizing legitimate journalism and in refraining from 

 setting up a competing periodical and then asking medical jour- 

 nals to give him free advertising under the misnomer of "ex- 

 change." 



Had the Philadelphia house alluded to pursued a similar 

 policy and refrained from putting out insignificant twenty-five 

 cent collections of clippings to float advertisements ; and had it 

 been as conscientious in all other respects, it would never have 

 found itself in the humiliating scrape from which it has strug- 

 gled for two years to extricate itself by cutting prices and under- 

 selling other people. 



Curiously, one of the concerns that has been injured some- 

 what by said price-cutting but that has not been as yet com- 

 pelled to assign is tempted to imitate those Philadelphia 

 people by setting up a class magazine, primarily to advertise 



