Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922
Page 34
THE UNITED AMATEUR SEPTEMBER 1921
THE UNITED AMATEUR
Official Organ of the UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
H. P. LOVECRAFT _Official Editor_ E. EDWARD ERICSON _Official Publisher_
Issued bi-monthly by the United Amateur Press Association.
Subscription Price, 50 cents per year.
Published at Elroy, Wisconsin.
Entered as second-class mail matter at the post office at Elroy, Wis.
_SEPTEMBER 1921_
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OFFICIAL BOARD
_President_--Mrs. Ida C. Haughton, 1372 E. Long St., Columbus, Ohio.
_First Vice-President_--Frank Belknap Long, Jr., 823 West End Ave., NewYork City.
_Second Vice-President_--Eleanor Beryl North, 316 Beaver Ave., StateCollege, Pa.
_Secretary-Treasurer_--Alma B. Sanger, 667 Lilley Ave., Columbus, Ohio.
_Official Editor_--H. P. Lovecraft, 598 Angell St., Providence, R. I.
_Official Publisher_--E. Edward Ericson, Elroy, Wis.
_Laureate Recorder_--Howard R. Conover, Route 1, Cozaddale, Ohio.
_Manuscript Manager_--Grace M. Bromley, 1432 R St., N. W., Washington,D. C.
_Historian_--Myrta Alice Little, Westville, N. H.
_Supervisor of Amendments_--(To be appointed.)
_Directors_--Paul J. Campbell, Route 2, Ridgefarm, Ill.; Anne T.Renshaw, 2109 F St., N. W., Washington, D. C.; Jay Fuller Spoerri, 304House Office Bldg., Washington, D. C.
_Department of Public Criticism_--Alfred Galpin, Jr., Chairman, 830 W.Johnson St., Madison, Wis.
_Department of Private Criticism_--Maurice W. Moe, Chairman, 2812Chestnut St., Milwaukee, Wis.
_Recruiting Committee_--Frank Belknap Long, Jr., Chairman, Paul J.Campbell, Leo Fritter, Alfred L. Hutchinson, Gavin T. McColl, Maurice W.Moe.
_Ladies' Auxiliary Committee_--Eleanor Beryl North, Chairman, Mary FayeDurr, Jennie Eva Harris, Winifred Virginia Jackson, Margaret Mahon, AnneT. Renshaw.
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LAUREATE TITLES
_Poetry_--S. Lilian McMullen; Honourable Mention, Mary Carver Williams.
_Story_--H. P. Lovecraft; Honourable Mention, Alfred Galpin, Jr.
_Essay_--Anna Helen Crofts and H. P. Lovecraft; Honourable Mention,Alfred Galpin, Jr.
_Editorial_--(To be awarded.)
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LITERATI
_Poetry_--Arthur Goodenough, Olive G. Owen (deceased).
_Story_--Eleanor Barnhart Campbell.
_Editorial_--H. P. Lovecraft.
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INFORMATION
"Amateur Journalism is for those who cultivate literature from taste orattachment, for those who write for the love of writing, for those whopursue the art of letters for its own sake. They may or may not beengaged (or aspire to be engaged) in authorship as a business, but thosewho are members of that profession will undoubtedly find in AmateurJournalism the air of freedom which develops personality in writing.They will find every encouragement to self-development, amid anenvironment of art. Amateur Journalism is for all those who do literarywork for the love of it."
"The privileges of the United Amateur Press Association are: The use ofthe Manuscript Bureau and the columns of the papers connected with theAssociation; the Official Organ; attendance at Conventions; proxyrepresentation at elections; laureate competitions, etc."
"Any person who edits or contributes prose or poetry to any amateurpaper is eligible to membership."
"Application for membership must be accompanied by one dollar dues and aprinted or written credential.... If rejected, dues will be returned."
"Renewal or reinstatement fee is two dollars."
"Applicants for membership should address their applications, withcredential and dues, to the Secretary, Miss Alma B. Sanger, 667 LilleyAve., Columbus, Ohio."
"Any person wishing to become connected with the Association withoutfurnishing a credential or becoming active, may upon payment of twodollars be enrolled as a sustaining member for one year. A sustainingmember shall be entitled to all the privileges of active membershipexcept the right to vote or hold office."
"Laureate entries shall be poem, story, essay and editorial."
"Entries must be printed in an amateur paper, and a marked copy sent tothe Laureate Recorder by June 1."
Anyone desiring application blanks for recruiting may receive them byapplying to the Secretary.
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IMPORTANT
Members are urged to remember the recent doubling of dues, whereby allrenewals became _Two Dollars_ each.
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The fullest of apologies is due the membership for the lateness of thisissue of THE UNITED AMATEUR. A prostrating and overwhelming flood ofprofessional duties, coupled with a state of health permitting only theshortest of working hours, has forced the editor to delay transmissionof this copy to the publisher until November 4: a date which should beremembered in justice to the latter official, who is equally handicappedin the matter of conflicting duties.
