Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-24
Ne10 York Times.

N6JO York tunes.
Hearing that Herbert Spencer had re-
turned to New York in a somewhat i'm
proved condition of health, an intimate
American friend obtained his consent to
be questioned regarding his impressions
of this country, to the following effect
81 believe, Mr.. Spencer, that you have
not been interviewed since your arrival
in this country?"
II have not. The statements in the
newspapers implying personal inter
course are unauthorized, and many of
them incorrect. 1t was said, for example,
that l was i'll from the effects of the voy-
age; the truth being that | suffered no
inconvenience whatever, save that aris-
ing from disturbed rest. Subsequent &C
counts of me in respect of disorders, diet,
dress, habits, ETC., have been equally
wide of the mark.
"Have these Misrepresentation been
annoying to your"
Sin some measure, though | am not
very sensitive; but | have been chiefly
annoyed by statements which affect not
myself only, but others. For some ten
days or more there went on reappearing
in various journals an alleged opinion of
mine concerning Mr.. Oscar Wilde. The
statement that | had uttered it was abso.
lutely baseless. l have expressed no
opinion whatever concerning Mr.. Oscar
Wilde. Naturally, those who put in
circulation fictions of this kind may be
expected to mix much fiction with what
fact they report.
Might not this Misrepresentation
have been avoided by admitting inter
viewers2"
POSSIBLY; but, in the first place,
have not been sufficiently well; and, in
the second place, | am averse to the sys-
tenn. To have to submit to cross exami.
nation, under penalty of having i'll natur.
ed things said if one refuses, is an inva--
sion of personal liberty which dislike.
Moreover, there is implied what seems
to me an undue love of personalities
Your journals recall a witticism of the
poet Heine, who said that when wo-
man writes novel, she has one eye on
the paper and the other on some man
except the Countess Hahn hahn, who has
only one eYe.' In like manner, it seems
to me that in the political discussions
that fill your papers, everything is treated
in connection with the doings of indivi-
duals-some candidate for Office, or some
boss or wire puller / think it not i'm
probable that this appetite for personali.
ties, among other evils, generates this
Tecklessness of statement. The appetite
must be ministered to; and in the eager
ness to satisfy its cravings, there comes
less and less care respecting the correct
ness of what is said.
HAS what you have seen answered
your expectations"
''It has tar exceeded them. Such books
about America as | had looked into had
given me no adequate idea of the i'm
mense developments of material civiliza-
ton which | have everywhere found.
The extent, wealth and magnifcence of
your cities, and especially the splendor
of New York. have altogether astonished
me. Though | have not visited the
wonder of the West (Chicago), yet some
of your minor modern places, such as
Cleveland, have sufficiently amazed me
by the marvellous results of one genera
TONS activity. Occasionally, when l
have been in places of some 10000
inhabitants, where the telephone is in
general use, | have felt somewhat
ashamed of our own unenterprising
towns, many of which of $4,000 inhabi-
tants and more make no use of it.
81 suppose you recognize in these re-
suits the great benefit of free institu-
tons ?"
"Ah, now comes one of the incOnve.
niences of interviewing. have been in
the country less than two months. have
seen but a relatively small part of it, and
but comparatively few people, and yet
you wish from me definite opinion on
a difficult question.
perhaps you will answer, subject 10
the qualification that you are but giving
your first impressions 2"
"Well, with that understanding, may
reply that, though free institutions have
been partly the cause, think they have
not been the chief cause. In the first
place, the American people have come
into possession CT an unparalleled for
tune-the mineral wealth and the vast
tracts of virgin soil producing abundant
ly with small cost of culture. Manifestly
that alone goes long way toward pro
ducing this enormous prosperity. Then
they have profited by inheriting all the
arts, appliances, methods developed by
older societies, while leaving behind the
distractions existing in them. They
have been able to pick and choose from
the products of all past experience, ap-
propriating the good and rejecting the
bad. Then, besides these favors of for
tune, there are factors proper TO them
selves. l perceive in American faces
generally great amount of determine
tion-a kind of do or die expression
and this trait of character, joined with
power Of work exceeding that of
any other people, of course pro
duces an unparalleled rapidity of
progress. Once more, there is the
inventiveness which, stimulated by the
need for economizing labor, has been so
wisely fostered. Among us in England
there are many foolish people who, while
thinking that man who tolls with his
hands has an equitable claim to the pro-
duct, and if he has special skill may
rightly have the advantage of it, also