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The question is one of small moment. Certainly good art pays as well as mediocre. And the cost of preparing ads is very small compared with the cost of insertion.

I don't understand the meaning of this sentence: The question is one of small moment. And this sentence: Certainly good art pays as well as mediocre.

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Moment can also mean "importance." If you say something is "of little/small moment," then you are saying it doesn't matter. (Vocabulary.com)

In indeed, Merriam-Webster also notes this meaning:

importance in influence or effect

  • decisions of moment must be made by our government (L. H. Evans)

Therefore, the sentence "The question is one of small moment" means that the question has/is of little (negligible) importance.

As for the other statement, "Certainly good art pays as well as mediocre" states that good art is not better paid than mediocre art. You might have been confused by "the art pays well which is an instance of middle construction, described by some as "active in form but passive in meaning". E.g.

  • Sports cars sell quickly.(meaning: Sports cars are sold quickly)
  • The woolens wash well. (meaning: The woolens are washed well.)

Therefore your sentence has the meaning:

"Certainly good art is paid as well as mediocre art. (the middle construction "good art pays well" is more idiomatic, as Gngram confirms).

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  • I really do not understand why this was downvoted. I understand people around here less and less. This is a perfectly good answer.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 16:14
  • @Lambie - it is a very good answer, much better than mine.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 16:26
  • @Lambie and Michael Harvey I was also surprised by the downvote, but didn't react. It takes too much energy to get the downvoters to explain their disagreement, although often one has much to learn from such an explanation.
    – fev
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 19:47
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"The question is one of small moment." - the question is one of small importance.

"good art pays as well as mediocre" - you can get as much money from good art as you can from mediocre art.

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  • When you get an answer to your question, it is customary to mark it as 'the answer' with the checkmark symbol you will find to its left. You can only do that to one answer; if there are mutliple ones, it is also customary to use the earliest one. If you find any answer useful (including 'the' answer), it is customary to upvote it. The people who post these answers get a few points when their answers are accepted and upvoted. These are the ways people are recognized for volunteering their time, and how we all know that an answer was useful and/or that you got the answer you were looking for.
    – rcook
    Commented Aug 24, 2020 at 12:10
  • It is best to accept the answer that most answers your question, rather than merely the earliest one. Questioners are often advised to wait a while before marking an answer as accepted.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 24, 2020 at 12:31
  • Michael, I do not understand why that comment was directed at you? Do you?
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 16:05
  • @Lambie - I don't understand either. I don't actually recall seeing it before. Homilies against early acceptances are usually appended to the questions themselves, so that the OP sees a notification. Possibly that is what was intended. I did not receive any rep points for an accepted answer here that I recall. My rep history for Aug 24 2020 does not show such an event. Maybe some of the cogs in the SE mechanism are coming loose, or a bot is running amok. Have you seen the fun in Meta?
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 16:25
  • No, I haven't. Should I have? :)
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 16:26

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