ING BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE. go outside of the city for their type-setting. The THE POSTAL RATE ON BOOKS-HEARNew York rate is based on 43 cents a thousand ems, while in many smaller places near New York, such as Hartford and Rahway, the rate is but 35 cents, and more and more plates are coming from elsewhere. Of course a publisher would much rather have his work done under his own eye, other things being equal, but he cannot afford to pay any great margin of difference and at the same time stand competition with publishers in other cities who get their type-setting at less cost. NORTH CAROLINA BOOKSELLERS' AND A dozen large publishing firms of New York, Philadelphia, and other cities were represented at a hearing before the Senate Post-Office Committee the carriage of books at second-class postage. The on the 19th inst. upon the House bill to prohibit representatives urged that the bill was inspired by the Post-Office Department, and grew out of a desire on the part of the officials to manage the Government for the profits which might accrue inprotested that the passage of the House bill stead of for the benefit of the people. They would ruin interests in which several million dollars are invested, and with no compensating advantage to the people. They declared it to be untrue that enormous deficiencies had resulted in the second-class mail service by reason of the carriage of cheap literature at second-class rates, and said that the small deficiency which might perhaps be chargeable to this source was more than recouped by the letter correspondence of the STATIONERS' BOARD OF TRADE. THE booksellers and stationers of North Carolina met at Greensboro on the 16th inst. and held one of the most pleasant commercial conventions ever seen in any State. Two-thirds of the regular dealers were represented and all were in thorough sympathy with the movement to-publishing firms which grew out of the priviwards more uniform work, and they were unanimous as to every interest involved. The North Carolina Booksellers' and Stationers' Board of Trade" was organized and the following officers chosen for this year: President, E. G. Harrell (A. Williams & Co.), Raleigh ; Vice-President, P. Heinsberger, Wilmington, Secretary (W. A. Muse & Co.), Durham; Treasurer, Mrs. M. E. Howard (Greensboro book-store), Greensboro; Corresponding Secretary, J. B. Whitaker, Jr., Goldsboro. Executive Committee-E. G. Harrell, chairman, Raleigh; Theo. Buerbaum, Salisbury; S. W. Paisley, Reidsville; E. M. Nadal, Wilson; Rev. A. T. Latta, Monroe; M. E. Roberson, Goldsboro; Mrs. M. C. Ball (Dike Book Company), Greensboro. A number of letters were received from dealers, heartily approving the organization and applying for membership. The constitution adopted is brief but pointed, looking to the mutual interest of the public and the dealer, and among the objects stated are: First-To furnish to the public, to teachers, and to dealers all text-books used in our schools and colleges as well as general literature through the home booksellers in the shortest possible time, and at lowest possible prices. Second-To encourage and aid in the establishment of our own State literature, and in the prosperity and proper recognition of meritorious North Carolina authors. Third-To discourage the sale or circulation of disreputable books or periodicals of every description within the State. Fourth-To establish and maintain a uniform scale of prices in this State on all classes of merchandise pertaining to the business, such as shall yield a fair margin of profit to the dealer and be just and reasonable to the public. A number of resolutions were adopted looking to general improvement of some methods of the business which have been injuring the regular trade. One of the most important was concerning the selling of books by publishers to the public at wholesale prices or to dry-goods and other houses to be used as "bait "for trade. The Board of Trade will withdraw patronage from such publishers as far as possible. The Board of Trade is in thorough working order and will hold another session this summer at Wilmington, August 14. leges they have under existing law. The passage of this bill, they argued, would be a discrimination against remote points, inasmuch as shipments could be made by express to nearer cities, but could not be so made, for example, to the Pacific coast. The bill would increase the postal charges on the publications in question from 1 to 8 cents a pound. Among the establishments represented were: Beadle & Adams, J. W. Lovell Co., J. S. Ogilvie & Co., and the American News Company of New York; the Blackstone Publishing Company, P. W. Ziegler & Co., and