The New York herald., 1922-07-02

and the modelling of style in our
manufactures is among the founda-
ton stones in the fabric we are rear
ing.
Power of the Middleman.
''This is the era of the machine.
1t is with machine made things that
the American of to-day, certainly of
tomorrow, must content himself.
The matter with which we are con-
cerned is, are the products of the
machine to be good or bad. The
manufacturer makes his goods to
sell. If their quality is such that
they do sell, he is justified in believ-
AS a matter of fact, the RESPONSE
bility, however, for the artistic quail
ity in most of our manufactures lies
not with the maker out with the
middleman who buys the goods from
the factory and sells to the retailer.
He it is who tells the maker Of this
and that what the people wan,. 1t is
his business to gauge the taste of
the community and it is his risk that
is involved. The manufacturer does
as he is told. And If the average Of
taste, style or art in American made
goods is low. it is because the aver
age buyer Of them is uncritical. It
should be generally understood what
Art is. that Art is worth while, that
good taste pays"
At the Metropolitan Museum of
Art several departments are MAIN
tanned for those interested in the de-
signing Of costumes and textiles.
There is a textile study room where
myriad small pieces are mounted on
individual frames for use as labora-
tory material. These are taken by
the students to tables where they
accurately study them and duplicate
the weaves To aid designers a spe-
cial designers card is issued which
establishes the position and purpose
of the holder and cancels the admis-
sion fee on "washdays' and fish
days"
The artisan student has large coli
, lections of textiles on exhibition to
choose from, besides laces and other
art fabrics. all told $4,000 items, Of
which 10000 are textile fabrics and
10000 laces
Statesmen and Buyers at Museum.
Still further the METROPOLITAN Mu-
scum gains attention from sales
people and buyers engaged in
shops and department stores. These
attend the study hours for practical
workers, the purpose of which is to
add to their qualifications that sales
idea which we in our distant manner
call art. Design is a splendid sell
ing" argument if the salesperson
knows how to place it properly in
his brief for the piece he wants YOU
to buy. In the presence of standard
museum pieces the merits and de-
fects of objects out of current stock
in the store are discussed First
hand information results and the
number of satisfied customers in the
stores increases accordingly. All
these are but practical suggestions
from an educational institution. but
one withal that has seen the line of
course toward better design for
American homes.
Schools, general and special, use
these museum facilities. High
school and college teachers of Eng
lish. History. Civics bring their
classes to learn of related back
grounds in art. Elementary classes.
tots so small sometimes the visitor
wonders they know how to walk,
come to see the collections. Their
prattle does not bristle with Giotto
and Praxiteles after they leave the
museum and toddle down the avenue,
but they walk out as if they had the
museum habit. Trade schools, art
schools and vocational school classes
jostle each other getting material
first hand for an advertising page
or ballroom interior Special lee
ture courses are offered for the teach
ers themselves, arranged by subjects
they teach.
Without ability the furniture
craftsman remains carpenter: