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"Unlike the restless American, with his ears ever pricked to the hail of distant opportunity, the phlegmatic German identifies himself with his farm, and feels a pride in keeping it in the family generation after generation. Taking fewer chances in the lottery of life than his enterprising Scottish-Irish or limber-minded Yankee neighbor, he has drawn from it fewer big prizes, but also fewer blanks."

"In quest of vinous exhilaration, our grandfathers stood at a bar pouring down ardent spirits. It is owing to our German element that the mild lager beer has largely displaced whisky as the popular beverage, while sedentary drinking steadily gains on perpendicular drinking."

"The immigrant German women begin rather higher in the scale of occupation than the Irish, but their daughters do not rise in life with such amazing buoyancy as do the daughters of the Irish. Between the first-generation and the second-generation Germans the proportion of servants and waitresses fell from a third of all female bread-winners to a quarter. For the Irish the drop is from fifty-four per cent. to sixteen per cent. The second-generation Germans do not show such an advance on their parents as do the second-generation Irish, who bob up like corks released at the bottom of a stream."

It would be difficult to get a more impartial and thorough-going analysis of the first year of President Wilson's administration than that which is supplied by A. Maurice Low in the May CENTURY. Mr. Low is the Washington correspondent of the London "Morning Post" and has lived at the Capital through several administrations.

P. A. Vaille, the British golf expert, in an article entitled "The Soul of Golf" in the May CENTURY, makes the bold statement that although there is scarcely a game or pastime of which so much has been written as about golf, unfortunately most of this is fundamentally unsound. Mr. Vaille admits that it is easy to make a general statement of this nature, and proceeds to be specific. The golfer whose enthusiasm is not only of the out-of-doors variety, but who is a student of the literature of golf, must take into consideration the vigorous statements made in this article.

Speaking of the literature of golf, the remarkable series of articles now appearing in

ST. NICHOLAS by Francis Ouimet, the youthful champion golfer, is probably being read by a great number of grown-ups, and is undoubtedly helping to create new golfers every month.

Newspaper despatches record that a member of Congress has just introduced a bill calling for an appropriation of fifteen million dollars for a fleet of aëroplanes. The honorable member "painted a picture of cities being destroyed by bombs from invading air craft and compared the foreign air fleets with that of the United States which he said was composed of 'twelve obsolete man-killing aëroplanes.'"

The question at once arises whether the member of Congress had been reading H. G. Wells's prophetic trilogy in THE CENTURY.

In his delightful introduction to "Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures," Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch pays tribute to the Rackham paintings as "the elusive dreams . . . of an artist who has taught English children in our time to see that

All things by immortal power,
Near or far,

Hiddenly,

To each other linked are,

That thou canst not stir a flower

Without troubling of a star."

It is a magic book! There are pictures of "the little people" and of classic and fairy folk, of children, and of such grotesque and fantastic scenes as have become associated with the name of Arthur Rackham. The reproductions, in full colors, are as fine as modern color printing can make them.

George Moore contributes a characteristically brilliant paper on "Shakspere and Balzac” in the May CENTURY.

"Music of To-day and To-morrow" is from the versatile pen of James Huneker, who is unequaled in his vein of critical writing.

The Century Co. is resisting the temptation of publishing "In Lighter Vein" as a separate magazine, although the brilliancy and size of this department seem to warrant such a step. THE CENTURION.

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Tien-Tsin Rug, size 14 ft. 11 in. x 12 ft. This Rug is a reproduction of an old
Chinese Rug, and is made on our own looms in the East.

EASTERN RUGS

FOR COUNTRY HOMES

WITH special relation to the requirements of the Country Home, we have assembled a large variety of Eastern Rugs, particularly appropriate for Halls, Dining Rooms and large Living Rooms.

These Rugs, of the most dependable qualities, are the product of our own looms in the East. They include many faithful reproductions of old Chinese and Persian masterpieces.

While quality and artistic merit must always be a vital consideration with us, we desire, in this instance, to emphasize the reasonableness of our prices, which cannot fail to interest all who contemplate the purchase of Oriental Rugs. If you will advise us of your requirements, we shall be pleased to describe in detail what we have answering your desires.

