WASTE PAPER BASKET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1938, Page 9

WASTE PAPER BASKET

Caxton is the father of the modern waste paper basket, and its existence is itself a sign of the revolution wrought by the printer, writes “Quintus Quiz” in the “Christian Century.” It has become too easy to communicate on paper the thoughts of a man to other men. From every side the sheets • come raining down on us;, appeals manuscripts, letters, journals, prospectuses —what can be done ,with them? We have no brazier such as Jehoiakim had. No brazier on earth would solve your problem. There is nothing for it but the W.P.B. Two thoughts whifli almost cancel each other out arise in our minds. The first is the desirability of a process of deflai.ic.l in literature. It has even been called by a great Irish writes, Mr George Russell, “ a return to the gold standard of litera- i

ture.” We might reduce the amount of printing. Writers might practice the economy which marks the great literature of the past. Papers might be fewer and briefer. Letters might also be more personal and all the better for that. Then there would be less material for the basket. (But some of us would be out of work!) I have no real expectation of such a return to the gold standard. I expect rather an inflation in the days to come.