THE EDITOR
Editorial
In the excellent October _Woodbee_, Mr. Leo Fritter criticises with muchforce the attempt of the present editor to conduct THE UNITED AMATEUR ona tolerably civilised plane. He points out that the appearance of ajournal representing a fairly uniform maturity of thought and artisticdevelopment may perhaps tend to discourage those newer aspirants whohave not yet attained their full literary stature, and thus defeat theeducational ends of the Association.
Mr. Fritter gathers his material for complaint from the opinions ofcertain amateurs with whom he has held communication, and on this basisalleges a "wide-spreading dissatisfaction" with the present editorialpolicy. We have ourselves received numerous and enthusiastic assurancesof an opposite nature, especially since the Fritter attack, so that wemust rebut at least his charge that we are ignoring the membership'swishes and "trying to conform them to a mould we have arbitrarily castaccording to ideas of our own." To adopt a lower standard would, indeed,be affronting a more influential element than that which may at presentbe dissatisfied; an element which has possibly gained higher claims toconsideration through the _continuous_ nature of its services to theAssociation during trying times when others were silent and inactive.
But in determining the question of editorial policy, the abstract meritsof the case are more important than the act of pleasing this or thatperson or group. Were we convinced that the existing order hampered thesincere novice, we would abandon it without pride or ceremony. That wedo not, is because we are certain that retrogression and decadence wouldconstitute a fatal mistake. The public we serve is assumed to be agenuinely progressive one, a group bent upon attaining some measure ofproficiency in that sincere self-expression which is art. If it werenot, it would have joined some other association of differentpurposes--the defiantly crude Erford pseudo-United or the complacentlysocial and stationary National. What justifies the separate existenceand support of the United is its higher aesthetic and intellectual cast;its demand for the unqualified best as a goal--which demand, by the way,must not be construed as discriminating against even the crudestbeginner who honestly cherishes that goal. With these objects in mind,it will be seen that the self-satisfied exultation of the superficial,the obvious, the commonplace, and the conventional, would form thegreatest possible tactical error. The goal would be unjustifiablyobscured, and the aspiration of the membership stunted, through theenshrining of a false and inferior goal--a literary Golden Calf. We mustenvisage a genuine scale of values, and possess a model of genuineexcellence toward which to strive. It would pay better to work toward ahigh standard oneself, than to seek to drag the standard down to fitwhatever particular grade
of ignorance one may happen to have at a givenmoment. With proper effort any member may eventually produce work of theUNITED AMATEUR grade, and such work will be certain of a cordial welcomein this office. The official organ is not so narrow as it seems; if moreof our capable members would favour it with their literarycontributions, the range of authors represented would not be sorestricted. It is not the editor but the body of our _literati_ who mustbear responsibility for the constant reappearance of certain names. Thisissue is headed by the same poet who headed the last two--but onlybecause another eminent amateur, so far unrepresented during the presentregime, utterly ignored our repeated requests for a contribution.
Mr. Fritter--who, I fear, wrongs etymology in his acceptance of the word_amateur_ as meaning a tyro rather than a genuine and disinterestedartist--forgets that a relapse to cruder standards would totally unfitthe United for serving that staunch element which has contributed mostto its present welfare. Many would find a society of the lower gradeintolerable; certainly it could not hope to hold the very ones who havegiven this organization its existing distinctiveness and pre-eminence.
Yet in the arguments of Mr. Fritter there is an underlying soundnesswhich misapplication should not obscure to the analytical reader. He isright in lamenting, as we believe he does, the absence of a suitablepublishing medium for the work of our younger writers. It is not in aspirit of affront to him that we give preference to the plan ofPresident Haughton, as outlined in her opening message, for there-establishment of a special magazine for credentials. We should beglad to curtail the official organ in the interest of such a magazine,as indeed we offered to do at the beginning of the term.
_Frustra laborat_, says the old proverb, _qui omnibus placere studet_.We regret that any one policy must of necessity displease a few members,yet do not see how any improvement could be effected by making a changewhich would merely shift the displeasure to another and even morecontinuously industrious group. It is significant that the Gothic partyhave no editorial candidate of their own to offer, so that the thanklessand toilsome office has been forced upon one whose indifferent healthmakes it an almost unbearable burden to him. The question is one whichshould ultimately be decided at the polls, each party putting forward anominee who can be depended upon to fulfil its mandates. Meanwhile thepresent editor, whose sincere beliefs and policies were fully known longbefore his unopposed election, stands ready to resign most cheerfullywhenever a suitable successor can be found. Bitterness, division andpersonalities must be avoided at any cost, and we may be reckoned as asupporter of THE UNITED AMATEUR under any editor and policy.