PAGE FOUR THE MICHICAN DAIL Y SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1929 r . ..... . ......... . ..... Published every morning except Monday during the University year by the Board in Control of Student Publications.V Member of Western Conference Editorial a Association. V The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- jatches credited to it or not otherwise credited 1" in this paper and the local news published 1 herein Entered at the posto. .ce at Ann Arbor,t Michigan, as second class matter. Special rate of postagegranted by Third Assistant Post-c master General. Subscription by carrier, $4.00; by mail, $4.50. 1 Offices: Ann Arbor Press Building, May- nard Street.Es Phones: Editorial, 4925; Business, 21214.S EDITORIAL STAFF Telephone 4925 MANAGING EDITOR ELLIS B. MERRY Editor......................George C. Tilley City Editor................Pierce Rosenberg News Editor .............. George E. Simons Snorts Editor........Edward B. Warner, Jr. Women's Editor............Marjorie Follmer Telegraph Editor.......... George Stauter Music and Drama ........William J. Gorman Literary Editor ...........Lawrence R. Klein Assistant City Editor....-Robert J. Feldman Night Editors Frank E. Cooper Robert L. Sloss William C. Gentry Gurney Williams, Jr Henry J. Merry Walter Wilds Charles R. Kaufman Reporters' Charles A. Askren William Page Helen Bare Gustav R. Reich Louise Behymer John D. Reindel Thomas M. Cooley Jeannie Roberts W. H. Cranc Joe Russell Ledru E. Davis Joseph F. Ruwitch Helen Domine William P. Salzarulo Margaret Eckels George Stauter Katherine Ferrin adwell Swanson Carl Forsythe Jane Thayer Sheldon C. Fullerton MargaretLThompson Ruth Geddes Richard L. Tobin Ginevra Ginn Beth Valentine 3. Edmund Glavin Harold 0. Warren ack Goldsmith Charles S. White D. B. H~empstead, Jr. G. Lionel Willens James C. Hendley Lionel G. Willens Richard T. Hurley J. E. Willoughby J ean H. Levy Barbara Wright ussell E. McCracken Vivian Zimit Lester M. May BUSINESS STAFF Telephone 21214 BUSINESS MANAGER A. J. JORDAN, JR. Assistant Manager ALEX K. SCHERER Department Managers Advertising ...............Hollister Mabl :y Advertising..asper H. Halverson A dvertising ................ Sherwood Upton Service ............ ....George Spater Circulation.................J. Vernor Davis Accounts........................Jack Rose Publications................George Hamilton Assistants Howard W. Baldock Raymond Campbell James E. Cartwright Robert ;Crawford Harry B. Culver Thomas M. Davis James Hoffer Norris Johnson Cullen Kennedy Charles Kline Marvin Kobacker Lawrence Lucey George Patterson Norman Eliezer Anson oex Robert Williamson Thomas Muir Charles Sanford Lee Slayton Roger C. Thorpe William R. Worboys Jeanette Dale Bessie V. Egeland Bernice Glaser Helen E. Musselwhite Hortense Gooding Eleanor Walkinshaw Alice McCully Dorothy Stonehouse Dorothea Waterman Marie Wellstead han remain with a precarious sit- c uation. This combination of forces has worked admirably at Michigan. As consequence a high number of aluable aides to the University have been attracted elsewhere. It s highly commendable, therefore, that President Ruthven proposes to ameliorate the faculties' rela- tions with the University through a policy of paying professors upon the basis of their value to the in- stitution, not merely what is neces- sary to keep them at Michigan, and of maintaining that the personnel should not be sacrificed for physi- cal expansion. Regarding the office of president generally it is interesting that the proposes that he proposes that the president should serve as chairman of the faculties, instead of trying to function as a "combination of educational expert, spanker of re- calcitrant youngsters, business ex- ecutive, salesman and medicine man for the country at large." The objective therein set forth reflects in a high degree the perspective of a man who, irrespective of his sudden rise to high administrative sympathetic, yet firm, hard at the pulse of the entire University. FIRST UTTERACES. Men high in public office can number no more valuableally than unanimously friendly press. The support of the press has strengthened many a beleagured cause, and its opposition has often served the public well by breach- ing the walls of an undeserving one. Well-wishers of a man entering upon a public career can hope for him no greater champion that a friendly press; nor can one wish him a worse enemy that a mis- trustful press. The pressis not one