“Sweet Sin,”
“The Ashes of Desire,”
“An Unspeakable Siren,” etc., etc.
Now, it may be that these books are not so bad as their names would indicate—I have never read them—but Col. Mann meant by these titles, to cater to the diseased taste for erotic literature. Hence HE SLIPPED THE AD. IN, without notice to me or to Ted Flaacke. That ad., in our very first number, hurt the magazine seriously. I felt that Col. Mann had no right to degrade the Magazine by making it a distributor of vile books, hence my positive instructions to Mr. Flaacke. In justice to this gentleman, I should say that he agreed with me fully.
Again: Col. Mann placed the Business Management in the hands of a young coal-dealer who knew nothing whatever about Circulation Management, nor about Business Management of that kind. He was a most amiable young gentleman and perfectly honest. I liked him personally, very much. But, unfortunately, he was addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors—even during business hours—and frequently attempted to perform the duties when too much inebriated to do so. Dr. Girdner first called my attention to this, and then DeFrance. Our business affairs soon suffered so much from the young man’s infirmity, that both Dr. Girdner and DeFrance suggested that we make a change. I took the matter up with Col. Mann, who had himself began to find fault with the young man, and the result was that he was requested to resign.
CROCKETT MANN AND THE SOCIETY COONS.
DeFrance had wanted the young man’s place, and he got it, with an increase of salary. It was at my instance that DeFrance was thus advanced.
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Every change made by me was made in the interest of economy, and resulted in benefit.