Security Through Book Burning

• Author: Charles G. Bolte
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625530000113
• Published date: 01 July 1955
• Date: 01 July 1955
• Subject Matter: Articles

87

Security

Through

Book

Burning

By

CHARLES

G.

BOLTE

I LOOKED

for

a

text

from

the

Amer-

ican

humorists,

because

they

so

often

illuminate

our

follies

better

than

the

sobersided

do,

and

because

if

we

laughed

more

often

at

the

pygmies

who

are

try-

ing

to

take

us

prisoner,

instead

of

treat-

ing

and

entreating

them

so

earnestly,

we

might

the

better

blow

them

away.

I

found

two

texts.

Mark

Twain,

of

course,

first:

It

is

by

the

goodness

of

God

that

in

our

country

we

have

those

three

unspeakably

precious

things:

freedom

of

speech,

free-

dom

of

conscience,

and

the

prudence

never

to

practice

either

of

them.

Then

Walt

Kelly,

whose

&dquo;Pogo&dquo;

re-

cently

featured

an

exchange

between

a

blameless

owl

and

an

inquisitorial

badger,

the

latter

supported

by

two

junketeering

crows:

BADGER:

I

won’t

threaten

you,

Mr.

Owl.

But

here

is

a

book

that

says:

Owls

migrate

north

about

April

first....

You

got

a

day

to

pack.

OwL:

Why,

you

jes’

writ

that

you’

own-

self....

Where

is

Captain

Wimby’s

Bird

Atlas?

BADGER:

Discredited.

It

didn’t

agree

with

our

observations....

Did

it,

men?

FIRST

CROw:

No

sir,

it’s

out

of

date.

SECOND

CROW:

And

on

fire.

BADGER:

There’s

nothing

quite

so

lovely

as

a

brightly

burning

book.

CLASHING

SYMBOLS

My

theory

is

that

we

had

all

better

be

a

little

less

prudential

in

exercising

our

precious

freedom

of

speech

and

freedom

of

conscience,

if

we

want

to

keep

them.

Like

other

rights,

they

grow

weak

when

not

used.

This

makes

life

too

easy

for

those

who

enjoy

the

sight

of

brightly

burning

books.

The

title

assigned

me

is

&dquo;Security

Through

Book

Burning.&dquo;

A

dear

old

lady

I

know

asked

a

while

ago,

&dquo;What

is

all

this

bother

about

book

burning?

Why,

I

always

dispose

of

my old

books

that

way.

How

else

does

anyone

get

rid

of

books

he

doesn’t

want

any

more?&dquo;

Well,

ours

is

an

age

of

symbols.

The

shortage

of

shelf

space

bothers

us

all,

I

hope.

We

shall

simply

have

to

get

used

to

sending

books

we can

no

longer

keep

to

the

veterans’

hospitals

and

the

Mer-

chant

Marine

Library.

Offensive

books

can

be

buried.

But

burning

is

out.

This

is

now

pretty

generally

realized.

The

Boy

Scouts

in

Portsmouth,

Rhode

Island,

decided

to

celebrate

Lincoln’s

Birthday

this

year

by

burning

&dquo;objec-

tionable&dquo;

books

on

the

grounds

of

Fort

Butts,

a

shrine

of

the

Revolution.

They

ended

by

withholding

the

torch

and

consigning

the

offensive

matter

to

the

town

dump

instead,

when

the

announced-

ment

of

their

proposed

celebration

re-

ceived

what

the

sponsors

mildly

called

&dquo;adverse

publicity.&dquo;

This

outcome

supports

my

theory

that

we

need

to

exercise

our

freedoms,

and

bellow

and

laugh

more

often

and

more

loudly

at

those

who

have

for-

gotten

what

country

they

are

living

in.

Nobody

denies

a

man’s,

or

a

Boy

Scout’s,

right

to

junk

a

piece

of

printing

which

he

decides,

after

reading

it,

that

he

does

not

like.

But

form

counts

for

a

lot.

In

any

society,

ideas

without

procedure

are

a

mess;

in

our

society,

which

has

staked

everything

on

the

principle

of

government

by

laws

not

men,

a

breakdown

in

method

means

an

unholy

mess,

and

points

to

the

end

of

our

society

as

we

have

known

it.

Book

burning

is

a

symbol

which

denies

the