What Would Thoreau Have Done?
Eric Eldred, librarian for the public domain, wanted to help people to help themselves to free copies of Walden, at Walden Pond. The park supervisor didn’t approve, according to The Boston Globe:
Denise Morrissey, the park supervisor who told Eldred he had to leave, said her agency discourages competition from outsiders who could take away business from the two concessions that pay for a spot on the reservation: an ice cream truck and the gift shop run by the Thoreau Society.
“If you’re going to give away books for free,” she said, “it might take away business” from the shop.
Even 150 years later, it seems Thoreau can’t escape the pressures of commerce.
