The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-02-01
CRUSADE IN CATHOLIC BELGIUM
HOW THE EVIL OF BAD LITERA.
TURE HAS BEEN GREATLY
LESSENED.
The Organization Which Has Been
Dealing With This Important Matter
is Achieving Remarkable Success
How the Movement Began-How it
Prospered.

For long time. the level of Bel
GUMS libraries was far below that of
the general culture and artistic temp
erament of this Land of Art" Not
only that, but the general reading
habit, where it had not fallen into
desuetude, became infected with the
poison of the modern lucre-fed press.
All classes alike became victims of
the plague; and conditions so abomi-
nable presented themselves that even
the Liberal Senator, Ed. Picard, could
say that great Cleaning was neces-
sary.
But Belgium's intrepid Catholicity,
the SCARED warrior of many heroic
struggles, heard the call to arms,
city of Louvain, marshalled an i'm
pregnable army, and from 1907 until
the present time has been fighting the
evil successfully. The second edition
of the large octave catalogue of over
one thousand pages of this organiza-
ton (Bibliotheque Choisie) gives a
clear insight into the extent and vol
ume of it's undertaking. It's object is
the diffusion of good reading matter
and the cultivation of legitimate
reading habit. They appeal to the Ia
| tent art in the Belgium breast, prick
the personal conscience, and make all
| feel that true culture lies deep in the
treasure house of Holy Mother Church
| 1t is not call to classes for the rear
| ing of bookworms, but realization
that true culture must be part and
parcel of each and all-of the laborer
as well as of the professor, of the
artisan as well as of the professional
man. If the workingman was receiv-
ing concessions in the form of shorter
hours, he should be able to employ his
time profitably in the enriching of his
moral and mental capabilities, says A.
F., in the Dubuque Tribune. Such is
the scope of this work, a work that is
lasting, because it is concommitant
and coextensive with other Christian
reform measures.
Selection of Books.
1t is quite interesting to see what
/ was uOuO LII 81 1h1pOA Lc@Ab q h11bCA c0
the selection and distribution of books.
Upon the solution of this delicate
problem must ultimately be builded
the success or failure of the whole
venture, for any undertaking SO Catho-
lie in its aims could not long subsist
on a narrow-minded policy, while on
the other hand it could not be as toler-
ant as the modern library without
gainsaying the very object of its exis-
tence. The Belgian policy is one
which in the first place does not neces-
sarily exclude books from the pens of
non-Catholic authors, nor does it even
exclude books of doubtful moral and
religious teachings-if they are other
wise considered necessary for library
purposes. The departure from the
path of present-day methods is in the
manner of distribution and the mantle
of protection placed over readers.
This latter is very unique and shows
the skill which accompanied even the
details of so vast an undertaking. For
example, u" is used to designate all
books OF especial interest to juveniles,
"R" (reserve), and R r." (doublement
reserve) for all books to which reserve
and caution should be applied In their
use A symbol placed after the au-
thor's name tells the management at
a glance whether there are any other