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DEBATE : 
THE INFLUENCE OF 
THE PRESENT UNCONTROLLED FLOOD OF 
CHEAP LITERATURE ON OUR 
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 
Introduced by F. HUDSON, LL.B. February 2nd, 1909. 
The President, Mr. Win. Lancaster, in opening the meeting, 
referred to the efforts of Messrs. Chambers to print a journal 
containing nothing but what was best in literature ; at first 
the attempt almost failed, but later, when the people were 
educated up to the proper level, proved a great success. 
Publishers would tell us that there was now a very wide 
demand for the classics, and that more were being printed 
and sold than ever before. There was still, however, a great 
demand for “ trashy ” literature, which had been described 
as “ lurid in imagination and extravagant in plot and incident, 
and pernicious in effect,” and he said it was this “ trashy ” 
element rather than what was “ cheap ” in literature which 
they were going to consider. 
The Secretary, Mr. F. Hudson, LL.B., opened the debate, 
and said that in his view there was nothing in cheap literature 
specially injurious to the cause of education. Though there 
was certainly a vast amount of such read which was merely 
temporary, and not worth keeping, it was not necessarily 
because it was cheap, for a large quantity of what is poor 
literature costs far more than what is necessary to purchase 
the classics. A few months ago the Rev. J. D. Robertson, 
after making careful enquiry, gave us full particulars of the 
quantity and nature of what Burnley reads. He (Mr. Hudson) 
had read these particulars and did not think them dangerous, 
but rather a healthy sign than otherwise. The cheap literature 
for boys and girls referred to by Mr. Robertson, and stigmatised 
by him as “ pernicious,” did not enervate the mind. It is 
a fallacy to suppose that the minds of the young people who 
read these publications are in the beginning strong, healthy, 
and fully developed, capable of reading and understanding 
the classical works. These latter books were not the off-throw 