newspaper, but thousand:; of them; not one ed- itor, but thousands of them. Over the face of the earth, news- papers have organized their news- gathering services, the better to serve their readers. One newspaper, one editor, can no longer claim to act capably as the mouthpiece of any person whose utterances may properly be considered public prop- erty. The sole purpose of such or- ganizations as the Associated Press, the United Press, and others, is to transmit promptly and accurately news of general interest. The em- phasis placed upon promptness by these organizations is attested b their elaborate mechanical mean to speed transmission to every par of the country. Correspondents gather in center known to be productive of new in order that the public may be served ,quickly.rA concidence is safe Iwith them, for they achieve mor than a dubious "scoop" by solidfy- ing their relationships with new sources. It is not fitting that one smal unit of this enormously influentia system should deem itself a suitabli organ for broadcasting the words o: a universial appeal. 0 THE MYSTIC CIRCLE In early American legend ther is a tale of a certain William Penn who by royal grant from His Ma. jesty the Kink was to be allowet as much land as he could wall around in a day. Naturally, h hired a speedy Indian to do thi work for him and the result wa Pennsylvania. On the other hand, there is n such legend to enrich Ann Arbor' name, yet much the same sort o f restriction had been placed on it fraternities-excepting the fac e that they have been given no op portunity to define their own limit., The arbitrary boundaries which fol low Cambridge Road to Washtenai and more or less circle the city I beyond which fraterities may no d build, are unfair both to the town e people and to the fraternities. If (and many no doubt will doub - vouch for the truth of the state t ment) fraternities make undesir able neighbors, it is unjust to re - strict them to the most densel peopled sections where the great est number will be made to suffe their undesirability. Further, land owners outside the mystic circle wh may wish to sell their houses t these objectionable organization e have no possible buyers in this fielc From the standpoint of the fra ternities and sororities, the situ ation is even more complex. An; wishing to expand by buying o . building larger houses are unabl s to do so either because the price o - property in the restricted area i prohibitive or there are no lot available. Other societies whici have bought homes beyond the lin Music And Drama 1 i V 0 CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL JUDGMENTS "History of Music" by Cecil Gray, Alfred Knopf Inc., N. Y. C. I (Editor's note: The following re-, view is the first of a series which is intended to be a fairly systema- tic survey of the more important contemparary books and music and the drama) This latest history of music by a prominent London musical critic proves rather interesting because its author hates all historians and is indeed very seldom one himself. He is indignant at "the almost ex- clusive preoccupation of musical historians with questions of formal and idiomatic evolution," attribut- ing to it the strongest and most irrational prejudices of musical criticism. He is not interested in influences and trends and culmin- ations, all of which are in a sense data for the scientist and permit the unimpassioned objectivity of the historian. His concern is more with musical talent and genius, en- tities the explication of which re- quire the more sensitive talent of the critic. Cl C' Night Editorl CHARLES R. KAUFMAN 1 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6. 1929 THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. With a lengthy exposition of President Ruthven's tentative so- lution for the problems confront- ing the University now made pub- lic, the new President's measure may well be estimated. It is signi- ficant that each tenet of the Presi- dent's policy is tempered by judi- cious conciliation, common sense, and practical idealism. It is equally significant that each crux in Dr. Little's career has been dealt with categorically, to the effect that Dr. Ruthven is now known to possess the tactful, diplomatic administra- tive qualities he was reputed to have. Of salient importance is the at- titude which he has adopted to- ward exclusively student interests; namely, a modification of the au- tomobile regulation in favor of graduate students, less cumbersome