PAGE FOUR
THE MIC1HIGAN DAILY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1930
a -a
Published every morning except Monday
wurig the University Tear by the Board in
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MANAGING EDITOR
Chairman Editorial Board
HENRY MERRY
City Editor
Frank E. Cooper
News Editor ................Gurney Williams
Editorial Director...........Walter W. Wilds
Sports Editor............... Joseph A. Russell
Women's Editor ..........Mary L. Behymer
Music. Drama, Books........Win. J. Gorman
Assistant City Editor......Harold 0. Warren
Assistant News Editor.... Charles R. Sprowl
Telegraph Editor...........eorge A. Stauter
Wm. F. Pyper ...........O...Copy Editor
NIGHT EDITORS
S. Beach Conger Pohn D. Reindel
Carl S. Forsythe Richard L. Tobin
David M. Nichol H~arold 0. Warren
Sports Assistants
Sheldon C. Fullerton . Culen Kennedy.
Robert Townsend
Reporters
Walter S. Baer, Jr. Wilbur 3. Myers
Irving J. Blumberg Robert L. Pierce
rhomas M. Cooley Sher M. Quraishi
George Fisk Richard Racine
Morton Frank Jerry E. Rosenthal
Saul Friedberg George Rubenstein
Frank B. Gilbreth Charles A. Sanford
J ack Goldsmith Karl Seiffert
oland Goodman Robert F. Shaw
Morton Helper Edwin M. Smith
Edgar Iornik George A. Stauter
SAmes H. Inglis Parker Terryberry
enton C. Kunze Tohn S. Townsend
Powers Moulton Robert D. Townsend
Lynne Adam. Margaret O'Brien
Bety. Clark Eleanor Rairdon
Wsie Feldman Jean Rosenthal
Elizabeth Gribble Cecilia Shriver
Emily G. Grimes Frances Stewart
Elsie M. Hoffmeyer Anne Margaret Tobia
rean Levy a argaret Thompson
Dorothy Magee Claire Trussell
Mary McCall Barbara Wright
ranks, many fine platitudes have
been uttered concerning the fine
indications to be found in "a genu-
ine demand for a larger life"; the
mere fact of greater numbers seek-
ing to make more of their lives'
seems to be a wholesome indication.
Nevertheless, without desiring to
seem unduly pessimistic about these
"nobler aspirations," we cannot but
feel that the more important con-
sideration which is usually made a
corollary of this thirst for learning,
namely, the obligation implied byl
these great numbers of students to
try to fashion to their highest use
the qualities and talents which they
present. The genuinely pressing ur-
gency which Dr. Flexner's data dis-
closes is that with the increase in
mass there must be a determined
effort to "sift and essay," as Chan-
cellor Brown of New York Univer-
sity recently wrote in his annual
report, the multitudes and deal
with the individual.
When the university enrolment
must be decimated in order to ar-
rive at the actual figure of the
real students, an entirely different
complexion attaches to the prob-
lems of administrators and facul-
ties. It would seem that no longer
can the large "floating" student
population be tacitly and remotely
considered as undifferentiated from
the true student element. What fol-
lows by way of changes in academ-
ic machinery must recognize more
than ever before the entire import
of Dr. Flexner's well-grounded axe-
wielding.
Music and Drama
RICHARD WAGNER,
SIEGFRIED: by German singers,
Alfred Coates and London Sym-;
phony orchestra: December issue in
Victor Masterworks Series.
Wagnerian opera definitely be-
longs to the sphere of the theater,j
and must be considered in terms of
that medium. In creating the Mus-
ic-drama Wagner understood the
necessity of elevating opera from
the level of the purely music-
minded, and establishing a more
democratic a r t form. Therefore
into this new form, Wagner intro-
duced the primal simplicities of ill-
usion and showcraft. Opera and
music-drama, in their fullest ex-,
pression, combine all the art-forms
of the aesthetic spectrum-poetry,
music, the drama, the scene, mime,
TONIGHT: In the Mendelssohn
Theatre beginning at 8:15 the Mu-
sical Art Quartet, appearing in the
second concert of the Chamber 1
Musical Series.
