The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-11
THE GENIAL IDIOT
" ADVERTISING IN PUBLIC PLACES
BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS

now turned into by-products which Oft
ener than not make possible profits
when otherwise the business would be
run at a loss"
Granted. said the idiot. But what
Of it?"
/ "Only this. that as long as there is
/ any available space anywhere that is
not used for anything. in other words is
wasted" said the Lawyer. the fertile
mind of the American is going TO find
a use to which it may be put. That's
iall-and you can't stop him"
We agree perfectly as 70 that" said
the Idiot. But the question is not as
you see it-as to whether the waste
spaces are to be used, but as TO what
they are TO be used for Public prop
erty should he used for the public ben
eft and there are various uses to which
the walls OF the subway stations can be
put which viii be OF positive advan-
tage TO the public welfare. For in
stance. one of the glovies OF France is
the Gallery of the Louvre and the Pal
ace of the Luxembourg where the gov
eminent maintains collections of are
objects which have been mainly instru-
mental in bringing TO the French people
their knowledge and appreciation of
what is beautiful. Now, what better
could New York or Boston or any 9TH
eT place that is blessed with a subway
do than turn all their subway wall
space 10 some such account az that
From Harlem to the Battery is wall
space enough i'm New York's tube tn
hold all the Rubens, Raffaels, Michael
Angeles. Tintorettos. Botticellis, and
other old masters in creation. There
are enough inches scattered between
cracks and between the supporting
columns. by which the city is kept from
caving in, TO furnish standing room for
about all the enrolling sculpture the
world has ever known. and which the
people could only acquire through the
public purse, the value of these treas
ures being too great for the resources
of the ordinary man
In other words you would turn the
subway into an art gallery" sneered
the Lawyer.
1T could be done" said the IdIot.
And it would have a far-reaching ef-
feet. Daily contact with such things
would elevate the public taste and
gradually this high ideal of art would
penetrate every branch of the city's
service. Moreover, if anybody were to
complain that the air of the subway
was bad what a whitening retort it
would be for the officials TO say. 'Ah,
yes-but what an artistic atmos-
phere.'"
Mr.. Brief laughed Il guess the
American people are too busy for the
acquisition of any such uplift as that,
You could see a lot of those pictures
from an express couldn't you?"
Yes said the Idiot That is. you
would be conscious of a Whirr of art
even if you didn't quite catch any sin
gle painting in detail. and l MAINTAIN
that a whirr of art that amounts only
to blur nine miles long il better than
no art at all such as you find in a pic
ture OF a Face Powder Laureatee or OF
an advertisement for O'Brien's Rubber
Necks TO Keep the Weight of Your
Brains off Your Spine. Still / must
admit that there are more direct ways
of improving the public than through
the delicate limitations of a beautiful
picture. For many years l have Won
dered why our Theatrical Managers
and Opera Impressarios did not utilize
the curtain space for the educational
advantage of the patrons of the theatre
or opera house. If / had my way at the
Metropolitan opera house 1 would have