The Noble Art

To the Harvard Faculty:

Although I am just another alumnus, I want to express my approval of your courageous stand against the international typewriter trust, as expressed in your vote against typing examinations.

The noble art of penmanship, one of the highest artistic expressions of civilized humanity, has been suffering a gradual decline over the last few thousand years. First came the adoption of a standardized alphabet by the pedantic ancients. Then there was the invention of the printing press, by the notorious Gutenberg. Finally, only ninety years ago, those three men in Milwaukee devised the infamous typewriter.

All of these devices for converting the sacred written word into a means of communication instead of an artistic expression have received enthusiastic support from the insensitive exponents of mass culture, men who believe that the communication of ideas is more important than the manual arts. Of course I am not opposed to communicating ideas, and I think ideas are a good thing. But the idea that ideas can exist without a mastery of the Palmer method, without a well developed right hand, is one of the most insidious ever proposed.

Last, but by no means least, I want to congratulate you on the dramatic irony of veiling your courageous stand under the slogans of practicality and equality, catchwords which have long been used by the materialists who advocate complete destruction of our last mode for individual expression. I.B. SKRALLER,   President, Makeshift Pen Company.