The Danger of Rag-Time
By Editor
One of our correspondents, referring to question No. 3621, in which we said that it would seem as if one could spend God-given time to better advantage than playing rag-time music, quotes from an editorial in the San Francisco Examiner of December 11, on "The Danger of Rag-Time,"—"Rag-Time versus Idiocy:" "In other words, according to Dr. Ludwig Gruener, celebrated alienist of Berlin, rag-time is making idiots of us all. He bases his assertions on investigations made at the principal asylums in the United States. Ninety per cent of the inmates were abnormally developed in their love for rag-time, and failed to respond to classical music. Says Dr. Gruener: 'Hysteria is the form of insanity that the abnormal love for rag-time seems to produce. The peculiar noises of rag-time cause a nervous tension spasmodically, as the sounds rise and fall. Persons who continually listen to this sort of music put their entire nervous system under a strain, especially the nerves that affect the brain. Classical music soothes, pacifies, and elevates, while rag-time does just the opposite.'" Therefore, both physically and spiritually, one ought to have nothing to do with it.