Automatic Book

Published last week was The Democratic Book *** 1940.

Smaller than the 394-page The Democratic National Convention--1936, The Book was not expected to bring in as much revenue. The 1936 non-fiction success sold at $2.50 a copy ($250 for a copy autographed by President Roosevelt), and grossed well over a million dollars. Because of the ill-timed remarks of G. O. P. Candidate Wendell Willkie, who complained that the publishing venture violated the Hatch Act, disgusted Democrats gave the 1940 edition away, 100,000 copies of it. Estimated revenue: less than a quarter of a million dollars.

That revenue came from advertising, which filled 100 1/2 of The Book's 184 slick pages. Chief advertisers were firms concerned with national defense: construction companies, architects, engineers, machine-tool manufacturers, makers of airplanes, tanks. Other space buyers (at $2,500 for a full page in black & white; $3,125 for a full page in color; $8,500 for the back cover in color) were International Business Machines Corp., American Sales Book Co., Inc., many another company with which the Government does business. Radio Comedian Jack Benny, bought a half page to announce without fanfare: "Jack Benny."

Editorial content, compiled by Publicity Chief Charles Michelson, included a foreword by ex-National Chairman James A. Farley, a biography of Henry Wallace, essays on phases of the New Deal, the President's acceptance speech. Asked about the origin of The Book, which has burgeoned under many titles for almost 100 years, Editor Michelson snorted: "It's automatic, like the Jackson Day Dinner."

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