ABSTRACT
Argus was the pseudonym for the Manchester economist F. J. Prouting, who was opposed to any ‘taste censorship’, although acknowledging the civilizing effects of art and design. He thought that commerce could disseminate these effects that included a naturalism that might bring people closer to God’s natural creations. F. J. Prouting also opposed ‘taste censorship’ as being contrary to people’s freedom and democratic right to personal choice. The reception of Argus’s diatribe was mixed. Some manufacturers not surprisingly, supported it, while some journalists considered his outburst to be parochial and offensive at same time. Having most handsomely admitted that the peoples are a great man; filling a position in the world of Art, and in the nation’s eye, almost equal to our recently-discovered merits; and knowing, from long experience, that where three or more men are set apart for certain duties pertaining to single establishment, that the greatest and choicest spirit amongst them is always the governing spirit of that establishment.
