Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-20

Lifting of the customs ban on Voltaire'S
"Candide" is greeted by sarcastic COM
ment on the idea of permitting GUS
toms inspectors to serve as literary crit
les, and suggestions that perhaps the
incident has tended to revive interest
in the classics.
Taking note of the fact that "the Gus
toms authorities at Washington, after
solemn elaboration, have overruled
their scrupulous Boston agents" the
Louisville Times observes: "A country
at the gates of which the immortal
Candide-'perhaps the finest short
story in all literature according to DR..
Durant's widely accepted Story of Phil
osophy'-is placed under grave suspicion
as obscene but in which the plaintiff
sured of a fortune from the films, might
have interested Voltaire himself"
"At any rate" thinks the Fort Wayne
News-Sentinel, "the customs officials
wisely decided that importation Of a
dozen copies Of a particular edition OF
this 170-year-old story would not be
utterly ruinouS to the land Of the free
and the home of the brave. We are
grateful for the common sense of the
customs officials, and we are also CRATE
full to the censor for having sent a
to make discovery or rediScovery of a
great writer's great book. Let us hope
that he will, in the future, attract at
tention to other unfortunately neglected
classics"
I'VE should like to hear Voltaire's
expression of gratitude" remarks the
Cincinnati Times-Star, 'for this Off
cious publicity by public officials. The
philosopher of Fornay would have
smiled quizZically. He suffered much
from officious officials in his own day.
new suffering with cynical indifference,
as was his won't in the famous novel"
The Times Star believes that 1.-The ar
rant stupidity of the seizure is really
dangerous sign of the times. Old books
that may contain passages which did
not offend the people of another century
would ordinarily be read only by those
whose quest is not for the obscene, but
for an appreciation Of the customs and
viewpoints Of our ancestors"
ITO permit customs agents, even
when supplied with translators, to pass
upon the material that may be studied
by the best minds of the country Is
to put an intolerable halter on scholar
ship" ayers the Hartford Courant, with
the suggestion that "the situation may
be improved by amending the law, but
it would be even more helped by the
appointment of officials possessed OF
sufficient common sense and good judg-
ment SO that its enforcement will not
become a travesty on intelligence"
THE list of distinguished books. an
cient and modern, that have been de-
clared too improper to be admitted to
the United States is long" declares the
Chicago Daily News. lone must sus-
pect that the common run of customs
censors do not know literary and arts
tic merit when they see it. Good-na-
tured as the American publideis, it does
not like the idea Of being made utterly
ridiculous"
THE release of 'Candide' from the
official list of things obscene" is COM
mended by the Baltimore Sun. which
adds: 1.-THE exercise of common sense
and reasonable judgment in questions
of censorship is rare enough to be ap-
preciated, even when 1t appears as an
isolated and accidental and belated
phenomenon. One may hope that there
is definite, practical aspect to this
decision and that the Treasury Depart
ment has at last realized that the in
Spectors at various local Offices are run
ming literary censorship into the ground
and rejecting upon the taste, education,
humor and intelligence of its entire per-
sonnet"
"This gem of satiric literature" re-
marks the Omaha World Herald, sis
for the time being officially as innocent
of obscenity as the thirty eighth chapter
Of Genesis. But although 'Candide'
manages to scratch out a clean bill of
health, the evil of the Federal censor
ship is In no wise abated. The-power is
still vested in men incapable Of forming
correct judgments in the matter to ex-
clude from the country or from the
mails literary works Of the highest
merit"
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle advises:
1.-THE United States has exonerated
'Candide.' Massachusetts, has done
nothing Of the sort. The sooner the
Is de luxe copies of the 1850 work are