National ideals and problems;
V 0« A 3^ ^«K "^.W^s."^^ fc5-^ ^^ * ' A ^'.^.0 v'^.'/ %/Wy o '^^.^^^ :M 4* ^W???^.-'. %' ■*;^o^ •4 .♦.«aZ^i,'. V^ ° K^^^^ ^^ *. :^* .v^ * ^ V V •_ ^^ ^ '-^^ "' .<J?^' V... ^. . ^ 'oV" : to • : ^-t • ,^^ '^^. •.§ NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS •The^)<^o- THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS ESSAYS FOR COLLEGE ENGLISH BY MAURICE GARLAND FULTON PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, DAVIDSON COLLEGE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 ■n Copyright, 1918 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped October, 1918. Printed October, igiJ jpaount l^lca^ant ^ttii J. Horace McFarland Company Harrisburg, Pa. OCT 10 1918 ©CI,A506100 31n ^omv of j^abibson College ^tubentiJ WHO IN CHEERFUL WILLINGNESS TO GIVE SUPREME DEVOTION JOINED THE NATIONAL FORCES BANDED TO UPHOLD LIBERTY, PEACE, AND JUSTICE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD PREFACE In this book my purpose has been to bring together a number of significant essays, addresses, and state papers which should be helpful in showing students what others, chiefly their fellow- Americans, have thought or now think about their country — its people, its ideals, and its significance both at home and abroad. The time is opportune for seeking a more intelHgent acquaint- ance with our national ideals and problems. The war thrusts upon the nation the need of burnishing ideals as well as weapons. We should use this war to clarify our vision and intensify our national purposes, and we must, in our schools and colleges, make it a means for developing cathoHcity of spirit, human sym- pathy, sacrificial devotion to convictions, and passion for truth and justice. ReaUzing the danger of doing violence in the stress of conflict to the very ideals we seek to defend and exalt. President Wilson early addressed a plea to the teachers in all grades of schools urging the conservation of our ideals. Said he, "The war is bringing to the minds of our people a new appreciation of the problems of national life and a deeper understanding of the meaning and aims of democracy. Matters which we have here- tofore deemed commonplace and trivial are seen in a truer light. . . . When the war is over we must apply the wisdom we have acquired in purging and ennobling the life of the world." An intelHgent understanding of American democracy is not xTierely a matter of interest; it is a patriotic duty for making both better Americans and better citizens of the world. Democ- racy is a body of ideals. Armies and navies alone cannot make the world safe for democracy. The world must be wrought to sympathy with democratic ideals, and, in accomplishing this, the schools — institutions devoted to the conserving of ideals and agencies able to reach the next generation — must undertake to viii PREFACE inculcate these principles for which we are fighting. For what shall it profit us if we gain the whole world for democracy and thereby lose the soul of democracy? In this work the teacher of English has a large part. Those who teach history or political science may give the facts, but those who handle the nation's Hterature impart the spirit of the nation. Since American Hterature affords the best possible in- terpretation of American ideals, the EngUsh teacher should have his students give attention more largely than heretofore to the history and progress of American thought as recorded in Ameri- can literature. The selections in this volume do not, of course, belong under the classification ''literature" in the narrower sense of the term. Nevertheless they are discussions of value in reaching conclu- sions regarding the American spirit and ideals, and as such may be appropriately brought into the literary vista of the student. Such study of American life and institutions as this book con- templates may be made in connection with the course in American literature. But this book would seem to have its most useful place in the so-called ''thought-courses" in composition. This type of course has become so widely popular in recent years that it needs no defense or explanation. Its fundamental principle of accompanying the reading of thought-provoking selections with discussion, oral or written, upon questions and topics suggested by the reading is a most stimulating way to come to an under- standing of national ideals. Furthermore, this method is a replica of the way in which definite national ideals must be reached. Each person must reach his own independent conclu- sions and then compound them by intelligent discussion in public and in private. Under this natural method, the student is brought to his own conclusions and to correcting or modifying them in the light of those formed by his classmates. The selections have been arranged into a rough sequence and grouped under certain headings. Despite the fact that in some cases positions may seem arbitrarily assigned, the arrangement will be found of practical value in emphasizing the larger aspects PREFACE ix of the study. A convenient starting-point is had in a group of selections discussing the predominant characteristics of the American