LIFE AS MELODRAMA

Evening Star, Issue 18808, 5 December 1924, Page 10

LIFE AS MELODRAMA

FALSE STANDARDS OF TO-DAY. LEADERSHIP GREATLY NEEDED. A starling point for ‘ Mnsings Without Method ’ on some tendencies of modern life is found 1 by ‘Blackwood’s Magazine’ in opinions of Bishop Talbot, who at thirty-seven years of age is the presiding bishop of the American Episcopal Church. He is stated to have been reported iu this way in a. London interview; “The movies beat ’em hollow—those scholars that nobody reads—and here in England life comes at you from even’ shop window. I’ve, been judging England by your railroad bookstalls. You people read a. whole lot more than we do. There’s plenty of life; in a. dime novel, so you just put your band iu your pocket and buy life. Fm sure it docs you good. Nobody seems to bother about scholarly discourses nowadays. Great books by great thinkers are, in a minority nowadays if yon w-alk round the town looking for something to read.” In that one word “ minority,” says ‘Blackwood’ in comment, the worthy bishop thinks, no doubt, that ho bos condemned all the scholarly discourses that ever were written, and has struck au honest blow for the sacred cause of the, people. If he bad stopped to think, a foolish habit which would have put him instantly into the ranks of the minority, he might have discovered, that there is still room in a world of dime novels for a few scholarly discourses. It is mere tyranny to condemn us all to read the same books and to pick up the same lessons from the shop window’. “US FELLOWS” AND “GOOD TIMES.”

Bishop Talbot is quoted ns saying that when people go to the “movies” they “see, real living things there, and get in touch with passions that were given to us to be gratified in a proper manner. . . . The people,want life, and they must be given it. That's what ns fellows have got to do.” Thus, says ‘ Blackwood,’ the bishop pleasantly classes himself with the authors of dime novels and the stars of the film, and ho leaves unexplained why the people should he given life or anything else merely because they want it. This easy yielding to the wants of the people is ’ the worst symptom of degeneracy, American and English, and the bishop has unconsciously done a useful work in exposing it, iu 'the crudest terms. The American author of ‘Democracy and Leadership.’ (Mr Irving Babbitt, has drawn a sad picture of bis own countrymen, intent ever on some new pleasure. “ The phrase that, reflects most clearly their philosophy of life,” be says, “is ‘good time.’ . \ . Whatever democracy may be theoretically, ono is sometimes tempted to define it practically as standardised and commercialised melodrama.’’ And the worst of it is that those for whom the highest form of art and 1 life is standardised melodrama believe that they engross the wisdom of all the ages, that they and thev alone are fit to decide the future destiny of the world. MATERIALISM CANNOT GIVE HAPPINESS. “We have 90 per cent, of the motors of the world.” confesses Mr Babbitt grimly, “and control 75 per cent, of its oil; wo produce 60 per cent, of the world’s steel, 70 per cent, of its copper, and 89 per cent, of its telephones and typewriters. This and similar statistical proof of our material pre-eminence, which would have made a Greek apprehensive of Nemesis, seems to inspire in many Americans an almost lyrical complacency.” In the view of ‘ Blackwood,’ the pre-eminence is material alone. It leads to nothing worth having—not even to the happiness after which the modern democrat hastens feverishly. America, may forget how to walk, us she is ■said to have forgotten how to sleep. How will she he the better for it? As she accelerates tho speed of life, so she will decrease taste and intelligence. And the sum of her achievement will he that thousands who onec stayed at home will visit places which they do not want to see, and visit them at high pressure. Steel and oil can give von pace. They cannot- give you anything'better, -and the blind worship of pace proves that America (and England, too) lacks standards. NATION JUDGED BY ITS FAVORITES. “Wbat must one think of a country.' says Mr Babbitt, quoting a foreign critic, | “ whoso most- popular orator is Vt. J. i Bryan, whose favorite actor is Charlie Chaplin, whose most, widely-read novelist is Harold 801 l M right, whose best known evangelist is Billy Sunday, and whose representative, journalist is William Randolph Hoarst? The American reading his Sunday paper in a. state, of lazy collapse is perhaps the most perfect symbol of the triumph of quantity over quality that the world has yet. seen.” Making a.ilowa.nces for America’s greater size and louder voice. ‘Blackwood’ says that similar signs of tlie times, including Sunday paper sensationalism, may be found in England. “If we consider the sad sheets which are destined to solace the leisure of our own citizens on what, is said to be ‘the day ol rest.’ we cannot escape a, feeling of shame.” Leadership must be brought- hack to the world, says ‘Blackwood.’ It. went out of fashion when the people were told that what thev wanted they could have when those who wished to hold the reins of power in their nerveless hands understood that, they could go only whither the team they pretended to guide earned them. Illustrations are given from the experiences of the Ramsay MacDonald Ministry. The leader must, above all. avoid thatfacile idealism which puls phrases in the place of deeds, and attempts to convince the people, already drunk with words, that they can be saved by a display of false sentiments. It, is his present business to bring England back to the sane tradition of her ancient life, and not to affect a love of what the Americans call “uplift.” FAILURE OF “UPLIFT.”

Tim people must learn again to walk in tho paths of justice and honor before they try to. scale the slippery hillside of emotional politics. All tho rhetoric in the world cannot put a gloss of honesty or right dealing upon the man who is not ashamed to tamper with the course of justice# Here, indeed, i.s the real danger of “uplift”; words are substituted for actions, and crime flourishes to tho tune of a noisy eloquence. Statistics are quoted from Mr Babbitt to show that, in spite of “uplift.” such things as those have happened in the United States; —In 1885 there were 1,808 homicides, with 108 executions ; in 1910 there wore 8.975 homicides, with 104 executions. In 1918 Chicago had twenty-two robberies for every one robbery in London, and fourteen robberies fur every one robbery in England and Wales. “Cities like, St. Louis and Detroit, in their statistics of robbery and assault with attempt to rob, frequently show annual totals varying from three to five, times greater than the number of such crimes reported for the whole of Great Britain.”

Th us, says ‘ Blackwood,’ is practical life commonly divorced from “uplift.” Returning to tho problem of Britain, and writing before the Conservative victory in (.he election and the return to power of Mr Baldwin, the magazine says: “We shall not find the. leader of our hopes until wo meet with a statesman who has faith in quiet action and plain speech, who docs not believe that the world can be remade merely by talking about it.”