The Washington herald., 1920-01-26
In heIimelight
By George Perry Morris.

Mr.. John Philip Soma the musical
composer and bandmaster. has so
many local friends and admirers that
they will be interested TO know that
he has written q third novel The
rrsnsit OF Venus" 1t satirises con-
temporary society.
How the great corporations ard
stealing away from the Federal and
State governments the object OF their
trained workers. To illustrate: The
largest Of the automobile companies,
with headquarters In Detroit, has just
induced Frank X. Walter, vice direc-
tor Of the renowned Library School of
the State Of New York. with head
quarters at Albany, to come TO De-
troit and assume full control Of the
corporation's library carried on for
the benefit Of its salarted and wage
earning employees. He will get s. 600
year. which Is more than the aver
age Albany lawmaker thinks that a
constructive administrator OF a Ii
brary school is worth, Washington
used to know Walter. He studied at
George Washington University in
lse-1so4. and shortly after began the
work at Albany. which has given him
rank as an expert
It Is said that the late Horace
Traubel was wise enough to leave
his priceless collection Of whitman
memorabilia to the Library OF Con-
gress, where order will be brought
out of chaos and the real value OF
the material inventoried as It never
could be in whitman's or Traubers
day. The United States has had few
more unworldly, eccentric. lovable,
democratically minded characters
than Traubel. who came nearer be-
ing for Whitman what Boswell was
for johnson than any other Ameri-
can satellite OF a great literary
planet has yet been.
Sir. Oliver Lodges houses are sold
out long before he arrives to give his
lectures. A New York firm of pub
fishers. in a current "ad." lists thir-
teen books dealing with psychic phe-
nomena and "spiritism." Another pub
liehing house with conservative tradl-
tiors. in the same city. announces that
~ VIM SoSh " pdohch 4hC
chical Review. with Hereward Caring.
ton as editor. The leading firm OF
publishers in Indianapolis has listed
for prompt publication May Wright
Sewalrs narrative of her phychic ex-
periences. The transcendental cults
of the country never were 80 flourish
ing. But there is another side TO the
story. Conservative clergy. Roman
Catholic and Protestant. are taking a
positive attitude OF opposition. OF the
Protestants. the most conspicuous and
helligerent thus far is Rev. A c
Dixon. the Baptist a brother oi
Thomas Dixon. the story writer.
From the days Of E. p. Roe down "a
BE sill King. some Of the most popular
OF American writers Of fiction have
been clergynen. Their professional
duties given them insights into life's
domestic infelicities and personal
tragedies, and their humanistiS
training gives them some knowledge
of the principles and technique OF lit
erary expression. The late Cyrus
Townsend Brady was a man OF this
group. who had his day OF vogue"
and who survived seeing IL pass. There
was nothing anaemic about him OF
his fiction. His Americanism was un-
eQJfvocal. and for contemporary fads
ola Iicentious. playing-with-fire kind.
he had no patience.
The finest exemplar the negro
race in the United States has pro-
duced OF the art OF vocal music is
Roland w. Hayes. the tenor. The
discipline of instruction by high
grade teachers has not diminished
but on the other hand increased the
talent" given him by being born OF
a musical race. In March, he set.
forth for Africa. for a long period
of sojourn among its native tribes
His purpose is to study at frs,
hand the music of the peoples akin
to his own in the United States
and TO make a more thorough in
vestigation of this field OF research
than has yet been made. one that
he. a negro. can conduct better than
any Caucasian.