The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-10-29
HERBERT SPENCER.
Some Of His Observations on Ameri.
cans and American Institutions.

| Such hook7 about America as had looked Into had
given me no adequate idea OF the Immense develop
ments OF material civilization which have every
where found. The extent, wealth, and magnlncencC
OF your cities and especially tho splendor OF New
York, have altogether astOnshed me. Though
have not visited tho wonder OF the West, Chicago,
yet some OF your minor modern places such rs
Cleveland, have sufficiently amazed me by the
marvellous results OF one generaton's activity.
Though free Institutions hayo been partly the cause,
think they have not been the chief cause. In the
first place. the American people have come Into pos
| session of an unparalleled fortune - tho mineral
wealth and the vast tracts OF virgin soil producing
abundantly with small cost OF culture. AIanifesly
that alone goes long way toward producing this
enormous prosperity. Then they have prohted by
nheritng all the arts. appliances methods developed,
by older societies, while leaving behind the obstruc-
lions existing In them. They have been able TO pick
and choose from the products OF all past experience,
| aappropriatlng the good and rejecting tho bad.
Then, besides these favors OF fortune, there are
factors proper to themselves. perceive In Amerl-
can faces GENERALLY great amount of determination
kind of 'do die' expressIon and this trait of
character. Joined with power OF work exceeding
that OF any other people. of course produces
paraleled rapdly OF progress. once more, there Is
the lnyentveess which, stimulated by the need for
economlzing 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 product and II
he has special skin may rightly have tho advantage
oflt, also hold that IL man tolls with his BRAIN
perhaps Tor years, and uniting genius with perse-
verance, evolves some valuable invention the public
| may rightly claim the benefit. The Americans have
been more far-secng. The enormous museum OF
| patents which saw ut Washington Is significant OF
the attention paid to inventors claims, and the
nation profits Immensely from having In this direc
tnn Though not In all oers) recognized property in
| mental products: Beyond question, In respect OF
| mechanical appliances the Americans are ahead of
all nations. II along with your material progress
there went equal progress OF higher kind there
would remain nothing 10 be wished. After ponder
Ing over what have seen OF your vast manufacture
Ing and trading establishments the rush OF traffic in
your street cars and elevated railways your gigantic
hotels and Fifth avenue palaces, was suddenly
| minded OF the Italian republics OF the Middle Ages
anu recalled the fact that while there " ~
up In them great commercial activity, development
OF the arts which made them the envy of Europe. and
building OF princey mansions which continue 10 be
the admiration OF travellers, their people gradu
ally losing their freedom.
fon retain tho forms of freedom, but, ofar as I
can gather, there has been considerable loss of the
substance. II Is true that those who rule you do not
do 1t by means Of reainers armed with swords; but
theydo II through regiments OF men armed with
voting papers, who obey the word OF command as
loyalty as did the dependents of the old feuda mobiles
and who thus enable their leaders TO override the
general will and make the community submit to their
| exactions as effectuay as their prototypes of old.
IL Is doubtless true that each OF your citizens for
tho candidate lie chooses for this that Office from
President downward, but his hand is guided by n
power behind, which leaves him scarcely any choice
throw it away. is the Alternative offered to the cIt
zen The political machinery as 1t Is now worked
has little resemblance to that contemplated at the
| SGT OF your political life. Manifosty those who
framed your Constitution never dreamed that 90 coo
citizens would go to the polls led by a
tho social scale. change analogous to that which has
takenpaco under sundry despotisms You know that
nJapan before the recent vouton, the divine ruler
the mlkndo, nolnlnaly supreme, was practically a
pnppet In tho hands of his chief minister to Shotgun
IIcre 1. seems TO me that the - sovereign people is
fast becoming puppet which moves and speaks as
wlre-pullers determine.
Thirty years ago, when often discussing politics
win an English friend and defending republican In
situations, as always have done and do STILL aud
when he urged against me the III working OF such
situations over here. habiually replied that the
Americans got their form of government by a happy
| accident, not by normal thav
would have to go back before they could go forward
what has stco happened seems to to have justi-
He'd that Views and what SEQ now confirms In It..
