Evening star., 1938-10-16
BY MIC. r.

Iact Cnat MI. n. II. MenCKen III tIc
October American Mercury had acted
as = sort of referee between the
American Civil Liberties Union and
Mr.. Harold Lord Varney in a dispute
arising from an article Of Mr.. Var
ney's in which he accused the Union
of undue Communist sympathy. Mr..
Joseph Segal Of 1860 jefferson street
NV, now writes the reviewer as fol-
lows concerning her comments:
Although do not claim knowledge
Of the facts stated In the article nor
OF Mr.. Varney's article. get the
general eist Of 1t from your few re-
marks. Granted all Of Mr.. Mencken's
literary greatness (Which no one could
fairly enough disavow), what would
make q prominent man Of letters
taking part in . political or social
controversy q 'regrettable thing?
cannot for the world see how Mr..
Menckens soothing the hurt feelings
of-GOOD LACK-tcapitals mine)
the Civil Liberties Union does in
any way detract from his stature.
Mind you, am not one of those
reds whom, like Mr.. Varney, you
always seem to drag out from any
source available at the moment. I
am myself an old admirer Of Mr..
Mencken from a literary viewpoint
rather than from viewpoint OF
forming attitudes and dogmas through
him., But as Mr.. Mencken has al
ways seemed to have taken to social
political discussions with as much zest
as he did to pure literature, the point
is not clear where his present look
ing into the Varney-Cfvil Liberties
Union argument and giving his rights
and wrongs OF each fairly and square,
ly makes him appear in a grievous
light. 1t Is evident throughout your
short discussion of it. by such re-
marks as the sobbing Union or it
gives the Union an immense prestige
Of which, unquestionably, 1t has lately
been standing in need that you are
prejudiced against the Union and prob
ably agree with Mr.. Varney's sour
rilous and excessive red batting. To
my mind all this is nothing more
than cheap imitation Of 'Mencken-
isms in itself which intended fiat
terry would not very much please
man Of Mr.. Mencken's caliber
Whether we are red or 'anti-red'
let us. at least, be as fair minded as
Mr.. Mencken."
The first thing which struck the
reviewer after she had read this COM
munication was the enchanting quaint
ness Of the idea that she would try
to "flatter" Mr. Mencken. Is it, then,
hattery to say that he is the dominant
literary figure of our age? II it is,
the reviewer fears that future his
tories of our period will be guilty
OF the same lack Of taste. She her
self considers the statement so self
evidently true that to make it is about
as hattering as to say Of the Rocky
Mountains that they are high. The
idea that her mention Of so we'll
established a matter should be taken
as an attempt to hatter practically
OtCl COluCo llCI. 0llL PIOGNSts tllc
Interpretation seems to her entirely
personal to Mr.. Segal.
After that the reviewer was caught
by Mr. Segal's statement that she
was always" ready to drag" "red
out from any source available at the
moment" She is engaged on COM
menting On articles published in cur
rent periodicals. Her files show that
the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Maga-
zine, scribners- Magazine. the Forum
and Century, the American Mercury,
Coronet, Esquire. Ken, Commentator
and Asia are the ones she uses most.
These, she believes, are perfectly
reputable, and, for the most part,
somewhat conservative publications.
She must protest again; if Mr.. Segal
objects to what these magazines pub
lish. his complaint is with the editors,
not with any reviewer
To be sure, the subject of Com
munism comes up fairly often, and.
exactly for the reason that it does
come up often, commentator is
obliged to mention it: it would not
be giving fair picture of the preoccu-
pations of the publishers of magazines
who are supposed to reflect the
opinions Of the public-to ignore any
subject to which these publishers give
a considerable amount of space. There
fore. the reviewer has rather frequent
ly mentioned Communism.
She has done so. however, with con-
sistent lamentation; her comment has
been repeatedly that she felt that the
subject was receiving an amount OF
attention in the magazines which was
disproportionate to its importance to
the people. For her own part, she
hnds it impossible to be interested in
the Communistic doctrine. She cam
not view it as a menace nor can she
see 1t as a potential benefit. As a
commentator, she finds 1t mostly mo-
notonous, as she had said already,
full many a time and oft. Therefore
the accusation that she always" drags
49, rnd. Uo,t Froy,o apv S0Ilrce avail