people. Next, to make this study of American char- acteristics more concrete, come selections dealing with a few great Americans who seem to exemplify the special make-up of mind and faculties that is the specific product of American democracy. The third group is composed of epoch-making addresses and state papers which every young American should know at first hand. These are followed by a group of selections discussing in a general way the aims and tendencies of American democracy. The next two groups present the closely related topics of the citizen's part in government and the especial responsibilities that rest upon the college-trained. After these comes a section devoted to a discussion of the principles that must be adhered to in making such changes and adjustments as the future may require. The last division contains selections discussing how and why America became a participant in the world war, and what she desires the outcome of the struggle to be. In order to keep the book of moderate size, much important material had to be omitted. At no point was it harder to make rejections than in the second division. Patterns of Americanism. Jefferson, Jackson, Grant, Lee, Lowell, and many others, repre- sentative of Americanism in one way or another, seemed to demand inclusion, but finally the list was left with but four upon whom there would be almost universal agreement. A word of explanation seems needed regarding the absence of selections from Bryce's The American Commonwealth. My first intention was to include several chapters from this source. But when it became possible for me to prepare for the moderate-priced English and American classics series of the Macmillan Company a volume including some twelve or fifteen of the most significant chapters of Bryce's book, under the title American Democracy, I thought it advisable to use all the space in this book for material from other quarters, and to suggest to those who may desire material from The American Common- wealth that they may find it in the collection referred to. I take this opportunity of recording in a general way grate- X PREFACE fill thanks to those writers who have generously permitted me to use their work and to those pubHshers who have courteously dismissed copyright restrictions in my favor. Specific acknowl- edgements have been made at appropriate places throughout the book. M. G. F. CONTENTS American Traits Page American Quality Nathaniel Southgate Shaler i American Character Brander Matthews 14 Effects of the Frontier upon American Character .. Frederick Jackson Turner 33 'The Influence of the Immigrant on America Walter Edward Weyl 47 Patterns of Americanism Franklin: The Citizen George William Alger 58 The Americanism of Washington . . . Henry Van Dyke 67 Lincoln as an American Herbert Croly 74 Emerson Matthew Arnold 85 Landmark Addresses and State Papers -^ Declaration of Independence .... Thomas Jeferson 107 Farewell Address George Washington 112 The Monroe Doctrine James Monroe 128 The States and the Union Daniel Webster 131 Second Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln 139 War Message Woodrow Wilson 141 American "Democracy The Heritage of Liberty .... Charles Mills Gayley 152 The Declaration of Independence in the Light of Modern Criticism Moses Coit Tyler 158 Democracy James Russell Lowell 166 The Working of American Democracy Charles William Eliot 178 The Survival of Civil Liberty . Franklin Henry Giddings 191 xi xii CONTENTS Citizenship and Patriotism Page Patriotism, Instinctive and Intelligent Ira W oods Howerth 210 Message OF the Flag Franklin Knight Lane 221 Good Citizenship Henry Cabot Lodge 224 What "Americanism" Means .... Theodore Roosevelt 236 Educated Leadership The Social Value of the College-Bred . William James 249 The Relation Between a Liberal Education and True Americanism Henry Cabot Lodge 257 Liberty and Discipline Abbott Lawrence Lowell 269 Nationalizing Education John Dewey 282 Changes and Adjustments Experiments in Government Elihu Root 291 The Liberation of a People's Vital Energies .... Woodrow Wilson 301 A Plea for the American Tradition . Winston Churchill 310 Can Democracy be Organized? . Edwin Anderson Alderman 325 In Arms for Democracy The World Conflict in Its Relation to American Democracy Walter Lippmann 340 American and Allied Ideals . . . Stuart Pratt Sherman 351 Ethical Problems of the War Gilbert Murray 364 After the Conflict A League to Enforce World Peace William Howard Taft 376 Good Temper in the Present Crisis Lawrence Pearsall Jacks 388 What Shall We Win with the War? Ernest Hunter Wright 401 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS AMERICAN TRAITS AMERICAN QUALITY' Nathaniel Southgate Shaler [Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (i 841- 1906) was a distinguished American geologist, born in Newport, Kentucky. He graduated in 1862 at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University. A few years later he became con- nected with the instructional staff in that institution, and held, from time to time, different professorships in his field of work. In 1891 be became dean of the Lawrence Scientific School. His interesting analysis of American