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ALS IK KAN: NOTES: REVIEWS
  ASHORT time ago, in answer to the
       usual formal inquiry concerning
       renewal of subscription, we re-
ceived from one of our subscribers the
following letter:
THE CRAFTSMAN, New York, N. Y.
  DEAR SIR: Answering your letter of
inquiry enclosed, our draftsmen com-
plain that THE CRAFTSMAN is giving too
much attention to politics and Maxim
Gorky. As architects, we are not in-
terested in politics, and as men and citi-
zens we are not interested in Gorky, and,
therefore, your publication   does not
meet the wants of this office.
              Yours very truly,
                P_ &M
  P. S.-Our Mr. M-          says that the
architectural part of your magazine is
very interesting, and therefore we will
add that if you can get rid of Gorky
and give the magazine a thorough dis-
infection, we might be induced later to
subscribe for the same.
                              P. & M.
  We publish this letter for the reason
that it is the most complete illustration
that has yet come to our notice of the
mental outlook which is the almost cer-
tain result of over-specialization in any
art or profession. The human mind, as
the medium through which the immortal
spirit lays hold on life and uses all
knowledge and all experience to aid in
its development, is necessarily the most
active force known to our plane of exis-
tence, and when it is given free play
it is also the strongest. But for its best
service it must be free,--free from the
limitations imposed by a too rigid ad-
herence to custom or tradition in any
line of thought or work, and free to
know and be keenly interested in all
phases of life. Only through such free-
dom is development possible, and with-
out the mental poise and the comprehen-
sive grasp on life that is the result of
all-around development, no man can do
work that is vital in itself and signi-
ficant to his nation and his age. In some
ways, the habit of closing the mind to
everything save one special line of study
or work is temporarily a good thing for
the profession, as it naturally gives great
technical dexterity and a fairly large
amount of book-knowledge on the sub-
ject chosen by the specialist, but it is
death   to  individuality and   creative
power, and so in the long run has the
effect of fossilizing that particular line
of achievement, instead of widening its
scope by bringing to it an ever-renewed
vitality.
  The worst of it is that the specialist
appears to take such honest pride in his
own limitations, that in nine cases out
of ten he seems to be so sincere in his
belief that it is a hallmark of culture or
of intellectuality to display ignorance
of, or indifference to, the problems that
affect all humanity.    The complacent
superiority with which the writer of this
letter affirms that "as architects, we are
not interested in politics, and as men
and citizens, we are not interested in
Gorky," tells the whole story. It is a
naive revelation of the attitude of mind
that has come to be characteristic of a
certain type of American,--that of clos-
ing the mind to topics of broad and vital
interest as related to the general de-
velopment of the nation and the race,
TIO