III
There is, of course, a bright side to the picture, and lest we be accused of pessimism it will be well to discuss this now.
In the first place all forms of art, good, bad, and indifferent, have benefited by mechanical means of reproduction. The actual numbers of those who can experience the finest things in art have increased manifold, and to that extent, the art-life of the world is better off than before. My only contention is thatproportionatelyfewer appreciate the best, thoughactuallymore do so. My only intention here is to point out the essentiallyquantitativetendencies of to-day, lest we should mistake them for something better. Quantity alone is not everything, and, if we fail to realize these tendencies and endeavour to counteract their undesirable features, the time will come when the disproportion between those who seek the worthy andthose who do not will be very dangerous. Why this will be so I hope to show in the next chapter.
To return to the bright side—Though quantity is not everything, itissomething. It is better that people should appreciate the lowest arts than that they should ignore them altogether. Provided, of course, that any art is not definitely decadent and degenerate, it is better than none. But even this aspect has its disadvantages. It might be argued, not without reason, that it is more difficult to wean a person from the poor thing he knows and has come to like than to introduce an absolutely artistically-uneducated person to the moderately good. Of that, however we shall speak later.
Thirdly, improved reproductive methods have enriched art by enabling minorities to flourish.