The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1886-06-03
The Great Republic--A Wonderful
Record Of Progress.
From the New York Tribune. April 25.l

The Great Republic-A Wonderful
Record of Progress.
from the New York Tribune, April 25.l
Triumphant Democracy; or, Fifth Years
March Of the Republic. By Andrew
Carnegie. Svo.. pages X, $40. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
Born a British subject and naturalized
an American citizen, Mr.. Carnegie shows
for the land of his choice and long resi-
dence an intensity of love and admiration
which, as he believes, the native of the
United States can neither feel nor under
stand. He has realized in his personal
experience how vast is the difference in
the conditions Of life in the new country
and the old, how fully we have solved the
ancient problems Of human rights and
duties to the settlement of which
European nations are slowly feeling their
way, how brilliant has been the result in
our experiment in equality, and how seri-
GUS are the obstacles which privilege and
class government elsewhere place in the
path of social progress. Nobody can ap-
preciate the blessings of equality so well
as the man who has tried living and work
ing under both monarchy and republic.
1t is greatly to Mr.. Carnegle's credit
that he retains a strong affection for the
country of his birth and a great respect
for the splendid qualities Of the British
people. He detests their political system,
but he admires them and his first object
in writing this book is to show them how
much more surely and rapidly national
prosperity and individual happiness can
be attained through republican .institu-
tions than under the class-rtic which still
presses upon nearly every people of the
Old World. A second object of the book
is to force upon Americans more lively
sense of their own advantages. 1t can
not be said that as community we are
inclined to make too modest an estimate
of our achievements nevertheless it will
do us no harm to be reminded how much
of our material prosperity is direct re-
suit of our political system and Mr..
Carnegie adds that some of the facts he
has to set forth will astonish Americans
themselves. This is certainly true.
The book may be described as fervent
exhibition of statistics. 1t is an expan-
sion and justification of the text which
forms the first sentence of the first chap
ter sThe old nations of the earth creep
on at a snail's pace the Republic tllun-
ders past with the rush of the express.
We recall no work in which the material
progress. The rate of development. and the
boundless variety of resources of the
United states are displayed more com
pletely. none in which the comparison
with other countries is drawn more effect
lively. and none i'll which more brilliant
use is made Of figures, Mr.. Carnegie
takes the dry summaries of the census.
and with few striking illustrations he
turns them into wonder tables. He is
concerned rather with practical results
than with social and political theories ::
but he points out briefly some of the great
causes which have enabled the Republic
to utilize its vast natural resources SO
much more completely and rapidly than
other nations. First is matter of race.
1t is the browning mercy of Providence to
this continent that the American people
are essentially British. In 1910, that is
just before the tide of immigration set in
strong. the white population of the United
States was IA 900, almost entirely of
British origin and Mr.. Carnegie presents
an interesting calculation that at the date
of the last census Q8S0) the white popu-
lation was still four-tifths British, NEARLY
five-siXth. the immigration other than
British amounting with its natural in
crease to no more than 100000 out of a
total of 1927 900 white inhabitants. The
fraction which is not British is principally
German. The loose hot ion so often ex-
pressed that the Americans are fast hn-
coming a highly mixed population. with
traits of many races and the character of
none. is unfounded. We have all the
stability, vigor, enterprise daring, and
self-control of the original stock, together
with a vivacity and pliability quite our
own. AS for the allegation that the
Americans--or the Amer lean race. as Mr..
Carnegie chooses to call them-are falling
behind the others in natural fecundity,
our author dismisses that as fiction. The
ratio of increase in the native population
from 1870 to 1880, was 81 per cent, and
that of the total population about the
same. This is far greater than the rate of
increase in any European country.
The second great cause Of our rapid de-
velopment is the honor in which labor is
universally held in the United States.
Although a leisure class seems to be form
ing itself in our large cities it can hardly
be looked upon as a permanent class, and
the habits and traditions of the Republic
are all opposed to hereditary idleness.
The great fortunes are soon divided and
absorbed The millionaires are nearly all
hard workers and it is popularly consid-
cred discreditable to a man to have moth
ing to do. This is the direct result of the
republican system of equality. Under a
government of privilege the laborer is
always an inferior, and the honors OF The
State are reserved for those who do moth
ing to earn them. A third cause of our
prosperity is the universal diffusion OF
education, and this again is direct con-
sequence Of our form of government, in
which the State, calling all citizens with
out distinction to an equal share in the
control of public affairs, is bound to equip
them all impartiaIly for that high duty.
The United States is the only country in
the world which spends more for schools
than for military and naval ornaments.
1t spends about 1893, 100000 for education
and SIT 100000 for war. 1t spends for
education nearly three times as much as
Great Britain, three times as much as
Germany, and six times as much as
France.
Mr. Carnegie takes up the catalogue Of
our practical achievements in detail, sur
yeying the growth of our cities and towns,
the astonishing Improvement in the condi-
tion of life, the prospects of religion, the
absence of paupelism and to each OF the
leading depal tments of industry be devotes
"a sreoial chapter. The proportion OF
workers to the total population in 1880
was 34a per cent, an increase over 1871,
which is probably accounted for by the