davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
MIDWEST LITERATI
BY REX HUNTER.

r 7 was the summer of 1918. 1 was
on the staff of the Chicago Daily
Netcs, helping to get out the early
edition and writing daily feature
story" AS sat one day before a
typewriter the door of the local room
opened and a young man walked in.
He was conventionally handsome. with
regular features and trim black
mustache. His felt hat was cooked
slightly to one side. giving him a
jaunty air. He walked slowly down
the local room, surveying with cool
satiric eyes the huddled desks and the
reporters who sat at them. Like n cat
/ thought, a Maltese cat. His eyes
were the color of a Maltese cats fur
who is that chap" I asked of the
reporter at the adjoining typewriter
"Oh," replied the reporter. glancing
up. that's Ben Hecht. He added
Hes accounted the best feature writer
in these parts"
Hecht had just returned from cover
ing the Lusk trial. After 1 had met
him and we had talked for "a few
minutes he took me over to a man
with gray hair and steady gray eyes
behind steel trimmed spectacles, intro
ducing him as "Mr. Sandburg" I was
pretty sure that this was the author
of Chicago POEMS" which had made
great impression on me. but l felt
my way until | had made sure. Hecht
i'm introducing me mentioned that
was born in New Zealand. and Sand
burg, his gray eyes laughing. said: 81
never hear OF any part OF the Anti
podes without thinking of a geography
book we had at school which set forth
that Tasmania had the most salubri-
Gus climate i'm the world" He re-
peated the phrase most salubrious cli-
mate" several times, rolling IL around
his tongue, wagging his head and
grnning.
Hecht and Sandburg we're n satisfy
ing contrast. Carl would sit chewing
on an unlit stogie. while the cream
of the elevated edded through the
dingy windows The Swedish night
ingale" spent his days like any drah
sparrow, doggedly grinding out Labor
stuff" and reviewing movies. Hecht
on the other hand, took a certain
pride in tossing off with ease feature
stories far better than those over
which his fellows sweated. He had a
marked facility for drinking up the
picturesque features of thing in a
few quick glances. One day Lillian
Gish came to Chicago The war was
in full blast then and IL was alleged
that she had come from the front
line trenches. The newspaper men
formed solid phalanx on the plat
form of the railway station; that ia,
all but Hecht, who lowered in his GUS
tomary way on the outskirts. When
the motion picture queen alighted the
reporters surrounded her. Hecht heard
one of them ask the question. Were
you actually in the front line trenches.
Miss Gish?" and her answer, mo.
was only near them" That was enough
for the facile Ben. Jumping into a
taxi he returned TO the Ncics office
and on the strength Of this answer
and his memories OF la Gish he wrote
diverting story which appeared in
The New York herald., 1922-05-07

the home" or most important. edition
of the day. The other reporters came
out with dull stories In late editions.
Carl Sandburg always contended
that the only folk songs America pos
sessed were such street ballads as
Frankie and Johnny" At a lecture
recital in Chicago one Sunday after
noon he amazed an audience of giIded
girls and dowagers by coming out with
banjo slung around his neck and
singing several verses Of this par
ticular ballad. I was talking to him
one day about one act play by a
middle Western playwright which had
been given TO me TO read in manu-
script. What's the setting?" inquired
Carl. We'll" / began. "its an ancient
garden with a sort of Maeterlinckian
atmosphere---" why doesn't one Of
these fellows do a play about Jesse
James instead of dishing up diluted
Maeterlinck?" Carl burst out. When
I showed him some OF the work of one
OF the first Australian poets he OBJ
served, Those fellows couldn't get
away from the English slSylars." One
of Carl's poems. Drum Notes" is ad-
dressed to Danny" who's Danny.
Carl?" l asked, Danny" he said
slowly, "is an Irish setter who comes
along with me sometimes when 1 go
hiking or fishing"
While Sandburg was full OF pity for
struggling humanity. Hecht regarded
it with contempt. He was a divert
ing talker, discussing his newspaper
experiences In a contemptuous mono
tone. At the period OF which / write
he was known outside the newspaper
world only as contributor OF mordant
studies TO the Little Rertetc. Since
then he has caused hutter with ERIK
Dorm" which is just the kind OF novel
would have expected him to do;
400 odd pages of hard, clever, pat
termed prose with the hollow blaze Of
lightning.
Edgar Lee Masters I first saw in a
Chicago court practicing his profess
sion of law. He was engaged In a di-
vorce action and he and his opponent
snarled at each other until the Judge
broke in with protesting Gentle
mem Gentlemeni" Thereafter l not
infrcquently observed him solemnly
promenading his Beethoven-like brow
along Michigan avenue. I also recall
him debating with Stanislaw Szukal-
ski, the Polish sculptor. in Kroch's
book stone. and one afternoon passed
him strolling along Dearborn street
with Carl Sandburg.
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Cultural Spirit Is Basis
Of Practical Education

