Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-09-01
eliot NO JUDGE
OF LITERATURE?
50 Western Railway D'scaGds
Five Feet Of Books"
"nEAL READING" INSTALLED,

James J. Hills Prctege Consults
American and European Authorities.
Takes Ballot From Passengers and
Replaces Harvard Heads Selections
With Fourteen Foot Shelf.
The Burlington through trains have
discarded the five feet of books" Sc
lected by DR.. Eliot, former president
of Harvard. as the Quintessence of the
worlds classical literature. In the
place Of this library the fourteen foot
shelf was installed.
This change was ordered by o. l..
Dickson. assistant to the president
of the Burlington railroad. In explain
ing his reasons Mr. Dickson said:
DR. Eliot of Harvard doesn't know
what real literature is. He may be
scholar and considered an authority by
the literary world but he knows moth
ing about what the American people
read, what they desire to read or what
they should read.
EIiot's Ideas Not Popular.
when these Eliot selections were
placed on our trains the books were
locked up and could be secured from
our porter. This attendant kept a care
| full record, showing that from Nov. y.
| 1909. to Jan. 16. 1910. there We're only
thirty-tive removals from the five foot
shelf. Arabian Nights and Fruits of
Solitude were tied for the highest hon
ors. each having been taken out five
times. Only twenty-five volumes We're
touched at all.
During this time DR.. Eliot's books
We're available to about $4,000 people.
They represented all classes Of Amer
lean citizenship.
I'm answer to my inquiries Professor
Peck of Columbia university, Dr.. Ly-
man Abbott and many other literary
lights, both in this country and Eu
rope without single exception ad-
mitted that DR.. Eliot's selections did
not afford what might be called popu
lar reading.
Has List Of Own.
"They also sent me Il list Of what
they thought the American public real
ly liked. and from their selections and
ballots cast by our passengers the fol
I,,,.;,,,. ,,a,,. ,,,, l,,,er,, D., .o,.. a.,
~" ms ooo". '''.'' ~ '"Mo '"N
place of Dr. Eliot's five foot shelf
Marjorie Daw and Other People" AL
drich: Short Stories" Balzac: "Obiter
! Dicta." Augustine Blrrell; res Judica-
tao =" "Jove In O,1 CJothes and Other
Stories" and .zoadoc Pine ard othci
Sonn ,c 'D,. .,1 O,har sto.tes
Richard Harding Davis: Robinson CRU
soc, De Foe; us Defcnse and Other
Affairs of Biblionaniac" and "A Little
. nDoh OF IrohIso'E dneS, i;uSene ,ttu
"Railway TRANSFORMATION" T. s. fladey:
"Options." o Henry; ''Vo!sunga saga.
etc. ice''nu!c .u'es' . 1oior o'uu'es n..u
'Cantain Courageous" Kipling: "Ratlroac
Freight Rates" l.. q. McPherson; 'Feder-
~ % l,,,cs tinr
ner Pai.srave; "Ivanhoe." Scott; Papa
Bouchard," Molly Elliot seaweii; shake
sieilre; '"e,ee sro,,,o s,,nI,a,,
Whispering Smith" F. H. spearman;
"The Merry Mon and Other Tales" ana
Ireasnre ts,'nu; r,s ast.ray ..Cost gan.
.tallzntlon and Estimated Value of Amer
lean Railways" S. Thompson; "Railway
S'aris.ics Oh 'ne n,'ef fy ," I,yrinia
Tracov. .Stories by American Authors
ten volumes; "Stories by English Au-
thors. Ten volumes; stories ,,, o i,,h,o Al
mnnac. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
and principal current magazines.