The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-11-02
HERBERT SPENCER TALKS.
his opinion of America so Far .. H., H.,
Seen IL, 90"

w ar IN lie nnE
\, herbert Spencer recently returned 70
New York City in somewhat imnroveJ ~
condition of health. When asked wheth' :
or what he had seen in this comn,r,.
equalied his expectations. he replied
1T has far exceeded them S,,.h
oooks about America as | had lootcd
,ho ,h.o nad given me no adequate idea of
tue immense developments of material
SSlvilization which l have everywhere
souhu. lhe extent, wealth and maqnii.
echce OF your cities, and especially the
spiendor OF New York, have alinIeihnr
a:toniShed me. Thou gh have not
visited the wonder of the West, CHICAGO
YET some Of your minor modern nlaces'
such AS Cleveland, have suilicicnily
amazed me, by the marvellous resnlta ~
one generations activity. Occasionailv
,hn mneh l nave been in places OF some ten
.I .Ioisand inhabitants, where the tele
pune Is III general use, have felt some
VIVA. ashamed of our own unenterprising
owns; many of which, of fifty thousand
,nhaoItants and more, make no use of it.
from my first impressions | may saw
lna. though free institutions have been
parity the cause of these things, | think
.hey have not been the chief cause. In
Tue hrst place, the American people have
come into possession of an unparalleled
t"rtune-the mineral wealth and the vast
,racts oil virgin soil producing abundant
~ with small cost of culture. Then thcy
nave prohted by inheritng eli the arts.
appliances, methods, de7eioped by Older
societies, ~hiie leaving behind The oh.
struct'ons existing in them. They have
peen able to pick and chose from the
products OF all past experience appro.
pn,atlng the good and rejecting the bad,
iheh, besides these favors of fortune
therc are factors proper tc themselves.
perceive In American faces generally a
great amount of determination-a kind
OF 40 or die expression and this trait
OF character, Joined with power of
Work exceeding that of any other people,
o! course produces an unparalleled ra.
pldity or progress. Once more, there il
the lnventlveness, which, stimulated by
the need for economzing labor, has been
so wisely fostered. Among us, in Eng.
land, there are many foolish people who
while thinking that man, who tolls
with his hands has an equitable claim to
the product and, if he has special skill
may rightly have the advantage of it.
also hold that if man tolls With hi,
BRAIN, perhaps for years, and, uniting
genius Win perseverance, evolves some
valuable invention, the public may right
~ claim the benefit. The Americans
have been more far.seeing. The enor-
nous museum of patents which saw at
Washington is significant of the atten-
ton paid to inventors claims; and the
nation profits immensely from having, in
this direction, (though not in all others
recognized property in mental products.
beyond question, in respect of mcchani-
cal appliances, the Americans are ahead
of all nations. IF. along with your ma.
terial progress, there went equl progress
of higher kind, there would remain
nothing to be wished.
1T is true that those who rule you do
not do it by means of retainers armed
with swords; but they do it through reg
iments Of men armed with voting pa.
pers, who obey the word Of command as
Loyalty as did the dependents of the old
teudal mobiles, and who thus enable their
leaders to override the general will and
make the community submit to their ex-
actions rs ctfcctually MS their prototvpers
of old. II is doubtless true that each of
your citizens votes for the candidate he
chooses fer this or that Office, from Pres
ident downward, but his hand is guided
by power behind, which leaves him
scarcely any choice. Use your political
power as we tell you, or else throw it
away is the alternative offered to the
citizen. The political machinery as it
is now worked has little resem blance to
that contemplated at the outset of your
political life. Manifestly, those who
framed your Constitution never dreamed
that twenty thousand citizens would go
to the polls led by boss America ex-
emplifies, at the other end of the social
scale, a change analogous to that
which has taken place under sundry des-
potisms. Il seems to me that the Sow
ereigu people is fast becoming a puppet
which moves and speaks as wire-pullers
INSTITUTIONS NOT A FAIL.
"Then you think that Republican in.
stitutions are q failure ~
"By no means! I imply no such con-
clusion. Thirty years ago. when often
politics with an English friend
and defending Republican institutions,
as always have dcne and do still, and
when he urged against me the i'll work
ing Of such institutions over here, I
replied that the Americans
got their form Of government by hap
py accident, not by normal progress, and
that they would have to 90 back before
they could go forward. What has since
seems to ole to have justified
that view, and what see now confirms
me iu it. America is showing on lar
ger scale than ever before that paper
will not work as they are
intended to work. The truth that CON
are not made, but grow, which
is part of the larger truth that societies
their whole organizations are
not made but grow, at once, when &C.
cepted, disposes of the notion that you
can work as you hope any artificially de-
vised system of government. 1t becomes
an inference that if your political struc.
ture has been manufactured, and not
grown, it will forthwith begin to grow
into something different from that in
tended-something in harmony with the
natures of citizens and the condition un-
der which the society exists. And it
evidently has been so with you. With.
in the forms Of your Constitution there
has grown up this organization of pro-
politicians, altogether uncon-
tempIated at the outset, which has be-
come in large measure the ruling power"
A QUESTION OF CHARACTER.
"But will not education and the diff
fusion of political knowledge fit men for
free institutional"
,No II 10 esaenfialtC n question Of