AMA TEUR J'HOTOGJiAP/fY. 



1G5 



sought, as a quid pro quo for the prizes 

 given, is the honor and prestige attaching 

 to presentation to the public, for the first 

 time, of the prize-winning objects. To a 

 publisher who uses only original matter 

 (and there are many such) a story, poem 

 or picture which has been published, is 

 " dead," and not to be used by them ex- 

 cept when paid for at advertising rates. No 

 sane publisher would ever (I imagine) 

 offer prizes (knowingly) for either literary 

 or artistic work which had already been 

 published! 



Had the question arisen before the com- 

 petition I would, without hesitation, have 

 taken the ground that these conditions are 

 so well understood by all intelligent per- 

 sons that not one competitor in 1,000 

 would ever make a mistake about it. 

 In certain other competitions which I 

 have closely observed, I remember the 

 conditions did specify that things offered 

 must be " original " ; but I never saw it 

 stipulated that " nothing must be offered 

 which has already been published." A pub- 

 lisher cannot possibly obtain exclusive 

 ownership of a thing that has been pub- 

 lished before it reaches him, except by se- 

 curing proprietorship from the first pub- 

 lisher. 



Inasmuch as Mrs. Wiggins is unques- 

 tionably a lady of intelligence and pos- 

 sessed of a general knowledge of matters 

 pertaining to art, it was, in my opinion, a 

 great oversight, on her part, that she did 

 not inform Mr. Shields her pictures had 

 been published before. I am sure any 

 judge, on the bench, would hold she was 

 to blame for ignoring a point which is of 

 such vital importance to a publisher, and 

 doubly so when the matter is in competi- 

 tion for prizes. Certainly every editor and 

 publisher in the world would so regard it. 

 If all the 700 competitors had felt at liberty 

 to send the best pictures they had ever 

 taken, we would have probably had 5,000 

 to examine instead of 1,200 or so. 



I consider that Mr. Shields had cause for 

 indignation; for at the very least he should 

 — and the judges should — have been given 

 the option of deciding whether the highest 

 honor and & a highest prize should be 

 awarded to a stale picture. Had the judges 

 known the facts, Mrs. Wiggins's pictures 

 would not have been considered, even for 

 one moment. 



The only way in which Mrs. Wiggins 

 can make the amende honorable is to return 

 the camera. 



W. T. Hornaday. 



The following extract from a letter writ- 

 ten by F. A. Munsey to a contributor who 

 had sold him material that had been pub- 

 lished years ago by a contemporary is 

 strikingly applicable to this case. 



You may possibly fail to realize, fully, the contemptibly 

 dishonest nature of your action. It is impossible for any 



editor, or corps of editors, to be familiar with the whole 

 range of printed literature. Our only safeguard against 

 fraud of this sort is to exclude, in loto, the work of per- 

 sons unknown to us. Such a ride would he a great hard 

 ship to young and unknown writers, hut frauds BUI 

 this will compel us to adopt it. It is probably a waste of 

 lime to write further to a man who would he guilty of 

 such an action ; but we must add our regret that it would 

 be still greater waste of time to prosecute you criminally. 



HOW TO INDEX NEGATIVES. 



How many of Recreation's readers 

 have a perfect system of registering their 

 negatives? I mean without spending hours 

 in looking through their entire stock in 

 search of a certain negative, from which 

 they desire to make a print? You have the 

 negative. Of that there is no doubt; but 

 where is it? 



First of all obtain .a plain ruled book. 

 It need not be a large one. Rule 3 col- 

 umns on the right of the page, and then 

 index it, allowing several pages for each 

 letter. 



Number each negative, regardless of 

 size, from No. 1 up; either with white ink 

 or by pasting a small piece of gummed 

 paper on the glass side, on which the num- 

 ber may be written in ink. 



Each negative is certainly known to the 

 person who made it, by a title, as " Public 

 Building," or " Old Mill," etc. Write the 

 title under the proper letter in the first 

 column. Put the date in the next; the 

 number next, and in the last column the 

 number of the box in which the negative 

 is stored. Use the boxes in which the 

 plates were originally packed. 



Then, when yon want a certain negative, 

 no matter how long since it was made, all 

 you have to do is to look it up in the 

 register, find the box number and there 

 it is. How much easier than looking 

 through several hundred negatives, even if 

 they are enclosed in separate envelopes. 

 There is a chance of one being taken out 

 of the centre, of a stack, and after use not 

 being replaced. 



A double register (the one I use) is made 

 by ruling 2 columns, divided by a double 

 line, on several of the last pages and in the 

 first column writing the numbers, begin- 

 ning with 1, and opposite the box number 

 in "which the negative is. Thus you can 

 find a negative, either by its title or num- 

 ber, in a much shorter time than by any 

 other method. 



G. A. C. 



A good hydrochinon developer, in one 

 solution, is made thus: Sulphite soda crys- 

 tals, 500 gr. ; phosphate soda, granular, 240 

 gr. ; carbonate soda crystals, 500 gr. ; and 

 water to make 16 ounces. Dissolve, filter, 

 and add hydrochinon, 100 grains. 



A. S. R. 



