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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1928)
THE BATTALION T we have reason to believe he is, gives a truthful sketch of the pro fessional vagabond. “A Defense of Purism in Speech,” by Leila Sprague Learned, should al so be noted. Mrs. Learned evidently wishes to live up to her name, and so proceeds to a defense of language bound by form. No doubt the purists need defense, and possibly Mrs. Learned is the one to defend them, but why should her defense take the form of a grammatical handbook? She advances few arguments in sup port of her statements, and those that she does advance are not par ticularly forceful. Her essay is of value because it arouses discussion, but it is not very helpful to the cause she supports. Taken altogether, or taken indi vidually, the essays are good reading and treat of timely and pertinent subjects. Most of them are very well written, and all are above the or dinary. The “fish” this year should thank Mr. Thomas and Mr. Morgan for giving them a book that they can read and enjoy, as well as one that teaches them. WILLIAM O. JONES—’32. PLATO’S AMERICAN REPUBLIC. By Douglas Woodruff (Reviewed by H. C. Givens, Jr.) Socrates, reincarnated by Douglas Woodruff in his “Plato’s American Republic,” is seated on the pavement in Athens. Around him are gathered his friends, listening with rapt at tention as he tells of his American lecture tour and what he observed while in this, to him, strange coun try. What infinite possibilities of hu mor the situation possesses and what an opportunity for the author, speaking through Socrates, to crit icise American life. He has suc ceeded in both particulars and writ ten a witty little book, replete with pertinent criticisms of America. Socrates believes that a new god has been erected by the Americans; a god who demands not goodness or quality as a measure of faith, but only quantity. They call this god “Progress.” It is worshipped by all 100% Americans. Certain precepts of this new deity are contrary to old established ideals, but these ideals are rapidly disap pearing. In fact it was necessary that they disappear before the new god could ascend to the throne. The break down of these ideals may have in some cases been a good thing, but in others the re sults have been anything but bene ficial, and it is the latter that Soc rates calls to the reader’s atten tion. The former idealistic conception of government was that it existed for the benefit of the people. But un der the new conditions it is no long er true. Socrates claims it is now administered for the benefit of the manufacturers, who exert a virtual control in the name of and for the sake of “Progress.” They exert this control through public officers elected by the people, but a people who are “conditioned” to vote in the way the manufacturers want, by the lavish use of propa ganda, paid for by them in the form of donations to the campaign funds of the favored party. It might seem strange that public opinion could be created in this man ner, but when it is considered that nearly everybody is a follower of the god “Progress” it becomes un derstandable. The great mass of people are so busy being “progress ive” they have no time for anything else. As a result, they obtain most of their opinions from outside sourc es. And furnishing these opinions is the function of propaganda. Long years ago there was a quaint idea, held by the merchants, that no one should be forced into buy ing anything he did not want. Now, with mass production, which might be defined as the producing of more goods than there would, under ordi nary conditions, be a demand for, people are fooled, cajoled, and of ten forced into buying things they frequently have no use for and don’t want. In education Socrates seems to see the greatest change from old ideals to new. The old aim of education was knowledge, now it is information. And there is a world of difference between the two terms. Seemingly, the chief function of modern education is to fill the stu dents with a mass of poorly related Local Smoker Learns Bitter Lesson Abroad New York, March 13, 1928 Larus & Bro. Co., Richmond, Va. Gentlemen: I have used Edgeworth Smoking Tobacco for the past twenty-five years. Two years ago I took my trusty briar along on a trip abroad, intending to revel in the delights of the famous mixtures in London. I confess that I did not carry along with me any of the little blue tins of Edgeworth. But the joke was on me. I went back to Edge- worth, only this time I had to pay 45c for a 15c tin of Edgeworth! Incidentally, on a trip through England and later through Ireland, I was surprised to find the wide distribu tion and ready sale of Edgeworth in Great Britain. A frequent and famil iar sign in Dublin, Cork and other cities in Ireland was a white streamer announcing a new shipment of Edge- worth. To make such a conquest in the home of smoking tobacco must be very gratifying to your house. Sincerely, J. B. Kelly Edgeworth Extra High Grade Smoking Tobacco F I THAT’S the telephone^Hello” in Madrid. In London, it’s <c Are JL you there?” But in many foreign countries, Americans find a universal language in the telephone salutations. It’s good old “Hello”—a subtle tribute to the fact that the telephone is an American invention. And so it is with elevator service. Even though they say^Diga” in Spain, the architects of the magnificent new Madrid Telephone Building unhesitatingly said “Otis” because Spain demanded the last word in elevators. You will find in Madrid the same type of Sig nal Control Elevators that are now installed in those monumental telephone buildings in America, in New York, Cleveland, St. Louis and San Francisco. OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY Offices in All Principal Cities of the World