4 THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1921 The Detroit Saturday Night has things literary. The other publica- Lyhne," which Henrik Ibsen called started a book review section. It is tions of Detroit either run the book the greatest novel of the nineteenth not confined to the regular pages but news in a regular section or have no century, has been translated into Eng- is a department in itself. The De- such department at all. lish by Hanna Astrup Larsen, and is troit Sunday News has for sometime offered by Robert M. McBride and had a section devoted exclusively to Jacobsen's famous book "Niels company. I I " _._ t PIW Easily Settled To save yourself from buying a "twelve- dollar style" in a six-dollar quality, remember that a shoe is only good if it's made good ; and you don't really feel sure of worth unless you buy- a good name. Therefore seek a name that stands for style with quality, and for value on which maker and merchant stake their t. ., Biosh! I take great pleasure in presenting, with several corrections in spelling and punctuation, the following letter concerning myself. G. D. E. The isolated phenomenon of G. D. E., one who engauds your Sunday sheet with lengthy peroration anent Dreis- er, Puritanism, the "yokelry," prohi- bition, Christians, and so on-in other words, one who talks the Mencken- talk unstintingly, has at length arous- ed my righteous ire. This worthy, who was assailed by disgusted campus crit- ics rather weakly this past Summer Session, has been growing steadily more obnoxious. My sole objection to G. D. E. is that I have read H. L. Mencken ("Father Henry," as G. D. E. so fondly and familiarly terms his "master"). I have read with avidity all of Mr. Mencken's published books; I am also a regular follower of "Repe- tition Generale," which Mr. Mencken with George Nathan publishes each month in the Smart Set. The famous critic is quite familiar to me, both in his philosophy and his slashing mode of attack. I believe him'to be a force in American life, not wholly unrepre- hensible, but at least healthily alive. My feelings, uping seeing Mr. Merken's ideas and phrases garbed in toto into a silly, presumptuous, and flippant mess of "bhah" in The Michi- gan Daily (I don't remember whether I quote Mencken or not), are complete- ly outraged. Of course, if one has never read Mencken, G. P. E. is quite exhilarating. This, I presume, is G. D. E.'s view of the matter. To bask in the sunlight of borrowed astuteness appears to be his particular privilege. If these displays of brilliance by G. D. E. were only labelled at the top of the page, "Translations from the Men- ekenese," or "With Apologies to Smart Set," or "'Prejudices' in Words of One Syllable," or "Clippings by the Campus Cut-up," or "'Prefaces' Paraphrased," or "Mencken Made Easy," I should be pacified. But this posing as a great critic and "enlightener of the dense," I find an abominable nuisance. I have not the space nor the patience to point out the similarities between the respective points of view and vo- cabulary of master and pupil. It would be far easier to note the phrases that G. D. E. has actually coined for him- self. As for ideas, I have never yet seen one of G. D. E.'s that did not force me to chuckle to myself remin- iscently. Mencken has something to say and the experience and background which give him the right to say it. G. D. E. has nothing to say and no excuse for saying it. His "criticism" is only a shoddy redecoration of of another's opinions. Never yet have I caught G. D. E. differing from "Father Henry." It is a matter of indifference to me whether this outrageous plagiarism is stopped by The Daily feature-hunters. I am merely interested in letting G. D. E. as well as his public know that these slavish imitations of his are not passing unrecognized and that Menck- en's self-appointed "understudy" is not imposing on all of us. Then, I suppose, a man cannot help being an ass, but one does feel sorry for him. ONE OF MANY NAUSEATED READERS reputations. Dorothy Dodd shoes have been preemi- nently good for over twenty years; and value considered, they are better than ever today. S OFF0.5 SHOES .-w - i - I