Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-04
MEN AND MONEY
By NJ. S. Rukeyser.
Copyright. 1927


industry. DIR. Win Durant. taking an
optimistic view, says:
I'VE have had to spend our energies
in clearing our great forests and tap
ping the wealth of our soil; we have
had no time yet to bring forth a ma
i've literature and a mature philoso-
ply.
But we have become wealthy, and
wealth is the prelude to art. In every
country where centuries of physical
effort have accumulated the means for
luxury and leisure, culture has fol-
/ owed as naturally as vegetation grows
n rich and watered soil. To have
become wealthy was the first neces-
sity; people, too, must live before 1t
IAN philosophize. When we have
earned to reverence liberty as well as
wealth. we, too, shall have our renais-
ance."
Recently a practical Wall street
banker, speaking at trade meeting
Of hard-headed business men-agents
IF the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
addressed himself to a consideration
IF what spiritual gains will result
rom Americas material prosperity.
Otto II. Kahn, member of Kahn, Loeb
( Co. and a patron of the arts, was
he speaker.
Importance OF Art.
1T may seem incongruous," said
Mr. Kahn, "to refer to the subject of
art in the midst of a business speech,
out l feel that it is appropriate in
survey which attempts to deal with
the fundamental elements of our day
to call attention to the ever-growing
Importance and influence of art as a
factor in the lives of millions of
people.
incidentally, l would point out that
to cultivate art, to love it and to
foster it, is entirely compatible with
hose qualities which make n sue
cesSful business man. 1t does not
weaken a mans fiber; on the contrary,
t makes it more elastic, more capable
o Withstand strain. Many examples
might be cited, beginning with the
records of ancient times down to such
recently departed figures as Morgan,
Frick, Widener, Juilliard, of men who
we're eminently successful in business
md, at the same time, loved and cul-
givated art, and actively furthered its
cause.
Art pays. Beauty is the best
policy The cultivated taste of the
French people, developed for genera
lions, has brought and is bringing
untold millions into the Golfers of
hat nation. The beautiful things
created in the cities of Italy in the
time of the renaissance in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, are
oday, 400 and 500 years after they
we're wrought, a powerful magnet to
draw travellers and money to that
country; they are today a highly i'm
portant element in the international
balance of trade of Italy"
Effect ON Artistic Development.
Attempting to assess the effect of
prosperity on artistic development, Mr..
Kahn declared:
"One of the most welcome charac-
-eristics of the existing period of pros
perity is the fact that, side by side
With the successful pursuit of ma
-erial effort, there is convincing in
iication that the country is getting
more and more interested in the crea-
ion of cultural values and spiritual
assets.
I'm the course of recent extensive
journey throughout the West, which
brought me into contact with all kinds
and conditions of people, one of the
.hings which struck me was the I'M
mistakable evidence that a stirring
and moving is going on in the land, a
searching for the attainment of
tuller and richer and more compre
hensive life. The very prosperity of
he people begets the query: Is that
tll2' Does this much-yaunted pros
perity hold no other reward? A little
more money, few more wants or
Injuries brought within the reach of
our means, a few more diversions-is
that all the compensation we get out
of good times, ample employment and
well remunerated work? There must
be something else. More and more
men and women are listening to the
call of something wholly different
from material needs and aims.
Appreciation of Beautiful.
"One of the principal ways in which
the tendency manifests itself is the
appreciation and cultivation of art,
the desire to advance the taste for the
beautiful and give to it greater and
more significant place in American
life.
Municipal auditoriums are being
built, museums and symphony or
ehestras are established, travelling ex-
hibitions of pictures arranged, con-
eerts and lectures, frequently of great
excellence, are taking place and-an
especially significant sign of the times
community theaterS are Springing
up in many cities, small as well as
large. And the entire field of art and
esthetics is receiving in steadily in
creasing measure the benefit of the
sympathetic attention and encourage
ment of schools, colleges and univer-
Sites"
In view of the fact that European
critics consider Americans mere dol
ar chasers, this expert testimony on
.ix.tfr t1l cI<if in
states seems to me of more than pass
inc interest