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defraud anybody. It wasn't collusion. We didn't set prices among ourselves. We all had our own lines. We all had our own prices. They were different; but we did establish a price, which is not the way that it should be done. Of course there were no criminal proceedings, but there are still a lot of civil suits pending in many cities. Those cases can drag on forever, and even if we're not penalized, the legal fees will come to a pretty penny.

Well, how are these school and library editions now going to be sold?

We have all announced that there is no fixed price. From now on anybody can sell at any price he chooses.

Why do you think big companies like RCA and the Los Angeles Times are suddenly gobbling up book publishers?

Their interests are mainly in educational books. Bantam and several of the other paperback houses are getting bigger and bigger in the field of education. The future big profits seem to be there. What big conglomerates are doing is protecting themselves. They see other big companies buying publishing houses, so they want to buy a publishing house, too. The number of publishing houses for sale is now down. Many of the desirable ones have now been