The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1908. ARTISTIC EXTORTION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 12 August 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1908. ARTISTIC EXTORTION.

Tin: "Ago" voices a fetrong pr^to.t j against what it evidently regards as1 tho extortionata charge 3 impoged on the public by tho modern diva, tho "shocking oxamplo" upon which it bases its ■complaint being tho recent triumphant Australasian tour of Madame Clara Butf, and her husband, who recently landed in Plymouth £51,000 licher than they were when they came to Australia and New Zealand. Madame Butt herself, summing up her experiences to , a newspaper interviewer., said: ''Altogether wo havo had a most successful and enjoyable time, and as our concerts have netted us ever £51,000, you will sea that the tour has been a successful one from every point of view."- . Madame Butt certainly- had full justification for tho note of jubilation with which eho proclaimed that success. Assuming that her Australasian trip occupied six months, and that she gave, as she says,.7l concerts, having come out with tha intention of giving 30 only, she and her husband, during their actual working time, havo been making an income at tho rato of £50,000 a year each. Tho "Age" cites this as an astounding cxaTnple of how the good natursd-public will permit themselves to be bled by anyone who has acquired tho art of properly tickling them for their pleasure; Considering the matter purely on the rational plane, our Melbourne contemporary regards ib as unthinkable that any stage artist. of whatever calibre, can bo worth five times tho salary of tho President of ths United States! / • President Roosevelt governs 90,000,000 of his. countrymen, and as a. strenuous worker draws £10,----000 a year, /much of which he has to spend in the concomitants of his gr^eat office. Madame Butt enters upon what proved to be an Australasian pleasuro jaunt with her husband and pockets £5i;000 in six months,' the willing contribution of about 250,000 people, who paid for guinea and half-guinea seats to hear the contralto impressionist sing. "Thero is," the "Ago" declaics, "such Na tremendous disproportion in ihes3 rewards of high talent respecting tho statesman and tho singer -as to^ suggest to many minds tho need of a remedy." Clara Butt sang at 71 concerts, and sha probably averaged four songs at oach. For tho 284 songs which she sam? in Australasia she nets as her separate share of the spoil £25,000, or. about £90 per song; or put in another way, averaging each song at seven minutes, she was rewarded by £120 for every ten minutes of warbling. The most splendid painter who over handled a brush to achieve immortal fame, tho .most sublime poet who ever interpreted thoughts to earth, the most brilliant statesman who ever'guided the des&nios ! of empire, might hope in vain for any such reward as this singer has carried away with her for the artistic expenditure of a little idle breath. There is no desire to look with envious eyes on fho successes of great singers; but no ono who wishes to sco some proportion between merit and its reward can note theseiphenomenal gains without feeling that society has scarcely said its last word on tha^jjffibfcft. For instance, what has Mr Prout WE&b to say to Madame Butt concerning h/jr income tax payments P He very properly mad© a theatrical artist pay up yrith interest for her neglect of five years ago. Ifc is said that Madame Clara Butt mad? £10,000 in Melbourne in little more than a month. How did the law of income tax, affect hßr? There certainly ought to be some provision to meet such eases. A great singer, or a great artist of any kind, is certainly entitled to an exceptional remuneration. But surely that remuneration should be in some* manner proportioned. to the rewards which follow great services generally. It may bo said that should any

ono ■ country attempt by . way of taxation to introduce an: clement of rational actuality into these things, it would d5privo itself of tho chance of hearing <)i 'ownj; th<* world's greatest maivols. Bp that '■■bio^tian would cease to hold gcood it all oi most countries agreed to laj ur embargo on these method? or t\to'ti'.n. Foi extortion it tctainly 11 Whon a bingoi ask« £1000 01 £500

Pr night tor singing sho dees oo cs a

monopolist Sho s t°,k«ng a» unfair •xi udvanta^« of lvi monopoly 11 voit,:?' aa tbo Ametican Oil Tiust does of its monopoly in cils No artist vsho ever

warbled ha^ a ng'it to eiau £12 a

raiifite lor hci & ngmj, end cany tleu--01 all «cpcn^>ca, £51,000 in mx month1-, hl'o ui^»y ri'ply that it is the volu^taiv

D-'vm^nt ot tho pair&m ot Art. But;

that doe?> not cover the ">ound. Tig owners or sJeat voices aie monop^liv and iiko' all monopolists, can fix their

owu tariffs,: which they.do without regard to the rights of society. And y<t,

properly undorstood, society has very

real rights in these ciues. But for th.^ economic demand which society supplies, tho voice monopolist would possess a beautiful but'profitless organ. Nature gave to the artist the voice, and society makes that voice, .monetarily profitable. Society, thoreforo, has an equitable right to be consulted as to tho terms on which tho'voice monopolist may reap his great profits. Tho gvat singer stands in tho sauvn category with th« great inventors. A man may discover a secret in. mechanics wiiieh is worth millions to his fellow mnn. But it does not follow that he

has any.-right-to exact thoso millions

The inyentor's best geniua would be lest t in a nation of savages, because ho could j not there tarn it to account. It is

civilised .-iociety which makes his invention valuable. Civilised society, therefore, in contributing to tha value of tho discovery, has a right to exact its own sharo of it 5 which Is to bar tha claims of monopoly. Some day these undoubted truths will bo bettor understood, and when that day arrives, the world will smilo over the time when it permitted a ballad singer -to extort more money, hour for hour, than is paid to tho crowned head of a groat empire." Thore is, no doubt, a great doal to b3 said in support of the contentions laisod by the "Age." But on the other hand it is very questionable whether tho public themselves are not largely to blame; In a sense it is the patrons themselves who encourage the levying of these high fees. There are a very largo number of people who assess tho valuo of a thing by what they have to pay for it. Many of them would not cross tho street to listen to the-songs of Melba,- Crossley, or Clara Butt it' they ha-d made a practico of singing at popular prices. We venture to say that it" the Mallisons, whose delightfully artistic song recitals on Saturday and Monday evenings last were so poorly patronised, had placed a fashionablo pfico upon their unquestionable abilities tho accommodation of the Opera House would have bstn much rnoro heavily taxed than it was. Again, it must bs remembered that in artistic enterprises of this kind success or failure is governed t) a vory large 1 extent by the effectiveness or otherwise of the "b::oming" by which tho artist 3 arG preceded. An\l the Butts were

cleverly advertised. They, or iho peopla who ran them for the tour, understood every point of tho game, and plaj'od it_ for all it was worth. Now, j despite tho lamentations of the tfAgo," tho triumphant diva can afford trr smilo and to say sweet things.)about j Australasia. And so it will ba again, for the world will never lack artists, vocal and otherwise, who will be. willing to oblige a public that delights in beins, charged high prices for its funj however much it may squirm when th*> prica of meat gops up.a fraction. ' -