September 29, 1919 
Wvvvv't'T-t- * • • 
| Magnificent Art Collection , is 
if J Given to Government for Dollar 
«$* " • 
! In all its phases, and, finally, the Biblical 
texts now lcnown everywhere as “the Wash¬ 
ington manuscripts.” 
Mr. Freer offered 'this wealth, beyond 
,, anmo official nersoiis the dreams of dealers, to the Smithsonian 
the stupidity of some official persons in ft dol]ar bnt su ^g e sted that he should 
nation came within an ace of losing tn., hare power during his lifetime to add to 
’” T ' <3 0 r take from the collection, weeding out 
what he had lost interest in. The lawyers 
would not have it, contending that such a 
contract would be indefinite. So it was 
(Editorial from the New York Herald, 
September 27th.) 
It is not generally known that through 
noble collection or rather collections., of 
art belonging to Mr. Charles L. Freer of 
Detroit, who died suddenly in this city 
Friday morning. _ . . . ... .. 
Mr. Freer had been; gathering lovely things a ,^ ee d that, whereas the donor could not 
togctherfor more than 30 years when lie t a j cc anything out after he had made the 
approcahed the Smithsonian Institu 
non with a view to giving it his treasures. 
The members of the Council were not in¬ 
terested and allowed the letter to “lie upon 
the table.” No doubt it would have reached 
the waste paper basket in due time, and 
the incident would have been forgotten, 
had it not been for tbe fact that there was 
a person of the name of Theodore Roose¬ 
velt in the White House. He got wind of 
it and insisted' on having the tentative of¬ 
fer examined. ‘ Then it was that the Chief 
Justice and his colleagues discovered thai 
they had turned their backs on treasures 
of fabulous worth. 
Here is a brief list of what we almost 
missed: One thousand two hundred exam¬ 
ples of the work of James McNeill Whist¬ 
ler, oils, water colors, etching lithographs 
and the famous “Peacock Room,” which 
that artist made for the shipbuilder Ley- 
land; 100 carefully selected paintings by 
American artists, from Tyron to Twacht- 
lmui ■ 1,000 pieces of porcelain, represent¬ 
ing the best work by the Far and Near 
East: S00 ancient paintings by Chinese and 
Japanese artsists. got together before the 
rush: 000 old Chinese and Japanese sculp 
: h ~ " - “ 
presentation, they would allow him to 
add to it—which, everybody will admit, 
was very kind of them. 
Not content with making such a gift, 
Mr. Freer even saved the United States 
the trouble of putting up a building, add¬ 
ing Sl,000,00i’ for that purpose. 
“My pleasure lies in discovery, not in 
possession,” Mr. Freer once said. He car¬ 
ried his own head on his own shoulders 
and saw with his own eyes. One of the 
f'oe«t small groups of objects that he 
obtained when he first went to China he 
came upon by accident and alone. Bnt 
he lab the greatest respect for knowing 
advice, though he never bought anything 
because seme expert suggestd it to him. 
Whistler turned Mr. Freer to Japan and 
Japanese art, took him to China, where 
lie found artistic peace, comfort and satis¬ 
faction. Finally he came to be regarded 
in Europe as the most dangerous of all' 
rli«- American collectors when he wanted] 
nnyt hing. 
May the right man be always found to] 
cars fo' 1 and get the utmost out of this 
noble gift of a man who never used art 
for anything but the purpose for which it 
ures: a curious collection of Egyptian, art js created—to delight the spirit. 
