The Washington herald., 1907-09-21
Up.to.dateness in ths MagaLlues

Great is the magazine press, There
can be 40 doubt of that. The magazines
themselves tell US so-Insist on it. indeed
every week or every month, accord
ing to the frequency Of their publication.
OF course. we do not mean the old-fogy'
conservative magaZines-the ones that
aim to give us sane and high-class fc-
ton. authoritative articles on science,
art, literature. and travel. and biography
and autobiography that IS really worth
reading. Obviously. We could not have
such behlnd-the-times publications IN
mind when we speak in terms Of COM
mendation of the magazines as a whole.
We refer. Of course. To the up-to-date
sOrt-the kind that has exposed and re-
formed everything that needed exposure
or reformation. that has shown the gov
ernment the way that it should go
that, in short, has regulated the universe
all for the small sum Of from 10 20 10
cents a month. Il is the journals of
this class which we wish 70 eXalt and
for which We bespeak the grateful ap-
probation OF a hugely benefited public
Recently our attention has been at
tracted especially 10 the art features of
these guardians Of the country's moral
and general welfare. Their editors. as
everybody knows. are infalllble, and arc
contemptuously intoIerant u the errors
Of various sorts which hasty prepare
tior and editing make inevitable in daily
newspapers. Mistakes never creep into
.t-- do gfv For
that reason, and because we prefer 10
look at even mediocre pictures than 10
be either exposed or reformed, We have,
as heretofore intimated, been struck
| with the art-possibly it should be spelled
with a capital A-features of some OF the
aforesaid infaHibly edited periodicals
/ And We have learned much. In a recent
number Of one Of the foremost Of the
up-to-daters, for example, there Is d
/ thrilling story OF shipwreck and wire
/ less telegraphy. One of the accompany
/ ing pictures shows a lieutenant Of tht
/ United States navy working a wireless;
/ instrument. with a girl by his side H.
is one Of a yachting party, on pleasur,
bent. yet he is In full uniform-ultra-fgll
we might say, since he wears shOuldc
/ straps We thought, before seeing thi.
picture, that naval officers had suffiCien
good taste to wear civilian clothing oI
such occasions as we have described, no
had We the faintest reason to belieV
/ that shoulder straps. such as army OH
GERS wear, were a part of naval uniforms
But now. Of course. we see how ignoran
We were A friend who read the fear
some tale which the picture illustrates
tells us that according 10 the text, III
lieutenant. at the time depicted by IN
artist is not aware that the girl show
at his side is on the wrecked yacht
which. he thinks. has been abandoned b.
all save himself and one other man. Bu
that, of course, is another story.
Again, in another equally high-clas
periodical we see a picture of a marin
engineer working desperately with hi
disabled machinery to get a burning shi
safely into port The text tells Of the ter
rife heat scorchIng the feet OF this LAT
ter-day and adult Casabianca throug
his heavy shoes. yet the artist depict
. I iIlI as hoppuS Aielill1 over llit Visili'
room grating in his bare feet. In anotht
case
But why go on? Surely we have sal
enough to establish the all-pervadin
greatness. the rigid accuracy Of n
modern" magazine, even If We ha1
spoken Of nothing but pictures. The NJ
to-date magazine is "A soUl-satisfying il
stitution, wholly essential to our peaC
and progress, and we propose TO see IN,
il gets what's coming 10 it.