the Franklin News Company of Philadelphia. Senator Sawyer, chairman of the committee, has during the last four weeks received a vast number of letters, both from the publishers and from readers of the kind of literature to which this measure relates, protesting against the passage of the bill, but up to this time he has received only one letter favoring the measure. SPURGEON VINDICATES HIS AMERI- lishers of the sermons of Mr. Spurgeon, have lately WESTWOOD, BEULAH HILL, UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, 1888, Jan. 30. DEAR FRIENDS: I never found any fault with you, or did I find fault with the publication of the sermons in your dealings with me. I am quite content; nor, indeed, the newspapers, in which I also rejoice. I merely observed, with all pleasantry, that the great circulation of thing in all respects, except the pecuniary one to the the sermons, in all sorts of American papers, was a grand author. It is so difficult for a speech to be truly reported and reported in the spirit in which it was meant. I think ering there is no copyright. I rejoice that my witness for I have been well treated by American publishers, considChrist has been the more abundantly spread abroad, by the fact that everybody has been free to appropriate the sermons. Above all, I am glad that you, Robert Carter & Brothers, are not only publishers of my sermons but true and generous friends, with whose conduct I am more than satisfied. You can publish this note; indeed, I trust you will do so largely. Yours very heartily, C. H. SPURGEON. ALFRED SMITH BARNES. ALFRED SMITH BARNES, the founder and, until his death, the head of the great school-book publishing firm of A. S. Barnes & Co., died on Friday, Feb. 17, at his Brooklyn home, of disease of the liver and its attending complications. Mr. Barnes was born at New Haven, Conn., on Jan. 28, 1817. His father, who had been a farmer in Southington and afterwards a merchant in New Haven, died when Mr. Barnes was only ten years old, and he went to live with an uncle in Hartford, where at the age of sixteen he obtained employment in the publishing-house of D. F. Robinson & Co., at that time the largest school-book publishing firm in the country, with the modest salary of $30 per annum and board in the house of his employer. The firm moved to New York in 1835, and Mr. Barnes came with them. In February, 1838, at the age of twenty-one, he went into partnership with Prof. Charles Davies, and undertook the publication of his mathematical works, which have since become so famous. During the first two years Mr. Barnes canvassed the schools and academies throughout the country, introducing Prof. Davies' works and Mrs. Willard's histories. In those days book-agents were unknown, and the young publisher went himself in a private conveyance or in a stagecoach and met with a success which proved the corner-stone of the great firm and the foundation of a great fortune. In 1840 Mr. Barnes removed the business to Philadelphia and also became wholesale dealer in the publications of other houses. Two years later the manufacturing department was also moved to that city. In 1845 Mr. Barnes, recognizing that New York offered superior advantages for his prosperous and continually increasing trade, moved his establishment to this city, where he has since had a career of uninterrupted success, clouded only temporarily by the panic of 1857 and the breaking out of the civil war in 1861. The first store in this city occupied by the firm was at the corner of John and Dutch Streets, but in 1868 they found it necessary to take and enlarge the building now occupied by them at the corner of John and William Streets. Very soon after the business had been transferred to New York, Mr. Barnes formed the plan of publishing a full and complete series of school-books, embracing every department of elementary and advanced education, which has now gained a worldwide reputation as " The National Series of Standard School Books." Mr. Barnes gave every manuscript submitted for the series a critical personal examination and justly prided himself that no book had ever borne his imprint which was not a "good book." This series includes Steele's scientific books; Peck's and Ficklin's" Arithmetics and Algebras ;' "Monteith's Series of Geography;" ;" "Wood's Series of Botany;" "Worman's French, German, and Spanish Series," "McNally's Geography," etc. Clark's Grammar," "Davies' Arithmetic," and "Barnes' United States History" have all had the phenomenal sale of more than one million copies. The firm publishes very few miscellaneous books. Among these Martha J. Lamb's "History of New York City" and the music-books used in many churches have