The Harkness Hoot

This notable magazine from Yale still holds its artistic typographical gloss, but the front and back covers are nearer to each other than ever before, and the articles themselves are rather anaemic. There was a time two years ago, when the editorials in this journal of seething youth would bring noisy recognition from all quarters, but that is hardly possible in the case of the present offerings. In "Educational Meringue," an editorial on Yale's newly founded equivalent to Harvard's "History and Lit", the editor does not want to give the authorities a whole hand for breaking down the intellectual tariff walls which exist between Yale College Departments. He wants to criticize, and he bewails the impending dilletanteism of the students in this field. A glance toward Harvard might have shown the undergraduate owl of Yale how the plan might be successfully executed.

In a ponderous article, in which verbs go hunting around through vast paragraph sentences for their subjects. E. V. Rostow discusses "A Role for the Middle Classes." One suspects that Rostow might have been a Marxist of some shade or other before March 4, but that he is now caught almost against his will, in the spiritual upswing of Roosevelt's unfaltering "bourgeois" leadership. There is hope for a temporary middle-class ruling class, but whether this is to be enlightened capitalism, Toryism, liberalism, or socialism, the writer dose not make clear.

Near the end of this number appears a delightful sketch by Hamilton Wright on the subject of a red the and an undergraduate poet, and a powerful editorial on Yale's "anti-latin" policy.

Scribners

Earnest Heminwgay contributes the last of a series of stories to this issue of Scribners, improving, as before, the general tone of the copy. The story, "Give Us a Prescription, Doctor," is laid in a hospital in the Southwest. From amidst a faint susurrus of hospital noises, broken English, and the squawling of a patient's radio, ideas emerge with a morbid and startling clarity; much as one may question Mr. Hemingway's philosophy, he cannot help admiring the technical ability and power which enables him to present it so vigorously and subtly. In the present instance, however, the effect is somewhat destroyed by a presentation of that philosophy slightly more explicit than usual. Towards the end of the tale, where the author becomes quite definite and almost appealing in his references to the "opium of the people," the writing loses some of its force.

"Drama and the Jew," a critical review by John Corbin, is an excellent treatment of a too little considered subject. Mr. Corbin traces the influence of the Jew over the American stage, analyzing its eventual triumph over both the artistic and business aspects, and producing a piece of critical prose enlightening and provocative. Its only fault is the common one of excessive generalization; because of this, flaws may easily be picked in it by the various satellites of the theatre.

For those with a taste for history in the making, "When The Shooting Is Over in The Pacific" by Upon Close, and "The End of Nationalism," by Christion Gauss are satisfactory material. The two articles bring out different points of view in regard to the general situation of the world. The latter discussion, as its title implies, is another suggestion for the breaking down of the old nationalistic boundaries; fortunately. It is that quite as Utopia as the majority of internationalistic schemes.

As the snuffer on a brilliant issue comes "The Children's Hour of Crime," by Arthur Mann. In the article he expounds at length on the deletrious influence of such programs as "Little Orphan Annie," and "Skippy," on his children. He describes his horror at hearing his six-year-old son command him to "Stick 'em up!" and indulges generally in the expression of those paranoiac which, appearently, haunt parents when their children decided to become sheriffs or outlaws. While the conclusions of the article are interesting only in their absurdity, they move in a just cause; if the programs in question are abolished for any reason whatever, it will be a forward step.