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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1923
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1923
'S HE .MIGHIG AN -.DAILY;'
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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
The Better Magazines
THE CENTURY
LISLE ROSE
Perhaps the best-balanced magazine !Bois, the celebrated negro leader, sets
in the United States is the Century. forth again the author's belief that his
race must secure its freedom and its
Its editor, Glenn Frank, Is sufficiently opportunity for development within
level-headed to avoid the vagaries this country, and not in Africa, 'as a
characteristic of some of the more great many advocate. An exposition
highbrow publications, sufficiently of contemporary conditions in Egypt
broadminded to extend his interests comes from Mrs. Grace Thompson
Seton.
over an extremely wide field. The
Cenurycanot ithjutic beaccsed1 Two other serious articles I wish
Century cannot with justice be accused to treat at somewhat greater length.
of onesidedness, or narrowness. It Both deal with the crucial problem
deals with literature of all sorts, with before the world today-the preserva-
sociology, with philosophy, even with tion of Western Civilization. Nathan-
business. It can truly boast of be iel Peffer gets down to bed-rock in his
eing pessimistic but t'ruthful indictment o
more catholic than most of its contem- our achievements. Peffer would ask
poraries. why Western Civilization should not
The February issue exhibits extra- perish, whether it merits preser-
ordinarily well the wide range of writ- vation. He finds that all we can offer
to the other civilizations are Science,
ings usually found in the magazine, and Gbristianity, of which the first
In this issue are two short stories, threatens to destroy its creators, while
two novels, three informal essays, a the second, which might avert the
sonnet sequence, four articles on con- ruin is powerless.
temporary problems, and a criticism-rii pwres
- Now such inditmets are not un-
or perhaps appreciation would be the common: we have had 'them by the
better term-of Robert Frost's poetry. score from young intellectuals. What
Dfferent though these productions makes Peffer's article peculiarly im-f
Are, they will all appeal to the average pressive is the absolute pitilessness of
reader; not only because they arein- is logic. Mencken's pessimistic state-
terestingly written, but because they muents are at once discounted because
avoid any suggestion of insult or of they proceed from emotion; your me-
insincerity. Justly or not, the aver- liorist can with equal reason .advance
age reader is repelled by most maga- an opposing theory. But Peffersneith
wines' which pretend to be even faint- I er applauds nor groans: he simply
ly highbrow: he perceives in their at presents. And so black are the mere
titudeae toward him either a chilly su- I facts that they strike terror into us.
perciliousness or a hypocritical mai- Botha of our boastedtachievements
festation of equality. He sees that he seem valueless. ay
is regarded with pity; that he Is tacit- Mr. Frank takes a view equally pes-
ly, if not openly stamped as an out- simistic in the latest of his papers on
sid4t, a barbarian; and he is angered, the American and his world. Frank
With'the Century he feels, maybe not is here concerned with the effect on
quite at ease, but at least welcome. the man in the street of a wider pro-!
The magazine does not for one mo- mulgation of the Mechanistic Philoso-
Tent lower its standards; it does at-f phy. Four -possible reactions to such
tempt, I think, to appeal to a fairly a philosophy are listed, but the editor
wide public. In this latest issue, as I declines to state which he considers
have mentioned, practically every ar- most likely to occur. Personally, I
title is of-interest td allOf J, :mom,;think Mr. Frank fals to realize how
What one is most interesting is of generally some form of Materialism is
course dependent upon the iidividual found even at present among the peo-
reader. Probably Michigan students [ple. He apparently believes that the
will be eager- to read Carl Van Doren's new ;attitude will come as a great;
discussion of Robert Frost's person- shock: a view in which I cannot con-
ality and work. The campus has been cur.
a bit slow to receive Mr. Frost's poet- In the second place, those who re-
ry, though the man himself won swift tan some positive religion will be'
appreciation. *This slowness is nat- slowr than he expects to give it up.
ural enough, for admittedly his work j The Idealistic Philosophy, in either its
resists superficial reading, and is ben- pure or its vulgar manifestations, will
efitted by such a study as Van Doren's. act as a check upon the Mechanistic
This able critic has, within a brief interpretation. Agnosticism perhaps.
six pages, come nearer to expressing may increase; but I doubt if Material-
the essence of the "Yankee poet's" ism will secure a greater proportion
genius and achievements than has any of adherents than it has at present.
other critic I have ever read. Frost Mechanism, after all, is as positive a
will no longer be cold and puzzling to theory as Theism; and positivism in
those who read the Century's appre- philosophy has seen its day. "We do!
ciation. not know" is all any man can say: the
While I am on the subject of poetry rest is a matter of choice. I see no
I may as well speak of the one bit ofreason for believing that Optimism
verse in the number, Witter Bynner's may not be espoused with as much
sonnet sequence, Chinese Procession. reason as Pessimism.
