The Washington herald., 1920-02-22
New Englands
Real Literature
h>PeriodicaLs
Field of Solid Weeklies,
MonthIes and Quarter
lies Steadily Progresses.
ny a STAFF Correspendept.)

forth. Much of this was in the
form of books, more of IL in the
form of periodical literature. The
weekly editions of her best dailies
followed New Englanders wherever
they migrated. and they still do in
the cases of the Boston Tran
script and the Springfield Repub-
lican.
Her many Protestant sects. even
to their partisan subdivisions, sub
sidized and ably edited usarterlies
and monthlies that dealt not only
with theology and religion. but
with literature, political ethics and
world affairs.
As independent journals of the
same class. but non-sectarian in
ideal and distinctly literary in
quality, certain of her monthlies
like the Atlantic Monthly. the New
Englander. and the North Amer
ican Review. won national fame
and exerted wide influence. But
as for a weekly with any measure
Of longevity or genuine voicing of
a distinctly sectional point OF view.
as the Argonaut OF San Francisco
or Reedy's Mirror. of St Louis.
speak for their sections, there
seems never to have been one, un-
less a weakly supported venture OF
Edward Everett Hale's in his lat
ter days be expected. Just why
Boston never has adequately sup
ported first-class weekly is a
mystery.
Story OF Atlantic Monthly.
Now it is one OF the most
promising aspects OF contemp-
orary journalism in New Eng
land that even though the
number OF city dailies declines
and while some that survive speak
with less authority than Of yore.
nevertheless in the field Of solid
periodical literature the outlook is
much brighter than il was a decade
ago.
When Ellery Sedgwick and his
group Of hackers took over work
ing control. II not actual ownership
Of The Atlantic Monthly, in 1909.
its circulation was what the ply
sicians would call low and weak. "
A safe guess would be less than
$1,000. During the interval between
that time and. let us say. the sign
ing OF the armistice, Mr.. Sedgwick
had brought its circulation up above
llO.O00-fgures that Lowell, How
ellis. Aldrich. Perry and even Wal
ter Page. former editors. never
dreamed Of as possible with such
a medium"
The explanation. briefly. is this:
That Mr.. Sedgwick is a man with
a scent for news as well as a man
with standards OF taste in .litera-
ture. He does not SIT in his once
and wait for manuscripts to come
in. He goes TO Washington or Lon
don. as the case may be. and gets
his beats" Moreover. though par
tisan born and of one OF the oldest
families Of literary note and So
cial prestige in Western Massachu-
setts. he is a democrat-and also a
Democrat-which not many editors
of the Atlantic have cared or dared
to be. He actually has published
articles from his own pen praising
Bryan and Wilson. names that are
synonymous with the Devil to- most
Of the older Boston readers OF the
Monthly.
Hears All Factions
He even has admitted poems by
Giovanniti, the Italian Socialist poet.
He has given all factions in the world
war a chance to have their say in his
pages. ErGo-new strata OF readers
have been tapped. vulgar" ones some
of the Boston and Cambridge Brah-
minis. no doubt. consider them But
there is the 10000 top-notch circulation
which enables him to do things for all
his readers. conservative as well as
radicals-that otherwise never would
be done.
Happily down at the other end OF the
New England region. Prof. Wilbur L.
Cross. OF Yale University. has won an
equally significant. if not quantitative-
ly as large. a fight When he assumed
the editorship OF the Yale Review in
1911. it had n paying circulation OF
about 800. II had an honorable ances-
try in the old New Englander;;" II
had been the organ OF Yale's rather
orthodox theological. philosophical
economic and ethical views for some
years. and it was carried along by the
lsrgess of one professor.
Prof. Cross at once made il speak
yitally for the Yale that in many ways
was showing a renaissance of interest
in literature. His own contributions TO
the department of library criticism
were OF the high grade that is shown
incontestahly in his classic life OF
Fielding. He began to bring in pub
licists to write whose views were not
as individualistic and laissez faire as
BILLY summers" who set the Yale
model i'm economic thinking for years,
and made her graduates relatively
sterile as civic reformers.
shows JosrnsIistIe skin.
when the war came Professor
Cross showed the same journalistic
skill that Sedgwick of the Atlantic
had, and he has continued IL during
the reconstruction period. The re-
suit of il all is that the quarterly
now has a circulation of $4,000, and
is steadily gaining.
Professor Cross keeps an even
keel on the ship. He Is not as radi-
cal as Mr.. Sedgwick. but on the
other hand neither is he a conserva-
tive. Harv4rd's stormy petrol, {"
Harold J. Laski. gets a welcome to
the Reviews pages as well as Will
lam Howard Taft
Speaking of Laski. IL may be IN
teresting to note that he has been
lecturing at Yale recently under the
auspices Of the economic depart
ment, and his coming has added TO
the ferment that undoubtedly exists
among the undergraduates. Interest
is free and open debating of all cur
rept issues has been stimulated of
late by the organization OF a So
ciety of seniors that meets weekly.
but that Is open to all students. It
has been compared by some writers
to the famous Oxford Union Debat-
ing Society. This is absurd, but IL
is a wholesome sign of stirring of