TONY SARG'S ALICE IN
WONDERLAND
A Review.
The mathematician sees Carroll's
famous "Alice" as a geometric
figure to be studied for its reten-
tion of certain properties through-
out a series of seemingly mad
transformati.ons; and he is delight-
fully amazed at Carroll the mathe-
matician's success in presenting a
mathematical object in an alterna-
tive set of symbols. So he has his
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Editorial Comment
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BUSINESS STAFF
Telephone 21214
BUSINESS MANAGER
T. HOLLISTER MABLEY
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KASPER H. HALVERSON
Department Managers
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Service................ .Nor: is J. Johnson
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Business Secretary ............Mary J. Kenan
Assistants
Hrry R. Beglev Don W. Lyon
Vernon Bishop William Morgan
William Brown I. Fred Schaefer
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Erie Kightlinger
Ann W. Verner
Marian Atran
H4en Bailey
Josephine Convisser
orothy Laylin
Sylia Miller
Helen Olsen
Mildred Postal
Marjorie Rough
Mary E. Watts
Johanna Wiese
_
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1930
Night Editor: CARL S. FORSYTHE
- t
SEEKERS AFTER LEARNING.
Many present-day educational
grievances are laid at the doorstep
of the large numbers who annually
clamor for a taste of the higher
learning and a Gothic milieu. It is
supposed that we are trying to
make the old-time college fit the
needs of studentbodies numbering
thousands; experimental colleges
and research units delimit mem-
bership to a few hundreds; at the
other extreme, some zealous uni-
versity administrators throw down
the bars with a "come one, come
all" policy, democracy in education
becomes an ideal with some and a
fetish with others.
Much criticism has been expend-
ed upon the consequences to the
ideals of liberal education which
these Gargantuan student popula-
tions achieve; but until the last
fortnight no one had seen fit to
examine the actual content of these
student bodies whose numerical size
seems astronomical. Now Dr. Abra-
ham Flexner, in his significant
book on the modern university, in
America, England and Germany,
holds up the mirror to these huge
numbers who are in college, and
appends several challenging con-
clusions. In the first place, noting
the fact that so enormous a number
are interested in getting some sort
of an education is "a novelty in the
world's history," and admitting
that this may "ultimately have a
significance which today no one
can foretell," Dr. Flexner contends
that one cannot be really hopeful
until the universities and other ed-
ucational institutions "definitely
discriminte betweensstudents on
the basis of an intellectual stan-
dard." But a more striking infer-
ence may be made from the result
of a canvass of the rolls of some of
the leading universities: the num-
ber of students (that is, "from the
standpoint of a university not too
rigorously conceived as devoted to
A SERMON IN RIDICULE
(San Diego Union.)'
We are indebted to Mr. John T.,
McCutcheon, dean of American
cartoonists and one of this repub-
lic's great men, for a devastating
sermon on the failings and short-
comings of the legal profession.
The sermon takes the form of a
cartoon, recently published by THE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE, entitled "If
Lawyers Fought Fires the Way
They Fight Crime." It shows a
burning house surrounded by a
concourse of legal talent, and from
an upper window a distressed lady
with a small child in her arms is
shrieking for help.
"First," says one of the lawyers,
"we've got to prove that there is
a fire, and that it is this fire." "The
plaintiff's appeal is not in proper
form. It would never be sustained
by the higher courts," observes
I another. "In her appeal she doesn't
give the number of her house or
what ward it's in-most irregular!"
is the criticism of a third. A fourth
is drawing up a legal notice to the
fire department, stating-with am-
ple "whereases"-that "there has
been cause to exist, from causes
unknown to appellant, a fire or con-
flagration-"
This is devastating ridicule, yet
there is hardly one layman in a
thousand who would object to it
as unfair. There can be relatively
few leaders of bench and bar who
have any idea whatever of the
amazement, resentment, and bitter-
ness which the law's delays, and
its feeble attack on the crime prob-
lem, have instilled into the lay
public.
The legal mind is a thing apart
from ordinary life, apparently,
concerned with serving or exploit-
ing a system, rather than with the
objectives which the system itself
purports to serve.
