The meaning of all this is that books come from the press far more rapidly than people can read them, but the ease of circulation of literature in the United States promises to change all that. There is now scarcely a town of two thousand people in the United States which has not its circulating library, and which has not also some people who are thoughtful, intelligent and influential. A book getting into such a library is sure, sooner or later, to find a large number of readers. The individual reader is the best advertisement that either author or publisher can ask for, and though the first edition may be very small, so small that the publisher hesitates to reprint, nevertheless in time a book of any value is sure to be brought properly to the attention of the public. There is every reason, therefore, to believe that our native authors, and many people who can write and should write but have not yet felt encouraged to do so, will yet be stimulated to do their best work. A prominent publisher in New York was once asked--the question being suggested by a poor book which he had published on a very interesting subject--why he did not secure a better man to write it? “For the best reason in the world,” said he; “the men who could do justice to the subject are all making their living in some other way and have to pay close attention to their business. They can’t afford to write books.” This lack of financial encouragement is rapidly disappearing. The man who has anything to say in this country and knows how to say it properly can now afford to give time and thought to his subject, with the assurance that, when he is ready to write and to print, he will find readers.