char- acter which is here reprinted shows the scientific attitude which is not con- tent with the actual facts, but must seek probable explanations of its origin. It also shows traces of a favorite thesis of the writer — that human character- istics are the result largely of environment. This view is developed at length in respect to the United States in his book, Nature and Man in America.] The most important, because the most fundamental, of prob- lems concerning the quahty of the American man, concerns his physical condition, as compared with that of his kindred beyond the seas. As to this point the evidence is so clear that it needs little discussion. It is evident that the American Indians, a race evidently on the ground for many thousand years before the coming of the Europeans, had found the land hospitable. For savages they were remarkably well developed, and though un- fitted for steady labor, their bodies were well made and enduring. Taking their place, the North Europeans, representing a wide range of local varieties, Enghsh, Irish, Highland Scotch, Ger- mans, Scandinavians, Normans, French, and many other groups of Old World peoples, have, since their implantation a hundred years or more ago, shown that the area of the continent from the Rio Grande to the far north is as suited to our kind as is any part of the earth. This is sufficiently proved by the statistics of American soldiers gathered during the Civil War; the American iProm International Monthly, vol. iv, p. 48 (July, 1901). Reprinted by permission. 2 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS white man of families longest in this country, is, on the average, larger than his European kinsman; the increase being mainly in the size of head and chest. It is further indicated by the endur- ance of these men in the trials of the soldier's life and by the remarkable percentage of recoveries from wounds. This endur- ance of wounds was regarded by the late Dr. Brown-Sequard as a feature common to all the mammals of this continent, being, as he claimed on the basis of an extensive experience, as character- istic of American rabbits as of American men. Moreover, the statistics of life insurance companies doing business in this country appear to indicate that the expectation of life is greater here than in the Old World. . .. Accepting the conclusion that the bodily condition of our race is, in this country at least, as good as in the continent whence they came, we will now turn to the questions as to their moral and intellectual development in the new land. First of these to be considered is that which relates to the attitude of the individ- ual man toward his fellows of the commonwealth. However we may state this question, it is likely to appear to be of a shad- owy nature; seen clearly, however, it will be recognized as of fundamental importance. It were best approached by a com- parison of the usual state of mind of communities in Europe as regards other groups of the same race and country, from which they are separated, as are people dwelHng in neighboring villages. Having journeyed much afoot in England and continental Europe, I have often had occasion to remark the very general lack of confidence which the common men of any place have in those who, though dwelling nearby, are personally unknown to them. Traces of this humor may be found in England and northern Germany, where it may commonly be noted in a good natured contempt for the unknown compatriot. Further south- ward this limitation of sympathy becomes more definite. An- cient hatreds between the citizens of neighboring communes find expression in legends and songs that continue the bitterness to this day. In Italy this partition of the people in spirit goes so far that the pedestrian who has become friendly with those who dwell in any little rural society will often be warned that he will AMERICAN TRAITS 3 be in danger as soon as he comes among the dreadful folk who dwell on the other side of the divide. To an observant American who journeys in Europe in a way that brings him in contact with its people, this morcellement of states into Httle bits which are united not by any common direct sympathy, but only by the bond of a common rule, is not only very evident, but in singular contrast to what he has been accustomed to in his own country. Though from its famiUarity it escapes the attention of most people, it is one of the most note- worthy social phenomena of the New World, that the citizen of Maine accepts, as by a kind of instinct, his fellowman of Texas or California as a real compatriot, as a person who feels and acts as he does himself. It is evident that this is no recently acquired state of mind; its existence clearly antedates the formation of our government; it, indeed, made the Federal union possible. For a half century slavery limited the extension of the motive, though it did not altogether part the people of the North and South. This habit of confidence in the neighbor, however remote, which is at the foundation of the quahty of our people, goes beyond the national limits. It has effectively made an end of the rancors which once existed toward the mother