The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1932-02-26

The bulk of human activities is
we'll stranded upon the shoals
of materialism. The urge for tenn
poral pursuit has invaded nearly
every department of life, and Is
constantly exacting revenues from
the victims of its snares. Every
thing seems tingeo with its wide
spread influence, including art, mu-
sic, literature, individual acts and
social dealings. "A decade of de-
hatchery says David Lawrence,
'such as the world has never seen,
affected the lives of most men, wo-
men and children everywhere"
Music, often styled the language
of the human soul, has been ruth
lessly cast into the boiling caul-
drom of purified filth, Of sensual
ity and RIGHTEOUSNESS. The so-called
popular tunes or jazz numbers
adapted to give expression to bod
lily twisting and writhing, are mere
lustful sounds and degrading rhy-
thms fit for animal response. The
healthy, sober and the soul-inspir-
ing harmony of sounds that would
bring forth all that is noble, and
ideal in man, Is being ridiculed,
Stunned and cast aside as old
fashioned and insignificant.
Dancing and art as such, in these
days, are as far apart as Mars Is
from Venus. This legitimate pas
time has been reduced purely to
the plane of animal sport, so much
so, that the very beast of the for
est can be made to initiate 1t with
little or no difficulty. The casual
observer cannot but detect in the
irksome careering of hectic shuffl-
ing the appeal to the base, low and
raspy cadence of sound, the con-
raspy cadence Of suond. the con-
forthcoming player, and the perform
ing sheik, are more consonant with
the savage exhibition of the jun
gle tribe, than with the supposedly
cultured entertainment of the
modern age.
The general undercurrent of ma
terialism that has been playing
havoc with the art Of music and
dancing has likewise invaded the
field of literature and stripped 1t of
its classical heritage. The vulgar,
commonplace, shallow and sugges-
tive diction that permeates some
of our magazine stories, stage per-
formances and musical songs, Is an
eyesore and a mockery to the cul-
tural and pure language Of our an
cestors.
There is no more lifting influence
in the babbling reiteration of some
of the popular songs than there Is
in the suggestive and degrading
bodily distortions of their interpre-
tiers. Good style is becoming iden-
tilted with the sensational and the
emotional, calculated solely to
crafty the vulgar taste. Unfortun-
ately as language and thought go
hand in hand, the latter suffers
with the former.
The deplorable feature of the
present economic conditions Is, be-
yond doubt, due to the rule Of prac-
tical usefulness and materialism
that is guiding human destiny. The
increasing grubbing and grabbing
attitude of the selfish hoarder. who
feasts and dances while his neigh
Dor starves and shivers. is the in
evitable product of the present
tendency to measure every human
function by the standard of actual
practice. Nothing for nothing. and
everyone for himself, appear to be
the trend Of social, economic. and
political policy. In the manner of
King Midas, whose lust for worldly
riches turned all that came within
his touch into solid gold, we seem
to be pouring into our every re-
sources and products the same ele-
ment of stagnation and paralysis.
The network of selfish usefulness,
greed and self-love. knitted with
our own hands, has tangled our
very essentials and has refused to