Art: England vs. U. S.

Bankrupt Europe—particularly her bankrupt aristocracy—sees her priceless art treasures slipping from her grasp by those pitiless economic forces which have made New York the financial capital of the world. The alarming inroads have roused Governments. Lord Curzon in a public speech said many valuable works in Britain’s private libraries were crossing the Atlantic. American imports of paintings, etchings and antiques from London only for the first six months of 1923 were $3,716,644, and will probably exceed $8,000,000 for the year. Sir Wilfrid Hart Sugden, Unionist M. P. for Lancashire, broached the subject on the floor of Commons and called for the Government to offer fair prices to magnates who are compelled to sell their objets d’art to Americans to pay their income taxes. These men would often sell to Englishmen for less money, but the English market is flat. Two 16th Century houses were recently taken down and shipped bodily to America!