Page 546

THE CRAFTSMAN
CO(MMERCIAL       VALUE     OF   DESIGN
N the initial article of this series the
      author says: "Shut in, as it were, to
      serve its owner, private art is but a
      hcarthfire that warms only its builder,
and leaves but few or no embers that can ever
glow again after the breath of his fortune
has cease(d to fan it. But public art is a
fire built in tile market place, from which
each citizen I)orrows live coals for his own
hoilne."
   No statement can be truer and n11 state-
milent ever camne from a sourcre more author-
itative. John 1)eWitt Warner, an eminent
lawyer, has for years devotedl time and
energy to tile advancemient of art in this
country.   To a natural appreciation of
form and (o01r, lie adds a broad hluman in-
terest in civic development. He has served
in every capacity from the private to tile
president and leader, an(d now at the head
of tile first Art (Commission which New
York has ever had, lie stand(s not only as an
influence for all that is best in aesthletic de-
velopment, lut as a judge biefore whoin
must pass tihe artistic improvements of this
great city. He personifies, as does no other
one man, the appreciation of the laymnan for
that abstract quality which for a better
name we call public art. His comprelen-
sive treatment of the "Impo'tance of
Municipal Improvements" encourages tile
consideration of the present article oii the
"('ommercial Value of I)esign," which in its
very  statement challenges criticism  and,
judging by tihe action of our legislature
and city officials, has never been recognized
in this great country. It is hoped that this
short article niay start a discussion which
in the end will lead the great Captains of
546
Industry to a realization that this country,
to succeeel in tile fumture and hold its rank
ani(lag tile nations of the world, must add
to its raw product the value of design.
Natural resources, great virility may, flor
tile time being, keep a nation to the front,
but no permanent success can l)e achieve<d
without careful study and thoughtful prep-
aratioll. This is recognized i * by tile older
nations of Europe, which strive not to pi'o-
duce great quantities of raw material, hut
to make each ton of raw material return as
great a value as possilble bIy the added qual-
ity of design.
  Witlhout, perhaps, a realization of this
fundamental principle, barbaric races 1have
in fact miade arms and implemlents which to-
day we cherish, not because of their utility,
but biecause of the ru(le arclaic ornamlent
whiclh was added with such primitive but
masterly strokes. The works of time Aztec,
of tile Navajo anul other American Indians
are aniong the choicest treasures in our
iliuseumlis. The imore mature efforts of tile
Assyrians and    the Egyptians are well
known, and tile later work of tile Greek, tile
Oriental and tihe Asiatic peoples is too well
known to need mention.
   In pottery tile simple utensils of tile
]ionie, selling, as thy did at tile tinme of their
c'reation, for sums too insignificant to nien-
tion, are cherished as precious treasures, he-
calse of their ornament and color. The
vases of the Egyptians anul the still more
mature work of the Turks, are now, and for
many years to come will be, of inestimable
value. In textiles the same is true,-tlhe
work of the hand-lool survives, not so much
from the fact that it is done by hand, but
fromi the excellence of the design.   Tile
simple stuffs of the Orient, the cotton prints