at once so vast in its scope and brief in its time of accomplishment,
as that from the old order to the new in the early part of this century. When
men came to realize the greatness of the felicity which had befallen them, and
that the change through which they had passed was not merely an improvement in
details of their condition, but the rise of the race to a new plane of existence
with an illimitable vista of progress, their minds were affected in all their
faculties with a stimulus, of which the outburst of the mediæval renaissance
offers a suggestion but faint indeed. There ensued an era of mechanical
invention, scientific discovery, art, musical and literary productiveness to
which no previous age of the world offers anything comparable.«
    »By the way,« said I, »talking of literature, how are books published now?
Is that also done by the nation?«
    »Certainly.«
    »But how do you manage it? Does the government publish everything that is
brought it as a matter of course, at the public expense, or does it exercise a
censorship and print only what it approves?«
    »Neither way. The printing department has no censorial powers. It is bound
to print all that is offered it, but prints it only on condition that the author
defray the first cost out of his credit. He must pay for the privilege of the
public ear, and if he has any message worth hearing we consider that he will be
glad to do it. Of course, if incomes were unequal, as in the old times, this
rule would enable only the rich to be authors, but the resources of citizens
being equal, it merely measures the strength of the author's motive. The cost of
an edition of an average book can be saved out of a year's credit by the
practice of economy and some sacrifices. The book, on being published, is placed
on sale by the nation.«
    »The author receiving a royalty on the sales as with us, I suppose,« I
suggested.
    »Not as with you, certainly,« replied Dr. Leete, »but nevertheless in one
way. The price of every book is made up of the cost of its publication with a
royalty for the author. The author fixes this royalty at any figure he pleases.
Of course if he puts it unreasonably high it is his own loss, for the book will
not sell. The amount of this royalty is set to his credit and he is discharged
from other service to the nation for so long a period as this credit