The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-09-23
after the war begins, at an awful waste
of lifc and treasure
THE ART swINDLEs.

The exposure in the kilograms of the
art swindlcs where easy mark mil
| liouaires arc tho victims. makes enter.
| tanning reading. One could hardly i'm.
agiuc such folly committed hv hard,
| headed business men as millionaires
| have shown themselves TO be. III their
being such easy victims 10 The art
swindlcrs. Ordinarily moncvcd man
has a pretty good idea Of the value of
money, and usually he also gets some
light on tho valuc Of the purchase that
he intends 10 make. In all ordinary
affairs this holds true. and il is we'll
known that rich mon arc careful of
their money, aud are not prone to pay
excessive prices for ANYTHING. When
they buy they want their money s
worth, they demand the lowest rates,
and take means to got them All Of
which is business sense. They asccr-
tain tho value of what il is they. arc
buying. and, as rule. it is extremely
hard 10 tworll'' them on any PROPOSE
ton that involves money.
1t appears, however that there. are
many rich men who need only TO have
the word cart - spoken in their cars
in order TO make them throw caution
to the winds, and TO put their money
in recklessy and without stint. and
without the slightest idea of the real
value Of what they pay for. In these
art deals, it is not at all matter OF
raising by percentages, but by geo
mctrical ratio; that is, the price is
multiplied into itself times over until
the price has become inflated beyond
all reason, These inflated prices, how
ever. seem actually TO attract the mil
lionaircs The shrewd scamps who en-
gage in this sort Of swindle flaJtcr the
milliopaires and make them believe
that their taste in art is very fine,
when all the time it is the seller who
shows high art in his ability to
'Fwork' the mllonaires.
Ut is one of the curious things in hu-
man nature that men arc most easily
led to believe in their Judgment upon
matters in which they have 10 real
judgment at all, and no means of form
ing Judgment, since they have no
standards to 60 by and have no educa-
tion or training in the matter pre-
sented, 1t is quite impossible for men
who have had no training in book val
ues, for example, who have no idea
about the making or handling Of books,
and who have no standards to go by,
should have any Judgment or taste in
the quality, rarity, or value of books,
Precisely the same in the matter of
paintings. Men who have had no art
lished art standards, who have no
knowledge of the history of painting
or Of painters, are apt TO be caught by
gaudy freaks or impoStuTeS, and are
likely TO he robbed Of their money
without any more show to protect
themselves than they would have in
any sort Of thimble-rigging game.
1T is. of course, quite natural for
those who stand aside and look on, or
who read the accounts Of the swindling
of these millionaires, TO chucllle about
it, and TO say in their hearts, even if
they do not express it in words. that
the millionaires are served right; and
yet, no matter how prone human ma
ture is to take that view, it is an i'm
moral view; for swindle of this kind
is Just as bad for the community as
anv other sort of a swindle Still these
swindles go on constantly, and those
who come to the knowledge of them
NAV either grin or mourn, as in their
Judgment best fits the case.