New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-11
Mr. /RNOLD ON AMERICA.

MR.. IRNOLD ON AMERICA.
Mr. Matthew Arnold, while considering the
United States very uninteresting and uncivil-
lied country, admits that it is a paradise for
working people Their clothing, he says, is
nearly as cheap as in England, and their plain
food is cheaper, while luxuries OF certain
kind, like ice and fruit, are within thelr reach
For the class of people whose income 10 less
than three or four hundred pounds) year. nc
comedies that "things in America are 1aVor-
able.n at is easier for them there than In the
Old World TO rise and to make their fortune"
and "society seems organized for their benefit"
"Tbe humber kind Of work." he remarks sue
c;nctly "is better paid" These frank ad-
missions from the English social philosopher
are the strongest possible testimony 10 the
real merits of American civilization. When
we use the word civilization" we do not, OF
course, accept his definition Of it, which is SIM
ply meaningless. "The Illumination Oh man
in societyn is an unintelligible phrase What
writers like Guizot mean by civilization Is
progress in the art of political government;
and in this sense American civilization accord
ing to Mr.. Arnold can be subjected to the su-
preme test, namely, efficiency in promoting the
comfort. welfare and advancement Of the lower
or working classes. Americans can ask for no
higher encomium on their country than this
candid confession that society is organized here
for the benefit. not of wealth, fashion or aris-
tocracy but of the humber and working
classes, who live comfortably, are not denied
Injuries, and are in the way of rising and max
ing their fortunes.
What Mr.. Arnold deplores in American civil
ization is the absence of what is interesting"
He affects to describe by this word " the human
ization of man in society" or what human ma
ture demands in civilization If it is to stand as
a high and satisfying civilization" American
life, he complains, is deficient in what is beautl-
ful and in what is elevated The architects
can build massive business blocks and pleasing
villas but nothing that is beautiful. There Is
neither art nor literature. The towns are in
appropriately named. Farmers instead OF be-
coming attached to their homes and beautify-
ing their grounds grow restless, sell out to Irish
immigrants and 90 West where they can make
more money. The newspapers contain news
for the servants hall. There is neither beauty
nor distinction anywhere. The whimsicalltles
of "the funny man. and "the glorfication of
the average man. are against Z" the sense OF
eleyation,n and combine to make American life
wholly uninteIesting.
This is the way in which Mr.. Arnold runs on
about the deplorable state of affairs here. Much
of what he saws may be true in a measure. The
architects here are not building great cathe-
drals and picturesque castles; but for that mat
Ter neither are English architects. The towns
have been incoherently named, the early Eng
lish settlers having set the bad fashion OF re-
pcating European or classical names, instead OF
confirming themselves to words of Indian origin.
Farmers are restless and inclined TO better their
circumstances like the hundreds of thousands
of English immigrants who abandon their ma
tive heath every decade. The newspapers
might be less hippant, although they seem to
the ordinary mind rather more interesting"
to use Mr.. Arnold's word, than the English
journals with their verbatim accounts OF Parla-
ment and litigatiOns IN courts. That the sense
of high things in general and of Mr.. Arnold in
particular might be cultivated to great advan-
tago is the ethical teaching of his structures,
and VIC dare say he is right about it. Yet when
he has said all, and has supplemented his cata-
logue of tho defects OF American civilization
with recital of his own painful experiences
with paragraphers and satirists, he bleSscs like
Balaam of old whom he would curse. BY his
own canons of criticism American civilization
satisfies the highest and noblest demands of
human nature, and consequently is interesting
of itself and ought to interest him.
| That state of society in which " the human
| ization of man" has reached a level where the
humber classes thrive, live comfortably, have
luxuries within their reach, and are enabled to
rise steadily and make their way must be of a
high order of civilization. This is what human
nature demands-that political government shall
be so ordered that the great mass of the COM
| munity shall find the conditions favorable to its
| welfare. This is what Mr.. Arnold says has
| hammered in the United States and therein he
should find the beauty OF social order, the Gle
walton of democratic institutions and the per-
lection of scheme of political and economic
government. He finds none of these things
because. as he confesses, he is not interested in
anything so vulgar and commonplace as ma
terial progress and the well-being of all classes
|