country. Watch as one may the talk of our people, we now hear nothing indicating more than a good-humored quirk concerning John Bull and his ways. At first sight it may seem as if this confidence in the fellow- man, which is the foundation of American quahty, is but a mani- festation of their prevailing good nature. That it is other and more than this is fairly well shown by many incidents occurring in and after the Civil War. Those who remember that mighty clutch will recall how in its worst days the soldiers of the con- tending armies trusted one another much as they would their own comrades. It is said that in the Fredericksburg campaign a number of Federal soldiers spent Christmas with a Confederate regiment with whom they had made acquaintance in the cam- paign. All the hard usage of war could not sweep away the neighborly trust between men who were yet ready for the bitter- est fighting to accomplish their objects. 4 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS This feature of confidence in the essential Hkeness of the fellowman which holds among our people is, perhaps, best shown in the closing incidents of the Civil War. There was at the time much talk about guerrilla warfare, such as the Dutch have waged in South Africa; but when it became evident that effective national resistance was no longer possible, the sub- jugated people turned to their conquerors as to their fellow- citizens, with a measure of trust in their quality such as under like conditions the world had not before known. Owing to an unhappy series of political accidents and much actual knavery, the trust of the southerners in the quahty of their northern brethren seemed for a time ill-founded. During the so-called reconstruction period, the states which had revolted were sub- jected to a very oppressive rule. Yet, through it all, the people trusted, happily not in vain, to the American quality of their sometime enemies to set them right. So, too, in the last step in the work of reconstruction, when the northern people found the southern undoing, in an indirect way, that provision of the Con- stitution which gives the negro the ballot on the same terms with the white man; the acquiescence of the Republican party in this course finds its explanation in the general conviction that the southern people are doing about as well as can be expected with a problem of exceeding difficulty. The history of secession and reconstruction discloses a consensus among the citizens of this country such as may be sought in vain in any other. It is easy to see that the American's belief in the unseen neighbor as like unto himself is not only the foundation of his true democracy, but the basis on which rest certain other im- portant elements of his quality. To it is due the exceptional range and activity of the sympathetic motives, such as led to the war with Spain, and to the almost preposterous welcome of the captured oJSicers of the Spanish fleet; and such now moves so many of our folk to protest against the doings of this nation in the PhiHppines. It is also marked in the constant sympathy with suffering, whenceever comes the cry. Not that this accord with the fellowman is peculiar to Americans; it is, indeed, a part of modern life, but the effect of it is evidently felt by a AMERICAN TRAITS 5 larger part of our people, is more national with us than else- where. This quality of sympathy is, indeed, near to being, if it be not in fact, a national weakness. Too little limited by reason, it led to the war with Spain for the rescue of Cuba, with the common consequence of war, a series of difficulties of which no man can see the end. A most important result of this belief in the essential Ukeness of men is the eminently kindly quality of the American. The proof of this on a large scale is again to be had in the history of the RebeUion. Though this contest, like all war whatsoever, was replete with brutahty and horror, it was singularly distin- guished from all like contentions by the mercy shown to non- combatants, by the care for women and children, and by the leniency with which the subjugated leaders were treated. The evidence to support these statements cannot be here given in any detail. To exhibit it fitly would require an extended study of the matter; I cannot, however, forbear to set forth a few in- cidents which came to my knowledge at the time, and which served to illustrate the temper of our people in conditions which bring out the worst qualities of men. Shortly after the close of the Rebellion, I questioned many persons who had been in the most sanguinary contests, to find whether they had observed any instances where prisoners, taken in the heat of battle, had been harmed. As the result of this inquiry, which was made of over one hundred ex-soldiers, I learned of one or two cases where prisoners had been shot by members of a rabble home guard, men generally of a much lower grade than the embodied troops and without adequate control by officers. Among disciplined troops, there was but one ex- ample of cruelty, if such it may be called, where a Federal soldier, as he clutched the musket of a surrendering Confederate, slapped him on the face; and