The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1917-11-10
MORE "EMANCIPATED
THOUGHT.

Heurotto 1nGoliecGualS whose
ccntrfbution to winning the war, is a
noisy demand for "emancipated
thcught in America, have much TO
provoke their outbursts this week
DR.. Muck's case provides a splen-
dld opening to discourse on the cos
mopolitanism Of art.
The refusal of Youngstown to hear
Rfits Kreisler and F'rieda Hempel on
the ground that one was an Austrian
6fElcsr and the other a German
ssnnpathizer, should fiji columns in
the Official organs Of the emancipat-
ed minds.
The feeding Of the workhouse
squad Of the woman's party-wheth-
81 Il was forcible or not is now the
subject Of grave debate-is worth
columns of intellectual discussion of
the "dragooning' of free speech and
free thought.
The "fraIl little women" who are
ndding grey hairs to a patient jail
er's head In Washington, and max
ing more noise about their meals
than a coyote. are at least safer in
AMERICAS excuse for democracy"
which they so bitterly condemn, than
their sisters who are at the mercy OF
German soldiers.
And beside the problem OF wheth-
se the Germans capture Venice or
not, the question Of whether DR.
Muck leads the Boston orchestra
AGain before the war ends, is of
ABOUT as much Importance as the
regular Republican candidate was in
tie recent New York election.
And Fritz Kreisler will keep until
after the war. We would regret to
lose his art from America, but the
money he sends to Austrian Red
Cross workers would come in handy
for the American Red Cross.
But the 'Intellectuals" seem un-
able to grasp the idea that when the
house is on fire it is the cue to grab
q bucket, not to bother the fremen.
looks THEY "sHoULD READ.
Dean Walter Williams of the Mis-
eouri University school Of journal
t1nn, iS gathering a symposium on
books recommended by the editors
of the country. for study by the
hapils attending his classes.
.'What books. In your opinion, are
Indispensable or at least emtnently
ds1rable, for the library Of work
snk journalist? he asks.
As well ask: what books should
any man or woman read? for a good
newspaper man requires first of all
IA broad general education.
10 also recalls the good old Christ
mas shopping joke: Il don't want to
Bet him a book, he has one.
But It Is q fascinating subject.
History of course, would come
hyst-not chronology. but history
pdied through biographies of the
naksrs Of history. Start with Sam
uAi Pepys' diary. the greatest Of all
Autobiographies. Pepys was a human
Mirror Of his time. Then biograph-
Les Of Alexander, Caesar, Beethoven,
1apolaon. Oliver Cromwell, Wash
tpgton, Lincoln. Mark Twain-any OF
ahs men who have stood upon the
alEs OF human achievement.
Poetry, certainly Shakespeare
ould be hammered into the recep-
tive brain of youth. He can't be
1aet read. He must be studied and
emorized freely. Tennyson isn't
fashion just now. but he yields
much pleasure for a minimum Of
sntal effort as any. Read Brown
1k IL you can do it without boast
ING about it afterward. Strong doses
Kipling win be an effective anti
he, II any III effects are noticed.
sn't be SO unfamiliar with Keats
~ you ask: What are Keats'7
rhe high lights Of fiction? Steven
n, Lorna Doone". the solid sub
nce Of Meredith, the glorious
ility OF Conrad. Dickens q
te for Dickens Is an inherltance
e a taste for olive oil, and can't be
quired
speaking of philosophy we once
81 a man who claimed he had read
encer's "First Principles. He
Ia.
But what's the use2 Ninety per
nt of the budding journalists be-
theg have been q year away