disciplinary machinery under the direction of centralized authority judging cases by a few rules, with a modicum of paternalism, a more stringent selective requirement for admission to the University, and the enhancement of cultural and techincal advantages through som such agency as a University college These proposals reveal a rather penetrative appereciation of immi- nent student needs, and if brought to maturity they should be of in- calculable help in promoting stu- dent cordiality toward the new ad- ministration. In the interim since Dr. Little's resignation, Michigan's academic morale has experienced numerous jolts. During the past nine months a dozen highly trained and valuable scholars have left their University many of them excellent teachers, eminent in their fields, and of long standing at Michigan. A school with an uncertain ad- ministrative future is attacked as legtimate prey by other universi- ties for the purpose of inducing away its faculty men. These over- tures nicely complement the second Gray is really much more the I critic than the historian. With the critic's illuminating power of gen- eralisation he speaks of the out-. standing personalities in musicale history. He doesn't evade judg-s ments of value; nor are his those1 firmly endorsed by tradition; theyt are individual. And there lies the1 peculiar value and interest of ther book; it is a faithful record of the a shifting viewpoint of modern mu-t sical criticism. The depreciation ofk the Beethoven of the Fifth Sym-c phony, the Emperor Concerto, The c Appasionata Sonata; the beliefc that the real and valuable Brahmsi is the miniaturist, the Brahms of the Songs; the enthusiastic praiset of Moussorgsky as "the greatest musical psychologist of all time";l -these are a few of the more ob-( vious judgments that we r):cog-I nize as modern.] The most valuable chapter in the book is undoubtedly the one on "The Viennese School." There, Gray1 shatters convincingly that very persistent legend which has it that Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven form a perfect line of development in which each sums up all that has gone before him and adds some- thing of his own, each representing a higher pitch of perfection in style, form, and genius. The myth was extremely unfair to Haydn and Mozart from the point of view of musical genius; and harmful to Beethoven because it confused the real nature of his struggle and achievement. Gray has cleared the question nicely by explaining Mo- zart's ease and satisfaction with moulds presented him and Beetho- ven's striking difficulties and ex- periments with architecture not in terms of one having greater gen- ius than the other, but by point- ing out the difference in the type of musical genius each possessed. The chapter is clear, concise, valu- able criticism. Before Bach Gray is helpless. He calls him the "Faust of music who sold his soul for artistic omnipo- tence" and proceeds to enumerate ecstatically the varying demands which Bach so facilely meets. These few pages resemble the mountains of adulation DeQuincey granted Shakespeare and as crti- cism they are equally empty of value. Some of Gray's judgments are much more provocative. His bril- liant attempt to rescue Berlioz and Liszt whom all unite in decrying from their present low ranking is one example. "Les Troyens," Ber- lioz's two-part musical drama he declares to have "the majestic dig- nity and restraint of Sophocles and a Vergilian serenity and sweetness." Or, "there are in Liszt's huge and unequal output enough gems of first-water to build him a crown of imperishable glory equal to that of any composer of his age." Right at this spot is illustrated the fallacy of making a one vol- ume History of Music anything but a History. If a writer proposes to offer a judgment of value as as- tonishing as the one on Berlioz and Liszt, then the few pages that he has in a one volume History are no place for it. A generalization, when so startling, is not sufficient. The judgment cries for a whole book crammed with musical illustrations and specific references, following a logical line from a presenation of ontemporary writing, is ushered in weetly and kindly by benevolent Villiam Lyon Phelps, identifying B ,he spirit of poetry with youth, vishing the publication "a great leal of that delectable commodity 7t -success," and calling the under- ;aking "gallant." The introduction - s just too touching. But it is true. the editor, a Michigan graduate, ndoubtedly