The sun., 1919-03-16
Chr Eihrariatr' 8 Uururr
CONDUCTED BY
FRANK PARKER STOCKBRIDGE.
THE RETURN OF THE UPLIFT.

uANING served effectively in time of a
medium for the propaganda of food conSer-
walton, Thrift Stamps and Liberty Loans, as we'll as
for the dissemination of the reports Of the Govern
ment press agents, the public libraries of the
United States are now to become the chief agents
of paternal bureaucracy for the propagation and
induction Of the Upft. fhat at least, is the I'M
preston one gets from a circular that has recently
been sent out from the United States Bureau of
Education to all librarians
Librarians are but human; no doubt many of
them will welcome the opportunity TO distribute
the 'literature" designed to confer happiness upon
the American people without realizing that they
assisting TO lay the foundations of precisely the
sort of a machine for the control Of public
opinion by the central Government that was
successfully SET up in GERMANY machine that,
when it was al last in good working order made it
possible for the ,Junkers who had built if to
the whole nation as and population
of seventy millions tool TO further their own
base ends 4
Where the Harm Lies. .....,.>...s>
Ii looks harmless enough to tell the people What
the different departments at Washington arc doing
for them and TO put the people in the way of using
the help the Government offers to farmers, teach
ers, business men, workers in every sort Of activity
The harm comes in letting the Government bureaus
tell their stories. The one form of censorship
that is always justified-that is, indeed, always
necessary-is not censorship by the Government
but censorship Of the Government That is true,
whatever the form of Government or by whatever
label the party that happens TO control the Govern
mcnt may be identified.
The deusiOn that happiness can be done up in
parcels and passed out by a sort of benevolent com
binatiOn of Santa Claus and Mr.. BurlcsOn is one
that persists in the bureaucratic mind 1t has been
repeated often that many otherwise intelligent
people, including some librarians, actually believe
it. And the habit of relying some one else to do
ones thinking is the easiest habit in the world to
acquire, while its inevitable consequence is the
blind acceptance of every statement made by those
i'll authority. What America needs to-day is to
decentralize its thinking.
Much has been said and written about the books
that have Influenced German thought and brought
about the state of kultur that made the war in
evtable. Some put the blame on Nietzsche, some on
Tretschke some ON Bernhard But the book that
really formed the German character was written
by none of these. 1t is called Kt'uder ind Haus.
maedchen and its authors were the Brothers
Grimm. For it is characteristic of the German peo-
pie to believe in fairies to accept it as fact that
by some magic with the operation of which they do
not concern themselves Government can do every
thing, and whatever it tells them no matter how
fantastic fairy tale, is true.
A Triumph of Standardization
The danger in any organized effort TO uplift any
people is the. danger of getting people into the
habit of being uplifted instead of finding things
ont for themselves once attended meeting called
TO consider the state of the public schools of New
York. One gentleman connected with the school
board proudly declared that the system was so
highly organized that at quarter past one in the
afternoon say the superintendent could look at his
watch and confidently declare that at that precise
moment every child in every class of Grade 6-B in
every of the $50 schoolhouses of New York city
reeiting lesson from page JIG of the elemen-
tary work on history then in use This marvellous
illustration Of a standardized system of standard
lied schoolhouses containing standardized classes
of standardized children studying standardized les
Sons from standardized books was hailed With de-
light as a triumph of efficiency in education It
probably was not true, but it what the bureau
Gratis in eAarge2of public education in New York
wanted To- be. trse And there are perfectly we'll
meaning geRtlesuen i'm every department in Wash