he was at once put under arrest for his brutal conduct. In the campaign of 1862, between the armies of Buell and Bragg for the possession of Kentucky, movements which led to the fiercest action of the war, the conditions were such as have elsewhere always brought vast suffering to non-combatants. It 6 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS was a more truly internecine struggle than occurred in any- other part of the great field. The state was divided against itself, communities and families were rent. In instances, probably numbering thousands, brothers, or fathers and sons, were in opposing armies. It is doubtful if in any other time have people of our race been so moved by fury to the foundations of their souls. Yet at the end of it, I recall that none of the many I questioned knew of harm having come to woman or child; that whenever a flag of truce gave the chance of meeting, there was expression of a mutual anxiety to "keep the fighting clean," and a determination to insure this end by slaying all offenders against decency. The evidence of good nature afforded by the treatment of the leaders of the Rebellion is so general and well known that it needs no setting forth. One such came under my eyes when, just after the war, Alexander Stephens, the ex- Vice-President of the ex-Confederacy, because he was a cripple, was, by general consent, allowed to select his seat in the hall of the House at Washington, before the other members drew lots for their places. There were some marring deeds, as, for instance, the execution of Wertz, and the chaining of Jefferson Davis, an unoffending prisoner; but the conduct of our people at the end of the Rebel- lion, indeed we may say the whole conduct of that vast struggle, displays their eminently merciful quality. In the interchange of wit and humor, wherein men show their quaUty in an unpremeditated way, we have a chance to discern another evidence of the singular confidence of the American as to the likeness of the fellowman to himself. Among other peoples this instinctive criticism of life is commonly turned upon the personal differences between men, those of individuals, classes, or races. It usually exhibits an essentially narrow, hed- onistic motive. In this country, on the other hand, the criticism most often assumes the similarity of men, and finds the amuse- ment in larger features of identity and contrast of situations. Thus, the humor of the Mississippi Valley, especially that of the frontiersman, has a sympathetic motive which is not found else- where. It is apt to relate to the insufficiencies of mankind rather AMERICAN TRAITS 7 than to the defects of particular men; not rarely it takes the fine allegorical form, wherein much apparent profanity does not hide the really high moral tone. Thus it comes about that the American is by no means witty as compared with the French- man; from that point of view, he may fairly be termed dull; but in him there is characteristically an inextinguishable spirit of humor. Like his prototype, Mercutio, even the wound that ends him is a fair subject for a quirk. Like the other accidents of life, "'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church- door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve." If this view be true, our much-discussed American humor is a very natural product of our assumption as to the intimate kinship of men. Turning from the simpler emotions which lie at the founda- tions of human nature, let us consider what evidence is to be had that shows us something concerning the permanent ideals that have been developed among our people. So far as ideals relate to the home, they appear to be, with slight exceptions, essentially those that were transmitted to us from the mother country; the difference being that the head of the house is far less its master than in the Old World. Here, again, we have the primary concept of democracy, that of the essential likeness of human beings, working to break down the ancient idea as to the rightful power of the father over the family, with the result that the normal American household is a type of the democracy of which it forms a part. It is not likely that this change of view has, in any measure, weakened the hold of parents on their children; but to it is probably due, in some degree, the rapid increase of the divorce rate, which, as is well known, is higher in this than in any other country. The ideal of the commonwealth came to us, with that of the family, by inheritance; the name itseh is an importation, but there is an evident change in the contents of the conception. Until our government was founded, there was no instance in which men had developed patriotic instincts relating to such a complex as the United States presents. In the Old World, except in some measure in Switzerland, for all the experiments in gov- erning that have there been essayed, men have not proved them- 8 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS selves able to maintain a divided allegiance, such as is required of American citizens, and by them effectively rendered, in the love and duty they give to the state and the Union in which they are included. In