may be rejoined that you give the distant future no
chance to revise the judgments of a rather near future, and that vast
quantities of material which would be read with eagerness by future
generations and which would be carefully preserved if it were durable,
will not be reprinted, whatever its value. We may be sure that the daily
papers of the present year will never be reprinted; the world of the
future will be too busy, not to speak of the cost; yet what a series of
human documents will disappear in their destruction! If a part of the
professional obligation which you assumed in making yourselves
responsible for the issues of the press is to transmit the record of
this generation to later time, then it seems to me that you have in
great measure betrayed your trust and have so far brought to naught the
labors of your comrade, the librarian, in the conservation of
literature. Also you compel him to pay for unnecessary rebindings which
can hardly be made, so poor is the stock you furnish the binder; yet on
this point you have shown some indications of a change of heart, and I
will pass it over. Perhaps you have finally come to realize that every
cent paid for rebinding is taken out of your gross receipts. I will not
speak of the books that you ought never to have published, the books
that are not books; most of these the librarian can avoid buying, but
sometimes a book is just "ower gude for banning," and he has to take it
and catalogue it and store it, and take account of it and rearrange it,
and, after all, get scolded by his authorities or ridiculed by the
public for housing so much rubbish. The author is responsible with you
here, but your own individual responsibility is enough for any shoulders
to bear.

To the printer the librarian would say: since wishing is easy, let us
imagine that what ought always to happen is happening regularly instead
of rarely, namely, that the author produces a book worth printing and
that the publisher leaves you free to put it into a worthy form. This is
the opportunity that you have always been looking for. How are you going
to meet it? Do you know all the elements that you deal with and can you
handle them with a sure touch practically and esthetically? If so, you
will not need any hints from the librarian, and he will order your book
"sight unseen." But still, among the good and right ways of making
books, there may be some that he prefers, and he will ask you, when you
are makin