Les Mouches Fantastiques (amateur journal)/April 1918/Criticism

Among the kind and unkind things that have been flung at us (more unkind than kind, we may add) we have been called "highbrow." And we object. We are not highbrow, and we are not putting out "fancy stuff", as someone said. It is our endeavor to write beautifully such thoughts as are beautiful, and to make beautiful wrappings for such such thoughts as are unlovely. We are not trying to be better than the rest, nor are we posing (Mr. Cook's favorite word) as superior. Unfortunately, in amateur journalism today we see much that is ugly, much that is unnecessary. Too many amateurs are careless and their work slovenly; too many magazines that they edit make no attempt to be artistic. They may labor for "love" of their hobby, but the results are not commendable, since love should bring a desire for perfection, and atrocious faults and crudities, not typographical, can be found in most amateur work that we have seen. The most successful magazine in amateurdom that we know of it also the crudest, most inartistic and vulgar publication we have ever seen. Because we try to make beauty we are not "high brow"; because we try to be artistic we are not posing as superior. Amateur journalism would benefit greatly if there were instilled in it a little more art, and if a little of the vulgarity were withdrawn.