The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-24
REGULATE AUTHORS
CREATION or CENSOR TO PASS oN
 BOOKS AND PLAYS.
Some of Them Think PuhI,c Heguiatfcn Likely
 to C0me


 MeW fork. May 3,--(speciaL )-The asItation over the Government suner- ssion or railroads. the curtailment of pis fortunes. or the question of nure Iood regulation. is likely to be sur passed oy the outcry for and against ene estanhshment of an official cen. solsnIp oI books, magazines and plays unoer state or National authority, a proposal which is being advocated here and which 1t is proposed to urge in otner parts of the country.
 The idea of an official body to de- eide what books Americans may read or what plays they shall see at first was treated as something of A joke. put those who favor the plan insist mat tney intend to carry forward their campaign vigorously and already they have enlisted the support of a num- per or Influential organizations and of prominent men and women.
 AS a result publishers writers, the- atrlcal managers and playwrights arc up in arms against the proposal. The amount of money invested in the pub fishing of books and magazines and the producing of plays runs up into tens of millions, the greater part of which is represented by enterprises centering in New York The subject, therefore. has an important commer- cial aspect aside from it's moral bear ings. In fact 1t is estimated that in New York alone theM are upward of 25.ooo persons who derive their in- comes from work connected in one way or another with the production of popular literature. and this is exclus- i've of those engaged in the purely me- chanical side of the work.
 Those who are behind the movement, however, say that they are not to be deterred by any arguments based on the possible money loss resulting from the adoption of their plan. They pro- pose to secure the cooperation of va rious religious organizations, the W, c. T. U., and other bodies already in- terested in the campaign for purity in literature and on the stage and hope to enlist the active interest of Presi- dent Roosevelt. who is said to be in sympathy with the idea. Their posi- tion is that divorce and other social evils which they believe to be under mining American family life are en- subjects in current literature and on the stage. They assert that these books and plays on account of their cleverness or the popularity of their authors cause people who would oth- erwise oppose these things to accept them as natural and inevitable and fin- ally to regard them with actual favor Ot AL lcdSL WlLu IOleTdtiOns
 T believe that divorce and kindred evils are tolerated and accepted by the people," said Mrs. Jean M. Hyde. head of the movement for purity in literature conducted by the W. c. T. U., "as entirely normal incidents and experiences of life in consequence of every day familiarity with them in the pages of modern fiction. I have for years made a special study of the tendency and effect. of this kind of reading and have been all but discour- aged at the astounding indifference of reformers to this tremendous force which acts directly on the people and to large extent decides their opin- ions and determines their customs . Many, most interested in uplift, be- vail the result of these formativa agencies as evidenced in modern con ditions. But they make the mistake of treating effects as the point of at- tack instead of seeking out, or even recognizing plainly evident causes
 ''The whole agitation for an offlcial censorship of books is d part of the craze for the regulation of every con ceivabie phase of human activity that has taken possession of the people of this country within the past few years" said a publisher who brings out many books by popular writers. Tt may have been founded in reason in the beginning but 1t certainly has run to ridiculous lengths. From a moral viewpoint there is no nation in the world so exacting in the stand ards that 1t demands of it's writers as is the United States. So familiar is this to the publishing trade that