The New York herald., 1922-07-30
CHRONICLE AND.
CO NJ M E Mt
BY ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE.


MI HAT is an immoral book?
w There are many angles of that
question that call for discussion at
the present time; a certain start
ling frankness in a number of the
novels that have been published in
the past six months; the general
tendency Of parents of to-day to let
their children have their own way
IN the selection of their reading,
ind the renewed activities all over
{he country of societies that exist
tvowedly for the purpose of con-
lerving the literary morals of the
republic. A reply in a recent issue
lf the book section to a somewhat
Excited correspondent who pro-
fessed hot indignation over the
seizure of copies of the works of
Poccaccio and Rabelais offered the
buggestion that the contents of the
book did not matter nearly so much
As the fitness or unfitness Of the
person who read it. In other words,
that there is all the difference in
the world between the man of 40
buying the "Decameren" for his Ii
brary, at Scribner's or buttons or
Putnam's, and the schoolboy of IA
who purchases it furtively from the
leering peddler who points out the
Schoice" bits. Yet that suggestion
does not quite cover the whole
question.
IN HE fundamental question Of
L censorship is the old question
of the absolute monarch. Once
upon time no one challenged the
"divine right" of a king. II all
kings had been wise and just, re-
publics would have been much
slower in coming. But one day
some one thought about the right
divine Of kings to govern wrong,
That was just the point. The per-
feet, all wise censor of books would
be, at any rate, considered in the
abstract, an admirable institution.
Great tolerance, broad judgment,
profound knowledge of all litera-
ture and of the human heart, would
be among the requisites for such
an ideal. Unfortunately, the per-
son possessing such qualifications
is usually too busy doing something
creative in this world to find time
for regulating the affairs of others.
There is no thought of questioning
the sincerity or good intentions of
the people who make up these So
cieties for improvement" But too
frequently the moving minds in
these organizations are about as
immature as the mind of the school
boy of IA who should not read the
"Decameron." Too often it is moron
Intelligence. unhealthily curious
and excitable about the "fieshly" in
fiction, that sits in judgment.
OF the books that were seized
~ when the Offices of a New
York publisher were raided two
weeks or so ago we shall say moth
ing, for we have not read them, and
had little curiosity about them until
they were made glaringly conspic-
uous (and incidentally probably
highly attractive to the immature)
by the news of the seizure Whether
Or not the seizure was justified we
do not know. But to exercise re-
preston not tempered by judgment
would be to exclude from circula-
tion at least two-thirds of the really
important novels of the world. To
Illustrate: Thackeray's Vanity
Fair" would of course have to be
banned on account of the doubtful
relations between the Marquis Of
Steyne and Mrs Rawdon Crawley;
the episode of Fanny Bolton would
bar "Pendennis" certain irregular
tiles in the life of Sir Barnes New