Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-15
BY GIDEON A. LYON


n agreeable topic Of age, !
wv wish to remark at the out
set that any OF us here VINO
have been in washington
for ten or fifteen years have witnessed
a great change In the aspect OF things.
Those who have been here for twenty
five years have seen greater cnange.
There may be Some-I am one OF them
who have been here more than nifty
years. Which Is why refrain Irem
becoming specifically mathematical in
my introduction.
These changes that have been and
are taking place in washington are
both physical and psychological, both
material and cultural. They are max
tiveness, to the eye and to the mind
as well. They are making it truly
great Capital. They are so patent now
that they promise to us who have been
waiting for so yearS-or leSS-for the
Washington of our dreams an early
development of the spirit that is Art.
This present group represents that
spirit. 1t stands for an ideal witnou ,t
which a community is souueSS. You
participants in one OF the numerous
organization efforts to make Washing
ton unsteady conScious--to use pro-
mide expression CT constant employ
ment nowadays-are working out on
YOUR own line of musical endeavor and
expression. You have chosen happily
in your title. You have contributed
richly to the pleasure and the 1nspira-
ton of the people Of Washington
through your programs. You nave
been doing your bit for the evolution
of the Washington Of our ideals.
Here in Washington are made the
laws of the Nation, and here, alas, they
are also broken. We remember the
very wise man" Of whom Anorew
Fletcher wrote more than two centuries
ago, who believed that if man
we're permitted to make all the ballads
he need not care who should make the
laws" We can do with fewer laws.
We can do with more music, which
Carlyle called the speech OF angels"
Which suggests that perhaps We might
have better laws if we could sut1use
the Capitol with sweet strains and at
tune the spirits of the solons there
gathered with the harmony OF the
spheres. Possibly radio may provide
means of such a happy legislative en-
vironment.
The Great FOlger Gift.
A little distance east of the Capitol
stands a new building, just lately COM
pleted, and now in process Of being
stored with its treasures OF literature.
7 refer to the Folger Shakespeare Me-
mortal, one of the most generous and
inspired gifts ever made to nation by
one of its members. This noble inStt-
tuition will be shrine and fount of
knowledge fulfilling the wish of its
founder, who resisted all opportunities
to place his unsurpassed collection of
ShakeSpeareana in Stratford upon
Avon, but sent it to Washington, where
it should "help make the United States
q center for literary study and progress"
I will not dwell upon this great gift,
though the temptation is strong. will
mention, however, the fact that it rep
resents a vast fortune, nearly SIT 1000, 900
in all, including a $10,000,000 endow-
ment to Keep it intact and to make OF
it q growing organism and to spread
its usefulness to the widest sphere. I
refer to it as an example Of what may
come or what should come to Wash
iugton in other forms for the advance
rlent of American culture.
1t is not incredible that some other
american, unaffected by occasional
, "depressions," may do for music in
Washington, and through Washington
:. or the Nation, what Mr.. Folger did
for drama and literature. One can
rever tell what the spark of his example
may ignite.
There should come to being here a
temple of music, similar to the temple
of drama which Mr.. Folger'S Will pro-
vided. Perhaps in the form of great
opera, with its library and musical
laboratory and school. It should not
be governmental, save possibly in the
broadcast conceivable supervision. 1t
should spring not from the mechanism
Of law-making, but from the soul OF
some great American, man or woman,
or some group of people who appreciate
the opportunity here afforded for such
q valuable work.
Foundation Sets Example.
Already there is here the suggestion
of such an establishment, at least an
example of such a spirit of liberal en-
doWment. l refer to the Elizabeth
Sprague Coolidge Foundation, housed
in the Library of Congress, where
chamber music is rendered by gifted
artists, creation that has given the
rarest pleasure to many people-though,
by reason of its limits of space, not so
many as have wished to enjoy these
works.
There are no limits to the mind when
1t seeks the ideal. There should be