The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-09-25

which our medical men assure us
carry disease germs in their too widely
fingered pages. Free libraries are IN
doubtedly very useful resorts for bet
ting men. They can run in, glance at
the latest sporting items" and run
out again. But why ratepayers should
support such houses of call for these
gentry remains a mystery which one
would have to pierce through all the
wool and wobble OF municipal cor
.porations to solve. An American pro
fessor" (there are so many OF them)
spoke to me the other day in glowing
terms of Andrew Carnegie He's
cute, you bet!' he remarked; "he goes
one better than Pears Soap. Pears
has got to pay for the upkeep of his
hoardings, but Carnegie plants his
down in the shape of libraries and
gets the British ratepayer to keep
them all going! Amt he spry!"
Apropos of America and things
American, there is just now a pretty
little story started in the press on both
sides Of the water about English fiction
no longer being wanted in the United
States. The children of the eagle are
going to make their fiction themselves.
All power to their elbows. But Eng
lish authors will do themselves no
harm by inquiring carefully into this
report 1t may even pay some Of them
to send over a private agent on their
own behalf to study the American book
stores and take count of the thousands
of English fiction which are selling
there like hot cakes. ITO quote a choice
expression of transatlantic slang. 1t is
quite evident that the children Of the
eagle purchase English fiction. 1t is
equally evident that the publishers who
cater for the children of the eagle are
anxious to get English fiction cheap,
and are doing this little deal Of the
hue Orrf Of
sense of urgency. 1t is all right, Of
course! If l were an American pub
Usher and had to pay large prices to
popular English authors for popular
English fiction (noW that piracy" is
no longer possible), I should naturally
tell those English authors that they are
not wanted in America and that IL IS
very good and condescending Of me to
consider their wares at all. I should
give well-known English author from
S100 to $500 for the sole American
rights of his or her newest production
and proceed TO make $4,000 to $1,000
profit out of it. That kind Of thing is
always called business" 1 should
never suspect the English. author OF
being so base as to send over and get
legal statements as to how his or her
book was selling, or to take note Of the
thousands of copies stacked up every
day in the stores to melt away as soon
chasers.
Mo- AS a strictly honorable person 1
should hope that the English author
would stay at home and mind his or
her business. But let us suppose that
~ the American publishers latest delicate
"feeler" respecting the mo demand
for English literature" were true, 1t
would seem that Americans, even more
than the British, require to be taught
how to read. II one may judge from
their own output OF literature the les
son Is badly needed Ralph Waldo
Emerson remains as yet their biggest
literary man. He knew how to read
and from that knowledge learned how
to write. But no American author has
come after him that can be called
greater than he, or as great Concern
ing the art of fiction, the American
make" of II. as exemplified in David
Harum' and Mrs. Wigs of the Cab
bage Patch" is, whatever the imne-
date Catching on OF it may be, dis
tinctly ephemeral, of the utmost
ephemeral. Such literature" would
not exist even in America IL Americans
knew how" to read. What is called
the yellow journalist would not exist
either, because a really educated reader
of things worth reading would not READ
it-and it would, therefore, be case
of the wicked ceasing to trouble and
the weary being at rest.
There Is a general complaint nova
days-especially among authors-of the
"decadence" Of literature It's true
enough. But the cause Of the "deca-
dence' is the same-simply and solely
that people cannot and will not read.
They do not know how to do it,. If they
ever did know in the bygone days OF
Dickens and Thackeray they have for
gotten Every book is too long for
them Yet scarcely any novel Is pub
lished now as long as the novels OF
Dickens, which were so eagerly de-
voured at one time by tens OF thou
sands of admiring readers. A short,
risky. rather nasty book reviewers
would call IL strong, but that is only a.
little Joke of theirs-they speak of this
kind of literature as though 1t were
cheese) finds most favor with the up
per- circles of society in Great Britain
and America. Not so with the mil
lion" though The million prefer SIM
pier fare-a1d they read good deal
though scarcely in the right way. 1t is
more a case of Swimming" than read
ing. If they are ever taught the right
way to read they may become wiser
than political governments would like
them to be. For right reading makes
right thinking = and right thinking
makes right living-and right living
would result In what2 Welli-for one
thing, members Of councils and other
ruling bodies would be lazier than
ever, with less to do-and the education
bill would no longer be necessary, as
the fact Of simply knowing how to
read would educate everybody without
further trouble.
Dear sir or madam-readl Don't
"slxim"l Learn your letters. Study the
pronunciation and meaning OF words
thoroughly first. and then you may
proceed to sentences. Gradually you
will be able to master a whole passage
of prose or poetry In such a manner
as to actually understand It. That will
be great thing And once you under
stand II you may even possibly remem-
Der Il. And then-no matter how much
you may have previously been. educat-
ed--your education will only have just
begun!
Copyright 1904. by Central News and
Press Exchange)