The Washington times., 1923-12-21
DIR. FRANK CRANES
DAILY EDITORIAL
Bv DIR. FRANK CRANE.
Is Beauty Passing?

rs beauty passing? Shall Phidias, Micheangelo.
a. Raphael never appear again? Shall there be no re-
currence of the Golden Age of Greek, Italian,
Chinese art?
The lament is quite common that Democracy has de-
sroyed Beauty Artists pour out their scorn upon all
the modern buildings Rome and Florence, comparing
Pekng the other day amented the dadation and decay
of the Republican the plage OF the beautiful treas
of the Emperors the ruin of the splendid structures
that once the delight of the world
In every milonaires collection, and IN every museum
be found the beautiful works of art from antiquity
and the sentiment is often expressed that that sort OF
thing is not made any more.
But the point in all this that the beauty of the past
represented old order of civilization which mankind
has outgrown and endure longer. The order
is yet in the making, it has not yet come of age.
Democracy is ugly because it is young The world has
not had time enough to adjust it's ideas of art to the
whole new circle of ideas implied in Democracy.
The feeling for beauty is eternal in the human race.
Our chdrens children some time will create beau
tifu statues than the Venus of Milo will compose better
music than Beethoven, will write poems more exquisite
To think otherwise is not to believe in evolution and
not to believe in evolution is not to believe In life and
The outstanding fact is not that all life passes but
that all life itself continually Resurrection not
Death, is the key word of the universe
The past will always have its peculiar charm and the
beautiful things the past has created will live always
since ga thing of beauty joy forever But because
we admire the grace of the pictures in the Sstine
Chapel the amazing color and design of Chinese
the Cathedral of Charres is no reason Why we must
believe that, if cannot make their like again,
cannot produce things equally beautiful in differ
emit way and breathing another and better spirit
Democracy day will breed artists who shall as
pre to make the whole world beautiful, and not little
secluded corner of it.
The art of the future will not devote itself to making
pictures to be hung in the galleries of kings statuary
to be set in the gardens of merchant princes gems
to be only upon the necks of mlionaires wives
1t will build beautiful villages make beautiful homes
where the of the city ve erect beautiful office
buildings and show the multitude the advantage to be
gained from living among beautiful furniture and not
the cheap, shoddy and ugly.
The art of the future will dignity labor and not scorn
It, it will show the glory of common life and not pass
by in contempt.
The art of the future the religion the future
and the literature of the future will minister unto this
last And since that for the most part the gov
ernments OF the world by means for the few
that literature still perks itself in exclusiveness and
that even religion has not yet learned the passion for
mankind but is still in the main the effort to save and
sanctty some small group, need wonder that the
beauty of Democracy is still struggling to be born
Copyright, be