Parodies

The cradle of liberty still oscillates. The restless infant tosses within. The stern foot of governance steadies from without.

Last week, undergraduates of Harvard University took two liberties. The editors of The Harvard Advocate (monthly organ of literature and opinion) brought forward as their April number a parody of The Dial (monthly organ of "advanced" literature, appreciation and criticism published in Manhattan). This parody was inoffensive enough, being only an effort to attract attention by appearing more sophisticated than the sophisticates. The young Advocates "reviewed" the Bible, the Sanskirt Grammar, the Boston Social Register.

The other liberty that young men of Harvard took was more serious. The editors of The Harvard Lampoon (fortnightly funny paper) furnished their subscribers and the Boston newsstands with a familiar-looking magazine called the Literary Digest (Lampoon). The cover design of this magazine was a travesty of Emanuel Levitze's famed painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.

It was at once obvious to the Boston Police Force that the law prohibiting improper representation of the National Flag had been violated. They also found, on an inner page, a reproduction of a Manet nude, brazenly doctored to show a winking eye and a tipping wine glass. The title of this picture was given as The Goddess of Liberty; the artist, "Mr. Hotmama"; the caption, "If this be treason, make the most of it." The Boston Police Force did make the most of it. For the first time in The Lampoon's 40 years, it was ordered off the Boston newsstands by Law. Theretofore, its occasional involuntary suppressions had been commanded by the Harvard Faculty.

The illicit magazine did, however, penetrate beyond Boston. Reading it, many felt that apologies to the National Flag and to public purity were by no means all the debt the Lampoons editors had incurred. They had roundly insulted the real Literary Digest. They had insulted the publishers of the real Literary Digest. They had insulted, moreover, the readers of the real Literary Digest--that large portion of the public* that is grateful to the Digest for its weekly service of clipping, collating and publishing, at exhaustive length and with admirable lack of editorial color, a significant mass of opinion on news and issues of the day as expressed in hundreds of newspapers in every part of the U. S., Canada, South America, Europe and Asia, which collation is further supplemented with numerous topical cartoons upholding both sides of important questions and with several special departments in which are published ample extracts from the public prints on many interesting subjects, such as "Letters and Art," "Religion and Social Service," "Science and Invention," "Current Poetry," and "Personal Glimpses."

Typical of the burlesque reading matter which the Lampoon editors published :

GENERAL TWITCHELL DROPS SOME BUMS

"If the Ultimatum dropt by General Twitchell," says the Chicago Blatt of March 23, Page 12, Column 2, "can upset the enemy as the digestion of the admirals soda clerks and statesmen, there will be no danger of any rise of airplanes, at least over the United States." "General Twitchell," says the Milwaukee Weekly Squawk, "is a man of action, who wishes only to see the recent speculation in safety pins put to a stop.' This characterization is upheld by the opinion of La Vie Parisienne (Paris) of March 24, which says, "Le General Twitchell a raison. On peut acheter ici `a Paris beaucoup de bananes `a tres bon marche."

According to H. B. Warmer in the Walla Walla Morning Glory, General Twitchell has a mission" a mission," it continues , unlike those founded by the Spanish padres in that the style shows decided Gothic tendencies. . . . " The credit lines of the parody cartoons in their efforts at humor did not stop short of blasphemy--"Bung in The Eye," "Hitting in The Clinches," "Feeling in The Pockets," "Kryste in The Foothills."

In Manhattan, newspaper representatives hastened to interview Wilfred Funk, of the Funk and Wagnalls Co., to learn if action would be taken against The Harvard Lampoon. Said Mr. Funk: "We are undecided."

*The Digest's total alleged circulation for 1924-25: 1,433,000. This includes:

51,798 physicians and surgeons.

51,463 lawyers, judges and justices.

38,870 school teachers.

13,933 dentists.

14,853 college professors.