The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1945-02-08
Notes from
Bacon Memorial
Library
BY Helen nj. Boothe

moral book2 WHO u 10 b the
judge?
Government censorship during
time Of war Is another question,
entirely, and one we are not dis
cussing. Both you and ] recognize
the fact that during wartime there
must be government censorship Of
news. 1t is interesting TO note,
however, that during the present
conflict there has been Q continuous
attack upon the rigidity Of govern
ment censorship by nearly al the
American correspondents, news
papers, and periodicals. The attack
has been partly successful, too. You
have undoubtedly noticed that the
rigidity Of government censorship
has relaxed to a great measure. II
was nearly three months before the
losses in the Guadalcanal naval bat
tie were made public. Chat fact is
accumulated in my memory because
member of my own family vas
lost in that battle) The lapss be-
tween the occurrence and announce
ment Of losses at Pearl Harbor was
much greater than that. When you
read the newspapers today you will
not find that great time lapse.
know, Of course, that the American
attitude toward censorship is only
partly responsible for this-that 9TH
er factors are involved, too.
In the case OF the Taft-sponSored
Soldier Vote Bill, which caused such
books as Bowen's YANKEE FROM
OLYMPUS, Boards REPUBLIC and
the writings of Abraham Lincoln,
etc., to be forbidden to members of
the armed forces, The Council on
Books in Wartime, THE Saturday
Review on Literature" "The Pub
fishers Weekly" Time" Nation"
New Republic" "Newsweek," and
various other periodicals and news
papers took such prompt and vigor-
Gus action that they not only sue
ceeded in getting Congress to amend
the bill in less than five months but
they induced Robert Taft, himself, to
sponsor the amendment! And why
not? 1t doesn't take more than an
average intelligence to see that a
man capable Of fighting for his
country is certainly mentally stable
enough to be exposed" not only
to the opinions of such radicals"
as Justice Holmes and Abraham
Lincoln, but also to the viewpoints
Of men even more liberal in politi-
cal theory. The men who fought
and destroyed this attempt at politi-
cal censorship acted on the belief
of Upton Sinclair who said vehem-
emily: THE only way to fight the
censorship law is to make a mon
key of It." After all, laughter is
the pleaSantest means possible to q
desired end.
If I've been thinking about this
question Of censorship for so long
did something happen recently to
bring about this outburSt today?
Yes, definitely A paragraph in
last weeks Saturday Review Of
Literature" followed by an item in
the New York Times Book Review"
is to be blamed for the whole thing.
AS you might expect, they both have
to do with Boston and the question
Of what is, and what isn't ''inde-
cent literature" Space doesn't per-
nit today, but next week I shall
tell you all about It!
In the meantime we can wish
that the mere banning" Of a book
didn't always serve to stimulate
public interest In 1t. Unfortunately,
however. 20 great many non-liter-
airy minded Americans are posses
sed Of an insstiahiy morbid curios-
ity In regard 10 condemned itera-
ture'.. Thus the genuine purpose
OF many books as analyses Of social
problems are lost In the furor OF
page scanning"
I have always been delighted with
a sentence Of Jonathan Daniels: eff
Is not literature that eonfuses, but
the fact that the easily confused are
able 10 read"