The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-01-22
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The necessities of the times growing
out Of an unhappy and unfortunate
dsuse of standard literature and the
tendency to substitute in the household
and in all departments of life, light
and fippsnt literature written in
careless and sensational style, without
effort at rhetorical finish and adorn.
ment, require that halt be made and
that the old standard works, which
have adorned not only English but
American literature, be disseminated
widely in order to maintain the lofty
plane from which it is feared its read.
ers are rapidly deteriorating.
Probably no man in our country is
more competent to speak of the present
tendencies and drift Of American litera.
ture than A. X. Spofford. librarian of
congress Copies of all new works have
to pass through his hands in order to
be copyrighted, and thus he keeps
record of and is familiar with the
character of all current literature. He
suONS iIOIn 5LdllSllCS Iudg buSI0 uho
been in recent years an almost phe -
nomenal increase in the number of
regular periodicals devoted wholly or
mainly TO literature. In 1888 there
were published in the United Statss
four hundred and twenty. eight maga-
zines and revisws of this class. In 1893
there were published no less that one
thousand and fifty one. This is aside
from the publications devoted to special
or technical subjects, class which has
increased even more rapidly that those
first mentioned.
Our hurrying age gets the short
story instead of the three volumn
novel Of a former generation short ar
ticles instead of elaborate treatises.
The modern literary syndicates are
outgrowths Of this tendency, which
they foster. The result is there exists
temptation, which too often is yielded
to, for writers capable of the best kind
of work to produce hasty and inferior
qualities The careful student Of litera-
ture is compelled 10 admit that there
is desrth of great, new. literary work.
II is certain that from the most popu-
lar and brilliant of the present genera
ton Of American writers one can form
no list which gives promise of match
ing the works of Bryant. Prescott
Bancroft, Emerson, Longfellow. Haw-
thorne, Irving. Cooper. Whittier,
Holmes, Poe, Motley. Lowell or Hal
leck. The writers of today in seeking
to meet the demand of tolay are fail
ing to cultivate the power Of genuine
creation, and are losing such--to q de-
gree-as they may have possessed
This being an age of competition
rather than Of creation, books which
may properly be termed classic should
be demanded aud read. THE TRIBUNE
is able to satisfy this increasing
necessity of the times. Through
the possession of twenty thousand vol
umes of standard literature it is able
to furnish the works of all great au-
thors not only in America, but also
abroad, such as Walter Scott. Dickens,
ThaCkeray, Bulwer and others at such
email prices as will enable persons in
the most moderate circumstances to
possess a fine library at comparatively
small cost. Attention is called to the
list given iu another column OF
such standard works aud our readers
should improve the opportunity af.
forded them without delay. because
how long such privileges may be
within their grasp. it is impossible now
to predict.