all experiments previously made, it was evident that the sense of obligation had to relate to one center; with rare exceptions — in fact only in small oligarchies where the motives due to personal association of all the leaders existed — the reference of allegiance had to be to a sovereign, whether king or Cromwell, an evident leader beheld upon a throne. It is true that the American complex was the result of an accident of government which united several centers of growth, but it is none the less a remarkable fact that the system of allegiance within allegiance, with no reference to any devotion to indi- viduals or dynasties and with no association with religious faiths, should have been accepted by our people without debate except as to the mere details, and with no sense of the novelty of the conditions they were establishing. This course of action, appar- ently so spontaneous and immediate, indicates that the pohtical sense of the American people had undergone an unrecognized development in the century and a half of colonial life before the Revolution. It is impossible here to essay an analysis of this growth. It may, however, be noted that, more than any other feature, it indicates the subtle effect of the conditions of the New World on the spirit of men. The essence of the pohtical allegiance of the American people is evidently not to a definite bit of the earth, nor to the memories of the past, which are to a great extent the basis of that motive in the Old World, but to ideals of government. The people of France, for instance, and the same is true of most other coun- tries, love their land and its traditions equally well, whatever kind of government manages to set itself over them. Here, however, as is well shown by the history of the Civil War, the affection is for the system of the commonwealth as a system, even more than for the results attained by it. Love of the land of a romantic kind, such as has been the basis of so much that is noble as well as unhappy in other realms, is evidently not a leading motive with us. It is true that slavery, in an immediate AMERICAN TRAITS g way, brought about the War of Secession, but the question which was debated, which moved the people as men have rarely if ever before been moved, concerned the relative weight of the allegiance the citizen owed to his state and to the Nation. It is conceivable that the American might be transplanted to some other land, and that the deportation would bring with it httle if any sense of exile, provided his pohtical order went with him. But for this order he is prepared to do battle to the end. It appears like a contradiction to say that the love of our people for their government does not include a devotion to the instruments which set it forth. We are much given to patching our constitutions and, at times, to jugghng with them, but the essence of the motive appears to be love of a definite political order, an intense need of a distinctly stated body of negative law which will permit the largest possible measure of liberty. The clinging to the system of states in a nation apparently rests on the conviction that under that system the maximum of free- dom may be attained. . .. The most indicative feature in American quahty is that which is expressed in the religious freedom which has been attained in this country. In a rude, imperfect form this ideal existed in the Elizabethan time. Evidently it was not brought from the Old World, for the colonies began with the ancient intolerance. This motive was variously expressed, sometimes in a brutal manner, again with a milder accent, but it was essen- tially universal. At the time the Federal union was formed, religious freedom or at least the understanding that the law had no right to dictate religious beliefs, was well established. Since then the development of this quality has been continued until it has so far penetrated the minds of men that the barriers of faith have little effect in Hmiting social relations. Even the ancient dislike of Roman CathoUcs and Jews has nearly passed away; what is left of it relates rather to race hatreds than to religious prejudices. It may fairly be claimed that the efface- ment of sectarian rancors is the greatest and most unique accom- plishment of our people. It is evident that this gain has also lo NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS been due to the fundamental belief of our people as to the like- ness of men to one another. The ideal of public education, like the many other elements of American quahty, came to us from the mother country. Except, however, in the fancies of idealists the projects of instruc- tion which were developed in the Old World were not intended to apply to all sorts and conditions of men, but to a chosen few. Although in the several colonies the motive which led to the development of educational systems differed much in intensity, it appears in some degree to have existed in all, and to have been active in the minds of the hardest pressed of their frontiersmen. Thus, with the first settlers of Kentucky, who were facing the trials and perils of an unknown wilderness, we find among the brief proceedings of their