As always, .Bynner seems to me just I have left myself no room to- dis-
to fail. He- tantalizes me with his con cuss the fiction in the number. In
stant faiure to achieve what he prom- fact, I realize that this excessively
ises. Bynner is a coming poet; the rambling article is the worst possible
trouble is that he has been coming for recommendation of a compact, well-;
eight or nine years. Always success balanced magazine. I can only hope
is one short step beyond him; always that what I have said may stir some
the inevitable phrase flees him as he interest in a magazine with which all
appears about to capture it. Despite who aspire to the name of student
a few telling lines, Chinese Proces- should be intimately acquainted.
sions is for me a failure. In litera-
ture there is no border-zone, and Byn-
ner must remain on the wrong side Her'geshemer on Criticism -
until he can definitely place himself I Joseph Hergesheimer has decided
on the other. How he is to get across that creative writing-i0 urdned t
I do not know; perhaps a closer atten-', '
tion to technique might help him. Sev- pretentiousness, conceit and lies."
eral verses in his latest poem appear In fact, he said so recently, in a let-$
slovenly. I shall doubtless discover ter to one of the Midland authors. He
that they are really the highest artis- is thrusting particularly at the work
try; at present they seem to me to be of the book reviewer. While he may
the result of carelessness rather than be justified if he refers to a few of
those sky drifters who subsist upon
-Important as the purely literary and exude unclarified gusts of rhet-
features of the issue are, the numer orical filigree, or to those who 'cast:
ous articles on present-day problems sombre clouds of pessimistic wisdom,
are still more so. Charles Merz, an over his best novels, we have a smug
American journalist of some reputa- Icertainty that there -are a goodly nun.
tion and a great deal of insight, con. ber of honest reviewers. Mr..Herges-
tributes a discussion of the significant heimer should cohsult his publisher .
youth-movement in the post-bellum on the value of book reviews.. He found
Cermany. Back to Africa, by Dr. -Du .it necessary to do so once.
THE RECOGNITION OF RUSSIA
We Guarantee-
That you've never tasted anything so deliciously dif-
ferent as one of our
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Have You Veen Down Ye U
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WEST HURON ST. -- ACROSS FROM INTLRURBAN
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Only Benzol-cleaned clothes
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only Benzol leaves no sticky
film to attract fresh dirt!
It is hardly doubtful, that Russia JACK BE
has become. one of the most momen-
tous problems in the political world would mean, Russia was left to direct
of today: that. the Russian situation its own course.
has reached a place where it has be- The result has been manifold' To-
come a paramount factor in the solv day, Russia stands in the field with
Ing of world peace. The question a vastly better trained and equipped
army, With a treasury that is' by no
why? Let me review briefly the course means empty, and with a form of
that this nation has pursued since the government that breathes more of
outbreak of the revolution, and the true democracy than Bolshevism.
various situations that have arisen, Russia is a very p'aramount factor
adersstiosquetha lin the solving of a world peace. The
and perhaps this query will be an- burden of armaments cannot be lifted
swered. until the Russian question is settled.
Soon after the overthrow of the old The European leaders at the Genoa
form of government, European, Pow- conference recognize this as the key
ers began to interfere with Russian to the restoration of a world peace.
Second, it is not impossible that Rus-
affairs first secretly, and afterwards sia, Turkey, and Germany may form
openly. This interference, says Dr an alliance. If you put 140,000,000
Zilboorg, undermined Kerensky. This people outside the family of nations,
interference, combined with the eco- treat them as outlaws, ostracizethem, n
nomic wreckage that was inherited theyhare.o These statements have
elsewhere. Teesaeet aeI
from Czardom, brought about what we been confirmed in the United States
know as Bolshevism, both by Elihu Root and by Senator
The world then attempted to help Borah. Russia and Turkey, together,
Russia further by putting down this will have on the field an extremely
remenace.Ahdcwas ther efore for- large army. With the employment of
grea meace.Aidwas herforefor German military science, and the use
warded to Kolchhck, Dinikine, and ofGra1eeasitewrdwl
Baron Wrangle, but they were defeat- of German generalship, the world will
ed. Really, we should not be surpris- fa91e4 Ths is he imeding crisis.