W. & J. SLOANE

Direct Importers of Eastern Rugs

FIFTH AVENUE AND FORTY-SEVENTH STREET, NEW YORK

SAN FRANCISCO

WASHINGTON, D. C.

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By ELIA W. PEATTIE. An epitome of the aspirations, doubts, dreads, furtive discontent, and frank hope of women, fascinating and timely.

With frontispiece. $1.35 net. Postage extra

Burbury Stoke

By WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS. A quaint love story written in the delightful vein of humor and sentiment which made the same author's "The Clammer "so popular. $1.25 net. Postage extra

The After House

By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART. A story of love, mystery and a private yacht. "A good novel for quick reading."-N. Y. Herald. Illustrated by May Wilson Preston. $1.25 net. Postage extra

The Women We Marry

By ARTHUR STANWOOD PIER. A present-day novel of the love affairs of two men and two women before and after marriage, of estrangement through unsuspected prejudices; and of the readjustment of love through the coming of children. $1.35 net. Postage extra

The Misadventures of
Three Good Boys

By HENRY A. SHUTE. "A breezy narrative of the escapades of three boys told in Judge Shute's characteristic amusing style. Illustrated. $1.25 net. Postage extra

ON VARIOUS TOPICS

What Men Live By

By DR. RICHARD C. CABOT. "Such writing, because it sets before the reader in a fresh and entertaining way beliefs and truths hitherto but vaguely held,'must be richly inspirational in its effect."-Boston Transcript. $1.50 net. Postage extra Confederate Portraits

By GAMALIEL BRADFORD. This book does for some of the more important Confederate leaders what the same author's "Lee, the American," did for their commander. Illustrated. $2.50 net. Postage extra The Americans in the Philippines

By JAMES A. LEROY. The first complete, comprehensive, and authoritative history of the first years of the American occu pation of the Islands. 2 vols. Boxed. $10.00 net. Postage extra

Personal Recollections of
Vincent van Gogh

By ELISABETH DU QUESNE VAN GOGH. TRANS-
LATED BY KATHERINE S. DREIER. "The book does for Van
Gogh what Sensier's 'Life' did for Millet."-N. Y. Sun.
$1.75 net. Postage extra

Letters of a Post Impressionist:

Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent van Gogh

Edited by ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI. "It is impossible to read these intimate letters without feeling the greatest admiration for the man and for his ceaseless efforts in the cause of his art."-International Studio.

READY APRIL 18

MARY HEATON VORSE'S

Illustrated. $2.00 net. Postage extra

THE HEART'S COUNTRY

The story of the love life of a charming and sensitive girl. Her development from childhood to her happy marriage is told with an intimacy of understanding, a humor and tenderness, a magnetic sympathy, that give it a profound appeal to the reader's heart. Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. $1.35 net. Postage extra

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FINAL DATE FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS
BEFORE THE ADVANCE IN PRICE
WILL BE MAY 28TH

The two old sayings which preach promptness,

"Strike while the iron is hot" and

“Make hay while the sun shines," take it for granted that every one knows how soon iron cools and how soon rain comes. But some people are surprised when the spirit of these adages is expressed in the suggestion that it would be judicious to purchase the new Encyclopaedia Britannica today.

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Plain rules of business, as inexorable as the laws of nature, make it inevitable that the terms upon which the new Encyclopaedia Britannica will be sold after the next few weeks shall be such as to yield a profit commensurate with the very large investment ($1,500,000) which the production of this new summary of all human knowledge necessitated.

It could not have been so good a book as it is if it had been made with so small a capital investment as to warrant its being permanently sold on the present terms.

Those who purchase the book later, instead of availing themselves of the present opportunity, will pay from $29 to $50 more than the present low prices, and will pay that higher price in cash.

When the haymaker neglects the chance the brief sunshine gives him, he is at any rate indulging himself by postponing hard work. But the reader who defers the acquisition of the new Encyclopaedia Britannica is, for some time, denying himself the use of the most delightful and the most serviceable of books-foregoing a pleasure that may be his today.

On the last page of this notice stands the order form. A name inscribed in the space provided for it there is a name added to those who are, at the present moment, striking

while the iron is hot and making hay while the sun shines.