added considerably to its financial prosperity. Among the most familiar and valuable of the books bearing for years the firm's imprint are Parker's 44 and Watson's "National Readers and Spellers," The Teacher's Library," The New Testament Commentary," by the Rev. Lyman Abbott, and "Clark's Grammar." In 1880 the firm erected a very large building at the corner of Liberty and Nassau Sts., Brooklyn, L. I., for printing, binding, packing, and storage. There are twenty presses in this building kept constantly running preparing textbooks which go to every part of the world. About the time this building was finished Mr. Barnes retired from the active management of the firm, since which time the business has been conducted under the same style by his sons, Gen. A. C. Barnes, as general superintendent; Henry B. Barnes, who looks after the house's financial interests; Charles J. Barnes (a nephew), who conducts the business of the Western branch; Edwin M. Barnes, who has charge of the factory; and the two youngest sons, Richard S. and William D. L., who are associated respectively in the stationery and agency departments. Mr. Barnes was a man of wide and varied interests and was prominently connected with many large enterprises of educational, social, commercial, and religious character. With Cornell University, Fisk University of Nashville, Tenn., and the Polytechnic, Packer, and Adelphi Academies of Brooklyn, he was especially identified. He was a man of strong religious feeling, a member of the Church of the Pilgrims at the time Dr. Storrs was called to its pulpit, and at the time of his death a member of the Clinton Ave. Congregational Church. He was an earnest be liever in Young Men's Christian Associations and gave liberal support to the Brooklyn branches, and one of his last acts was in 1887 to present $45,000 to the Association of Cornell University, The Faith Home in Brooklynalso received $25,000 for its work. Mr. Barnes was one of the prime movers in the erection of the elevated roads of this city, was connected with the Central Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, and was a director in the American Exchange Bank, the Hanover Bank, and the Home Insurance Co. of New York, and the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn. He was also a member of the Long Island Historical Society and of the New England Society of Brooklyn. The City Mission and Tract Society was well supported by him and he was for many years its president. He was also connected with the American Missionary Association and the Home Mission Society. The many duties devolving upon him from such heterogeneous interests made Mr. Barnes' life a busy one until his last illness, which came upon him five months before his death. In 1841 Mr. Barnes married Miss Harriet E. Burr. Five sons and five daughters were born of this union, all of whom are still living. Mrs. Barnes died in 1881. In 1883 Mr. Barnes married Mrs. Mary Mathews Smith, at that time living at Nyack on the Hudson. white flowers, and the back was covered with graceful festoons of smilax and other vines. Many beautiful floral pieces were sent to the house. The services at the church were very simple. The Rev. Thomas McLeod, the pastor, was assisted by Rev. Dr. Storrs, who was Mr. Barnes' first pastor, when he went to Brooklyn, and the Rev. Dr. Meredith, whom he had been instrumental in recently bringing from Boston to Brooklyn. Mr. Frank Taft, the organist of the church, played Chopin's "Funeral March" as the body was borne into the church followed by the immediate members of the family. The pall-bearers were James How, John W. Hunter, John Gibb, George S. Coe, of New York; Charles Collins, of Yonkers; Henry W. Sage, of Ithaca, and C. D. Wood, Albert Woodruff, John Claflin, Egbert Starr, Henry R. Jones, and Thos. S. Thorp. Mr. McLeod, who was Mr. Barnes' pastor, spoke in the highest terms of his purity of life, spotless character, Christian belief, and beneficent and successful career. Dr. Storrs paid a tribute to his spiritual manhood, his strong and beautiful character, and constant usefulness in various channels. The remains were taken to Green wood Cemetery for interment, immediately after the services at the church. Mr. Barnes' plot is near the Twenty-fifth Street entrance, and is about five hundred yards from the soldiers' monument. The New York school-book publishers held a commemorative meeting at the rooms of their Association, 30 Lafayette Place, on Saturday, February 18. Mr. Birdseye Blakeman presided, and appropriate remarks were made by the chairman and others. A committee, composed of Messrs. Appleton, Harper, and Taintor, brought in the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: