From the July 23, 1907 NYT:

PRESENT LITERARY DEMAND From the London Times:

The demand for all kinds of reflective writing is now very small, and the vehicles for such writing are diminishing in number. The paying public of to-day want to be told how to do things, where to go, what to read, how to dress and behave, and how to keep string in a string box; in short, how to do the things which their parents did every day of their lives by common sense and mother wit. At present it is indifferent to essays and poetry and every kind of pure literature.