New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-09
AGAINST KNOWING TOO MUCH.

OF organizing many societies there is no end
We have societies for the prevention of this. and
for the promotion of that; societies for the sup
preston Of some things, and for the encourage
ment of Others Every item Of the wrong that
needs resistance and of " the good that needs
assistance has It's special Society for the"
ct cetera. If the world were so come to an end
tomorrow. while Englishmen ate dinner to com
memorate the event, Americans would probably
organize socety-an S. f. T. c. o. T. E. o. I.
W., or something Of that sort SO we shall go
on until there shall be formed a Society for
the Prevention of Any More Societies, and then
there will be peace. But before then, while it
is still allowable to add one more to the noble
army Of organizations wish to offer a sug-
gestion to those humanitarians who may be,
it were, out of job, mourning because they can
find no scope for the exercise of their benevolent
talents. There is room for them to do great
work 1or mankind, by organizing one more
society.
What we propose is Society for the Suppression
of Useless Information. We do not mean it to
oppose or counterfeit the work of the Society for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge-there is such
a concern, isn't there ?-but merely to in
scribe upon its banners the time -honored legend,
Where Ignorance is bliss tbs folly to be WISE"
and to do all in its power to make the world
live up to it. And how much need there is of
such a society The unhappy general public OF
to-day is bombarded with incessant fire of most
unnecessary and uncomfortable facts. The man
YOU meet on the avenue accosts you with some
thing of the sort. The lady who calls on your
wife devotes an hour to the malevolent work
And the result is that life is getting to be burden
Think of the discomfort that has been let loose
by the announcement that ice-water is deadly
beverage! How much was brought into the
world by the eXcathcdra statement that il
dangerous to swallow grapeseed What misery
is prOpagated by the oft-recurring reminders of
the adulteration of food. What has the micro
scope done for us, but to open thousand Pan
dora's boxes of microbes and bacilli, with which
all creation is seen to TEEN. Truly, with all this
uncomfortable knowledge thrust upon us, can
realize that as the good DR.. 's-His Name
sang: Death rides on every passing breeze, And
turks in every flower
Our ancestors had no knowledge of these things
They didn't know, dear souls, how they wer.
running their health, or how engirt ny implacablc
foes they were They lived-yes, they actual ly
did live, and long lives, toO-in happy unco n
seriousness of it all And why not We? Perhs ops
pressing this unwelcome knowledge upon the de-
pressed and suffering mind Of humanity does
save a few lives and prolong few more. But
what of that, compared with the numbe of
lives that it destroys through fright and she rtens
through worry, and the innumerable myriad that
are made increasingly wretched by it all? We
are not aware-it is not written in Cicero that
Dionysuss hint to DamOcles thicened or ST. ength-
cned in the infntesmallest degree the ha r that
held the sword above the latter's head. And If
he had not been able TO get from under the sword,
why let him know it was there at ALL or. that it
was held by anything less than steel vii cable?
Wherefore in the name Of the personal comfort
Of humanity, we call for the prompt or Gonization
Of a Society for the Suppression of Use less Infor
nation, and long may il wave,