The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-12
Liberal Viewpoint
BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

IT is Sombre fact that while the expenditures
l. for public education have grown rapidly in
the last generation and an ever larger number
of American youth have gone to school in the
college, sensational journalism and literature
have gained in popularity and the popuace
has generally lost in critical powers We are
convinced to large degree by propaganda and
have relatively little power to protect ourselves
against 1t through intellectual independence
PROFESSOR Huse has written a book in which
ne endeavors to get at the roots of this par
aooxlcal persistence of fundamental illiteracy
IN an age of extensive formal literacy CThe Hi
teracy of Literate, guide to the art of intel
lectual reading. BY H. R. Huse, PHI D. D. Ap-
pleton Co. $3.50. He not only analvzes the
acceptance of "hokum" by the public but goes
more deeply into the hypnotic spell which words
cast upon the human mind He offers sharp
criticism of the failure of the academic mind
10 develop realistic contact with the popuIace
ana 10 stimulate the growth of critical stand
aroS among the people The professors are as
much at the mercy of their stereotvpes and of
their preferred brands of bunk as are the peo-
pie at large.
PROFESSOR ORION of Smith college is an
English scholar, resident of the United
States, and he attempts to assess the state of
culture IN the United States (Anerica in Search
OF culture. By William Aylott Orion Little
Brown & Co. 5000. He believes that we had
attained distinctive and creditable form of
culture at the close of the Revolutionary war
put maintains that our civilization has been cor
rupCeo by our oVer-rapid development of ma
terlal culture, wealth and materiaIist Though
ne can not say much for American art or Gull
lure today, he has hope that our culture NAV
develop conference and stability and produce an
other distinctive age of civilization compara BILE
TO that achieved in the period of the fathers
While the volume is characterized by a GER
a11I
cogent criticism of American civilization which
every honest American will do well to read.
PROFESSOR Granville Hicks is well known to
american readers as shrewd literary cite. as
an authority upon contemporary religious
thought and as the author of the first thorough
exposure OF the capitulation of Christianity to
savage sentiments during the World war.
OF late, he has interested himself in the So
claI background OF literary history, particularly
as affected by economic practices and preiudices
In the present volume he presents an economic
and social Interpretation of American literature
since the Civil war (The Great Tradition. An In
depreciation of American Literature Since the
civil War. BY Granville Hicks Macmillan Co.
s2.5O. w.
QY and large, the book gives a critical history
II of the effort Of the liberals to advance the
cause OF political purity and economic Justice
III the race OF the growth Of big business and its
increasing dominion over democracy and party
government
The nnal squirt Of this movement came in the
first decade Of the present century with the
muck -raking and critical novelist. The muck
rakers stirred public conscience, but usually con-
centrated upon symptoms rather than upon the
vital cause Of our distress
Since the undertaking days our writer's have
split into several groups One has been inter-
ested in purely stylistic exercises and formal
entertainment. Another has gone in for literary
criticism. Still another. led by Dresser Ander-
son and Lewis, has provided devastating crit
icism Of the present order More recently an
other group, with which Professor Hicks is most
sympathetic, has endeavored to relate literature
to the underlying economic and social trends in
our age and has aligned itself primarily with the
outlook of the working classes.
Professor Hicks believes that the leisure class
has forfeited its heritage in this country and
that the writer's who continue to do homage
to this class are doomed to Decreasing prestige
and influence.