The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-05-23
TWILIGHT'S
THINKLINGS
MODERN FICTION A CURSE
THE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
PRESS
ID ECENTLY | rambled into a

place. | couldn't imagine sensi-
BILE people buying such book as ]
saw in Outrageous" numbers Of
fered for sale at prices that
ranged from one to three dollars
a copy.
Modern fiction is for the most
part unworthy of recognition.
In fact, there are very few novels
now being published that will
live beyond a period of three.
months-and that length of life
is far too long. How many books
written thus far during the twen-
tieth century will be read so
years from now? Can you name
a book that came off the press
for the first time within the last
twenty years that stands out as
a literary masterpiece?
Something is wrong some
where when very little in the
form of fiction which now comes
from the book presses is entitled
to a place in either the public IL
brary or the American home.
Mr.. Simon L. Nye, president of
the American Booksellers Asso-
citation said short time ago, "A
book of fiction that has been pub
lished three months virtually is
dead, forgotten, and awaiting
removal to the bargain tables al
most without exception. From
the booksellers standpoint it
seems that the publisher striv-
ing in keen competition, aims to
see how many, not how worthy,
books he can publish in a given
period" Who will say that Mr..
Nye's statement is inaccurate?
INSTRUMENTATION today ours
es the field of imaginative liter
allure. | hear people occasionally
denounce the GRANDCHILDREN OF
Lertha IN. Clay, Charles Garvice,
Mrs. E. D. Z. N. Southworth and
others who wrote love stories
for a generation now gray with
age, but I'd rather see my chill
dren reading the "old-tlmers'
than the suggestive, salaclous
novels now found in the parlors
of American homes.
Did you ever look over the
magazines that are on sale at a
newsstand? A study of the peri
odical literature coming from
American presses reveals. dis
pusting amount of worthless
harmful articles and stories. De-
pravity at it's lowest ebb is fea-
tured and tinctured with vile
sensationalism. Confessions ~
of wives" unmarried mothers,
concubines, free-lovers, vampires,
human wrecks-are spread over
the nation and read by girls and
bows i'm their teens immoral
ity is condoned and explained.
Daring pictures appear as illus
trations so frequently as to blunt
finer sensibilities and give dis
torted conceptions of life. Feed
ing upon rotten fiction results in
mental storms and fearful laxlty
of conduct. Tell me what a per-
son reads, and I'll tell you what
he or she really is. Give a dog
raw meat and he becomes fero-
cious." some one has said.
Whether or not that statement
is true, do not know. However
let a girl, experiencing the mys-
teries of sex, read continuously
that which is lewd, suggestive,
and shortly she yields to the sa-
tanic promptings of the irrelilg-
ious ibertine. A young man who
Grams his mind with glorlfied
sin is ere long overcome by the
cravings of lust and goes IN
search of victim.
America must put literary
tastes on a higher plane. The
power of the printed page is so
great that it is folly to ignore the
influence of books and magazines.
You cannot legislate more wor-
thy literary tastes. The home,
the school and the church work
ing together can solve the prob
lens coming directly from COM
mercialized vulgarity and glori-
fed sin. After all, it is matter
of good home training, proper IN
struction in our public schools
and an effective presentation OF
Christian principles.
ZONE years ago ! pointed out the
evils 0f the foreign.lang unge |
~ press Of America. Immediately
I became the center Of u most abus'
I've attack. Prem alI parts Of the
United ktates received letters |
Continued on page 81