The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-06-21

try. and there docs not seem to Be any
, argument available in favor OF admit
ting Il picture 100 or more years, of age
. free Of duty which does not apply with
| equal force to tapestries.
II II picture over 20 years old should
be admitted free Of duty to encourage
art aud to cultivate an artistic taste
in this country, most assuredly a duty
should not be levied on a tapestry
more than 100 years told which cam
not, from the nature ol things. enter
into the commerce Of the country in
competition with anyone and which,
from the artistic character of the
production and its antiquity viii con-
| stitutr n most interesting exhibit In
any If our great art galleries. There
nfc Wv homes In which, tapestries
over 100 years old are kept for private
exhibition They are as clearly cDil-
tributons Of interest and value to the
art galleries as the paintings or tho
porcelains or the etchings or the en-
cravings mentioned In this paragraph
| Porcelain is produced by one meth
Cd, bronze by another, marble by am
| other, and terra Gotta by still another
/ Tapestry embodies in its construction
| more skill and patience and time than
/ any Of the other creations. 1t would
| be strange, indeed, IL a piece OF Dor-
| celain in given art gallery In this
city could be pointed to as having
/ been admitted free of duty because
more than 100 years old while the
tapestry on the wall beautiful as any
1 picture in the gallery, embracing more
of interest than the porcelain itself,
was dutiable article. The inconsist-
ency, think, will be at once APP
| parent.
| "Of course the primary purpose Of
| placing these tapestries on the dutiable
| list will be to raise revenue. There
| can be no element of protection, be-
cause the hundred-year period pre-
| cludes the possibility of present COM
petition.
II know Of one man in Milwaukee
who started into the pork packing
business many years ago. AS extra
funds appeared available from time tn
time his natural inclination led him
70 invest in pictures and works of art
They We're first imported by him in
dividualy. In the course of time he
!
ness with ii competency ana some sur
plus. He established an art gallery
In Milwaukee which is now one Of
the genuine sources of pleasure and
delight not only to the inhabitants of
that city, but to the people of the
state. The leighton gallery will COM
pare favorably with any gallery In {,
city Of that size in the United States
or any other country outside of the
art centers Of Europe. Further, still,
this venerable old gentleman enjoys
the evening of his life travelling all
over the globe collecting works of art
for that gallery. That is the culml-
mating work of his life :.... 80
My former colleague in this cham
her started out as a mail carrier be-
tween Deer Lodge ana Walla Walla, |
riding horseback carrying the United
States mail and a little later on kept |
Il store in Hellejite canyon; ultimately |
lie accumulated a fortune. 1t is pleas
ing to know that this young native
Of Pennsylvania, when favored by for
tune to an unusual degree, has shown
that there exists in the American
character u capacity to appreciate the |
beautiful, the exquisite, the artistic,
for he, too, in obedience to that inn
pulse has been travelling through all
or the art storehotses of tho world,
finding pleasure and recreation in
picking UP pieces of artistic work here
ana there, and collecting them all to-
gether. portion of them now in the
Corcornn Art gallery, some portion
stored, and some on exhibition in New
York. some in his private gallery and
all ultimately to be collected together
in q gallery by themselves or to be
contributed in the end to some public
art gallery
Il state these eases only as show
ing the logic Of the position The
pork packer from Milwaukee, the mail
carrier from Montana, have collected
and are collecting art treasures that
will, in time. be contributed to perma-
nent institutions in this country, to
abide here forever, / hope. for the
education enlightenment and cnnoble-
ment of the character of our people
II was reminded Of q bit of cN-
pcrience which was an inspiration and
instruction combined | spent day
or two in Antwerp in 1899. | learned
that it was the ome-comng TINS of
the pictures of Rubens and Van Dyck.
The pictures had gone to various rest
ing places and galleries and private
collections all over the globe but by
common consent the people had agreed
that the creations OF these two Won-
dertnl men should stand side by side
in the home city of the artists. A
more impressive scene | have never
witnessed than | witnessed in the gal
lery where these pictures We're col
lected together. People who seemed,
from their dress and manners, to be
country people, working people, many
of them advanced in life, shed tears
as they passed in procession by the
wonderful array of pictures come home
from all over the earth for this re-
union. The persons who shed tears
in the presence of the old pictures
were of refined feeling, and that feel
ing has been cultivated by residence
in that city of artists and arts ere
ations.
Il would encourage our people OF
wealth To collect here on this conti-
nent the creations of genius, the mas
tpfnipcaS 'fhnrn