Judge — October 15, 1927 — page 47: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JUDGE Editor, Norman Avthony Where Is Democracy? failure. So they are inp Durant democracy is a Bertrand Russell says it isn’t. about to pull off a public argument, hailed variously as “the debate of the century” and as “the intellectual event of the year.” They may have trou- ble agreeing on terminology. Democracy doesn’t mean now what it meant in Plato’s day. It doesn’t mean to Al Smith what it meant to Thomas Jefferson, or to poor little Teddy Roosevelt, what it meant to Lincoln, Its meaning changed when Henry Ford became the prophet of mass production, and again when the radio people began to hook up forty stations to broadeast the same speech. It is continually being hammered into new shapes by tabloid newspapers, direct pri- maries, woman suffrage, Volsteadery, directors of public relations, youth movements, subway says ams, news reels, traffie cops, citizens’ military ‘t camps, coal stri excuse-it-ple of eti- quette, blows below the belt and fifteen-second counts —by all the phenomena and funny business of mod- ern life. Democracy has never stayed still long enough to be weighed and measured. Like Christian- ity, it has never been given a trial. The only present tem of government which is having a thorough test is Fascism, and that is because it is being rammed down a nation’s throat by intimidation and force. How are you going to make a busy people swallow democracy if you have to treat them democratically ? ning ses, books Student Protest cexraktne has long been out of vogue in the national m: M in the college papers. zines, but it is gaining ground Already this year the Harvard Crimson has given the university appointments office a good sock in the nose. The Cornell Sun has been virtuously indignant about the campus bootleggers. even urging that their exit be hastened by a “trai well-aimed shot’—not, we surmise, shots of hobdch. And the Daily News of New York University renews its favorite crusade against expansion. There thirty-two thousand students there this year, and the place is suffering from growing pains. “The build- ings are filled to bursting, the libraries inadequate and overtaxed, the athletic field is almost obsolete and abandoned.” The objection seems well taken. It is good to see in the colleges this growth of vigorous journalism and of the courage to challenge the eternal rightness of Authority. JUDGE stands of are Auciate Editors, Richard J. Walsh, Phil Rosa, Jack Shuttleworth. OTS Dramatic Editor, George Jean Nathan on the side, not only of journalism, but of student protest. Free speech and a free press ought to flourish in colleges if anywhere. As often as not, Authority is right and Youth is wrong. But we cling to our text, “I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” A_ tote lot of people who erab about federal taxes 4% and about the government butting into business, never take the trouble to find out what the govern- ment is doir * * * vositively to aid business, For a single simple example, Hoover's Department of Commerce publishes a monthly survey of Current Business, con taining fourteen hundred facts about production, and shipments, with graphic charts and tabulations, and supplemented by weekly leaflets which keep it up to date. authorities have called it the most valuable And the pri the cost of printing—a dollar and stocks, orders, sales Some statistical digest in the country. » to you is only half a year. Lay Off the Aspirin Cocktail As all our constant readers know, Judge not +» puritanical or squeamish about the much-abused avocation of absorbing alcohol in moderate quan tities. But this recent folly of drinking cocktails made with aspirin instead of alcohol gets our goat completely. We shan’t repeat the recipe; the mother who told her children not to put beans up their noses gave them 4 is videa that would never have them otherwise. drink occurred to But if anybody tries to ¢ pirin, remember this drug. It does not give a ple be habit-forming. the heart. ay cRISP new noun minted Irwin Edman. He describes a cer cussed class of thinkers and men, t you to It’s not a drink. but a unt kick at all. Tt may And it has a dangerous effect on Lay off the aspirin cocktail. * * * has been by Professor ain much dis alkers as intelligenth The making of such “portmanteau words” is a pleasant vice, to which we Doubtless ectualiens. yield ourselves. briefly. foreign agi intell- They have no respect for patriciancestry and a vast scorn for the bourgeoizeros. Their ideal, of course, is to found « Which, when heard by the ed It’s too easy. RJ. those smart ators e new proletaristocracy. ritalistener: is greatly fea by them as a politicalamity, Enough. comicbooks.com