New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-06

unwise efforts to outlaw books that
have not come up to the standard of
righteousness arbitrarily fixed by in
dividuals not always qualified to Judge
literature intelligently. Some of the
volumes thus suppressed are undoubt-
edly harmful to the young. and it is
significant fact that nearly every one
OF these deserve suppression for its
vulgarity and bad taste, If for nothing
else. Others are so stupid that they
need only be left alone to suppress
themselves, and they will do the Job
more quickly and effectualIy than any
society for the prevention of things.
But it is not until the book has been
suppressed that it's influence begins
The author and publisher raise their
voices in vehement protest against this
effort on the part Of a few fanatics
to Kill good literature and crush native
talent. The log-rolling group hasten
to make the cause their own and every
other writer and critic is pestered with
opportunities to join the fray.
The author then vindicates himself
Of the charge Of immortality on the
ground that he has merely described
what he calls "life," in which conten-
ton he~receives the hearty support of
his fellow craftsmen of the noble guild
of back-scratchers, and straightway
some leaden-footed satirist arises to
prove the Bible immoral. The pub
Usher who knows his business-and
most of them do-rubs his hands in
glee, and takes counsel with the author
not infrequently a master hand in
the varied arts of publicity-as to the
best means of turning the slender VOL
ume of discussion already trickling
through the columns of the press into
a roaring torrent of notoriety. From
the great body of citizens who delight
in seeing their names in print, and Of
whom there has been no lack since
Cadnus invented letters, come recruits
of every known calling eager to help
the good work along by giving full pub
Lefty to their private opinions
The eminent candy manufacturer,
whose name appears on every package
of his sweets, denounces the book as
harmful to the young; the artist of
the Greenwich Village school declares
it masterpiece of virile fiction, and
the church deacon drops his collection
plate to warn his congregation against
the insidiously evil influence of OBJ
scene literature, taking pains to men
ton the volume that has aroused his
wrath. The fact that not one of these
disputants is competent to form an
opinion on the subject does not detract
in the least from the attention paid to
their utterances.
Meanwhile neither author nor pub
Usher has been idle. The former as
serts that his work is no more immoral
than several others he names, every
one of which is on his own publishers
list, and his associate hastens to in
form the reading public that in the
conduct of his business he has been
actuated solely by the holy purpose of
presenting the primal facts of life for
the guidance of ignorant youth. The
free use of the term primal facts of
life," which should have been copy
righted by him or her who coined it.,
shows that the book trade, like the
medical profession, concentrates it's
valuable discoveries to the general
good instead of using them for per-
sonal profit.
The constant reiteration Of this
phrase, coupled with whols-hearted