Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-06-03
..rur RARrHoLDI NUISANCE

.sTHE BARTHOLDI NUISANCE
The Courier DIES Etats Unis is indig'
nant over an article that appeared n the
st. Louis Post Dispatch calling the sub
scription for the pedestal Of the Bar
tholdi statue a nuisance, and stating that
the artist is appealing to a sentiment
that has no existence in tins country,
and that the sooner the thing is ended
the better.
Nuisance, 4" says the Courier, 'is an
English word which has no exact equiva'
lent in French, but in this case the
phrase can be tolerably well translated
as the Bartholdi BORE And this is the
truly American point of view that II
this country the statue of Liberty En-
tightening the World is regarded. Fol
two years the American people, solicited
almost to Importantly by a small number
of the elite among them, turn a deal ear
to the call and seem to think it strange
that they should be asked to pay for a
thing from which they can derive no
material profit. Well, they do not un-
derstand. They belong to those who
own the kingdom of heaven; but they
know only the rather dirty Wall street
route to reach there.
"Not only is NJ. Bartholdi entirely dis
interested in this affair, but he pays out
of his own pocket for the satisfaction OF
carrying out a grand idea and of execut-
ing . great project. In France every
body knows that . part of his personal
fortune will be the price of this satisfac-
ton; and it will be dear, indeed, if he
only receives the return which is made
to him by the Americans. We mean the
Americans of America, for happily there
are other Americans elsewhere more civil.
lied"
".Bartholdi,' says the st. Louis writer,
has appealed to a sentiment that does
not exist" This is not so. His first
thought was not to appeal to the senti-
ment of Americans, but to give full
to . sentiment that does exist-a
French sentiment. Foolish it possibly may
be, since it is generous and disinterested;
but it is purely French; and the error
that NJ. Bartholdi has committed is in
his belief that q similar sentiment ami
mated the people Of America, of whom
he has evidently had too good an opin-
ion. The compliment is returned in the
form of an insult-an insult, it is true,
is more shameful for those who offer
it than for him who receives it, and q
viii be more easily appreciated in
the reflection that it comes from a people
who exact 80 per cent duty on objects of
art coming from countries where the
education Of their citizens is given
free OF charge. Possibly the statue OF
would receive q warmer welcome
Il the French committee who are present
ing it to the Americans had had the idea
Of paying the Custom House of New
York the regular rate of 80 per cent ad
valorem.
SIS would have been far better il the
thing had been put . stop to long ago
than that it should be allowed 10
into a shame for the American
Nobody can suppose that the
people of France can take offence At the
moral atony of . nation that they have
been foolish enough to consider as acces-
sihle to the contagion Of warm and ele-
waited sentiments. The St. Louis writer
suggests that Bartholdi, in the name Of
the people who make the present, should
say to the New York committee, IF in a
year the pedestal is not finished the
statue shall be raised in the harbor of
Havre, of Marseilles. or Of Brest-" We
agree with him in this suggestion. The
fact is that Liberty Enlightening the
World would be more suitably placed at
the threshold Of France than at that Of
the American continent. The Americans
Of Paris ought to apply their subscrip-
tions TO the erection of a pedestal in that
city. and place the statue there. Then
the good people Of the United States
would &c. nd of the elephant that they
don't know what to do with. and honor
would be satisfied"