The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-31
CfGeltles OF the Raid Made BY
Wealth UpOn Art.

III tHe luSt Few years HE Sun mas
occasionally made note of changes,
both physical and mental, in Green
witch Village; recently 1t was to re-
mark the phenomenon, unique at least
in Manhattan, of the well-tO.do driv.
ing the comparatively poor out of
region by offering higher rents. The
well-tO-do, as we then viewed them.
were the poets, artists, thinkers, cpl,
gram manufacturers, dramatists, sill.
yer spoon socialists and those ina teur
shopkeepers who hang up peacock blue
signs, with legends like "Ye Yellow
Yak" and sell to Those Who Under
stand something nobody needs.
Who kills by the sword perishes
by it. The green grasshOpper preys
upon the locust and the chicken gets
the green grasshopper. The highbrow,
driving the honest weaver Of spaghetti
, from his basement and transforming
it into the abode of Art, Is now In
peril himself. The magazine Good
Furniture, In an article praising some
fine work that has, come from the
really industrious craftsmen of the
Village, views with alarm the prospect
Of the workers Punishment from the
territory that is bounded by Four
tenth and Houston streets and Sixth
avenue and the Hudson River:
craftsmen and craftswomen, people of
| fashion imagined that it would be
| smart and clever thing to help the
younger artists by living among them
| or at least by having working studios
In the neighborhoOd. where they could
give artistic teas In fact, living In
The Village became the style among
people of ample leisure and financial
| means. The result has been that rents
have recently been doubled in Green
| wich Village and the would-be helpers
| prOieges the most cruel Of all hard
! ships. that OF increased expenditures
Possibly, in time. our so-called art pa
irons will drive the artists out OF town,
unless steps are taken to protect these
| serious and narrowed people. In Amer
ioa our best craftsmen always suffer
severely because art patrons consider
works of art and, indeed. the very lives
of artists, from a sentimental and pie
turespe point OF view rather than on
a practical basis OF living operations
| SO that, with the best intentions, our
art patrons are too often inclined to
| kill real art by Ill advised and mis-
guided attentions"
"Unless steps are taken to protect
these serious and narrowed people !"
Yea, but who Is to take the steps?
The coming committee thought Its
work was done when it set the VII
lage aside as residential district,
much to the joy of the inhabitants
and of the landlords. But the city
| government, unless the courts will
hold that being fashionable Is n heavy
manufacturing industry, cannot GUST
the rich folks who have intruded upon
the domain of art and thought.
Will the landlords do anything to
protect the serious and narrowed? It
Is not likely. When a landlord is
getting $1,000 year rent for an old
house that brought only 1890 five
years ago, the thought of going back
to old patrons and old rents seriously
harrows him. He has knocked out par
titions and ceilings and made studios
to bloom where hall bedrooms were.
He has removed small windows and
replaced them with large ones facing
that north light which the artist must
have or make daub of 1t. He has
installed electric lighting where gas
used to burn. He has employed archl.