Porter. "I
know its failings, its inborn tendencies, its weaknesses, its
failures, its depth of crime; and the people who feel called upon
to spend their time analyzing, digging into, and uncovering these
sources of depravity have that privilege, more's the pity! If I
had my way about it, this is a privilege no one could have in
books intended for indiscriminate circulation. I stand squarely
for book censorship, and I firmly believe that with a few more
years of such books, as half a dozen I could mention, public
opinion will demand this very thing. My life has been fortunate
in one glad way: I have lived mostly in the country and worked in
the woods. For every bad man and woman I have ever known, I have
met, lived with, and am intimately acquainted with an
overwhelming number of thoroughly clean and decent people who
still believe in God and cherish high ideals, and it is UPON THE
LIVES OF THESE THAT I BASE WHAT I WRITE. To contend that this
does not produce a picture true to life is idiocy. It does. It
produces a picture true to ideal life; to the best that good men
and good women can do at level best.
"I care very little for the magazine or newspaper critics who
proclaim that there is no such thing as a moral man, and that my
pictures of life are sentimental and idealized.
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