The Washington herald., 1913-03-13
Fred E. Woodward Tells Au-
dience More Persons Are
Needed to Dust Them.
QUALITY IS MUCH BETTER
English Now Appreeiating Writing Be-
ing Done BY American
Authors.

There are too many persons writing
books now. What the world wants is.
not more people to write books, but more
people to dust books, and to do 1t well.'
said Fred E. Woodward. of Woodward
& Lothrop. in the opening sentence Of
his lecture on Recent Tendencies in
Books" at the meeting of the District
of Columbia Library Association at the
Public Library last night
Mr.. Woodward heartily indorsed the
sentiments regarding the ownership of
books as expressed by Mayor Blanken-
burg. of Philadelphia, recently, when he
said good books make good citizens"
The man who has a collection of books
in his home, no matter how small 1t
may be in actual volume, is paving the
way for his children to become useful
men and women. II 1 had my way, NJ
home in the city would be without its
quota of books" said Mr.. Woodward.
Mr.. Woodward said that the steady
growth of population of this country for
the past fifty years has been paralleled
by an increase in the number of books
published from year to year and that
to a certain extent the books Of the day
reflect the thought and mind of the
people. The actual mass of available
good books. according to Mr.. Woodward
5000 new books being published an
nually in the world.
Quality Is Improving.
There has been a decided improve
ment in the quality as well as the guam
tity of novels which are distinctly Amer
lean in sentiment and location. written
by American authors. So decided has
this change become that We now see the
English public reading in large numbers
the best of our American novels. Time
was. and not so long ago. when nearly |
everything in desirable fiction came to |
us from England and the question as to |
whether there was such a thing as
American literature provoked only a |
smile. To-day in spite of the old tradi-
tons surrounding the names of our |
favorite English authors. our people |
both buy and read three times as many |
books written by American authors as |
they do those written by English
authors"
Speaking of works Of fiction. Mr.
Woodward said that in 1872 the total
number of books published was 1896.
with 1.n0 works of fiction, or a little
over per cent Mr.. Woodward said
that the writing of fiction forms but a !
small percentage of the whole output
OF the American literary market. .The
most hardened sceptic who thinks we
are on the verge of ruin because of our
liking for trashy reading said Mr.
woodward, may now take courage and
sit calmly by and observe what seems to
be steady and wholesome gain in the
production of meritoriovs books. Since
lss1 the whole number of books issued
In the United States has been aOS. $50, of
which number $50 have been fiction
only If.5 per cent. The largest propor-
tional increase during recent years has
been made in books of a serious nature"
Future of Business.
Speaking of the future of the publish
ing business, Mr. Woodward said that
We may be obliged some day in the fu-
ture in very self-defense to parcel out
to a limited number of persons the priv
llese of publishing certain books as was
done in the last years of Queen Bess
In our time it is probable that almost
every single form Of literature is in a
state of ever production, and there is no
fisputing the fact that many publishers
so-called are but manufacturers of book
AS epoch books Of our times were
designated by Mr.. Woodward Hudsons
Law of Psychic. Phenomena. Rryces
American Commonwealth. Bouck Whites
Call of the Carpenter. Bergson's Creative
Evolution. Duncan's The New KnowI-
.dge. The Election Theory by Johnstone
Stoney and Prof I. j. Sees Capture
Theory of the Solar System.
Referring to the demand of the book
buying public, Mr.. Woodward said that
t does not care for short stories "for
i is notable fact that those writer's ,
who excel in short story writing are
prosy or else given to padding !
when they attempt novel, While the
.eading public continues to call for and
cad its old time favorites. we must ad- J
nit. sadly but certainly. that the great
mass Of books now published find their a
way with unerring certainty to the lit {
'rary graveyard OF oblivion"