The sun., 1916-09-09
AUTHORS. LEAGUE ACTS
AGAINST CENSORSHIP

The question OF literary censorship
has been brought before the Authors
League Of America through the at
tempted suppression ,f Mr.. Theodore
Drelser's book The Genius" by the
New York Society for the Suppression Of
Vice. This body. self-con stituted and
supported by private contributions has
demanded not only that publication be
suspended but tina; the plates and all ex-
ist.ng copies be destroyed.
Although Mr.. Dresser Is not a member
OF tnc league, IL acccded to the request
OF his publishers that he be permitted
TO present his case before the executive
committee of that body.
II was the sense of the committee that
1.-THE Genius" was not subject to on
demnation by the vice society, that il
Vas neither 'iewd. licentious nor OBJ
scene," that the test applied In such
cases was narrow and unfair and that
unless modified II would prevent the
sale of many classics and Of much OF
he serious work which Is now being
offered and that the Authors League
take such action as may be possible to
prevent the suppression of the work
complained OF.
MIR. Dresser commended that In the ten
months the book had been out not a
single criticism had been produced con-
dcmning 1t as "lewd and obscene as
the Vice Society alleged. 81 look on this
interference with myself or any other
serious writer as an outrage" said Mr..
Dresser. and I fear for the ultimate in
trlligencc of America. A band Of wasp
like censors has appeared n is at
tempting to put the quietus on our lit
e%rature. which Is at last showing signs
of breaking the bonds OF Puritan.sm
under which II has 80 long struggled in
vain. Poe. Hawthorne. Whitman and
Th"reau have each In turn been the butt
and jlbe of uninteiligent persons until by
now we are well nigh the laughing stock
of the world. When will We lay aside
the swaddling clothes forced on us by
the ~antiquated theories OF ignorant
moralists and their uneducated follow
ers. and stand up free thinking men and
women.
I me. this interference by the
Vice Society with serious letters Is
the worst and most corrupting form
Of oppression conceivable to the hui
mand mind, plumbing az II does
the depths Of ignorance and intol-
erance and checking Initiative and in
SEPARATION at its source. Life, II 1t Is
anything at all. is a thing to be OBJ
served. studied. interpreted. We do not
know too much about IL; In fact. as
Yet We know hardly anything of II. II
is our great realm OF discovery. The
artist. II left to himself. may be safely
trusted 10 observe. synchronize and ar
ticulate human knowledge in the most
palatahle and delightful form. There
~ no compulsion on any one to read.
one must pay to do so. Furthermore
one must have taste and a brain and
heart to understand. With all these
safeguards and a double score OF capable
critics In every land to praise or blame,
what real need Is there for a cepsor, far
less fitted than any OF the working
critics. to indulge HIS personal predilec-
ton and opposition. and 10 appeal to the
courts II disagreed with. The publisher
OF Mr.. Gilbert Cannon's latest novel
a work that probably has no greater de-
feet than being intelligent and true--is
warned hafor" ha hrings " ont thai, he
will be prosecuted. Similarly. Mr.. Prey
hyszewskis Homo Sapiens' Ia at once
seized and its publisher frightened into
Withdrawing IL. This also was true Of
'Hagar Reveliy' as well as Of the eminent
August F'orel's The Sexual Question A
literary reign of terror Is being at
tempted. where will It endT'