Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/764

 748 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

construction of music halls, which on rare occasions have — as in case of the operatic and dramatic festivals in the Cincinnati Music Hall — enriched the culture of the community by bringing together the cream of American talent. But in this line no creditable architectural effect has been reached — and it can hardly be said that even the seeds of a continuous culture institution have been planted.

The institutions of this class which we now have can scarcely do more than cater to the Hite ; they can rarely offer the best there is to the masses.

The large expense incurred in the presentation of the excep- tional entertainments offered necessitates a scale of prices which must exclude the class which most needs to develop an apprecia- tion of art. The prices of admittance to the Cincinnati events are not high from the standpoint of the theater-going classes, considering the returns for the money, but they are beyond the reach of the poor man's purse. The lowest price of admission to the "Messiah," rendered during the Christmas holidays at Carnegie Music Hall in New York, was one dollar.

It is not the purpose of this article to discuss the economies and the possible results of municipal patronage of such institu- tions. They will be perfectly evident, however, when we recall that private enterprise has never constructed a building for the opera or the drama of any exterior architectural merit on American soil. There is not one which does not share one or more of its walls with other buildings, and there are very few such buildings which are not used in part for stores and ofificcs. The inadequacy of both private interest and private philanthropy should be very clear when it is recalled that the grand opera has scarcely gained any footing in America.

Municipal radicalism is extremely solicitous about the munici- pal and the individual budgets. It is full of schemes to serve the masses with the necessities of life at the lowest cost. They have no place in their demands for institutions which irresistibly delight and elevate the masses.

This utilitarian note of radicalism may seem to harmonize with the American practical way of looking at things ; it may