Within the profession itself there
will be none to maintain that the
courts mete out ideal justice-and
there will be a few outside the pro-
fession to claim that such a feat
would be possible in a world marred
by multifarious imperfections. But
both within and without the pro-
fession there is need for education
as to the fundamental purposes of
law and the really fundamental
rules that safeguard those purposes.
Courts and laws were invented to
eliminate haste-due deliberation is
an essential of any sound system
of doing justice. Mr. MCutcheon's
parallel between fire and crime is
a distortion. But is is the fault of
the law-the fault of the courts, of
the legislators and of the lawyers
-that this distortion is reflected
today in the mind of the average
layman. Speed is not incompatible
with deliberation-speed is not the
same thing as haste-and the law
has exaggerated deliberation out of
all proportions to its rightful and
orderly place in the process of jus-
tice.
The purpose of the law-such
etc. More than a mere musician,
Wagner, primarily, a metteur en
scene synthesized these diverse
elements into an all-illuminating
center. Of course, that Wagner was
one of the world's greatest musi-
cians, a daring innovator, bringing
revolutionary changes in ideology,
in form and subject to this art,
is obvious. But to me Wagner's
musical achievements are subsid-
iary and corollary to his sublime
theatrical conceptions.
When Wagner conceived of com-
posing operas in the symphonic
form as opposed to the older melo-
dic basis, when he practiced a
method of "Durchkomponieren"
(composing throughout), as oppos-
ed to the aria and recitative opera
of Gluck and Meyerbeer, he realiz-
ed the presence of two clashing
elements-the poem and the mus-
ical structure. Wagner's intense
folk-consciousness, and his heart-
felt endeavor to create a German
drama was easily enticed by North-
ern Nibelungen legend.
From its o r i g i n, and from
Wagner's folknaivete, one may ex-
pect a simple, naive, and unsophis-
ticated expression. Spells of magic,
the play of curse and blessing, their
repurcussions on the destiny and
conduct of men and gods, make the
simplicity of treatment seem in-
evitable. But the infusion of com-
plex symbolism, of profound Niet-
zschean ethical concepts compli-
cates this simplicity. From a tech-
nical point of view then, the Wag-
nerian structure falls short of poet-
ic drama. Its repetitious character,
the emptiness, obvious motivation,
and the occasional insipidity of the
verse necessitates the sensational,,
complex, and suggestive musical
background.
Turning from the literary to the
musical aspect of the music-drama,
we find that as a musical structure
and not only as, regards narrative
continuity, the entire Nibelungen
cycle is a homogenous whole. One
half the thematic material of the
cycle appears in the Rheingold. To
further synthesize the musical co-
herence, Wagner definitely gives
each single drama the broad char-
acter of a symphonic movement.
Thus the Rheingold, or the adagio
precedes the lyric and romantic
andante, the "Walkuere," The third
movement, "Siegfried," with its
youthful enthusiasm and impetuo-
sity, may be labelled "scherzo"; the
final movement "Goetterdaemme-
rung" develops into a grand allegro.
Thus, it can be seen, technically,
Wagner consciously adapted the
symphony as a form for this col-
losal structure.
The most definite and essential
characteristic w h i c h separates
Wagner from his predecessors is
the recurrence of more or less pre-
cise phrases (leit motifs) which
have a definite intellectual as well
as emotional function in the sym-
phonic development of the dramas.
Pre-Wagnerian composers, particu-
larily Beethoven made use of this
device, but his themes are invoca-
tive and mostly purely emotional in
their appeal, which as they appear
and reappear in the structure of
any of his forms, as they involve
in or disentangle from each other,
expound the emotional content of
his thought. Wagner's themes do
not, by any means, evoke mere no-
tions, as a roll of drums may sug-
gest infantry, or chromatics may
suggest a battle scene; such aids
are imitative, and not fundamen-
tally emotional in conception, al-
though they may be so as a result,
and this achievement is not a high
one, musically. Wagner expresses
the idea musically behind the word
-or the idea prompting it is in
this manner expressed simultane-
ously. Here is the double revela-
tion made possible, and herein lies
fun.
