The Etude was a huge proponent of the Euro-centric ideals of Western classical music. It was very afraid of American musics, especially vernacular and popular traditions. The problems and issues it had with jazz are well documented (one such Etude cover appearing on the cover of a recent reader on jazz studies). But lesser known are the amazing gems of text discussing that scary new fad of "rag-time."
It rests largely with you young people who are studying now whether this rag-time wave which has swept over us is going to eclipse temporarily all good music or not. There has always been cheap music, but the very boldness, the effrontery, of this present fad makes it dangerous. It has entered into the most refined homes. People have come to consider it in the light of a "good joke," and I know scarcely a girl who does not play it. Girls go on decorously with the study of their fugues, inventions, and sonatas, but they play cake-walks. Small wonder! Everyone demands them; the best musical magazines publish them; everyone else plays them, and, so why not? Think a moment.
Which is better: rag-time music or those sweet, secret musical ideals which every girl of you possesses? If you were asked which you preferred, a poster daub or a Rembrandt, there would be no hesitation in your choice, and if you were asked to make a choice between rag-time music and music done in the old, true music form, I know you would make the higher choice.
[....]
In a way, you girls are really pioneers of music in this country, for music has only just now become general with us, and a good many of you are the first of your family to receive a thorough musical education, so that you have a pleasant work to do in making good music an intimate and beloved factor in every American home.
from "Five Minute Talks with Girls," by Helena M. Maguire, The Etude, March 1900 pg 94
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