Show THE TARIFF ON ART Story the Sculptor and Poet Says it is a Disgrace NEW YORK MERCHANTS PROTEST MERCHATS Against the McKinley Bill and Give Six Unanswerable Un-answerable Reasons for Their Position Posi-tion on the Same Special to THE HERALD Examiner Dispatch PARIS Juno 4By cable to the New York IlerahLMr W W Strong the American sculptor and poet now in Rome thus writes to the Herald on the McKinley tariff bill I All I have to say is that in my opinion I a tax of 30 per cent on foreign works of art is disgraceful in theory unworthy of any great country disastrous to art and beneficial to none Of all countries we alone have laid such a tax and the result may be seen in the fact that our arts is a barefaced study of their art and that there is no such thing as American art We have everything to lose and nothing noth-ing to gain by such legislation For my own part I confess it would seem to me better policy for a country like ours in the total absence of all great works of art coming down as a heritage from long past generations rather to offer a bounty on all works of art by distinguished masters in ancient and modern times than to put as we do an almost prohibitive duty on them and so create great galleries of noble works for the edification and culture of the masses and furthermore of the studies of artists at home What we need is a great national gallery of art All other countries have great national galleries supported by the government but we have not What is worse we virtually prohibit by a gross tax the very entrance into our country of all great works of modern art and so render it next to impossible even for private enterprise to create great galleries as well for the artist as for the public |