New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-14
OUR HEROES NEGLECTED
F. Hopkinson Smith DepIores
Lack of Recognition.
NO ART PROGRESS, SAYS cox
American Academy and National
Institute Hold Second Ses-
sion of Joint Meeting.

| FIdHclS IfOphlnSOn SHlltn, inc autnOTt
artist and engineer, read a paper before
! the second session OF the joint meeting Of
! the American Academy Of Arts and Let
ters and the National Institute Of Arts
al.d Letters, at the New York Historical
Society, yesterday afternoon, in which he
deplored the lack of recognition accorded
TO our national heroes. He decried the
nations shortllved enthusiasm, easy neg
lect and even Islander Of its heroes.
DR.. Henry van Dyke. Augustus Thomas
Professor Thomas r. Lounsbury Carroh
| Beckwith, William Lyon Phelps, Johh
Galen Howard and Kenyon Cox also
spoke. Mr.. Smith said, In part:
Some weeks ago | stood on Capitollne
Hill, in Rome, close to the statue Oh
Marcus hurelius, its golden bronze snow
ing through the stains OF ceneu atos,
Above me, glstening like a glacier against
| the blue. lowered the marble memorial
| TO Victor Emmanuel the swirl OF lts
countless steps echoing the tread OF nun
| dreds OF reyerent feet. The bronze was
| cast when the victorious leglons OF the
young republic crowded the Applan way
| the marble was chiselled but few years
| back and the sound OF the hammer IS sun
| heard along its front Both express inc
gratitude and homage OF nations enriched
| and glorlfed by the personal achievement
! of men with but a single eye 10 tnell
Country's good. Both men In the widest
| and deepest sense stood head and shoul,
/ ders above their fellows, and in this ana
| I'm their other qualities and transparent
| honesty, clear thinking and courage were
national assets.
In speaking OF the shortlived enthusi-
I Mr. asked
what then was tho remedy, and an
swered the question by saying the RENE
dy lay IN every soul who boasts a Ten
Commandment conscience
Kenyon Cox the painter. spoke on The
Illusion Of Progress" saying that no art
had advanced. lie ended by saying;
Let us then clear our minds Of the il
fusion that there is, In any important
sense such thing as progress IN the
fine arts. We may with a clear con
science Judge each new work Tor VIVA.
Il appears in itself TO be. asking OF IL
that IL be novel and beautiful and rea-
sonable. not that II be novel and progress
sive. II II be great art II VIII always
be novel enough. for there VIII De a
great mind behind IL and no two great
minds arc alike. And IL II be novel with
out being great how shall we be the
better of? There arc enough forms OF
mediocre or evil art in the world already.
Being no longer inundated by the
fetish Of progress. when a thing calling
Itself a work OF art seems TO us hideous
and degraded, indecent ana insane we
shall have the courage TO say so ana
shall not care to investigate II furtner'
Dctestable things have been produced IN
the past and are none the less detestable
because We are able 10 see now they
, came 20 be produced. Detestable things
are produced now. and they VIII be no
more admirable II We learn 10 uhdeI-
stand the minds that create them. Even
should such things prove 10 be not the
mere freaks Of diseased Intellect they
seem but a necessary outgroWth OF the
conditions Of the age and a true prophecy
OF the art OF tho future, they are not
necessarily. the better for that 1t Is
! only that tho future will be very I'M
lucky IN its art.
Professor Iounsbury's paper was upon
the subject IN the Defences OF Wash
ington." During the winter and spring
OF 1923 he was stationed along the line
Of Bull Run about twenty miles from
Washington. In May, 1864, he wrote an
account OF his experiences. 20 be pub
lishcd along with the accounts BY two
OF his associates In the army. His
friends. however, were killed. and the
project fell through. The manuscript re-
NAMED untouched FOR nearly nifty years;
not examined until recently. lie said,
In part:
Many families continued to dwell with
I'm the lines OF the defences OF Washing
ton, and tho women We occasionally met
though no less dislOyal were IN other re-
spects an Improvement upon the majority
OF their Virginia sisters with whom l
had previously come I'm contact. They
were bright, lively, intelligent brunettes'
and were as contrary, spiteful, and other
wise agreeable as girls the worm over
generally are.
IL WAS at this time that the policy Of
employing negroes I'm the military service
OF the United states WAS adopted by me
government Upon no other SUBJECT cOuld
the indignation Of these damsels be- sooner
aroused Language seemed powcrless TO
express their disgust and wrath whenever
the topic was brought under discussion, as
we took care IL should be often. one day
| prOpounded 10 one Of the prettiest ana
most pugnacious of these girls how near
she would allow me to come provided l
was put in command Of negro regiment;
Not within fifty miles was the , sp, 1,,r
her to forty-nine. but the oodurate talv
one would not come down a furlonE or
even n rod The cloud-compelling Jove
himself could not have moved that IN
domltable damsel one inch
Professor William Lyon Phelps, OF Yale
presented paper upon Realism and Re-
allty I'm Fiction" John Galen Howard,
California architect, designer Of the not
able group OF buildings at the University
Of California, read paper on THE out
look and Inlook Architectural
In the audience were Chlde Hassam,
the painter; Charles Melville Dewey. Mrs.
Reginald de koven, wife OF the composer;
Robert Underwood Johnson. editor OF
THE Century Magazine" Francis Will
son and his daughter. Nine. Huard.