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Show -- o - ------- M I Pear and Disgust I H I of Books in Russia ; H - --- ------ M A fa vol able sign of the times in UumIu 1 Is 111- aipeal or a new edition nt M the famous noxcl. "What's to lie DuilfT" H written half ii eeulur iif, by 'IVHerolsh- H ctsky, the radical .publicist, cuillu nnd 1 reformer. The l"ok wns forbidden nl- IH most un soon as It had seen the light, H on account of Its heterodox tendencies. H lit spile of being suppressed It lourd lis H way Into two Kngllsh trulislattons. Now H II Is republished without objection front H the This fact, hi connection with other H symptoms. Unit especially with the trend H of the testimony uud proposals submitted 1 to the KolK'ko commission tin tho press 1 laws and the desirable amendments of tho IJH name. Is ttgnrihsl by llusslan Journalists fB us an Indication of u real and healthy IH uliMtige nt governmental policy with re- iB Kurd tu books und perlodlenl literature, Including the dally press. Writers have hod u good .steal to Hay lately about thu B "distrust of liooks" In Ilussla, the sus- plrlon and presumption of Injury und mischief with which the government has viewed the product or Hie national tSflH Intelligence plus the printing press. A writer In the St. Petersburg Novostl, In urging "trust In books," given the fol. lowing furls. H "Hooks, like newspapers, lire divided ivJFll Into two classes; those that may be pub. Pflfl llslu-d without preliminary censorship, ytlaj und those Hint must- be submitted In ud- vunce, In manuscript, tu thu local censor. Kven the first class Is In reality subject to censorship, for several copies of each BBb printed Isiok must be handed tn the cen. sor before liny nrn placed on the market. Whatever book he finds objectionable, 1 politically or morally, ho may declare Illegal, cnnltscutlng ur burning the whult BBg edition, tu tho last forty yearn some ecu. sirs, by keeping single copies of prohlb-. Ited books for strictly private 'use.shnve ! accumulated libraries of tho greutest value und Intellectual Interest to educated Ilussla, and some of theeo ruro volumes BH command, at 'private sales' high prnml- "Instead of one. censor, the writrr ami H publisher have tu reckon with no fewer thun eight different censors representing us tunny official departments. Thus there JBjhj ute eight gantlets to run, seven testa to undergo, and each censor Is n law unto himself, following his own notions, whims and prejudices, H "Finally, when a book lit last obtains thu requisite authorizations and reaches the public, It encounters another array of dllllcultles. Libraries are not permitted sssss to purchase nnd calculate even the cen. fBVH sor-rldden Isxiks. Many, In fact, nre ex. ma pressly prohibited to the libraries, the Idea being that what muy be safe In the small circles of the well-to-do Intelligent. may be dangerous In tho hands of the sssssshs "Hence those who cannot buy books, BV or Isirrow them, uro deprived at the pnv- Urge of rending some ot tho brst mid most progressive nnd stimulating produr. tlons of the present or the uist. Many llusslan classics arc excludul from the ""Vt'ls'stnledin the St. Pelersbutg iw- H pern that the publishers have all demand- ) ed the complete nlmlltlon ot Hie nook censorship und full liberty to Issue uny Isiok they see fit, subject to prosecution In court under general laws safeguarding public morality, order, etc. Tho coiiunls. - IH slon promised u compromise as follows: i m That all liooks should be passed upon )M by tho ministry of foreign affairs, and H such ns nro found politically Injurious H or tevolullonary should be turnul n'fr fJH for cxumlnntloii und Judgment to tho IH Nntlonnl Academy of Science, n body o! )M wheh almost every distinguished author H I. i member The academy, however, H promptly declined this function t de- fJH eland thnt It could not undertake to up- H ply ..mclal. iwlltlcul. governmental, or fJH other non-literary nnd non-sclentltla and H oi-artlsllo standards lo teratute. It H did not enro to exercise 'is.llce functions' , H mid become a governmental agency. Sssssj " "-T e com..!lsK.lon Is expected to recoiri. M mend lllKrnl changes In Hie laws ns to SJH he press and remove the st Igitia of tho fM illstrust or books." "- -Trunslatlon inodo H for Hie Lltrrary Digest. H |