Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1905-01-07
THE cHEAPNEss OF BEAUTY.
Ry ERNEST CROSBY.

zion buddling together at one emu ana
~. .,Un more slightly ones of luxurious eX-
u .n at the other, we may per-
pons imagine this tendency carrying
itself to its logical limit and all the
i s;rtv work of the country or of the
aorid corraled and localized in some
ooncentration camp, whence by some
uireless system it's benefits could be
.nroad over the face OF humanity. We
night take the region of Pittsburgh
for instance and defect the economic
avis of the earth, until it became the
social and industrial South Pole, and,
oc soon as any man anywhere began
IN indulge in some unbeautiful means
of livelihood. he could be banished to
the Forks of the Ohio, and there per-
mitted to defile Creation as he pleas
ed The counties which are grouped
about Fort Duquesne are already a
good deal of a purgatory. Why not
make an inferno of them, so as to let
the rest of the country befome a par
adise? It is just conceivable that such
an attempt might be made, but alas,
Il is perfectly clear that the new haven
would be less habitable than the new
hell. A world without manual labor
would be an inhuman monstrosity. and
the partial experiments already made
in this direction prove it. Go to any
one Of the favorite Parks" of the
aristocracy, where near our great cit
les they build their villas together, sur
rounded, perhaps hundred of them,
by a great exclusive fence, with watch.
mar nft 10 yhn
individual of any kind, unless he ad-
ministers directly to the comfort of
those within. These parks are stu
ated in the midst of the most beautiful
scenery and the most invigorating air.
and yet no mani will not say with
heart, but with stomach can real
~ live there. 1t is playing at living.
Inc very atmosphere is artificial. and
the lungs are stifled for want of a hui
man environment. Better far the
worst of factories, the most dismal of
tenements, than perpetual confinement
Ill the purlieus of a country club"
NO. We cannot get rid of the ugli-
ness OF manufacture and poverty by
sequestration, for, if we try it, we
snail surely find the worst form of
spiritual ugliness left behind. Beauty
means art, and art is a power of flow
er Oh labor and cannot be grated upon
any other stem. The dilitante appan-
age OF luxury which we call art is a |
sport' the Issue of unnatural condi- |
tiohs' and 1t is only because our lives
are also unnatural that we fail TO see
~ ~ WORK, not idleness, should be beau.
t tiui, ana beauty belongs by rights to
t sae worker and not to the idler. The
nltcnen and workshop and exchange
Snouid De decorated, not the drawing
Iooh by reserving art for the rich. |
o we nave made it expensive, and this is |
omot mark of degradation. Beauty
w Uushs 10 be the cheapest thing in the |
oh Whatever is plentiful is
umt and an artistic people would
p poo beauty into everything. We can
tSe even today in the Swiss chalet and
1arn Japanese country house that a
MS me- outlay OF money is not needed to
pr,. an artistic effect. Beauty re-
aua only an eye and an ear. a hand
Sho u soul 1t needs men, and there
i De no lack of them. If there
tion we would better devote our atten-
oO 10 the manufacture of them. and
\ we, art to take care of itself. and
N VIII take care of itself. Beauty is
mol nap enough, but we pay an enor-
W. price Tor our ugliness.
no we must do something to remedy