The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-17
WILL LEXINGTON COMFORT

cause he was filthy and a failure but
because he lied to himself and to me.
because he did not dare to he himself,
though the facts were upon him. eve
and brow and mouth So did not get
his story. bat ] got thrilling picture
OF the recent generation In American let
ters-1 being the public: the truth of
his story representing the producer and
the miserable thing he fancied ! was
ready for being the middlemans part.
And so all workmen of the last gem
GRAFTON, all who would listen, were
taught to bring forth their products
with an intervening lie between the
truth and their expression. the age OF
! advertising heavy in all production.
But the stroke OF death has fallen
upon such pandering and the war put
1t there. The big names of the last
generation are now ma ga zine and movie
men all save the few whose futures
have not entirely closed, and they are
making their last freuzied turn to meet
the new social order. as they met the
floating vogues and whims so long. But
this Is a difficult turn for panderers and
caterers, because IL does not have to do
with the surface water. nothing TO d,
with dance and dress and appetite. hut
with the depth of the human spirit.
quickened to animation afresh by the
agony of the world.
In all times second class artists have
dealt IN the form and matter OF the
age. talked OF Its effects and paraded It's
styles. Only the very greatest above
them have realized that any given man
has no duplicate that the true story OF
the thing. as he sees 1t. is the one inn
portant thing In the world for him to
produce that the nearness of the ex-
re ri IN ha "a, 10 81.
Of his success: in a word. that his
thought must be put into words COR
tones or paint or stone) without an in
ter'ening lie from the medium.
There is "A race of men and women
In their twentles now at work IN America
who are doing these thines Especially
In the new poetry Is the fine cousumma-
ton apparent. These are the leaders of
the new social order. Before the war
such az had developed voice had to
shout through shut doors. The war has
beaten down the doors A comparable
race of young workmen tmore men than
women there, more women than men
here) has appeared in Russia and raised
its voice. 1t IL not altogether a dream
that unifying span will stretch across
the pillars raised by these two groups
Of builders
In America this rising generation
snali return TO us the prestige which
Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau and Ianier
so superbly attracted Indeed Whitman
Is the master Of the new poetry his free
verse lives in every line OF the modern
production, a point that would not be
significant II II were alone OF manner
but his bread human spirit, the nfusing
brotherhood which vas his passion. and
the same universal liberation. are the
, inspiring energies OF the new Workman
ship In America.
A word about the vision OF this new
social order.
These wOrkmen recognize that no
saints blood nor the blood Of any God
is going TO interfere, before a heavenly
throne TO save sinners who wasted their
lives in predatory accomplishment in
stead OF saving themselves
That the redistribution OF the worlds
wealth will not bring about the new
order and beauty OF life that the rich
man il 10 be ptied as much as the
( poor and God knows that untriusicallN
ne Is To be pltled more. because hts shell
is thicker; that the time is at hand when
! the vulgarity OF being rich In material
wealth viii be a sense OF the common
mind
That women are not golden feeccs
nor clinging vines, bat human adults
with separate principles from men which
make them equally valuable IN tho So
cial scheme that women should be their
own law in all matters OF mating and
reproduction, because the male has not
the mental organism 10 cope authori-
4 tativoly with these affairs,
That Heretofore as educators as
fathers, mothers and hringers forth Of
children, human kind I'm tho largo has
shown Itself less than the animals
That the time is past for cults and
creeds. for separate interests and ma
tlonal boundaries, for patriotism and all
/ the other isms: that We are all one in
the basic meaning Of existence that
| there is an adjustment founded upon
! the principles OF liberty and brother
I hood, in which that which is good for
the one Is good for all that this adjust
ment can only he attained by reversal
Of the old form, personally and nation
ally--of thinking not OF the SELF first in
ali things, but Of the general good.
i Finally the new social order of work.
men, having come up through the bloar
and sickness OF les has arrived AT the
/ high vantage which reveals that there =
nothing 50 potent as straight state
ment of fact, nothing 50 strategic as the
/ master stroke