The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-18

The History Of American Magasine
Publication.


There are two striking disappoint-
fnents to he noted first Of all in Al
0DwNoN TAssiN's new book, The Maya
sine IN America (Dodd. Mead and
Company. The first Is. that the book
ends with the last century. and there
fore does not touch upon some of the
most vital and interesting problems Of
the modern magazine. There have
been few things in the history of mag
and uplifting as the death Of Hdrpcr's
Weekly. Under the management OF
Norman Hapgood. and the complete
failure Of the Century when Robert
Sterling Yard was waving like a BAN
ner THE White Linen Nurse and its
Kind In that respectable. elderly liter
nry venture. II has taken all the
acumen. practice and ability. all the
real culture and knowledge of the
public which Douglas Doty could
bring to bear upon the subject to lift
up the magazine and set it going
again. Once more il promises to be
. magazine That can be read.
The second disappointment. w ex-
perience when we read upon the cover
that the author IL assistant professor
Of English In Columbia University.
and then turn the pages to find the
book written not in English at all
hut In iournaicsc. What is To become
OF the English language II its very
professors themselves substitute jar
gon for the language? Prof. Louns-
bury having led the way and decided
that there is no such thing rs q gram
NAUTICAL rule or a matte. Of taste. his
followers are now reducing written
English To the haphazard speech of the
streets Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
says that two of the main vices of
Jargon are, first. the use of circumlo-
cltion rather than short. straight
speech, second. the choice Of vague.
woolly. abstract nouns rather than
concrete ones. Not being an American.
Sir Arthur fails to warn his readers
against %inventirg nouns that do not
exist, instead OF taking the trouble to
learn those that are to hand in the
language. In looking down the table
OF contents. we fird the following
heading: philadelphia. the Valley of
Observation-Disclosures The Century Die
ticnary gives no such word as "sufti-
c~ientness." The noun formed from
Sufficient" Is "sutiiciency,' and few
things give us n greater distrust If II
writer's capacity than this CASUAL way
Of invcntinc "A word because he is too
lazy to stop and remember the correct
word that already exists in the Ian
guage. Some of these modern profess
sors of English will TALK shou; "loving-
ness" Instead If love. ard az affection
atencss" instead NJ affection. and in
deed In n %dilatory. ~haphaz1rd way they
vii, tacl, ness" onto any ard every
present pait:rip'" IN 'he language. and
hone that /; will stand for the word
they mean.
We are Gar from asserting h Mr..
Tassin is not in the fashioa. We well
remember y famous publisher who re-
Piled to - pun,tilICus author n
went all the way down Ia the pun
fishing house - correct a mistake in
q personal proroun in n sentence:
"what earthly difference does il make
whether you use n wrong pronoin or
a right pronoun or all pronouns II
you n to say what YOU mean"
This Is very much like saying to a
painter: What earthly difference
does It make whether You paint oar
tree purple. or yellow or magenta. II
YOU have MANAGED to let peop,c guess
that YOU mean TO make n tree The
answer may rs well hc given here as
anywhere else. tho difference Is be-
tween good craftsmanship AID BAD
II In ms important for the writer -
know how 10 writ" correctly ~ Il is
for the draughtsman 10 draw, or tho
painter to paint. or the architect to
build. or the musician ~ play his in
Most If our writer's are
in the same case with the man who
was asked II he could play the violin,
and who replied. Il don't know. !
haven't tried yet" The long suffering
public are the people upon whom the
writers inHict their trial efforts.
Setting aside tho fact that tho last
fifteen years. so vital and so interest
ing In the history Of magaZiu" ven
lures, remain untouched. and TINT the
book is written throughout without
distinction. elegance ar precision. it is
an amusing and even N times a witty
book. The author begins with the
'eighteenth century magazines, Trad
-ford's American and benjamin frank-
fine General Muyn.irc ~ historical
Chronicle. ~ the hrst II these. three