The daily critic., 1890-09-15
LITERARY GARBAGE
TIE GROWING POPULARITY OF VICE
in TIE FICTION OF TODAY.
Public Taste SO Corrupted That Matters
OF Moral Depravitv Have Become
Common Themes OF Interest
and Dfscusaion.

and Discussion.
Probably there is not one Of The signs
supposed 90 Indicate the decay Of morals
and general popular corruption SD ic-
scrvedly alarming as the recent sudden
e1lux from the press Of the floods of
grossly immoral and confcssedly lechet.
ous literature now turned loose on Sd.
cietv says the New Orleans P.ctyan5
Tie FIRST French revolution, The reign Of
terror bloltcd out
THE VICIOUS LITERATURE
as g. crushed out the luxury and den)r
alization that had grown mp 10 Fnnec
under the reign Of Louis XIV AMI bis
successors, and had been inherited 81
England from the time Of Charles II
The system Of purgation was continued
through the subsequent democratic aud
revolutionary movements which took
place in Europe until the restoration Of
luxury in France under the Second En-.
pire wrought the inevitable corruption
OF public morals, which penetrated by
slow degrees into this country during
NNt tIIHN NNNNa dtNNA NNA NlHll W A. e hAil
with a rapid progress in the last decade
1t is impossible, without pride and ai-
miration, to look back through the it,
eTature Of the English. speaking coun.
tries, commencing With Scott In the last
years Of the Eighteenth Century aud
extending through the first three.
quarters Of the Nineteenth. What a
succession Of
NOBLE AND PURE WRITER'S
appear in the literary annals of Eng.
land and America. They dealt little
with the depravues Of human nature,
and If they were treated at all Il was
usually as the physician would regard
infectious bodily diseases, 10 be cured
by the speediest means at hand, but by
the application OF severe processes aud
bitter and drastic medicines. while the
diseased persons were 10 be strictly
separated from the healthful The
uobler, higher and more generous as
piations of the human soul; the
courage, fortitude devotion. fidelity
and all that was admirable IN human
nature claimed the attention OF the pen
of the writer and the pencil of the
artist Vice was always represented as
uIuEoUs AND REVOLVING
and always received the poetic justice
of the most rigorous punishment, while
virtue was invariably crowned With due
rewards IL was by slow and gradual
steps that the dCmoraliZiug realism Of
today was reached
Tie moral lapscs NJ the higher cllsscs
first provoked The attacks of the sltirist
and the humorist, but Il was long
time before the immuraIitits We're
painted IN any sort Of detail as chiet
features IN dulineluius OF lie aud 50
Cioty. IL wla far longer before the
u8WJless C,imcs and The uu5Dgakllla
dtpIlyiiy of the .lum5 became The
pieces Of resistance 90 the Jtnlugfs
cf fiction. But the time has come, aud
that within a very few years. when The
very
GARBAGE OF LITERATURE
is found openly displayed upon the
shelves of the most respectable book.
sellers There was q time. not long
ago. when these vile books had not
been translated from the foreign Ian
guoggs 10 which they originated, or. II
so. they were 50 little called for that
they we're not found except In the PIT
vale and surreptltious collections Of a
few professional or amateur ylrtu0sos
in vice. If such paradox may be per
mittcd
To day English translatlons, illus
trated with the most reckless Of pencils,
are issued In scores of thousands by the
publishers OF cheap fiction, and are
sent for sale broadcast 10 the dealers Ia
the small interior towns, as well as the
cities What does all this meanl Any
but the willfully blind can read its
BALEFUL sIGNIFICASCE.
II Is simply that public taste has grown
20 be corrupted 10 the extent that all
matters of moral depTavity have be-
come common themes Of interest and
discussion. Some will say that this de
moTalizatiOn, If II exist, was brought
about through the daily publication by
the newspapers Of the particulars of
crime. The readers OF the daily papers
and of current fiction must acknOWl
edge that the realism Of the newspaper
press is the realism Of the surgeon deal
Ing with hideous wounds and diseased
members, while the plain object Of the
sensational fiction is to invite depraVity.
TIE NEWSPAPER PRESS,
! as a censor Of morals, must attack and
expose crimes. The true journalist
only represents their most fOrbidding
/ phases. He never makes them at
/ tTaciiVe II Is 10 be regretted thai any
persons, save the officials Of the police
courts, are forced 10 know anything
about crimes, bat Il is impossible %
conceal the moral diseases Of the body
| polite, Just as il Is impossible % con
Ceal The mortal ailments that attack the
| physical man.
UFGIENIsT
His function Is 10 discover The evil
ara bring q 10 public attention, 50 that
/ 4 may be duly treated We repeat
/ that the immoral fiction poured cut
upon the country Is vastly more de-
pTGying thaH aIe the Tep0rtoTial nara
/ lions made in the respectable ueWspa-
| peTs Of the country The evil has sud
/ denly seized upon society What are
I the good people, the heads Of families,
The teachers Of youth the protectors Of
/ the purity aud honor Of the family cir
~. u q. g.