first parliament, held in 1775 under a tree, a provision for the estabhshment of a school. Another of these memorable enactments provided for the suppression of profane swearing; yet another for the improvement of the breed of horses — all of which goes to show how the ideal and the prac- tical went together in the minds of our pioneers, whether they were of Massachusetts Bay or of the Virginia plantations. Beginning doubtfully in the colonial period, the ideal of public education has grown with the growth of the fundamental con- cept of democracy, that of the essential likeness of men, and with the sympathetic bond which this view of Hfe creates, until it is one of the most characteristic elements of the quality of our people. It has commanded a share of devotion such as has been given to no other feature of our public life. It has so far entered into our hearts that the greediest of fortune seekers may be said to dream of founding schools. It is to be noted that this desire that the youth be adequately trained, has little relation to the economic results of such training. So far from desiring that the end to be attained shall be instruction in crafts or pro- fessions, the intent of our people has ever been that their schools shall lead toward culture; to enlargement rather than to more immediate profit; to the quality of the citizen rather than to that of the artisan. It has, indeed, been difficult to obtain from public money or from private gifts the means imperatively AMERICAN TRAITS ii demanded for instruction in applied science. It is in the char- acter of the educational system which has been developed in this country that we find the most indisputable evidence as to the essential quality of the American man. Seen in his money- hunting form, he seems to the ordinary observer as devoid of all ideals as was the Indian he has replaced. Considered in the light of his lofty devotion to the interests of the unborn, we gain another and better view of his complicated nature. It may be granted that these schools are in many ways most imperfect, but the concept on which they are founded and the devotion with which they have been supported tell much of American quality. Looking at the social organization of this country in a broad way, we may note another feature, exhibited in very legible facts, which deserves our attention. This is the ease with which this society has taken in, and, as we may say, assimilated a vast body of very foreign people, very generally converting them or their immediate descendants into characteristic Englishmen of the American variety. To see the nature of this accompHsh- ment, we should first note that in the fifteen decades or so of colonial life our people had a chance to shape their society with relatively little disturbing invasions from other than English countries. The Dutch colonists, then, were near kinsmen to the Palatinate Germans of Pennsylvania, and those of North Caro- lina, though more remote, were akin in race and religion and bound to the English people by the memory of the help lent them in their extremity; as were, also, the Huguenot French. Perhaps nine-tenths of the folk at the beginning of the Revolu- tionary War were of Enghsh stock, and the remainder no hind- rance to the prevailing race. It is evident that these colonies had attained to a social organization which was singularly efl&cient in making a common serviceable product out of the odds and ends of humanity that immigration began to bring to the new nation in the early part of the nineteenth century. For near a hundred years the tide of foreigners has poured into the United States with increasing volume. To many good observers it has appeared impossible that grave changes in the quality of 12 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS the country should not be brought about by this invasion. Yet this material, so far as it is of European origin, has been effec- tively, if not completely, Americanized. It is true there has been no considerable adoption of the aborigines into the commonwealth, but this failure is due to the nature of the Indian. It is also true that the adjustment of the African is yet to be brought about, but there is some reason to believe that it may be accomplished. But, so far as the progress of our own race is concerned, the entrance of foreigners into our life, while here and there highly disadvantageous, has not been disastrous. In one or two generations, even where they retain, as in the case of the Pennsylvania Germans, their native speech and customs, they are, in all important regards, completely naturahzed. This swift digestion of the millions from countries of a spirit very alien to its own, indicates what we may term the organic intensity of American society; in other words, the eminently political quality of the association. Into this invisible, intangible, yet most real, social whole the ardent quality of its citizens so enters that it can quickly efface the imprint of the ages upon those who come to it from foreign lands, and stamp them as its own. It has been the purpose of this writing to consider only those elements of American quality of which we have evidence