acquainted with the uccess of similar attempts on this ampus, is certainly "brave" to tart a magazine proposing to rely almost solely on undergraduate brain-children. It is a precarious "expression of faith," deserving support. Those on the campus feel- ing that they need only to be dis- covered should welcome its appear- ance. It intends to give them a monthly glance at themselves or at others like themselves from neigh- boring universities; and such glances should conduce to the self, criticism that may eventually make writers of them. The first issue needs no apology; it contains interesting writing. The most important piece is undoubt- edly Leo Kirschbaum's story, "Ro- senzweig." It is a serious and real- ly absorbing attempt at presenta- tion of a character through vivid, highly subjective dicsription of its numerous settings. Of the oddities and mannerisms of the character, the whims of personality, Kirsch- baum has nothing to say. He uses only his extraordinary powers of observation and a vivid, telegraphic descriptive prose to stimulate our imagination to picture Rosenzweig and convey his own conception of the significance of the character. This convention is a bit clumsy in his hands. He confuses the point of view often, now talking definite- ly of Rosenzweig himself and then losing himself in Rosenzweig's vi- sion of his surroundings. In the specifically descriptive writing there is too little order and ar- rangement of details even for the stream of consciousness technique. Very probably the story is a fail- ure. But as an example of con-' scious and consistent experiment with a technique of character pre- sentation, it is interesting and im- portant. Charles Peake, another Michigan graduate, has the next longest piece of writing, a one-act play called "Undertow." It pictures "yellow journalism" undermining an innocent man until he commits suicide. It is difficult to convinc- ingly hinge a suicide on the yells of paper boys without a more elab- orate presentation of the man's character than the one-act form will permit. Hence the play prob- ably does not deserve production. But it contains interesting writing and reads smoothly enough to be decidedly worth publication. Professor Jack contributes Part One of an article on James Joyce. He is indignant at that group, steadily increasing in number, who (in Virginia Wolf's words) "feel in order to breathe they must break the windows" just because more capable writers like Joyce and Gertrude Stein have appeared so magnificent doing the same thing. "Their imitativeness is deplorable" because "they are vulgarizing the most interesting writing of the day." The rest of the essay is a specific application with illustra- tions in Joyce's work o T. S. El- iot's brilliant generalization in the now famous essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent." "To be a good temporary you must first be a good traditionalist" is Professor Jack's way of putting it. He holds that Joyce's "contemporary accep- tance of futility, desolation, de- bauchery," in Ulysses was but a step in his development; that in some of his later work he is achiev- ing "that merging of yesterday and today in the word-synthesis" which Eliot declared to be the con- dition of all the great literature that this age would produce. The article continues next month and is to be followed by essays on other contemporaries. The Book Review Section notice- ably needs improvement. There is no excuse here for any deviation from a fairly high standard of ex- cellence. The books chosen for the first issue were unimportant; the revifws were not at all valuable nor Telephone 22541 rown-Cress & Co. HARRIS HAL Incorporated After Regular Student Sipp Investment Securities th Floor Ann Arbor Trust Bldg. Everyone Invited Come READ THE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS! er 6:30 i About Books "EXPRESSION OF FAITH" Manuscripts, a magazine of con- temporary writing, edited by Willis H. Kinnear, published in Indianap- olis, Indiana. MANUSCRIPTS, a magazine of r State and Huron New York Listed Stocks Private Wire Connections will all Markets Securities bought or sold on commission basis I . 4 L Prof. Howard Y. McClusky Will be the Speaker SUNDAY NIGHT at 4 f t B Y HEworld's finest clothin- specially d e s i gn e d for Michigan men. New imported 4 fabrics of plain browns, blues, oxford gray. $52 to $65. I III Ii . r: }t ii Iiz 1 t i /'\ I "I r t~ 11 } t ,' i A t x i iy i jj 1 r e}. }{ 5 T f III, ii I i