New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-16

OF piCtureSf Plalnly, IL seems 10 Uo Ihdt Vho
first class ia Of great value to the public; not
merely is it a great luxury, great delight but
it is valuable educator The pictures
of this class enlarge the public mind,
widen its sympathies, lift it up. They
are essential to our culture; they make
part Of our intellectual life; now
that we have had them, we should feel that we
suffered loss to be deprived of them and we
believe it fcould be proved that, SO far from
hindering the sale of good American pictures,
they have helped the sale. Our best men have
been getting better and better prices within the
last ten years, not worse and worse. We do not
now refer to stories of great prices told merely for
the sake of creating and bolstering up an unreal
reputation; but we mean real prices, such as are
easily obtained by Eastman johnson, Kensett,
Huntington, Durand, and other favorites of the
public. And we know that the best men we
have are no enemies to the importation OF pic
lures by such artists as GGrome, Legs, Bou-
guereau, Merle, Willems, and TissOt. They
study them carefully, recognize their value, and
acknowledge that they learn from them.
Nothing need be said as to the desirableness
of driving out the forgeries, and running the
trade in them, if il cOuldbe accomplished; but the
second of our three classes demands cOnsid-
Grafton. It is here, in truth, that the real
difficulty lies; and it is from these pictures
that our artists, particularly the younger ones,
really suffer. No doubt, they lose some orders,
and fail to sell some pictures In consequence
of the low price Of the forgeries; but it is
rather the snowy pictures Of the second class
that draw off customers who think they are
getting more for their money-cleverer and
more striking works and the charm of a foreign
name-a charm as old as the world. In truth,
these pictures do no one any good; they are
worthless trash; and, if they could be kept out
of the country, no one would have any reason
to complain, except the importers.
We forego the discussion of the question, in
this place, how far it is well to treat people
as babies and lock up matches, and arsenic,
and bad books, lest they should eat and read
ruin. All We say is, we should have been very
glad if these pictures had never come here
and we should shed no tears if they could be
prevented from coming any longer. But we
think there ought to be discrimination; and we
cannot think it sensible to wage war upon all
foreign pictures, and drive them all away from
the country, because a great many OF them are
worthless. 1t is very easy, as it seems to us,
to get rid of the bad and keep the good
We believe that these cheap snowy pictures
are doing our artsts-especally the young
rising men-an injury, by drawing off purcha-
sers, and we shall be glad to see their impor-
tation hndered if not altogether stopped.
But we think the artists who have presented
this memorial to Congress have shown want
of wisdom in asking for such an excessive tax.
1t is, perhaps, no argument against it, that the
Treasury will never stultify itself by allowing
any measure to pass that depriyes it entirely OF
certain lucrative revenue. But suppose that the
artists gain what they wish. Then, it will be plain
that the tax is prohibitory not of the poor pic
lures, the cheap pictures, the forgeries alone but
of all foreign pictures. And, whatever few lib
eral men among the artists may desire, we are
sure that no good artist, no man of culture
and intelligence among the artists, desires any
such result. The public have their rights as
well as the artists; and one of those rights is
to share in everything that advances educa-
ton, exctes thought, elevates the mind.
No one will deny that Art, worthy to
be so called, does these things. Then
why, to serve few men belonging to q
certain class, should whole population
be cut off from such privilege3 A tax COM
paratiyely small-say $25, or even $15-put upon
every foreign picture, would soon reduce the
importations by shutting out the whole class of
trashy pictures and copies, while the best pic
lures would continue to be imported Such a
measure as this might have been proposed with
some reasonable prospect of success, and we
wish the artists might see the desirabeness of
reconsidering their action. In principle, we
think they are nearly right; but we cannot APP
prove the details of their measure. There is
much more to be said on this subject, but
enough for to-day.