WHEREAS, The Creator in his infinite wisdom has removed from this life our colleague and associate, Alfred S. Barnes, who died at his residence in Brooklyn on the evening of February 17, 1888; it is Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Barnes the publishing business has lost one of its most eminent and influential members, and society an exemplar of all that is manly, upright, and virtuous. Resolved, That it is a source of gratification to us to point to Mr. Barnes as, in its truest sense, a represeniative man in his business career. He began life, as so many other successful American publishers have, with little to depend on except his own resources, and by integrity, industry, and a wide range of intelligence he succeeded in establishing a house whose name and character are known with respect throughout the United States. The public-school system of the country is especially indebted to his foresight and liberality for many of the most popular text-books that have ever been published. We commend the record of his life and character to the young men of America as one that can be studied and followed to their lasting advantage. Resolved, That these resolutions be engrossed and a copy sent to his firm and to his family. On the morning of the 20th a meeting of the Stationers' Board was held, to take action on the death of Mr. Barnes. Frank Squier, of Perkins, Goodwin & Co., called the meeting to order, and W. H. Parsons, of W. H. Parsons & Co., presided. Mr. Parsons and W. I. Martin, of Samuel Raynor & Co., made short addresses. A committee of seven was appointed to draw up a suitable set of resolutions and to attend the funeral. They were W. I. Martin, Alexander Agar, of Agar, Hamblin & Co.; Isidor Kiggins, of the Kiggins, Tooker Company; Edward Todd, Frank Squier, J. F. Anderson, Jr., and W. H. Parsons. The rooms of the Board were closed from two to four P.M. OBITUARY NOTES. DAVID ROSS LOCKE (Petroleum V. Nasby), the famous humorist, editor and proprietor of the bright Toledo Blade, died of consumption at his home in Toledo, O., on February 15. He was horn in Vestal, Broome Co., N. Y., in 1833. Mr. Locke began to work when ten years old, and was regularly apprenticed to the publisher of the Cortland Democrat, where he thoroughly learned this office and travelled through every large city the trade of printer. After seven years he left of the Union, earning his bread by his trade. He was connected with several newspapers before he in 1865 began his work on the Toledo Blade. From 1860 to 1875 he wrote the "Nasby" letters, which first appeared in a local paper in Mr. Locke's habit of looking at everything Findlay, Ohio, and afterwards in the Toledo Blade. from its ludicrous side remained with him to the end. He leaves a wife and three sons. PRINTERS IN FAVOR OF INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 1888. Geo. Haven Putnam, Esq., Sec. Am. Pub. Copyright League: DEAR SIR: In answer to your inquiry whether we are in favor of an international copyright law, and how we think such a law will affect the book-printing interests of this country, we beg to say that we are in favor of a fair and equitable international copyright law, just as we are in favor of a law against piracy upon the high seas, or any other law for the protection of personal rights or property. What practical difference can it make to any man whether he is robbed on the high seas of a cargo of books intended for the American market, or having manufactured an equal number of books here, he is robbed of his market by unscrupulous tradesmen? Is it less a wrong because done by sanction of Government? We are in favor of a fair and equitable international copyright law simply because it is right there should be such a law. As book manufacturers we sometimes seek in foreign markets for particular kinds of paper to put into books. We have to pay the owners for it. Why should another who seeks the more essential part of a book be permitted to take it from its owner without compensation? It seems to us that the bill now before Congress and known as the "Chace Bill" is fair and equitable, as it very properly provides that the printing of books copyrighted in this country by foreign authors shall also be printed in this country, thus protecting its industrial interests so far as they relate to the printing of books. After a careful consideration of your second question we do not hesitate to say that we think such a law, even from the standpoint of book manufacturers only, will benefit this, one of the most important industries of the country. Permit us to add that we are very glad to know that this subject is now receiving so much atten |