in recorded or evident facts. Only by such limitation can we avoid those highly romantic speculations as to the character of our folk which so fill the pages of would-be observers from abroad. In summing up the story, it seems not unreasonable to consider what is to be the future of the evidently novel type of English- man; we might, indeed, term him this spiritually new variety of man. It is clear that his most eminent quality consists in his detachment from the control of the past, his self-sufficiency in the better sense of the term. He has learned to feel, beyond others of his kind, the value of his individuality. It is, perhaps, as a reflection of this sense that he places a like high rating on his neighbor. He feels the bond of human brotherhood in a curiously intense degree. As all the cooperative work of man depends upon this sense of human kinship, his large measure of AMERICAN TRAITS 13 it should carry the American far — in just what direction it is not easy to foretell. It requires no analysis to see that the fundamental judgment of democracy, that of the essential likeness of men, though a truth of vast import, is but a half truth. True for the primary qualities which should determine the rights of all, it is pro- foundly untrue as regards those secondary features of the intel- ligence which give to human minds a range and variety of capa- city really greater than the differences in the frames of men. An apparent consequence of this excessive idea of common likeness in his kind, is the comparative absence of critical ability in the American people. In a large sense of the term, criticism rests upon a conception of the very great difference of one indi- vidual from another. As applied to life, it leads to an under- standing of its vast complication, of its far-reaching inter- dependencies, of its splendors and its shames. In the field of morals, it teaches that there are herds and leaders; that men have won the heights because they knew their prophets, or have gone to the deep because they knew them not. It is evident that the path on which this America-shaping and America-shaped man has journeyed separates him from the critical state of mind. Yet he has so prospered in his journey on it, has gained such a measure of will and discernment, that the critic would not really know his cautious trade if he ventured to forecast his limits. The most reasonable judgment concerning this essentially new form of strong man is, that on this deep and broad foundation of his sympathies and understandings he will, in time, build all that his friendly critics could wish him of enlargement. 14 NATIONAL IDEALS AND PROBLEMS AMERICAN CHARACTER! Brander Matthews [Brander Matthews (1852 ) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but early in life went to New York to live. After a brief experience with law, he turned to Hterature in which he distinguished himself as a writer of fiction and criticism. Since 1892 he has been a professor in the English department of Columbia University. The discussion of American character, which is here given, supplements the selection from Shaler in approaching the matter from a somewhat different angle. It was originally an address delivered on several academic occasions.] In a volume recording a series of talks with Tolstoi, published by a French writer in the final months of 1904, we are told that the Russian novelist thought the Dukhobors had attained to a perfected life, in that they were simple, free from envy, wrath, and ambition, detesting violence, refraining from theft and murder, and seeking ever to do good. Then the Parisian inter- viewer asked which of the peoples of the world seemed most remote from the perfection to which the Dukhobors had elevated themselves; and when Tolstoi returned that he had given no thought to this question, the French correspondent suggested that we Americans deserved to be held up to scorn as the least worthy of nations. The tolerant Tolstoi asked his visitor why he thought so ill of us; and the journalist of Paris then put forth the opinion that we Americans are '^ a people terribly practical, avid of pleasure, systematically hostile to all ideahsm. The ambition of the American's heart, the passion of his life, is money; and it is rather a delight in the conquest and possession of money than in the use of it. The Americans ignore the arts; they despise disinterested beauty. And, now, moreover, they are imperialists. They could have remained peaceful without danger to their national existence; but they had to have a fleet and an army. iFrom The American of the Future and Other Essays. (Copyright, 1909, Charles Scrib- ner's Sons.) Reprinted by permission. AMERICAN TRAITS 15 They set out after Spain and attacked her; and now they begin to defy Europe. Is there not something scandalous in this revelation of the conquering appetite in a new people with no hereditary predisposition toward war?" It is to the credit of the French correspondent that, after setting down this fervid arraignment, he was honest enough to record Tolstoi's dissent. But although he dissented, the great Russian expressed little surprise at the virulence of this diatribe. 