Mr. Scott quoted an advertisement in which it was claimed that in an age where knowledge had expanded to such a tremendous degree, the "Reader's Digest" provided a summary of the chief lines of progress and gave the average busy man an integrated view of the various fields of activity. For each edition of the "Digest" 30 editors worked 5,000 hours, selecting the best articles from 500 of the best magazines, and rewriting them in a sparkling, snappy style which gave them new zest and vitality.

Mr. Scott pointed out that the best magazine for which experts write were, in fact, seldom digested. Most of those whose articles were quoted were already in popularised, simplified form and the further abridgement of these resulted in their being so far away from the reality of their subject matter that they became virtually unrecognisable.

"Biography" and Politics

From even the "slick" magazines habitually digested, by no means the best articles were taken. Most popular were stock effusions rich in "human interest," and "dramas of everyday life." Snappy biographical sketches, especially of the "Poor Boy Becomes Millionaire" type, which haven't a fact in them, came next on the list. Popular science was still further simplified and thrust into a stereotyped mould of optimism and wonder. All the romantic or sensational elements in scientific research were played up at the expense of facts. Those who obtained their scientific fare in this way began by thinking that all things are possible to science and ended by believing in magic.

In industrial relations and politics, the "Reader's Digest" is an intransigeantly reactionary journal which claims impartiality. Jobbery and corruption are commonly exposed in trade unions, though not in big business. Renegades from Communism such as Max Eastman and Jan Valtin, are employed to give "Inside Evidence" of the "horrors of the Left." Fascism is only seldom touched on, especially before the United States entered the war.

Mr. Scott instanced as an example of the 'Reader's Digest's" political tactics a very subtle combination of two ideas expressed in different articles in the issue of October, 1944—just before the Presidential elections. The inference one would gain from the oblique emotive suggestion of the two articles was that the American way of life was endangered because Communism (!) controlled the CIO and the CIO was a major force in the Democratic party. Moral—vote Dewey!

Books—Condensed Form

The book summaries were seldom of worth-while books; those chosen for digestion were usually the second-rate choices of a society standardised at the lower middle class level of culture. Even on the rare occasions when an independent work was chosen—the speaker instanced Koestler's "Arrival and Departure"—its social philosophy or moral foundation was obscured by playing up the more sensational elements. A recent book summarised and saluted as one of the great works of our time, was, of course, "The Road to Serfdom," which may be obtained in bulk quantities from the publishers of "Reader's Digest."

The "New Yorker" has now withdrawn its contract with the "Reader's Digest," one reason being that it discovered the staff of the "Reader's Digest" was writing or commissioning articles, then farming them out to other magazines, from which they were subsequently brought back and digested. The extent to which this was happening rendered possible the danger of the "Reader's Digest" exercising a cultural monopoly.

A figure well-known in Wellington commended the "Digest" as an effective instrument of mass education. On being asked whether he did not think education should be tackled on slightly more meaty lines, he coined a phrase in replying that one could lead a horse to water but could not make it drink, Mr. Scott's own reply is that one can lead a horse to water and make it drink any damned thing one likes. The development of National Socialism in Germany is our best modern example.