DURING THE latter half of the nineteenth century Americans made real progress toward the establishment of a native school of art. In the late work of the Hudson River School of landscape and the rise of George Inness and his followers, the American countryside was depicted and glorified. Largely overlooked at the time but justly appreciated today were the genre scenes, painted by men like George Bingham and Eastman Johnson. The indications of aesthetic maturity were augmented by the appearance of America's old masters-Albert Ryder, Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer. In these works was reflected awareness of and pride in American institutions. About 1860 another phase of American art reached maturity and contributed to the onward progress of culture in the New World. This was topical caricature or cartooning, especially as applied to the political scene. This phase of art dated back at least to Cristofani Buonamico in fourteenthcentury Italy. Employed after that date in other lands and ages it did not become an important social force until the British produced the moral fables of William Hogarth and the political satires of Thomas Rowlandson in the eighteenth century. In the general development of American art, the contribution of the political cartoonist was not inconsiderable, Strictly speaking, his work was not fine art; it did not originate with that purpose in mind. Such artistic problems as composition, line and shadow were important only to the degree that they fostered the cartoonist's major purpose-the forceful presentation of an idea. The cartoonist was concerned with society and politics, while the religion of art held firmly to the theory of separation of church