THE MICHIGAN DAILY #,,', i Jan Dail' Y FEATURE SECTION erery Sunday as a supplement to news section of The Michigan ns must be in the hands of the ednesday previous to the date of cation. unications or contributions mustI an indication of good faith. ....Joseph A. Bernsteint Assistants Dakin Thomas H. Adams Ottaway Byron Darton itr..........Stewart T. Beach .Edwin R. Miess I )LITZ VDERS _ ByE. B. W. I ) BOYS ave been living in a world with all sorts of social pro- "You can't do this. You t do that. What will they nd this generation of ours an- Who cares?" sequence, we break maiy of al rules; we make new onesl wn, new ones of a kind that promote a greater bon homme, kindlier, give and take. In sition the oldsters all over,, parents of Detroit high school n these environs, see onlyl 'here are no rules and we are going to the "demnition bow- ad infinitum. ight here that we object. It ontention that we "children" etrogress but progress. From and fast conventions of the ration-so they Are described e emerge to a freer scheme, hile it does not promise dog- >tection to the weaklings, per- pontaneous, self-reliant, social 'se that our parents never Is that retrogression? Is it ine with the modern march, y or economically? Or mor- e parable of the Pharisee and The human reach does not invariably fall short, producing the mean and sour living described by Sinclair Lew- is. Often enough, but not always. This one blind spot ought to and does relegate "Main Street" to its prop r class-that of the best sellers. And, on top of this, Mr. Lewis is urged upon you as the consummate portrayer of all our Main Streets, of typical American life. Supreme nat- uralism, and a distinctive contribution to the literature of the land! This is inaccurate, if not pure rot. One Extreme to the Other We think that until rather lately American fiction writers-excluding Stephen Crane, Mrs. Wharton, and their ilk-have portrayed a sweet and silly perfection to life in these United States. And we think that Mr. Drei- ser, Miss Gale, and Mr. Lewis have gone to the other extreme. "Main Street" is not typical; it favors a less admirable side of our many-sided society. In doing this it fails in the purpose assigned to it by its Main Street readers. As we were saying, your taste and perspective faculties may still be promising, even though you think that two dollars can find a better invest- ment than "Main Street.". THE "BACKSLIDERS-AND A BIT ABOUT A POET OR TWO (ay G. D. Eaton) During the past few months certain followers of literature, old and young, have been casting sheep's eyes at the progress of the modernists, the real- ists, the naturalists. Reading the hand- writing on the wall they have attempt- ed to temporize, treating the intruders as prodigal brothers to the decadents. But to save their faces in view of past bitter edicts these dalliers say that such writers as Theodore Drei- ser, Sinclair Lewis, Floyd Dell, and others, are a little too pessimistic. In truth, such authors are no pollyannas, and acceptance of them naturally means putting the old order in the archives. They Look Wistfully Yet the temporizers, for all their fears, look wistfully on the modern spirit. It reminds one of an old lady about to take her first automobile ride, half terrorized, half delighted. Weighing the psychology of it the thing is rather pathetic; something like the sprouting of the first mus- tache. I respect far more such hard and fast Puritans as Stuart P. Sher- man (despite his jackassery). Even a Puritan can look somewhat heroic if he thrust out his chin far enough and double his fists. It is the fellow who tries to straddle who is most ludicrous; he is as snick- erful as William Jennings Bryan would be blowing a kiss to the wraith of Darwin, or Thomas Edison admit- ting that there might exist men as wise as himself (picture Henry Ford answering his, friend Edison's ques- tionaire), or a Daily editorial con- fessing that the average student is not a perfect little lamb, and that he doesn't want to be. Recommends Verse With this prejudiced prologue I re- pectfully recommend Carl Sandburg's book of verse, "Smoke and Steel" (Harcourt, Brace, and Howe). I regard Sandburg as the greatest American poet since Wh.itman. Now let the local classicists and romantic-{I _ AFTER I AFMJZ WUOtVEF PrAtLY AP4D A C£Of4PORT- -AND .A G00D i "OW 0~' A 1000 ARLO CMOV& .- 670R Y By VAN EVER er S+rr-AND RV2AtYT/Y!