We cannot conceal from ourselves
the fact that certain OF our leaders
in education are to an extent respon-
sible for a situation which We all de-
plore. Their attack upon the study
of the classics and their ridicule of
all cultural learning has produced not
only a reaction against the study OF
tho classics, but also a decline OF the
humanistic spirit. n loss which we
shall find IL very difficult to repair.
Perhaps they did not mean to do this,
rbut this is what they have done.
All this has been carried on under
the catchward Of efficiency--a horrible
word end nine times out Of ten a hor-
rible thing. But these so-called prac-
tical men in education have turned out
i'm the long run TO be highly unpracti-
cal. and in more than one instance
great universities have been obliged
10 retracc their steps and TO undo the
mischief which these men have done,
repeating once again the experience
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Easy Lives Without Work
Is Not Ideal Existence

IL Is a british and a very fallacious
theory, and the proof of il Is that It
does not satisfy To make such a.
theory the foundation of a system of
education and to teach our children
in the schools and Tie young men and
women in our colleges that this is life
Is like injecting an insidious kind Of
poison into them which will slowly
corrupt the blood and in the end de-
stroy all the finer impulses and ideals.
1t is not the detail of education I
am most concerned with, but the spirit
behind it. We have thought too much
OF methods and too little of princlples
The clear purpose of the men who es-
tablished our early institutions Of
learning was to provide means TO de-
velop the higher life of the nation,
Commerce was very little in their
minds They trained large numbers
of Christian ministers and teachers
and missionaries, and when these men
went out TO make a career their minds
were set not upon large salaries. upon
fortune, nor even upon fame: success
TO them was the saving of souls, the
moulding into strength and beauty the
spirits of men and the elevating. by
their life and teaching, of the life of
the nation.
We should ask ourselves. especially
at such time as this, whether our in
stitutions OF learning--higher and
lower--aro remaining true to these
ideals. Whether with all our millions
of endowment we have Increased in
any proportionate measure in the inn
perishable riches of the spirit.
II Is no question OF subjects or OF
courses, but question of interpreta-
tlon OF life. A mans life work does
not consist in earning his bread even
though most OF us spend nearly all our
time doing II. Freedom from work does
not mean freedom from bondage. For
most men the time OF leisure is the
time of bondage, for this is the time
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
The World War Brought
Modern Ideas Even to China

