The Washington times., 1917-01-25
Granville Barker Claims Trot'
ting Probable Forerunner Of
New Artistic Expression.
DEPLoRES WINDY ORATOR
Asserts Democracy Rests on
Cultivation Of lmagina-
tons Of People.

IF you asked me suddenly what
considered the truest, most signifi-
cant expression of art In your country,
I might sincerely say 1t was to be
found in those places where folk
sit about and eat a while. then get up
A. go Jigging about the room a bit"
Granville Barker. actor. dramatist
and producer told this to an audience
that overlooked into standing room
space at the New National Museum
auditorium last evening to hear him
expound why Worry About Art?-'
'Art in the sense mean" he ex-
planned, 'is not the art of the ex-
pert. 1t Is the sort OF art that you
see your gardner display as he goes
about his work; the sort OF art your
cook exhibits when. after making an
apple pie, she curls the edges around
In curious fashion, and describes cur
ious figures in the top Of 1t.
Now you would cause her cruel
suffering II you forbade her to do
that. Our communities are causing
just such suffering among about as
per cent of the workers by letting them
share not at all in the satisfaction of
their finished products"
Maybe Art neipient.
REWRITING again to the cabarets, Mr..
Barker whimsically recalled that
Greek drama had its foundations in
dancing around the tombs OF heroes:
mybe we are founding some sort OF
an art, who knows, when we go cav
orting around the remains Of cold
chicken"
Gallery Tours Not Artistie.
Going through art galleries has no
thing to do with art, in Mr.. Bankers
opinion. and scattering museums and
art collections about do not tend to
make a city artistic.
The reason we should IVORY about
art. in his opinion, Is because de-
mocracy rests on the cultivation of the
imaginations of the people. This sort
OF cultivation, he said, was to be had
In self expression through work, in
that added touch given the product
which exhibited the personality Of the
worker.
The speaker referred to his early
Impressions of the melting pot tradi-
ton" He had been led to believe
that new races coming here were
Americanized in a generation or so.
Suffer From Windy Democrat.
eff some OF the stock in this coun-
try is proud of its Anglo-saxon or
Teutonic ancestry" he said. why
isn't 1t proper that the Lithuanian and
the Pole should be. proud of theirs,
and that Americans should realize that
perhaps these races have q peculiar
and distinctive contribution to its civ
ilization."
Democracy. he said, suffers from
the windy Democrat. open mouthed
and shut eyed" He commended that
genuine democracy must mean actual
equality. liberty. and fraternity"
We use such phrases as the con-
sent of the governed" he continued,
yet as go about great cities I see
sections which certainly are not thus
governed by their consent, sections |
where men certainly are not equal.
Studies New York.
New York is interesting to me.
Tides of humanity move up and down
a.any residents of Fifth avenue, II
warrant never have moved over to |
First avenue, or Ninth avenue. One |
charming young lady told me she had
been to Europe nine times, but never |
had set her foot in Brooklyn"
I'VE hear much OF the horrors OF
war, as / go into some cities, can
not but think peace has her horrors
as well.
Democracy A Failure.
Men openly are saying in Europe
that Democracy has failed" he said.
81 believe men are wondering whether
1t has over here. 1t may not be long
before they are discussing II. I do