FOREWORD.
ITH the Initial number of "The Craftsman," The United Crafts of
East-
         wood, N. Y., enter upon a -work for which they hope to gain the
sym-
pathy and the co-operation of a wide public. The new association Is a guild
of cabinet makers, metal and leather workers, which has been recently formed
for the production of household furnishings.  The Guild has had but one
parallel in modern times, and this is found in the firm organized in London,
in
1860, by the great decorator and socialist, William Morris, together with
his not
less distinguished friends, Burne-Jones, Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown, all
of
Pre-Raphaelite fame.
                          The United Crafts endeavor to promote and to extend
the principles established by Morris, in both the artistic and the socialistic
sense.
In the interests of art, they seek to substitute the luxury of taste for
the luxury of
costliness; to teach that beauty does not imply elaboration or ornament;
to employ
only those forms and materials which make for simplicity, Individuality and
dignity of effect.
                          In the interests of the workman, they accept without
qualification the proposition formulated by the artist-socialist:
                          "It is right and necessary that all men should
have
work to do which shall be worth doing, and be pleasant to do; and which should
be done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome, nor
over-anxious."
                          The great results accomplished by the Morris firm
grew out of the decoration of a single house: the first family dwelling of
the
Master himself. Then, the work extended with Its deep, restorative Influence,
transforming the outward and decorative side of life, adorning the English
home
with the pleasures of art; until, In the opinion of a well-known critic,
it had
"4 changed the look of half the houses in London and substituted beauty
for
ugliness all over the kingdom."
                          With this example before them, The United Crafts
will labor to produce in their workshops only those articles which shall
justify
their own creation; which shall serve some actual and important end in the
household, ither by adding to the ease and convenience of life; or yet by
furthering the equally important object of providing agreeable, restful and
invig-
orating effects of form and color, upon which the eye shall habitually fall,
as the
problems of daily existence present themselves for solution. Thus, it Is
hoped to
co-operate with those many and earnest minds who are seeking to create a
national, or rather a universal art, adjusted to the needs of the century:
that Is,
an art developed by the people, for the people, as a reciprocal joy for the
artist
and the layman.
                          Another object which The United Crafts regard as
desirable and possible of attainment is the union in one person of the designer
and the workman. This principle, which "was personally put in practice
by
Morris, extended throughout his workshops; the Master executing with his
own
hands what his brain had conceived, and the apprentice following the example
set before him as far as his powers permitted. The divorce between theory
and