America Is showing on larger scale than before
that paper constitutions" will not work they
by Macintosh, that constitutions are not made,
but grow,n which Is part OF the larger truth that
societies throughout their whole organizations are not
made hut grow at once when accepted disposes OF
the notion that you can work. you hope, any arti-
hclaly devised system of government 1t becomes an
Inference that II your political structure has been
gin to grow into something different from that In
tended,somethlng. In harmony with the ma
lures OF citizens and the conditions under which the
society exists. And It evidently has been so witt
| you. within the forms OF your Constitution Their
has grown up this organization of professional polit
clans, altogether uncontempated at the outset which
| has become In large measure the ruling power
But VIII not education and the diffusion OF poltica
| knowledge nt men for free institutions?
No. IL Ia essentially aquestlOn OF character, an,
only In secondary degree u question OF knowledge.
But for the universal deusIon about education as
panacea for political evils this would have been mad
sufficiently clear by the evidence disclosed In your pa
pers. Arc not tho men who officer and control you
Federal. state, and municipal Organizatons--wh
| manipulate your caucuses and conventions and ruI
your partisan campaigns--all educated men? An,
| has their education prevented them from engagn,
In, or permitting, or condonng the briberies lobby
| ings, and other corrupt methods which vitate tn
| actions or your administrations Perhaps part
| newspapers exaggerate these things; but what am
| TO make OF the testimony OF your Ciy Service re
formers--men of all parties? II understand tn
| matter Alright, they are attacking as vicious am
| dangerous a system which has grown up under tn
natural spontaneous working OF your free Institution
ARE exposing vices which education has proved pow
| eress to prevent.
The current theory Is that II the young are laugh
what Is right, and the reasons why II is right, the
VIII do what Is right when they grow up. hut con
slderng what religious teachers have been doing thes
900 years. II seems to that all history is agains
the conclusion az much MS Is the conduct OF tbes
wel"educaed citizens have referred to, and do no
zoe why you expect better results among the
Personal interest win sway the men In the ranks
they sway tho above them, and tlr education
which falls to make the last consult public good rattle
than private good Will fail to make the first doit Tn
benefits OF political purity are 30 general and remote
and the profits to each Individual no inconspicuO
that the common citizen, educate him MS you like wi
habituay occupy himself with his personal affairs
aud hold II not worth his while TO nght against eac
abuse as soon as II appears Not lack OF Information
but lack OF certain moral sentiments Is the root o
the evil.
No one can form anything more than vague AN
general conclusions respecting your future. III
factors are too numerous. too vast too far beyOn
measure In their quantities and intensities. III
world has never before soen social phenomena at a
comparable with those presented In the United States
society spreading over enormous tracts while sti
preserving It's political continuity Is % now thing
This progressive incorporation OF vast bodies OF I'M
migrants OF various boods has never occurred sue
scale before. Large empires composed Of difIerer
peoples, have In previous cases, been formed by con
quest and annexation. Then your Immense pleIu
| OF railways aud telegraphs tends TO consolidate th
vast aggregate OF States In way that such aggTc
gate has ever before boon consolidated. Aud ther
arc many minor cooperating causes unlike tlOt
hitherto known No one eau say how Il In all gOln
10 work out. That there win hereafter irOublt
OF various kinds, and very grave ones, seem highl
prObable but all nations have lad, aud Will have
their troubles. Already you have Tlumphed owe
| one great trouble, and may reasonably hope 10 III
nmph over others II may, think, bo REASONABLE
held that both because of Its Size aud the heterOgC
nelly OF its cOmpOnents, the American nation viii /
n long time In evolving its ultimate form, hut tn
It's ultimate form VIII be high. ono great result
think, tolerably clear. From biological truths II
TO be inferred that the eventual mixture OF the allie
varieties OF the Aryan races forming the pOpulatiO
win produce a more powerful type OF man than hi
hitherto existed, and u typo OF man more plastl,
moro adaptable. more capable OF undergoing n
notifications needful for complete social life.
think that whatever difficulties they may have 10 sui
mount, and whatever tfibu lations they may have
pass through, the Americans may reasonably loo
/ forward to u tlme when they will have produced
| IA Ia hau