The morning call., 1895-01-21
OUR ENGLISH CRITIC.

The Rev. Mr.. Haweis, whose talent as a
lecturer THE CALL has had pleasure in
commencing, felt it his duty to give San
Franciscans little advice in the way of a
Parthian shot in leaving. He chided US fol-
our backwardness in culture, sarcastically
referred to US as unappreciative and crude,
and sneered that we loved the jingle OF
dollars better than the strains of Wagner
and Beethoven. He observed:
The mind of San Francisco runs in groove
a commercial groove. No one can deny her
remarkable material prosperity. But she has
no soul. Her artistic instincts are crushed and
killed in embryo by the great mercantile wheel.
Your men have no time for culture. Money is
the cry-more money always. Your leaders
have set up a false standards commercial
standard. San Franciscans seem dead to the
importance of the elements of culture as re-
lief from the cares OF business. Here the
women are the only patrons OF the liberal arts.
But the men control the purse strings, and
they seem to hold on with grip of iron. The
extreme inattention shown to musical per-
formances here is proof of what say.
The gifted orator has been misinformed
in one trifling particular. Musical per-
formances do not meet with extreme in
attention here. When Abbey and Grau
produced Patti here they filled sacks with
shekels. On Saturday last the Tavary
troupe, which did not contain one singer of
first rank, but did include many mediocre
ties, closed a season during which the
whole house was sold a week ahead and
the sign standing room only" figured
nightly in front of the box Office. Every
really good musician is sure of drawing
crowds in this city, and among our'ama-
teurs are ladies and gentlemen who would
be applauded on the boards in England.
To the charge that the San Franciscan
mind runs in commercial groove our
people must plead guilty. But that is the
natural condition of a community which is
in the early stage of development. People
must acquire money before they can treat
themselves to the luxuries of art, culture
and letters. Forty years ago all the money
acquired in San Francisco belonged to a
couple of score of lucky miners. Since
then the circle of possessors of wealth has
been enlarged, but the great bulk of the
community are not as rich as the wealthy
class in older cities. They are growing
better off; as they do they will devote
more attention to culture and will Juy and
read more books.
Mr.. Haweis' sarcasm smacks of the old
fallacy that there is something wrong and
debasing and even sinful in the pursuit of
money. That delusion was exploded long
ago. Without money there can be no such
thing as high civilization, or culture, or art,
or letters, or what Mr.. Haweis calls soul !;
in countries where there are no money-get-
tiers there is no cultured or polished class,
no poets, no printers, or writer's or philoso-
pliers. 1t is the possession of money by
the commercial class which enables these
devotees of high civilization to exist. As
the old potter said, poverty prevents noble
minds from teaching their lesson. The dis
tinguished Englishman is not quite fair in
comparing San Francisco with Manches-
ter. The latter city received its charter as
free borough 900 years ago; it is odds
that by the time San Francisco is one-tenth
as old it may have quite as many and as
noble art galleries, public libraries and in
situations of learning as the metropolis of
the cotton district of England. But it
will not achieve that high destiny if it
neglects the commercial groove which
offends our English critic.