A Conference JVith Our Readers 



THE making of Bird -Lore is distinctly a cooperative 

 undertaking. The interests of its readers and editors are 

 one. All have that love of birds which induces them to 

 study their ways and to promote an increased knowledge of their 

 beauty and value. Contributors to Bird-Lore's pages are, in a 

 sense, members of the magazine's staff. They determine largely 

 the character of the magazine's contents, the editors merely 

 selecting from the large number of manuscripts which are volun- 

 tarily offered, those which, in their opinion, are most deserving 

 of pubhcation. In short, the relations existing between the editors, 

 contributors, and readers of Bird-Lore are wholly unhke those 

 which prevail where the editors of a magazine decide upon its 

 pohcy, character, and contents and offer the finished product to 

 the pubHc on a business basis as a commercial venture. 



For these reasons we have felt that we should confer with 

 our readers before making a decision in regard to Bird-Lore 

 necessitated by conditions which for some time have confronted 

 us. Everyone in any degree famihar with the pubhshing trade 

 knows that in all its departments there has been a marked in- 

 crease in manufacturing prices. The charges for composition, 

 presswork, and engraving, for example, have increased from ten to 

 twenty per cent, and the crisis has now been reached by an advance 

 in the price of paper of from fifty to one hundred per cent. 



This is a 'condition not a theory.' Expressed in figures, it 

 means that a printed product which formerly cost one dollar to 

 manufacture now costs more than a dollar and a half. When there 

 is sufficient margin between the prices of cost and sale, the result 

 is decreased profit; when there is no such margin, the result is 

 production at a loss. 



Here we have Bird-Lore's case in a sentence. The magazine's 

 net subscription price is the cost of manufacture. Anyone who 

 will take the trouble to examine a volume of Bird-Lore with its 

 over five hundred pages and twelve colored plates, will, we think, 

 be convinced of the truth of this statement. A book of this size 

 and similarly illustrated, would be sold for not less than $3, 

 plus postage! 



We cannot, therefore, continue to produce the magazine, 

 except at a loss, unless we do one of two things. Either we must 

 increase its cost or decrease its size. To decide this question, we 

 have, as it were, called this council of Bird-Lore's readers. 

 What will you have; a magazine as large, or even larger, than 

 last year's volume, with twelve colored plates, at $1.50 a year, or 

 a smaller magazine, with fewer plates, at $1 a year? It is for 

 you to decide by expressing your wishes, addressed to Bird-Lore, 

 at Harrisburg, Pa. But in deciding you should know that we 

 already receive far more material than we can print, and a smaller 

 magazine means the rejection of many valuable articles. 



