The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-02
From the Washington Post.

Y IOH llib w | OSl.
 THE latest organization for the pur- (Q pose of nagging respectable and
 law-abiding people is called the watch and Ward Society of New Eng land" It's object is to regulate the litera- ture of the S5,0OO, 900 of human beings in this country The society does not pro- pose. at least in so many words, to say what the generation shall read, but 1t proposes that end by indirection in un- dertakng to say what the generation shall not read. Which comes to the same thing in the long run and, there- fore leads up to the real ambition of the new evangelists.
 Looking over the prospectus, as vague ly outlined by The Posts special dis patch from Boston. we find that the Watchers and Warders do not seem con cerned for the suppression of faisehood, or libel, or malice, or meanness. They do not care how much transformation or prejudice may be disseminated by the printing press. What the society pro- noses is the suppression of what the an- nointed ones are pleased to regard as the indecent or obscene" and no little light is thrown upon their conception of indecency and obscenity by the specifica- ton of Rabelais, Dean Swift. Boccaccio, Ceryantes, and a few others as writers whose productions will take high places in their Index Expurgatorius. In other words, we suppose, the Watchers and Warders intend to anathematize and de- stroy all books which contain naughty words and phrases, or deal with actions which are not openly discussed In the lest red-nosed circles of Boston.
 We shall watch the development of this admirable propaganda with breathless in- terest. The destruction of books not ap- proved by certain classes and tribunals has been out of fashion during the past five or six centuries but there seems no reason, in view of other recent reactions in various departments of pubic actiVity' why it should not be restored at this par ticular time. Upon the whole, we rather think 1t would add to the general gayety and in fact, supply a much-needed Ink in a chain of harmonious exaltation not vet quite complete. We have societies which tell us what we shall and snail not drink; when we shall and shall not get shaved or call cab-a hundred other so- licitudes and interventions, all for our moral rescue, of course; why not a soci- ety which shall guide ns in our reading If we cannot be trusted to regulate our own behavior or manage our own chlid- ren. surely we need the help of Boston societv in the selection of literature ana the training of our intellectual and spir- itual growth.
 Of course. the forbidden list will be much longer one than is now indicated for when a ready determined organization of Boston busybodies gets warmed up 10 the always fascinating work of meddlins with other peoples affairs, the horizon or affliction dilates indefinitely. For ex- ample the Watchers and Warders will have to expurgate quite number Of the books of the Old Testament. Then there is Shakespeare, whose lyrics are really dreadful, to say nothing of certain of his plays, such as King Lear," etc. Then there are Beaumont and Fletcher, Dry den, Fielding, Sterne, Smollett-actually you know, Roderick Random was a sad sad dog; Squire Partridge said the most awful things to his fine lady. London