The all-important child shivers
with excitement at Alice's adven-
tures; probably because Alice's
consistent alternation between joy-
ous bewilderment at a gay, irre-
sponsible world and deep heart-
breaking sobs at her trouble is
almost his own life-rythm. So he
has the greatest fun of complete
sympathy and understanding.
The rest of us find The Wonder-
landland a marvelous escape. We
all grow up to be quite terrible be-
lievers in substance, facts, and the
like; and become dogmatically de-
voted to what has happened. The
stifled or lost yearnings for a world
where all things can happen the
Wonderland most joyously satisfies.
We are occasionally a little hurt at
being so strictly confined to our
own miserable (however happy)
career. We are furious at our diffi-
culty in being inconsistent. So the
eloquent life of Wonderland, where
all is plausible, is relief. So we, too,
have fun.
Only Tony Sarg's handicraft, as
magicaltas witchery itself, could
bring this world satisfactorily to
the eye. Only marionettes, so dex-
trously real and unreal for us
simultaneously, could create this
world. Almost any other mode of
presentation we would have re-
sented as an insult to our visual
imaginations. The success of Sarg's
elaborate interpretation means a
great addition to "Alice in Wonder-
land" lore. Though a lamentable
amount of cutting( especially of the
dialogue) was, of course, necessary;
there was never a moment when
the precious tale was falsified.
The puppets wre very happily
1 built in imitation of the famous
Tenniel illustrations, which for
most of us are the authentic visual
associations with the story. The
physiognomies and costumes were
very remarkably expressive. And
needless to say, the puppets were
manipulated with unfailing skill.
Almost unfailing skill last night,
however. Of all possible accidents:
the wall fell as Humpty Dumpty
was to fall from it, leaving him
quite 'together' and comfortable in
the air; but Humpty cleared the
situation by murmuring "almost an
accident' 'and proceeded correctly
to his famous fall.
Periodic in the production were
several delightful dances (and a
ballet of flowers during the inter-
mission). In this type of motion
puppets are supreme. Knowing
nothing of the inertia of matter
and quite free gravitationally they
are capable of the most splendid
ballet, in which the inevitable
ground is used only to revivify the
feet.
The whole evening must have de-
lighted the most determined cere-
bralists in an audience t h a t
overflowed the Mendelssohn Thea-
tre. W. J. G.
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h i g h l y respected
widely quoted."
University
Oratorical ssocilation
Presents
The Foremost Washington Correspondent
"In the realm of
na-
the
of
Michigan
tional
awo 01 *,
WILLIAM
ARI
problems
articles of Mr. Hard are
'I'HUEi.SI)AY NIGHT
Hill Auditoriur
8:15
THIS IS THE THIRD NUMBER OF THE SERIES
Single Admission Tickets May Be Purchased at 3211 Angell Hall
$1.00, $1.50, $2.00
"His career as a corre-
spondent gives him the
vantage point of having
something of definite
value and importance to
impart.
and
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excellent reasons
for GAS HEAT in the candy
business . s ;
ORGAN RECITAL THIS
AFTERNOON
The weekly organ recital will be
given this afternoon in Hill Audi-
torium at 4:15 by Arthur B. Jen-
nings, guest organist from Pitts-
burgh. The program offered, in-
cludes the following numbers:
Overture to the Occasional Ora-
torio ................... Handel
Choral Prelude, "Be Glad, Now"..
.Bach
Andante from SymphonyIe......
.~Beethoven
Chorale in B Minor........Franc
Ballet of the Happy Spirits ..Gluck
Ronde Francais....... Boelmann
Toccata ....................Dupre
Overture to "Tannhauser".......
.Wagner
in Wagnerian form and its success-
ful integration into a perceptible
unity. The singing reflects intel-
Working on as narrow a profit margin as does the
candy industry, economies must be sought in effi-
cient production management. Gas affords the
most economical method of producing heat, and
thus promotes lower costs and longer profits.
Candy making is a chemical operation. Wherever
chemistry is invoiYod, accurate heat control is
imperative. Gas heat is capable of
accurate control and application. Th
minutely
us again
Gas Heat is the logical one for candy making.
Have you
sent for ybur
copy of the
new book
4