An Unspeakable Outrage.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXV, Issue 3850, 3 August 1908, Page 3

An Unspeakable Outrage.

Mr Bernard Shaw has been grossly insulted. The proprietors of Collier’s Weekly, of New York, printed a story of his some months ago, and, in addition to the ordinary payment, they awarded Mr Shaw £2OO as a bonus, because his story was considered the best received during the quarter in which it appeared. This was too much for Mr Shaw’s Socialistic soul, and he wrote the following fierce letter: — “Sir, —What do you mean by this unspeakable outrage? You send me a cheque for a thousand dollars, and inform me that it is a bonus olfered by Messrs P. F. Collier and Son for the best story received during the quarter in which my contribution appeared. May I ask what Messrs P. P. Collier and Son expected my story to be? “If it were not the best they could get for the price they were prepared to pay they had no right to insert it at all. If it was the best, what right have they to stamp their other contributors publicly as inferior when they have taken steps to secure the result beforehand by paying a special price to a special writer? “And what right have they to assume that I want to be paid twice over for my work; or that I am in the habit of accepting bonuses and competing for prizes? “Waiving all these questions for a moment, I have another one to put to you. How do Messrs P. F. Collier and Son know that my story was the best they received during the quarter? Are they posterity? Are they the Verdict of History? Have they even the very doubtful qualification of being professional critics? “I had better break this‘letter off lest I should be betrayed into expressing myself as strongly as I feel. “I return the cheque. If you should see fit to use it for the purpose of erecting a tombstone to Messrs P. F. Collier and Son I shall be happy to contribute the epitaph, in which I shall do my best to do justice to their . monstrous presumption. “G. BERNARD SHAW.” The editor of Collier’s Weekly retorts humoursly that the award was a mistake. The “responsible” readers were out of town, and the sporting editor, who is a devotee of football, a vegetarian, a Socialist, a misanthrope, a misogynist—in short, a true disciple of G.B.S. —made the award. He has been discharged!