Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1915-01-01

The music OF the Negro, like the
music OF the Indian. has caused much
Ink to be spilled. Some enthusiastic
souls have looked to the rhythms OF
the red man for the melody that Is to
create American music; in fact. some
have gone 30 far as to declare that
the only possible American music can
be Indian music. Which Is al very
interesting and absolutely inconclu-
sive. The fact remains that Indian
composers, in any fair sense Of the
term. do not exist; while We have
among us many talented and we'll.
trained Negro creative musicians. 1t
Was with one OF these that New
York Tribune representative talked
last week. with man who has writ
ten . very large proportion OF the
socalled modern dances. The man
was Jesse Rees Europe, the com.
poser Of al the Castle dances. and
the director of Europe's orchestra. an
organization which has all but secured
complete control Of the cabaret and
dance field In the city. Mr.. Europe Is
a well.trained musician and man
who has thought deeply on the must.
cal possibilities Of his race, and Of
these possibilities he has firm and
well defined opinions.
Il am striving at present to form
an orchestra Of Negroes which will be
able to take its place among the Sc
rious musical organizations Of the
country" said Mr.. Europe.
"The Tempo club now contains
about two hundred members, all mu-
sicians. and from this body ! supply
at present a majority Of the orches.
tras which play in the various cafes
of the city and also at the private
dances. Our Negro musicians have
nearly cleared the field Of the so-called
gypsy orchestras. The Negro. while
not generally equal to the demands
of the more sophisticated forms Of
music. is peculiarly fitted fos the mod.
ern dances. l don't think 1t too much
to say that he plays this music better
than the white man simply because
all this music is indigenous with him,
Rhythm is something that is born in
the Negro, and the modern daHces
require rhythm above all else.
II myself do not consider the mod.
ern dances q step backward. The
one-step is more beautiful than the
old two-step, and the fox.trGt than the
schottische, Of which It If a develop
ment. As to the so-calleq dance craze,
1t does not appear to bA craze
have had probably rs good an oppor-
tunity to observe the various dances
as anyone in the city, and have
found that dancing keeps husbands
and wivesy together and eliminates
much drinking. AZ no one can dance
and drink to excess. However. these
are questions for . philosopher and
net for q musician" MI n
The Negro farmer reads no bull.
letins, few agricultural journals, and
seldom sees the daily or semi-weekly
market reports published in our pa
pers. He has not taken any interest
in the subject OF transportation.
Freight, express and parcel post rates
and their relative value and the i'm
portance of this service do not inter.
est him, as he has nothing to ship.
Demand and supply appeal to him only
to the amount of food required or de-
manded to supply his appetite. He
has never been taught anything about
farm accounts, and so his receipts
and expenditures have no safe check.
and often, more often than otherwise,
these expenditures are injudicious.