Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1883-03-01
INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.

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artistic things We use with which to
| decorate our homes are Imported. The
choicest material tor our clothing
comes from abroad; Alaska seal skins
90 to England TO be dressed and 9th
eIwise prepared for American use; the
best SILK goods comes from Paris and
London; the only reliable therInome-
ters are made in France and England
Let the reader take walk around any
ligl-class fancy store in our city. and
he Will find that all the costliest and
most artistic goods are imported. We
are well aware of the tact that in some
branches of work the United States is
not behiEd Such art tiles as are now
produced in Massachusetts were never
made in Europe liner watches than
those turned out Of Illinois and Mas
sachusetts factories are not made in
England or Switzerland The agri-
cultural machinery of the northwest
are absolutely unequaled. Our -four,
axes, knives and forks, sewing ma
chimes, illustrated magazines, Christ
mas cards, and newspapers lead the
world. But in numberless little things,
costing great deal of Eloney, we al
low Europe 60 mcropo!ize oUr mark
cts. Il it not worth while to ask Eheth
er something more cannot be done Ia
the near future than has been done in
the past To compete in these hitherto
neglected lines of business with our
trans Atlantic cousins?
Ii would Dc uuwise and useless 10 az
tempt to persuade the public to pur-
chase inferior materials for clothes.
merely for the sake of patronizing
home industry. There is no reason
why Americans should not wear the
best fabrics. " But" it may be said,
we have not yet been able to turn
our attention TO the manufacture of
these higher classes of goods. We
shall do it presently. and then no diff
Guilty will ba met with in seizng the
trade from foreign manufacturers -.
This may be true to IA certain extent,
but IL Americans let things drift, with.
out giving care TO those helps which
foreign nations are so ready TO avail
Themselves of, they will be an unnec-
es,arily long willie in supplanting their
competitors. There are, unfortunate
ly, among the sharpest and most sue
ccssful business men of the country a
great many who look upon art with Il
certain amount OF disdain. They are
apt to regard il as Gn outside accOm-
rlishlnent well enough to engage the
attention of fashionable young ladies,
but beneath the notice of men actively
engaged in business pursuits. Do they
ever ask themselves how it is that Not
tingham, England, holds itse.f to-day
against the lace manufacturing centers
Of the world Simply 10y cultivating
IN its atmosphere the artistic spirit. -
Art schools have been doing their work
for years teaching artistic principles,
not TO the idle rich, but to the indus
trious poor. Then, too, II large pie
ture gallery and museum full of paint
ings, sculpture and many other OBJ
jects of art is one Of the two or three
most prominent buildings in city of
250, 900 inhabitants. How does Brus-
sells maintain its reputation for lace
and carpets! In the same way as Not
tingham. The schools CT art which
abound in nearly all the countries OF
Europe and are subsidized by their re-
spective governments do not teach this
or that accomplishment; they content
themselves with teaching the truth
that beauty has its laws, just as a
school of science teaches that there
are laws governing the solar system.
This is a strangely scientific and
practical age, and the United States is,
perhaps, more intensely practical than
any other country on the face of the
earth. The art VIII ch had its root in
Italy and Greece, and which, though
the artists are gone, cannot be eifaced,
has n softening influence upon the
practically of Europe which is not
felt here. If the ancient nations west
of the Mississippi had left us II legacy
of art treasures as Michael Angelo and
Raphael and Rubeus and Van Dyck
left TO Europe we should to-day be
sending the richest modern art pro-
ductions all over the world Our sci
ence needs to be tempered 10y art, and
IL must be before we can take that pre-
eminent position which our ambition
looks for and our industry deserves. --
Foreign nations are, comparatively
speaking, but little way ahead of us.
As matter of fact, they are not ahead
Of us, in their appreciation of and love
for artistic objects. a keen observer
said recently that il all the British art
work of the first half of the present
century with its wall papers, its deco
rations, its hangingi aud its heavy
furniture had been collected in one
pile and burned up, the world would
have been none the poorer for the loss
And yet. that nation which from the
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