New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-05-12
4 NATIONAL FAILING SHOWN.
AMERICAN INFERIoRITY TO FOREIGN TASTE
IN ARTIsANSHIP!
THE CONTRAST ExHIBITED At THE. UNIVERSAL
EXPOSITION WHERE THE WESTERN
WORLD YxCELs AND WHERE IT
Is PAINFULLY BEHIND.
Is PAINFULLY BEHIND.


Copyright: 1889 BY he Sew York Ai'Oesatsd Prss'
Paris, May ia study Of thu Universal Exposition
for the purpose OF comparing the products into which
design enters dlscoses two truths concerning American
growth The classification In which thhse truths are
apparent comprises everything In the manufacture Of
which beauty is blended with usefulness. The first
truth Is that the American constructive sense Is sI
perior the European, and the second THAI the Aner
can decorative inferior TO the European The
American has surpassed the European in mechanism
but the sense Of beauty Is still dun in the national
breast American arusSnship speaking broadly
when brought fsce to face with European Arthsnshp
is nteIgent In the application Of means 20 ends
dircctness OF method and economy of labor but
Is crude and aEaoSt nnierate IN taste
In saying this enc runs tho risk of making AmeTt
feed q resentment which the German poet Heine
ayowed a familiar occasion. At dinner when,
he wrote bio would gladly forget all the veGations
Of the world, his fellOw-counirymen espOiod for
him the best dishes by pouring over them the bitter
sauce Of patriotism II would be an agreeable duIy
to write only praise Of the works Of ones
try. but the Exposition and ones country are
entitled the truth. If m reading It the national
Intelligence shall be led 20 right reflection upon a
theme whose importance Is incstmsblo and whose
scope is practically infinite, another Universal Ex
position Will furnish a gratifying chapter Of
American industrial and aesthetic history.
Design enters into the treatment OF metals, woods,
We have in our the raw material aud essentials
with few exceptions OF nearly the entire classnca
generally accepted decorative manufactures IA this
IA position. Our progress In their employment u
shown to be, except in few great departments,
primitive and psltry. In fine ariSanship, generally
considered, every other country Of magnitude puts
US to shame. The freedom OF which we rightly boast
In civil life Is found associated with ignorance and
slavery In the artistic and Industrial lie.
LIMITATION or AMERICAN DECORATIVE ART.
Eliminate from the American exhibit the machinery
the gold and silver smthing and the art Of the lapi
Diary and glass. maker. and thcr2 Is no American
decorative art remaining upon which ono nger
with satisfaction Even such countries Italy and
switzerland show that the craft Of tho wood II
active. Rumanis, Ssrvia and Greece none OF them
In close touch with modern thought, display beautiful
products of the loom. Continental countries whose
Industries old retain the supremacy which their
guilds and schools created. England, untH very
modern times. addIc ted almost exclusively 10 trade
and TO manufactures appertainng rather To the ne
cesses OF civilization than 10 the adornment OF life
has accepted tuition from peoples whose spirit IS
more artistic than hers. Her pOrcelalns. furniture,
metallic products tapestries carpets, paperhangings,
ve.vos silks, shaws and broc ades constitute An i'm.
pressive portion OF her entire exhibit to catalogue
which requires q large volume. In each OF these
divisions Of her labor she admits the teaching Of
Germany, France, Holland and Belgium. II Epg
land has learned from artistic Europe how 20 blend
beauty with usefulness, she has had occasIOn 10
admit that the people who wreSted from her their
political liberty have created, in a century.
national spirit informed by beauty and able TO meet
nations less free, collectively individually,
IN this noblest field Of human toll
The prohibition which Parliament sent over 10 our
forefathers concerning manufactures We have removed
the range OF strictly mechanical pro iuctS
Within the month that has gjoriHed the centenary Of
nfFc ~,
OF the worlds sk a solitary example Of American
porcelain fine textiles, superior brUnzes. artistic
manipulation Of wood decorative paper leather
We offer machines that can write and talk, machines
that perform all the lsbos Of the field. and that solve
most Of the problems OF the factory. In an age OF
physics distinguished by the discovery Of no new
principle We have astonished science itself by new
combinations OF principles, and by the creation OF 70
sources for the convenience Of mankind But we
have added scarcely anything TO the beauty, grace
and repose Of idealsm.
THE PENALTY or NATIONAL FAILING.
While Justly boasting of rank rs mechanics
chemists and electricians stll pay transportation
10 England for our native furs, SKINS leather and
cotton and are content 10 pay atterwsrd
second ransport alton and the manufacturers price,
a. well as the customs tax, for the products into
which our own raw materials have been turned. Add
20 this tho yearly drain Of money unnecessarily lost
the millions annually paid for decorative manufactures
from every factory OF Europe ana OF rowling East
and an approximate estimate may be made OF the
colossal penalty We pay with incomprehensible stu
pdty for falling develop sense OF form. color and
composition In our own youth.
There are American porceiains ard wall papers which
might have been exhibited here with SAFETY showing
promise II not achievement. The glass exhibit here has
commanded candid. enthusiastic, praise II Is
from tie Hawks glsss-cuttng WORKS at Corning, New.
York In the same exhibit are credltable examples
from the lockwood potteries, nosr Cincinnati which
the widow OF George Ward Nichols founded a school