time we did away with the hip-hip-hooray of the politician and the sentimental moralisms of the economist and realized that the 'political center' and the 'economic center' are things of the past and that the cultural center is the pivot of human progress and of human happiness; that man has developed through instinct and intelligence into various degrees of culture; that it is his culture which dictates the kind and amount of his social activities, the kind and amount of the food he eats; the kind and amount of the clothes he wears, and the kind and amount of the shelter he wants; that culture should dictate all political and economic activities and establish national and international worth; that culture is the quality of human happiness, that happiness breeds happiness and that the happiest race, class, group or individual is, by nature, by reason and by right, entitled to dominate—this is the lesson the cannons taught and the shrapnel shouted, the wounded groaned and the dead recite in a litany of stones,
"It is time we got together and took things in our own hands, for the world today is in need of our culture.
"The European tragedy has practically made us the pivot of human progress.
"Our responsibilities are tremendous.
"We are undergoing the acid test.
"Our immediate actions will declare us a great nation or a great abortion.
"What are we going to do about it?"
Few men were more important to the cause of modern art. In recent years he has painted little, but his influence as a writer has been great.
