Milford chronicle., 1893-08-11
AMERICAS SHOW.
She Surprises Herself and Her
Foreign Guests.
DEFICIENT IN BUT FEW THINGS

the EQunir 81 our i4eht Aeift-sH %aAit''ts'
cans Can view Their section in Manu-
Eaotures Building with Pride and Tx
ultatioa.
WoHD's FAIR, August 1.-lSpeeiall-
What sort Of a showing does America make
In this peaceful rivalry Of the worlds peo-
plesf Can we Of the United States hold
our heads high and speak with pride while
passing through this show-place Of ma
tonsf These are pertinent questions, now
that we have in a series Of ten letters care
fully examined and impartialiy given opin-
ions Of the principal foreign displays It
Is a genuine pleasure to be able 70 answer
them in the Affirmative No american
nced blush for his counrymen here. AT
lie same time this is the place in which
we may learn the important truth that we
still have much to learn. In many things
rs excel, in many we sre the equal
IL the best Of our rivals in a few only are
we conspicuously weak; and in these this
very exposition will be sure to inspire US
10 greater effort and more rapid advance,
ment.
One OF the peculiarities Of this exposi-
ton, viewed from the international stand
point. is that whoever studies it critically
is sure to be overcome by appreciation cf
excellence wherever he goes among the
foreign exhibits. Thus in the French sec
tion one thinks no other people can rival
the French; in Britain's exhibit the
thought IS that hero perfection has been
attained; in Germany Russia, Austria,
Italy, it IS the same. While in any or all
Of these displays the American is likely to
be harassed by feeling that his country
men are ontclasscd, that they are so in
ferior as not to be ia the race at all. Con
sequently many people do not visit the
American section Of the Manufactures
building They not only have more curl
osity as to foreign exhibits which is nat
ural. but they are troubled by lack of
confidence ia the efforts of Americans and
by an unwiilingness to behold what they
fear is orr national humiliation, which are
altogether unnecessary.
And now, after mature deliberation, I
wish to make statement which is bold
ana broad. and which viii be sure to in
yite contradiction and even ridicule, but
which I am nevertheless prepared omain-
tain Tt is that America to-day, all things
considered, is the first nation of the world
in the production of those things which
bcspeak high state Of civilization
In support of this declaration / shall not
attempt to discuss in detail the whole
range OF American exhibits in this eXposi-
tlon confning myself more particularly
in this letter to the exhibits made in the
fine arts gallery and in the Manufactures
building, which is the department of ap-
piled arts, and leaving to another letter
some consideration Of the region in which
this country admittedly exeels--agricul- !
ture, machinery, transportation, elec- |
tficity.
Consideration of a question like that
which / have put must proceed along /
broad lines The arts which make peo-
pie great and admirable are not alone fish
cries and agriculture, which are the earli-
est industrial Efforts of all peoples, nor
work in metalsand wood, which stand next,
nor in textiles and ceramics, which come
third in the ascending scale, nor yet in the
fine arts, which last appear. We mus5
run the whole gamut of human endeavor,
and accord to the nation which excels in
most departments the grand prize of our
appreciation. That nation, as shown here,
is the United States. Our superiority in
agriculture. in wealth of forestry, in fish
cries, in transportation, mining ana other
and wealth-conserging |
fields is beyond doubt. It is only when,we
art and art-manufacture that
real rivalry begins.
Starting therefore at the very, top, the
lcme Of human skill, the Unit States is =
ound well to the front. - - s,.tsof d
ainting and sculptp<es ~. interior az +
curse 70 Z rance ernany and to Eng O
Auu, uno'sS carly on q par with the c
ass-ll.s airy that the difference is
Improbable. On the whole, b
neither Spain nor Italy nor Austria nor 4
any other nation save those mentioned can
rank us even in the fine arts. The works Il
Of Americans shown here are amazing in a
merit and number There are American s
pictures which stand with the best that c
France and Germany can do. There are +
American sculptures which take as high 4
place as any, Our average is a triie Il
lower, so say the critics, but not much u
lower. Besides no other people in the t.
world are making such strides as this in p
lhe realm of the higher arts. In Paris e
ilone there are 5000 Americans studying ii
lrts. In Germany, Holland, Italy and il
Austria there must be 1000 more. In for Il
sign salons our representatives have their e
llace and their admirers t,
Our conspicuous fault, viewed from our il
iwn standpoint, is lack of national style a.
)ur artists, being educated abroad, ac- W
uire the habit and the treatment of the Il
chool in which they study. Moreover, W
heir subjects are too often foreign. But
hese are weaknesses which only time can m
emedy. The day is coming when Ameri- Il
an artists will put on canvas, in marble I'll
T bronze, distinctively American charac- IN
er, scenes and incidents. Our broad pl
ountry, with it's wealth of human and el
nimal life, its glorious scenery, its spirited in
istory, will yet be the scene of operations fu
lr an American school of artists that will N
ank side by side with the two or three al
est schools Of Europe. That day will OF
ome very soon. Art is long, but Ameri- q
ans move rapidly in art as in everything tx
se. To one who wanders thrasn .heE II,
mercan galleries heavy do not ing w ei
ifcent canvase na1 the things for surpff a,
llt-tsue given credit. But every IN n,Jte tes
l-sae 1 AR1 fr Pyis gfs6wth Wiling the last pa
Tenty years. VI
1t is gratifying to note that in one inn
rtant field Of art, that Of illustration of
lolzs and magazines, America is already
the lead This is admitted. Here -
are initiated, and for once are ~
It the imitators. Our artists struck out ~ ~
new fields, created adistinctiveiy Amer "a
ia school, and gave us a foretaste of
hat viii come ia oil and water colors, in OF
arble and bronze, when the workers in Nc
ese lines escape from their foreign en- cr'
and return home to endeayor Wy
the native field. In visiting the Fine
IT'S palace do not fail to see the black and
lites-pen end ink and other drawing
ionc in this country. Compare ther, r iI'
th the works Of foreigners, and see If "
. not telling the truth. gr
ex
p ldanuiactaies palace wnas 40 'seIlnal cei
by, the Americans are deficient in but Nj
ew things, and I viii try to state what ~,
sse are. They are ceramics, laces, milli- Wi
~, dress-nalxing, carvings, enamels, liz
)delings IN bronze, handmade furniture, 81,
d some minor articles in which hand ne,
lrk is all-imp0rtant Our most notice s
le weakness IS in ceramics. We have br,
tiers, and very good ones, but not art I'll
tiers, with a few exceptions. The only III,