The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
UNITED STATES A
 PECULIAR COUNTRY French Artist Gives Impress
 siOns of America TO WATCH GERMANS
Regulations for Visiting Officers. Balkan War Arouses More Feel ing in Latin Quarters Than
 Anywhere Else in Paris

Paris. october 26.-"America is pe- culiar country, made up of violent con trasts and sharp distinctions, subsist- Ing beneath it's appearance of moral unity" according to Charles Hoffbauer, the noted French artist. He has just returned from two years sojourn in America, where he has been engaged upon the studies for the inferior mural decoration of the Confederate Institute at Richmond Va. These decorations will commemorate the soldiers of the south who fought for secession in the civil war.
 MT. Hoffbauer has visited many of the battlcfelds. of the war and has carefully studied the uniforms arms and accoutrements of the period. He will cover several panels with war scenes, which he will make as realistic and as perfect as possible as concerns the portraiture of the leaders Regarding his impressions of Amer ica, Mir. Hoffbauer said: II was not dis appointed. Everything over there is pie turesque and new, and there is much that is deeply impressive. The sky scrapers reveal the American genius better than do the admirable revivals of antique architecture such as the Pennsylvania railroad terminal in New York.
 "The people are 1aborious and inde- pendent in their habits, in spite of q certain respect for the social relations. It seems even that a younger blood re- vivifies the new generations. America, having long ago reached a high de- gree of economic development, is now moving toward it's second stage. The industrial chiefs. the financiers, the merchants feel that America lacks sosiething which. if possessed. would maka it one of the greatest nations in the world. and that this something is a strong artistic and literary culture.
 Today all effort is being made to ftll this gap. If the feminine element. dominating the drawing room and the literary periodical, sustains the taste for that which is pretty and insipidly graceful, well informed critics who travel much are exercising a benefcent influence over the artistic organiza- tions, such as the National Academy of Design, whose two annual exhibitions attest its vitality. From this has result ed a notable modification of general tendencies, following closely that which French art has undergone.
 Until the present there has been no original tendency really fundamentally American. But there exists in America, nevertheless, a legion of we'll endowed and industrious artists, who are creat- ing beautiful works. I fear only one thing--that they produce too rapidly"
 German officers visiting France are to be, closely watched in future. The minister for war has prepared a regu- lation governing their movements.
 This measure has been taken in re- talation for the exactly similar restric- tions now and for long time past Inn posed on French officers in Alsace and -.orraine.
 The measure is said to be backed by. public opinion, especially in so far IS it's articles, supposedly aimed only at the conduct of soldiers officially in tho; country. will really govern the con-