ed; hissimly rovs tat he ew-Yet withal, the situation may be
born, purely national patriotic spirit Yed ithe te Stateognize
of Russia was victorious over reaction athded if the United States recognizes
and bungling foreign intervention. ItI the Russian Nation, Borah asserted in
a speech presented in Symphony Hall,
was not a deciding point as to the pby- BotnIe.2 Wsigo, .C
sical power of Bolshevism, for the-BostonDec2.Ats
strength of the Soviet government was newspaper, in its last February twen-
the ty-second issue, while commemorat-
not due to its own vigor but 'ote Ing Washington's birthday, added that
general physical weakness of Russia. i al 's b laveregard
I say general physical weakness be- f e wereUnie taes'tuldae toards
cause throughout the early period of 'R ea n egmtati atu araero ads
the Boisheviki rising, more than thir- usaa dgai nchrce n
ty million peasants writhed under the merely following the policy- of lesser
scourge of famine, typhus, cholera, nations, Italy, Polad, and the-others
and plagues. When such conditions who are in the majority and who are
anvai h Whe such c o likewise dogmatic in character. With
with the Comon al s een adesire the recognition of Russia at the Genoa
bring forth equalizati on. Their desiro conference the United States is surely
was but equalization, mild commun- justified in accepting the opportunity
asni utDr. ualiatg exaion m hedost- to lead the people of Europe out of
oin'whr Zitboorg explains thepeops this turmoil and strife by giving full
found themselves. "When a man," recognition to the Russian govern-
says he, "has nothing to eat, when he ment.
is clad in rags, when he is miserable There is a precedent in the recogni-.
is lad In ags w en e i mi era le tion of the Revolutionary Governm ent
and cold, he is too preoccupied with of Fa e Washigton 's cainet
his poor, suffering body,, of France, by Washington's caint
hwhich included Alexander Hamilton,
Besides being, therefore, physically the greatest constructive genius who
and morally exhausted, there was ever ever dealt with the science of govern-
present the ghost of foreign aggres- ment, and Thomas Jefferson, the most
sion. These two factors combined, ranging spirit in the politics. of his
paralyzed the realization of the true day. This cabinet voted for recogni-
situation, and prevented even the tion unanimously, and at the very
weakest attempt to protest against in- time of doing so, the guillotine was
ternal dictatorship. Yet far worse running with blood each morning.
than this result of foreign aggression Let us suppose that the present gov-
was the probability that if Russia ernment of Russia, which has stood
must succumb to it in order to bury the test of five years against every
the Bolsheviki under her wreckage, form of conspiracy, were to fall.
the city would rise against the vil- What would be the result? Chaos,
lage for bread; the village would rise murder, hunger, plagues, turmoil, as-
against the city for clothes; and sassinations, another five years of in-
though Bolshevism be ruined, the 140 describable misery. And the United
million people would be reduced to a States would be a party to it.
brutalization that would be far worse The question is then, what shall be
thai Sovietism in its effects upon the our policy? True, there has been end-
world. One national region would less bloodshed and misery in Russia.
rise against another. There would be But history proves it to happen in ev-
a tribe against a tribe, a clan against ery radical revolution. It is ostensibly
a clan, the necessary step through which peo-
However, it was this very state that ple work out their salvation. Mr.
led to the withdrawal of intervention Borah advises that we give Russia both
by the allies. Palpable signs of such a helping hand, and render advise and
disintegration had become- apparent, council to that government that now
and finally, realizing what the outcome represents the Russian people. It is
One eare it heard,
The other out it went."
-Chaucer.
RKMAN
readily inevitable that Russia may
-combine with Turkey and Germany and
this will result in another war. It is
further inevitable that the burden of
armaments cannot be lifted until thej
question of Russia is settled in herr
full recognition. If then, "President'
Harding would say tomorrow morn-
ing, (T, am quoting from Borah), ' -
propose to recognize the government
of Russia, I propose to open up trade
relations with every government on
earth, I propose to promote amity, jus-
tice, and friendship, and to put behind.
me the fear and vengeance of war,' he1
would lead the world to peace." Thus
We call for and 'deliver
I have shown you Russia is
ignored in the solving of
peace.
Bodenheim and His P
Maxwell Bodenheim, the p
a convert to the portable t
For three years this itiner;
has hoboed the world equi
only a pen and a quantity
He arrived in Chicago last w
a novel in the form of five
pages of untyped manusci
etched pages were copied an
by Covici-McGee and are
for publication March 15,
name of "Black uad." It
bond's biography.
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