ucceeded in it. Mr. Heinemann issues as much
really high-class literature as any publisher in London, but if his policy
has had a "family and young lady" tendency, that tendency has escaped me.
He has published books (some of them admirable works, and some not) which
a committee of hiring experts would have rejected with unanimous
enthusiasm. It is needless to particularize. Why Mr. Heinemann should have
supported the Libraries in the private deliberations of the Publishers I
cannot imagine. But that is the fault of my imagination. I have an immense
confidence in Mr. Heinemann's business acumen and instinct for
self-preservation.

* * * * *

The Publishers, if they chose, could kill the censorship movement at once
by politely declining to submit their books to the censorship. If only the
three big fiction firms concerted to do this, the Libraries would be
compelled to withdraw their project. But the Publishers will not do this;
not even three of them will do it. The only argument against a censorship
is that it is extremely harmful to original literature of permanent value;
and such an argument does not make any very powerful appeal to
publishers. What most publishers want is to earn as much money as
possible with as little fuss as possible. Again, the Authors' Society
might kill the censorship conspiracy by declining to allow its members to
sign any agreement with publishers which did not contain a clause
forbidding the publisher to submit the book to the committee of hiring
experts. A dozen leading novelists could command the situation. But the
Authors' Society will do nothing effective. The official reply of the
Authors' Society was as feeble as that of the Publishers. I repeat that
the only argument against a censorship is that it is extremely harmful to
original literature of permanent value; such an argument does not make any
very powerful appeal to authors. What most authors want is to earn as much
money as possible with as little fuss as possible. Besides, the great
money-makers among authors--the authors of weight with publishers and
libraries--have nothing to fear from any censorship. They censor
themselves. They take the most particular care not to write anything
original, courageous, or true, because these qualities alienate more
subscribers than they please. I am not a pessimist nor a cynic, but I
enjoy contemplating the real facts of a case.

All the forces would seem to be