When men came to realize the greatness of the felicity which had befallen them, and that the change through which they had passed was not merely an improvement in details of their condition, but the rise of the race to a new plane of existence with an illimitable vista of progress, their minds were affected in all their faculties with a stimulus, of which the outburst of the mediaeval renaissance offers a suggestion but faint indeed.

There ensued an era of mechanical invention, scientific discovery, art, musical and literary productiveness to which no previous age of the world offers anything comparable." "By the way," said I, "talking of literature, how are books published now?
Is that also done by the nation ?" "Certainly." "But how do you manage it?
Does the government publish everything that is brought it as a matter of course, at the public expense, or does it exercise a censorship and print only what it approves ?" "Neither way.

The printing department has no censorial powers.

It is bound to print all that is offered it, but prints it only on condition that the author defray the first cost out of his credit.

He must pay for the privilege of the public ear, and if he has any message worth hearing we consider that he will be glad to do it.