Although personally we are so much in favour of new
experiments in the arts that we dislike the very idea of crushing high-spirited developments even when they are crude, we recognize that such a sentiment as ours cannot be the last word in the business. What is required is not an ultra-realistic conception of Lincoln, even though fifty years hence it might be recognized as a p3rfect work of art, but a statue which will satisfy and appeal to public opinion in these days in which we live. But here we must say that even in this matter of opinion the initiative must come from America and not from Great Britain. American public opinion should load English public opiniqn in its thoughts about Lincoln, as it easily can do. If the chosen statue should be " crabbed " in America, it would certainly be crabbed hero ; and if the chosen statue were felt to give a true and inspiring representation of America's great statesman, opinion would be completely satisfied hero.
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