Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-08-04
AMERICAS SHOW.
She Surprises Herself and Her
Foreign Guests.
DEFICIENT IN BUT FEW THINGS.

Sn6 ILVuiSkS VI OuE Z ASlSaSAh-<AuAeEls
Fans Can View Their Section In Manu-
features Building With Pride and Ex-
ultation.
WORLDS FAIR, August 1.-[Special. J.
What sort of a showing does America make
in this peaceful rivalry of the worlds peo-
pies? Can we of the United States hold
III heads high and speak with pride while
passing through this s%how-place of ma
tions? These are pertinent questions, now
that we have in a series of ten letters care
fully examined and impartially given opin-
ions of the principal foreign displays. 1t
is a genuine pleasure to be able to answer
them in the affirmative. No American
need blush for his countrymen here. At
the same time this is the place in which
we may learn the important truth that we
still have much t. learn. In many things
we excel, in many more we are the equal
of 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
to greater effort and more rapid advance,
ment.
One of the peculiarities of this EXPOSE
ton, viewed from the international stand.
point, is that whoever studies it critically
is sure to be overcome by appreciation of
excellence wherever he goes among the
foreign exhibits. Thus in the French sec,
ton one thinks NJ other people can rival
the French; in Britain's exhibit the
thought is that here 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 haressed by q feeling that his country
men are outclassed, that they are so in
ferior as not to be in the race at all. Con.
sequently many people do cot 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 a. lack of
confidence in the efforts of Americans and
by I'm unwillinSrcss to behold WHIST they
fear is our national humiliation, which are
altogether unnecessary.
And now, after mature delibe-ation, I
wish to make IL statement which is bold
and broad, and which will be sure to in
vite contradiction and even ridicule, but
which l am nevertheless prepared to main
tain. 1t is that America to-day, all things
considered, is the first nation of the world
in the production of those things which
bespeak a high state of civilization.
In support of this declaration I shall not
attempt to discuss in detail the whole
range of American exhibits in this EXPOSE
ton, combining 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 excels-agricul-
ture, machinery, transportation, cleo
tricity.
Consideration of a question like that
which l have put must proceed along
broad lines. The arts which make a 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 metalsan 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 must
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 h United States. Our superiority in
agriculture. in wealth of forestry, in fish
cries, in transportation, mining and other
wealth-producing and wealth-conserving
fields is beyond doubt. It is only when we
real rivalry begins.
acme of human skill, the United States is
found we'll to the front. In the fine arts of
painting and sculpture we are inferior of
course to France, to Germany and to Eng
land, though so nearly on a par with the
last-named country that the difference is
scarcely appreciable. On the whole,
neither Spain nor Italy nor Austria nor
any other nation saw those mentioned can
ran us even in the fine arts. The works
OF Americans shOwnh here are amazing in
merit and number. There are American
pictures which stand with the best that
France and Germany can do. There are
American sculptures which take as high
place as any, Dur average is q trile
lower, SO say the critics, but not much
lower. Besides, no other people in the
world are making such strides as this in
the realm of the higher arts. In Paris
alone there are 5000 Americans studying
arts. In Germany, Holland, Italy and
Austria there must be 1900 more. In for
elgn salons representatives have their
place and their admirers.
Our conspicuous fault, viewed from our
own standpoint, is lack of national style.
Dur artists, being educated abroad, &C.
quire the habit and the treatment of the
school in which they study. Moreover.
their subjects are too often foreign. But
these are weaknesses which only time can
remedy. The day is coming when Ameri-
can Artists will put on canvas, in marble
or branze, distinctively American charac-
ter, scenes and incidents. Our broad
country, with it's wealth of human and
animal life, it's glorious scenery, it's spirited
history, will yet be the scene Of operations
for an American school of artists that will
rank side by side with the two or three
best schools of Europe. That day win
come very soon. Art is long, but Ameri-
cant move rapidly IN art as in everything
else. To n who wanders through the
American galleries here, notes the mag.
nificent canvase and sculptures, It is diff.
cult to realize that about all the art we
have has had its growth during the last
twenty years.
It is gratifying to note that in one i'm,
portant field Of art, that Of illustration of
books and magazines, America is already
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