662 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



article, which, in the markets of Fiji-land will command a much higher price than 

 if left as he first made it. The first act of this savage in the making of his paddle 

 was the work of a mechanic, the second part of the work was that of an artist, 

 each we will say, was perfect in its conception and in its execution, and the result 

 is an implement perfectly adapted to its purpose and a never ending source of 

 pleasure to the beholder. Thus the Fiji Islander attempts to manufacture all of 

 his utensils, be they instruments of war, of the chase, or for domestic purposes. 

 All of the savage tribes, to a greater or less degree are actuated by the same mo- 

 tives, and they are typical of those early workers of the Orient, who gave the first 

 impulse to industrial art 



Every complete product of industrial art is the joint effort of the mechanic 

 and the artist. The mechanic having as an object, the obtrusive, and the artist 

 working in the interest of the abstruse elements of excellence. To determine 

 the relative importance of the labor performed by these two individuals is a prob- 

 lem not easy to solve. It is much akin to the solution of the question, which is the 

 most important part of the plant, the flower or the stalk? The value of that which 

 has utility no one will gainsay. We measure our advancement in civilization 

 by the improvements which we make in the process of gaining" the necessities 

 and comforts of life. The plow, the steam-engine, the reaper, the spinning- 

 jenny, the sewing machine ; these are mile-stones in the progress of civilization. 

 We point at them with pride and say, " These are the proofs of our civilization." 

 These are the things which help satisfy the demands for food and clothing. But 

 if we go abroad in the world, we find that in addition to the hunger for food and 

 clothing, there is a hunger of the intellect, and a hunger of sentiment, both of which 

 make their demands, and their demands are urgent. Take man in the aggre- 

 gate and the aesthetic part of his nature calls for gratification almost as loudly as 

 his stomach calls for food. I have seen the American Indian exchange pelts repre- 

 senting months of labor in hunting and trapping for a few yards of broadcloth, some 

 calico and some beads wherewith to decorate his person, and his example is fol- 

 lowed to greater or less degree by his fellow-beings the world over. The civilized 

 man demands aesthetic qualities in almost everything with which he has to deal. 

 He spends — notably the feminine part of him — many millions yearly, to grat- 

 ify the love of beauty, and with every article produced in the higher manufacture, 

 the question always arises, " How does it look ? " This question forced itself 

 upon the untutored citizen of pre-historic times while fashioning his rude vessels 

 of clay, as the remnants of them unearthed to-day bear witness. 



Granted now that both of these attributes, the useful and the aesthetic, the 

 obtrusive and the abstruse elements, are essential to the perfect product of industry, 

 how are we to obtain them in the highest degree of perfection ? It is an uncom- 

 fortable fact that the product of ''civilized" industry is oftentimes wofully ugly, 

 grating harshly against our finer senses or perchance, if forced upon us from 

 childhood, drowning out what little artistic feeling we may naturally possess. On 

 the other hand, I have seen objects for the purpose of beautifying which, so much 

 labor had been spent that they seemed to have risen above their station and al- 



