New-York tribune., 1919-06-08

His confession is appropri-
stely abject:
4My general ignorance Of these
rorks of Az for 50 am told they
.,e--is profound and highly i'm
ror.ap,. am the only one know
ubo is capable Of judging them en-
,i-clv uron their merits without any
n~eiudice. 1t Is always fatal 10 be
,op,e familiar with anything which
.or wish 10 estimate correctly and
viii absolute justice You are bound
20 LAKE on d particular point OF view,
WHICH, while personally interesting
and more or less conclusive, is essen
tisIly wor. hlcss from practical stand
mint have talked with great many
nsople who are addicted to the habit
of reading best sellers, but have never
GOTTEN anything out OF them that was
Of the slightest valne- Most of them
are silent on the subject They Dc
vour their best sellers, one after the
other, without comment They have no
views on the subject, any more than
one has views or chocolate ca1amrls
Others are distinctly vouble, bnt en-
trely responsible They love some
best sellers with a passionate love-
although they never can tell you why
except to smile idiotically and de-
clare they are the best things they
ever read They hate oiher best sellers
with the same passion and cannot
understand how any one else can like
them AS a basic and absolutely i'm
pregnable proposition, I have there
fors great sympathy for the writers
Of best sellers, because they are read
By so many people that any genuine
estimate Of them is impossible They
certainly need 10 be defended by some
one who does moi read them
There ara also exclusive, highly in
.ellertual and no doubt occasionally
intelligent people who do not regard
best sellers as works of art, who de-
clare that they are unworthy of se1l-
oas respect But ! cannot say that
me opinion of these critics seriously
interests me- From my vulgar and
admittedly commercial Viewpoint best
sellers have one great merit They
are read By large number of people,
and this enables their authors TO live
in ease and comfort Any ONE who in
,hese davs can manage TO live in ease
and comfort Is certainly worthy of
ldmira ton l. is great thing TO be
able 20 maintain yourself without bor-
rowing money from your friends or
occasloning them any particular anx-
ietE. ! have never met the author Of
best seller, although | once called on
Darlington Tootn-or is il Tarhing-
ton Booth and found him out, to
ny dismay- For am quite sure if
eyer did meet one ! should not ap-
preach him beforehand with the
thought that after all II might be
veil for ne to lock up al my valuables
10 the safe and to remove my Water
bury watch from ny of wris1- And that
Is great deal 10 say of any maker Of
literature, alleged or otherwise Why
Is 1t any more disgraceful to sell all
tne product o. your brains while yo1
are alive and can enjoy the proceeds
as IN the case OF George Barr Open
helm OF Mary Johnston McCutcheon-
than 10 be Ike Shakespeare and Bun
ysn and others ! might mention. and
have the sales come long time after
YOU are dead.
IN every age there is certain
small body Of professional highbrows,
VINO set Up their Own standards as the
only standards worth while and as
sumo that Il any book commands
'arge audience il must necessarily be
unworthy. would not condemn these
'nends unjnstly. will even go so far
ss 10 say that man may be mem
Der o. the Society Of Arts and Letters
and still have lurking somewhere
".nin him the power TO become
sno~n Bur do claim that Just be
cause an author IS read is no reason
Wy ne should be treated just like any
''alnary millionaire. An ordinary
millionaire extracts money from others
'tnoQt any power 20 interest them
'aHns tae proceeding. They do not
~ up nights enjoying it. He NAV
shp them, but not in that way.
Nobody likes 70 give up money to an
| ''ohary millionaire, and the process
30 unpleasant that, in order to get
s results, the millionaire has 70 do
'as'ness IN devious ways. Not 50 the
'.hor o. the best seller. He is frank
so open, and everybody comes up and
~ money down before him gladly.
'Ah the feeling that they arc getting
'''ne'ning for II that they can talk
''"ae 70 Their friends.
can zee no particular reason whv
~ majority should not rule in litera-
"s az in other respecta, and why
- sh'a4d not have the privilege Of
..ns standard of literature that
/ W recognized ar the one and only
| saSa'd "ay IL not Harold Bell
v.'''i gfeater than Henry James u?
are not "inston Cecil Thurston
r.< w. <n0mphry Ward Hcrgesheirner and
| t~sD'nnor 49,, crath greater than Samuel
s' and Thomas Lovc pcaoody4
hs'de. howeger. fran ,,n o,,v,, 70