The influence of the worlds war has
been felt by the humblest Chinese
coolies who went to work on the roads
In France, for 1t gave them opportu-
mites of travel that had never before
been their privilege. Thousands Of
coolies were transported direct from
Chill (Which is in north China and
was the region desolated recently by
famine) to Tours and Havre. passing
through Canada en- route. They have
brought back to China accounts of
their travels that have made the
women also eager for opportunities of
learning and fine dress. "Pidgin Eng
lish" is OF little use in Pekin, which
is still In many respects Tartar city.
Her great wall. her Hall of the Clas-
sizes and her Temple OF Heaven are
wonders that impress the tourists.
When one speaks of the effect of
the worlds war on China one must
needs remember that as early as 1864
China knew of gunpwoder as a means
Of hurting projectiles. When one
considers the innovation of the pho.
netic system of spelling in China one
has to smile, since Ching, who was
the founder Of the Myng dynasty,
some 300 years before Confucius,
burned all the books. so that China
then would cease to look back" and
venerate her past. but might learn TO
think new thoughts for herself.
In Pelsing the past confronts the
American as nowhere else in China,
since no archmlogist can fathom the
antiquity OF these fossil piles OF archi-
tecture-the great wall running from
the sea to the desert, the burial pal
aces of the Myng dynasty, approached
by an avenue guarded by giant stone
elephants. camels and mandarins-ex-
tending fully mile in the primeval
mystery of silence--then masked be-
hind somber evergrecns. one glimpses
the tombs of the rulers OF this land
that was hoary yith age before Co
lumbus took ship for the New World.
The word king" means capital" in
Chinese-and "Nanklng" meant the
South Capital and "Peking' the North
Capital. so the traveller is told. Yet in
the diplomatic life of Picking to-day
there breathes the spirit and customs
of modern Europe, where English,
russian and French are mostly spoken
and every function Is cosmopolitan in
the extreme,
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
A Striker at Bedrock
With Style of SchooIboy

Even more disheartening in some
respects are those novels that attempt
to break away from hackneyed and
conventional models and 10 stamp out
for themselves hold pathway of real
ism and truth. Sherwood Anderson,
for instance, has been widely com
mended for writing books tnat strike
TO the bedrock OF i'fe, vet he has the
style of a schoolboy and proceeds
mainly by means Of series OF jerky
and disjointed sentences: Ike others
OF his school he overlooSs the wider
horizons Of the world and turns a
microscope upon the pathology OF sex;
and as n result he depicts conditions
in n way that IS not even realistic I'm
the truer sense Of the term, since he
strips life of all is glow and beauty.
OF. the glamor, of far sunsets on
opalesccnt oceans. and Of magic
easements opening on the foam OF
perilous seas in fairy lands forlorn."
The sheer glory OF life and the i'm
petuousness Of youth. the lullabies OF
mothers and the grooming OF babes In
the twilight, the appeal OF mountain
highways luminously curving under
moonlit skies. and the splendor and
bloom OF April meadows and of mur-
murous summer rills find l.ttle place
In the contemporary novel, and none
at all in the novel that aims at strict
realism; yet these are all a part Of
Life, all part OF reality. and the writer
who disregards them is filSe the
painter who would depict the evening
sky by portrayins its placl;ness. but
forgetting to represent the stars.
For the trend of the novel In Eng
land as well as In America Is toward
a microscopic realism. toward an cx-
haustive analysis of scandals to which
the newspapers can devote only col
umn or two. AS n consequence we
have n type of fiction which Is as
decadent as the life II undertakes 20
portray, and already the atmosphere
is vocal with warnings thatl'nless the
new tendencies are reversed we are
likely TO hear the death krell Of tho
novel rs a species OF literature.
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Modern American Novels
Lack Greatness Because
Formulas Are Followed
BY STANTON A. coBLENTz.

or the kidnapped woman, and there Is
the unraveling of the mystery, which
is invariably slow TO take place since
the author must fill up pages, but
which is inevitable. since the mystery
exists only in order to be dispersed.
When shall we find the detective story
that leaves the problem unsolved even
at the end? Suclf a novel might have
elements of originality, but it prob-
ably will never be written. since IL
probably would never sell. AS things
are at present. however, the reader Is
spared the necessity Of perusing more
than the first and last pages of detec-
tive stories; the first, to determine who
was murdered, and the last to discover
how far the author has endeavored to
stretch the readers credulity. The in
tervening two hundred and ninety
eight pages will be found to be much
the same in all novels and the varia-
tons of detail may be passed over as
unimportant. In Arthur Crabb's
Ghosts" for example. we will find
love story interviewer. and in David
Fox's ETHEL Opens the Door" we will
come across band of former crimi-
nails engaged in tracing crime; but
these individual differences are unim-
portant and are necessary more in
order to avoid plagiarism than to make
any impression on the readers mind.
Still more common than the de-
tective story Is that much overworked
vehicle, the novel of sentiment. or
rather of sentimentality. 1t might be
thought that in this supposedly intelli-
gent era one would cease to read of
the lover of day who disappears and
returns to make passionate love after
seven years--yet one will find him in
f. e.. Mills Young's "Inprudence." It
might also be imagined that by this
time We had dispensed with the prince
In disguise who weds the singer with
the finest voice in Europe"--yct he re-
appears In all hts pristine glory in
The Splendid Folly" by Margaret
Pedlar. 1t might even be hoped that
we had outlived the chivalrous hero
who succors the frail damsel in dis
tress, yet he Is resurrected in multi
tudinous forms in multitudinous novels
for example. in Arthur Chapman's
Mystery Ranch" wherein the con-
ventional VILLAIN" lures the heroine
to his lair in the Western mountains
for no other apparent cause than TO
give her the opportunity to be rescued
and ultimately married by bold young
admirer.
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Duty Called the Author Into
Chinese Remote Places

