The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-14
in THE LITERARY FIELD
A NEWSPAPERS SHARP CRITICISM
OF THE MODERN MAGAZINES.
why Certain Writers Assumed the
Names They Did-The Strength
of Poetry-On Writing.

What Is the matter with the magazines,
asks the Brooklyn Eagle. Do their pub
fishers think TO drive newspapers out OF
business? They are assimilating them
selves more and more to the newspapers in
contents, and. If truth must be told at the
risk OF being unpleasant. they are not
turning out SO good a product, In some
cases. as the newspapers print and sell for
less money on Sunday. Even in the old
Atlantic. which has been one Of the main
stays of American literature. they exhibit
almost fiippancy in the desire TO be spry
and modern. like the Decent monthlies. Our
periodicals have much sugar, but little
meat.
Such strong, serious work was done
by the New England coterie thirty and
forty years ago-yes, and such lighter and
more playful work as that Of Oliver Wen
dell Holmes, had it's first showing in the
magazines before IL was put into books. Is
IL that all the serious men are dead. or Is
II that public that reads yellow papers
and has Initiated its taste is demanding in
what 1t takes to be serious literature the
same frothiness, extravaganza. vulgarity,
cheapness and sensation that it buys for
a cent in its morning paper. with its dozen
extras to follow? Certainly the magazine
OF this day is not making so good show
as 1t ought to make. In some ways it has
improved. 1t has widened the circle of
its contributors; 1t no longer depends upon
a dozen hacks, who would write on any
subject to order, whether they knew any
thing about it or not; it gives more d.
versity than 1t did; it asks specialists to
contribute their special knowledge; it even
gets the first reports from government
scientists. who used TO give the first results
OF their labors to the Nation; it is more
artistic and attractive in makeup than it
was, though it relies too much on the pho
tograph TO be artistic always.
Yes. Ii does all this; still, when one COM
pares the modern magazine, with its tales
OF society, which are weak; its tales of
sensation, which can be overstrong; it's
wholly conventional descriptive articles,
such as appear in Sunday papers all around
the country, with the magazines Ia which
were appearing stories by Dickens. Reade,
Collins, the inimitable humor and keen
sense Of Holmes, the verse of Lowell,
Longfellow and Whittier, the essays of
Emerson. ThOreau, Motley and their like,
IL Is a saddening contrast.
The chenille of the present-day magazine
demands to be amused. IL is we'll, 1t is
necessary TO recognize this element, for
magazines should be in part devoted to
amusement. But have men grown wise
that they, need nothing more? Do they
never seek instruction? Do they never
think? Do they find no response in the
appeal to their best emotionS2 Are they
bent on acquainting themselves with mere
ly physical facts and not with nature and
mind, in its larger aspects and mind? Are
mere reports enough? Is 1t always to be
The Engagement of Lord Sillybilly and
Lady Lighthead for the girl readers, and
,Slugger McGinness's Comeupance for men?
Is there no space, then, for the best
thoughts Of men? The essay has disap-
peared. they say, yet the fruits of study,
meditation and observation are always OF
concern, for We know that newspaper edi-
torials are read, and they are essays. With
endless variety OF topic, with leisure for
expanding and polishing, the author ought
= t. frre>as' certain q market for them in the
magazine as in the paper.
CommercialiSm, which affects most other
enterprises, affects the magazines The
theater In this country has lost standing
as refining and educating force because
II Is given over to things that pay-not
merely pay enough, but pay a great deal.
silly farragos Of song and dance are kept
on the stage OF a single house for whole
season, and thin-witted farce is kept going
about the country by the twelvemonth.
Many who used TO go to the play are never
seen In theaters. Their sense would be in
suited by much that is seen there. The
same commercialism, the same down-level-
ing that seeks the applause OF the half
educated majority, presides over the mag
azines and forbids their appearance except
In popular aspect. Popular they seem to
be. for there are so many of them, and
commercial success, for they boast of large
circulation and much advertising; but the
moral, or educative purpose they might
serve Is overlooked.
Commercialism has never guided men to
their best; IL was an incident, not cause
of success and fame in arts. scholarship,
invention, letters. reformation and religion.
A magazine that Is above il is a public
need that Is, perhaps, only half suspected
magazine in which the trite and trivial
would have no place, In which the best and
sboldest offerings of men would be welcome,
in which Mrs. Grundy would have no more
authority than the bishop, In which the
pertness OF the punster would be con-
tinuously absent the ponderous self
laudations OF the politician. Great ques-
tionS are before the world, and men con-
tinue to be moved by blessed impulses.
Why should the newspapers alone be left
to prove the consciousness of those facts