The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-05-29
PRACTICAL VALURE
OF SKILL AND AR
IN INDUSTRY
Continued from Page Five)

4
day laborer 1t was striking evidence
OF the growth of artistic taste among
the masses of our people
Boys and girls in the cottages OF the
country people learn of the triumphs of
architecture, of the world Of art They
become restless, and discontinued per-
haEs; so some pessimist, who sees no
utility in art beyond it's commercial value,
VINO loves not music and the beautiful may
ask: DO not these aspirations result IN
unhappiness, in the reverse of social well
| being, in dangerous discontent? TO this
| question we answer no, most emphatlcai-
! ly 1t is divine discomfort, broaden
/ ing all the attributes of man, httlng MIN
! for better and greater achievements, and
| bringing him out Of a contentment Whlch
/ simply means inaction, inertness. Lire
is really better with these things, even
| from the utilitarian point OF view, for
| they stimulate industry, and industry and
| poverty are seldom yokefellows. They
stimulate employment of the mind, which
is an essential to good morals. They fos-
! ter the very best elements Of moral
community by awakening a desire for the
| highest kind of employment-that requir-
| ing the most application, the best intel
! lectual effort. If it were not so, contin-
! ued employment at crude, muscular labor
would be the very best fer mankind
| theory which no one will defend. Some
thing spiritual must enter into our every
day life, or We revert to savage condi-
| tons.
"A few years ago Walter Smith, an En-
| glishman, was brought to this country for
the purpose Of establishing drawing
schools in the city of Boston. After he
| q Sc ipla for ann
time ! noticed in the shop windows Of
some of our eastern cities a display of
novel designs in carpets, and curiosity
led me to ask the proprietors from
whence they came. They informed me
! that they came from some of the Ameri-
can schools of design Here, again, ar
tistic development had accomplished
something toward identifying the homes
of the common people. The rich can al
ways secure the very best and most beau
tiful coverings for their floors The poor
! desire TO initiate the rich, but for them
| there must be designs worked out in
| such way that they can be obtained al
a reasonable price. And this is not the
! only benefit of such an industrial de-
parture. People are employed in occu-
patton of a higher grade, their wages are
increased, their standard of living is
raised proportonately and their social
well being is enhanced.
Looking beyond this, industrial art is
a source of wealth Fine art itself is a
wealth producer. The payment of ten or
fifty thousand dollars for painting en-
riches the community in which the artist
lives. There has been something added
in the way of treasure to a country's as
sets by the production of its artistic
,f,,- &c &,
lures is a local benefit. Take the Sistine
Madonna from Dresden, rob Paris of the
Louvre, despoil London of its National
Gallery or Antwerp of its Rubens colec-
tion or destroy the galleries which are
growing up so richly in all our cities, and
you depreciate the commercial value of
| all these places. Industrial art and a
thorough appreciation of the fine arts
| enable the community that cultivates
them to complete successfully with the
community that neglects them. All these
things-the expansion of industry, the
! commercial Importance of art, the llnowl-
| edge of its real value-certainly contrib
Ute and largely, too, to the we'll being
of the individual.
"Mr. President, in this address / have
| made no particular attempt to originality
/ have drawn literally from papers and
addresses published and unpublished, and
from my own official reports. Nor have
| l heen vain enough to think could bring
you instruction. My aim has been to in
spire you to continue and enlarge the
| good work now going on and to bring en-
couragement to the hope that Southern
competition in the industrial arts Shall
be so effective as to bring the great
Southland to an economic equality with
| all other sections of our country. / have
sometimes heard fears expressed for this
Southern competition, as l have intimated
Do not let any one deceive you in this
matter. Go on. Expand your industries;
make them varied; bring success to them;
cultivate the highest industrial training;
| make yourselves felt, and with all the
great resources which you have at your
hand there is only one result-magnificent
success, industrial success, and this will
lead TO other successes which will place
| you on an equality with the world
'In what / have said you must not I'M
derstand me as abrogating in the slight
est degree the necessity for classical edu-
cation Every man is better for knowing
something of the classics; every man is
better for having read and studied the
great thoughts of great men in differ
practical life the inspiration which comes
from the experience of the past but the
! man who is contented to live in the past
| retrogrades, and cannot be considered as
| factor in the great development of the
present. Bring all these things into closer
| relation. Let the farmer know what oc
! Cured in ancient times; let him under
stand how out Of his ranks there have
been drawn some of our greatest lead
ers; let the mechanic, let the man who
! simply lays bricks understand the state
| of his art, the principles of his art. Men
are better for knowing the art side of
their crude and homely industry. 1t
makes life more worth living; it makes
education more valuable, and it brings
to every community that which it most
necds-all the elements to enhance it's
! social we'll being.
Changes and Corporations.