/YG* Att Hurt+r Y-Lfc7J2Y- s a a : ON 'r id-YOd IND -rMAT VThe C&IAAX HAS ,SpAsH7VORf( OuT FCc~l . Sa~ke 1008 WV$Nlr--D r-Ite plcr oma oty1we dr#&,e SIloe- ists stamp and bawl and bleat a hatful of tears. The fact is that if this coun- try had produced a lyric poet half as good as Swinburne I might not be so sweeping in my statement. A marked similiarity may be noted between Whitman and Sandburg. I'll not explain in detail; read Whitman's ode to himself and Sandburg's "Smoke and Steel," the title poem to the volume. Then if you can't notice it, call around with something to drink.' The Poems "Work Gangs," "Cahoots," "The Hangman at Home," "Blue Maroons," "The Sins of Kalamazoo," "Death Snips Proud Men," "Shirt," "Brass Keys," "Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind," "Losers," "The Liars,"- but here! I am naming half the poems in the book. Particularly striking are Sandburg's roughshod expressions which he uses to force home the rough-shod truth. But this does not mean that his verse lacks music. He is, at bottom, a real poet, alive to the basic beauties of life. If he picks for a subject a lamb hang- ing in the, packing house rather than, a lamb frisking around a lawn, that is his business, and he does it well. It is high time some poet succeeded Whit-j man in pointing out that life is not a pretty tangle of silks and flowers. "Unaccustomed As I Am" While writing about verse, let me mention, Morris Ryskind's "Unaccus- tomed as I am" (Knopf). It is quite the worst poetry I have ever read. I judge that Morrie is very "unaccus- tomed." In all friendliness I suggest that he stick to his work of writing movie captions. There are plenty who will appreciate his "art" in that line, but then, there will probably be many who will admire the book of poems. We must bear in ,mind that the popu- lace at large has taken Walt Mason to its bosom as a rival of Shakespeare. From what I have real of it, J. V. A. Weaver's book of verse, "In Ameri- can,". (Knopf), is far better stuff. HE COULD LIFT 18 MEN, BUT A SHOWER BATH KILLED HIM Havana, Cuba. --Sudden death claimed Theodore Luttof, the "Cossack Hercules," after performing feats of strength in the National theatre here' during a wrestling carnival the other day. He had twisted iron bars and sup- ported upon his shoulders a steel rail to which 18 persons, were hanging b5t their hands, without apparent ill ef- fects; but after the performance ha dropped dead while emerging from a shower bath. ALASKA AT, MAY BE REP BIG MINING Juneau, Alaska.-RecommE r that Alaska send an exhibit t torial mineral, agricultural ar products to the National Min position to be held in Chicago American Mining Congress, 17-22, was made to the legislati recently by Governor Thoma Jr. MASSACHUSETTS MAN SET NEW VOGUE FOR WALL Middleboro, Mass.-A. room with cancelled United States stamps stands as a monumen industry of William O. Sawyer, town. More than 20,000 stazi 184 varieties have been used denomination they represent from one to 30 cents. ,AI,4'"T ir j. iA TODAY-TOMORROW-AND TUESDAY C 0 N S T A N C E TFo A L M A D G here and every ten minutes asked, "Have you read 'Main A negative or, even unap- answer ruins your stand- e popular neo-culture. Such ower of publicity-and, of Lie impotence of the group- y person can stand this ostra- i a fair show of equanimity. ard to have this book thrown a piece of real'artistry and a picture of the common or ariety of American life. For dedly neither. rtistry is not just exact re- m the ordinary life of very, people. Insofar as a work revitalize and ennoble the ent vulgarity of every-day, n such a cross section is pho- d-it lacks a definite land-! worth. It is transient. Picture Inaccurate r than this, admitting the vir-' ological realism, the picture rate. For your ordinary hu-, not wholly drab and incon- There is always, some timei human life, at least a glim- f an aspiration accomplished.' * Now, ye bashful ones, there's no need to fear the consequences of this exposure. Sure she kissed everyone In a New Gusher of Giggles. A Piquant Play of Misses' and Kisses, and truly shown by our' orig- inal, dainty and lov- 4 able Connie. but the chap who was crazy about her. He wanted to give up a million just to marry her, but all she let him do was to look on while she kissed some one else. You see she was giv- ing him Lessons in Love. But, or boy, how it feels to look on while the other chap gets the loving. T a k e Lessons in Love 'and laugh ' while ybu learn. ': A festive fable for flirty folks. This story for all A written guarantee against breach of promise for bashful beaux goes with Connie Talmadge's Lessons in ARRICK Mats. Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday 25c-50o Nights 50-75-.1.00 lovers between eight and eighty. LAUGH WHILE YOU LEARN It's Bashful Week at the Arcade with Pop-the-Question Performances for Bashful Beaux every evening. 12th Annual Season 4th. Week Girls who've had a Bashful Steady since 1916 admitted free Tuesday night-Bashful Beaux Night. .. Unbashful Beaux who've been di- vorced since 1920 admitted free Monday evening. The Bonstelle Co. JOSEPH M. SCHENCK PRESENTS presents "LESSONS IN LOVE" "6My Lady Adapted from Douglas Murray's comedy, "The Man From Toronto." Directed by Chet Withey. SPECIAL NOTICE-SUMMER SCHEDULE OF PRICES EFFECTIVE TODAY AND UNTIL SEPTEMBER FIRST MAIN FLOOR, 30 CENTS BALCONY, 20 CENTS CHILDREN, 10 CENTS, INCLUDING WAR TAX ADDED - MACK SENNETT - SWEETHEART DAYS rid"