The subject was presented in the form of a clever parable, satirizing
the present-day "booming" of popular books, and the unseemliness and
vulgarities of modern advertising methods. It concluded with an
"imaginary conversation" between a librarian and a reader, as follows:
"'A fellow-librarian?' said I.
"'Not quite that,' said he, 'but one who uses libraries--a reader, in
fact.'
"I felt a sudden thrill of satisfaction. Here at last I had found my
reader, and I faithfully proceeded at once to get at his point of view.
'Well,' said I, 'is it not an inspiration to live in the era of the
placard; and what do you mean to do for the Great American Bill Board
Trust?'
"We walked down the street arm in arm, and this is the rather
unsympathetic monologue in which the reader indulged:
"'The bill-board--and I mean by the bill-board coarse and obtrusive
advertising in general, whether shown in this defacement of natural
objects, road-signs, street car panels, or in newspaper columns--an evil
from which even the public library is not free--the bill-board is an
evil, but after all only a minor evil. If we had nothing worse than that
among our social problems to vex us, we should indeed be fortunate.
Advertising is a legitimate incident of commerce. The merchant who has
wares to sell may properly make his commodities known. I own I study the
advertising pages of my _Century_ and _Scribner_ with scarcely less
interest than I do the text. But the world is so full of bad taste!
There is no sanctity or silence through which the coarse scream of the
huckster may not at any time penetrate. The loud bill-board is but the
scream of the huckster transmuted so that it may attack still another
sense. The wonder is that this bill-board, and its fellow enormities in
the street car panel and the newspaper columns, do not repel instead of
attract. In the case of refined minds certainly repulsion must be felt.
Now for myself,' said the reader, and here I thought he spoke
conceitedly, 'the fact that a thing is coarsely and loudly advertised is
a strong, almost invincible reason for my not buying it, however
necessary it may seem. With the world in general, however, the standard
of taste is low. Coarseness does not offend; also, it pays to use it.
"'I have sometimes seen on library walls placards sent in with the
demand, 'Please display this prominently,' that have exercised upon me
an immediate deterrent effect. Still,' said the reader, with his
superior air, 'do not think me ill-natured. The best thing we can do is
to keep our temper, stamp down as we can what becomes too outrageous and
indecent, and labor and pray for the refinement of the world's taste.
This no doubt will come very slowly.'
"'Can we help the thing forward at all?' said I, falling in for the
moment with his humor.
"'Only as we can promote in general the diffusion of sweetness and
light,' said the reader. 'If a man should be aroused to attack directly
I believe he might strike a more effective blow through ridicule than
through denunciation. Keep denunciation for the more weighty and ghastly
evils that beset us; a mere annoyance it is better to laugh away if we
can do it.'"
Adjourned at 3.30 p.m.
_FIFTH SESSION._
(FOUNTAIN SPRING HOUSE, TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 9.)
The meeting was called to order by President CARR at 10.20 a.m.