Tt has been my. business duty to
penetrate into the vast rural districts
Of China, far from the trail of the
white man, with seven Chinese native
salesmen and my interpreters, kindly
fellows who bargain for me and are
most loyal and useful.
felt like Stanley setting forth for
darkest Africa, with my army cot.
woolen covers. cooking utensils and
provisions. Many nights were spent
by me in mud huts, with an enrmous
surrounding native population that
had never before seen a white man.
they were. however. kindly and cour-
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
For q Long Time Now
China Has Sent Youth Here

China has long been sending her
young men to the west, to train for
political service in the Orient; hence
the Chinese people realize the impor-
tant need of a different script for their
country, since their former method Of
writing, like their money system, is
most battling to trade and CONNER
cialism. Their adoption Of phonetic
reading leads to the introduction of
type and typewriters; and this will also
lead to the unification of the language.
1t is the most radical as well as the
most progressive step yet taken by the
young republic and will herald a re-
vival of practical learning that will be
what the Reformation was TO the Dark
Ages. since 1t virtually means the es-
tablishment of the printing press"
and open sesame to western culture.
The wonderful commercial potential
tiles of China and her possibilities as
an American customer have made OF
the land OF Confucius the crsD Of the
Far Eastern problem. The question
how to develop China is not as mo-
mentous as the question of hotc to pre-
vent her spolidtion by foreign nations,
since INSCRIPTIONS politicians are ever
busy, and Japan and Russia always on
the spot to seize opportunity for per-
sonal chance. The war lords Of Pekin
and the sun Vat Sen party OF Canton
are the civil forces at work for politi-
cal ascendency within.
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Theory That Money Alone Will Eman-
.y cipate From Bondage Of Work and
4 Pave Way to Free and Easy Life
and Ultimate Happiness Branded as
British and Fallacious, and One
That Does Not Satisfy.
BY CHARLES ALEXANDER RICHMOND,
President of Union College.

~ important of
NJ democracy depends
Germany philosophy many fully
understand this
her national
her philosophy When children
get it, sealed
training they
ruthless coarse overbeang the enemies mankind
Practical politics
their politics. failed
because
bread alone 1t the lie Of the
after century, but still believed by
the a ago
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Seek Wisdom of Men Whose y
Vision of Life Is Broad

When we seek guidance in such
matters it is not to such men
we should go, but to men Of vision
whose world is not bounded by fac
tory fence. There is really very little
y difference of opinion among nen who
are recognized as the actual leaders
of thought in this country. 1t is mainly
"a question of emphasis. The men of
the highest authority in engineering
and in all branches OF science. theo-
! retical or applied, are constantly urg-
Ing the necessity of more cultural
studies in technical courses. II these
men could be allowed to define a prac-
tical education and to determine it
there would not be much ground for
controversy. The making of a man
would be their aim, not the making of
a mechanic.
But that is not what a practical
education means to those wko are
clamoring for it most loudly. They
would turn all institutions into glori-
fied trade schools where no subject is
taught unless 1t had dollar at the
further end of it.
This demand does not come always
from small men nor from ignorant
men, but it must be said that they are
+ for the most part men wanting in
imagination and in foresight. Their
eyes are fixed upon the immediate and
not upon the ultimate.
The underlying theory OF II all. held,
as I believe, quite unconsciously. is
that the possession of money will
ernancipate from the bondage of work
and enable us to live free and easy
lives. and that this is the goal of
human aspiration and TIE only happi-
ness we can be sure of.
The New York herald., 1922-05-07
Millions of Pounds of Wool
Annually Exported by China