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THE MEANING of the CHANGE-Why the Price of the

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ANY readers, when they see this announcement for the first time, will wonder why the sale, direct to the public, of the new Encyclopaedia Britannica is to be discontinued, why the instalment system is to be abandoned, and why the price is at the same time to be increased. These three queries are virtually the same, and may be condensed into one: "Why should it suddenly be made much more difficult for the average man to obtain the book?”

The question is quite justified. The reader is not asking a grocer how he buys and sells sugar, but asking those who have assumed the grave responsibility of controlling an educational work of undeniable usefulness to all Englishspeaking people, and who are virtually in the position of trustees or custodians, why they find it necessary to increase its price and impose new conditions of sale.

In the first place, these custodians are in the unusual position of having created the property they are administering. Only a little while ago, the words in the book were unwritten, the thoughts not formulated; the paper was flax in the fields, the leather on the backs of flocks.

MAKING THE BOOK

A Great Responsibility

The Encyclopaedia Britannica has been, for nearly a century and a half, of great service in the dissemination of useful knowledge, and by all intelligent Americans has been regarded with genuine pride. But it is not a perennial. Each edition must in the course of years be replaced by a better one. The advance of knowledge effected by a new generation, the new events, and the new view of old events must be adequately represented. And the taxpayer does not assume the task of providing the money to make and distribute a new edition of this indispensable book.

The task involves two risks-one moral and one financial:

If an unscholarly or inaccurate edition were made, its undertakers would be justly execrated by the public. And if they do their work well and in accordance with the high standard of preceding editions, they are entitled to such recognition as the press, the general public, and also the foremost educational authorities accorded to the editorial staff upon the appearance of the new 11th edition.

SELLING THE BOOK An Enormous Investment The financial risk is very great-nowadays much greater than when the book was smaller; when the volumes were issued one by one and sold for cash, at the rate of one or two a year.

The contents of the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (40,000 articles, 44,000,000 words) were prepared, at an expense of $1,500,000, as an undivided whole, so that all the volumes are of uniform date. While this radical departure from previous methods enabled the editors to make a much better Encyclopaedia Britannica than ever before, it was the most expensive method, but the public was bound to reap the benefit of it. In fact, it is not too much to say that the whole world of scholarship in the first instance, and the reading public in general, are under a lasting obligation, in that a vast sum was paid out to make the Encyclopaedia Britannica a more practical work of reference than ever before and one more convenient to use-and it was then sent to any subscriber who paid only $5.00 with his order.

ers.

This trifling initial payment is a mere fraction of the manufacturing cost-quite apart from the literary cost and the cost of selling— in respect of each set that goes out to subscribIt would not be beside the mark to state that at one time more than $4,000,000 was locked up in the new Encyclopaedia Britannica. To recover these various costs would be a matter of years, inasmuch as every set delivered to subscribers on the deferred payment system would automatically call for an ever-increasing capital outlay, and would entail enormous financial responsibilities.

THE PLAN OF SALE

In Two Periods

Such being the conditions of the problem, it was solved by the adoption of a plan of sale, which would assure a swift recognition and appreciation of the book while it was new. It was determined that there should be two distinct periods of distribution:

First, a rapid sale on monthly payments and at a low price,-direct to the public.

Second, a slow but steady sale through agents and booksellers, for cash payment, at a higher price.

It was foreseen that the first sale would not yield a fair percentage of profit. So far, it would not be, commercially speaking, "good business." It would involve the heavy interest charges and the large organization which attend selling for instalments. To continue indefinitely that system would make the investment in paper, printing, and binding so great that the operation would become unwieldy. But the instalment sale would create a demand for the book which could not be satisfied at the time; and that demand would afterward be satisfied by a prolonged sale under ordinary book-selling conditions, at the higher price and at a substantial profit.

That was the method originally arranged for the sale of the new edition. The first of the two periods of sale, now nearly at an end, has already justified the expectation that it would quickly establish the reputation of the 11th edition in all parts of the world. And, after this final subscription sale, anyone who wants the Encyclopaedia Britannica must buy it and pay for it as he buys and pays for any other book-but it will cost him from $29.00 to $50.00 more, according to the binding.

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