The untold wealth of China In iron
and steel are limitless, also her coal
mines; but 1t is not with these SUBJ
Jects that the writer proposes deal
ing. The fact that Germany is fast
cornering many avenues of wealth by
the cheap articles like lanterns with
which she floods the Chinese market.
is point for America to realize if
she will not surrender the field to the
Teuton.
One of the chief exports of China
Is wool. millions Of pounds are yearly
shipped abroad. though Chinese wool
is OF very poor quality. The Chinese
do not know scientific methods of
breeding and management. The wool
industry in Tientsin has recently
greatly Increased as to exports, though
Mongolia and Manchuria are looked
upon as the best fields for this in
dustry. Camel's wool is produced in
Chinese Turkestan, and Mongolia,
most OF which finds a market in Rus
sia for shawls and sweaters. japan
has surplanted America as the pur-
chaser Of all the goats hair that China
exports. Chinese tea also goes mostly
to Japan and Russia; since Formosa
and Ceylon are the tea producing
sources for the United States.
The New York herald., 1922-05-07

offender placed on a pole for the bene-
At of the lesson to the public in gen.
eral. Piracy still exists to a great de-
gree on the Yangtze River, and as
this is the main outlet for traffic. es-
pecially far in the interior above
Hangkow, buccaneers in the opium
smuggling trade make conditions un-
safe for travel unless protected by
the American or British flag.
Pekin has always been spoken Of as
the Forbidden City," yet her pink
walls have given way to the march Of
trade, while on her broad streets, so
different from other Chinese cities.
daily pass the automobile as well as
the camel caravan and shaggy Mon
golian ponies, bound for the outposts
Of civilization. Chinese interests have
long spread beyond the Great Walls
boundaries into the north, so that
Manchuria and Mongolia are looked
upon by China now much as the
French regard Alsace and Lorraine.
The desire of both Russia and Japan
to gain ascendency in this territory
has ever been resented by China. Nat
urally Japan looks on this region as
the business outlet as we'll as terri
torial expansion for her population
and commerce.
The result Of the Shantung contro-
versy at one time almost caused a
boycott of Japanese wares, but the
willy Nipponese see that it is far bet
ter to trade In Shantung and Mon
golia than to contend for empire boun-
daries. so that, as in southern Cali
fornia, they silently accomplish their
purposes in a commercial rather than
diplomatic manner. The racial differ
ences between China and Japan make
great distinction in their moral in
tegrity, for the impress of Confucius
has made of the Chinaman a gentle
man of high ideals, whose word is
usually as good az his bond. Certainly
Bret Harte did the Mongolian a vast
injustice when he says that for ways
that are dark and tricks that are vain,
the heather chinee is peculiar"
The New York herald., 1922-05-07

young men were asked why they
sought an education. With one &C.
cord they answered, in substance: !:
ITO make more money"
Here is the motive and spirit of the
so-called practical education, at least
in it's strictest form. Unless we can
teach these boys to extend their hori-
zon beyond the rim of a dollar our
chances of turning out useful citi-
zens are of the smallest.
We must understand that the dis
tinction between the cultural and
practical, as we use the terms, in
education is not between Latin and
Greek on the one hand and science on
the other. AS matter of fact, the
leading men of science are keen advo.
Gates Of a cultural education. We
give altogether too much heed to the
utterances of certain men who have
attained distinction or made great
fortunes by inventive genius or by an
unusual eye for business and who are
of the opinion that this gives them a
kind of magisterial authority in mat
ters OF education. religion, politics,
finance, social order and all other
high questions of human concern.