Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-07-05
But there is now a marked con

LUZ NhClc 10 uOW lHdTkcu con
trast between the two governments,
and the nature of the two peoples.
Our ship of state has sailed on, and
not only become strong and great,
but has been so thoroughly refitted
with new machinery and rigging,
that she is recognized as the flagship
Of the fleet of the new and wonder
full civilization of the nineteenth
century. She has also impaired a
certain character to her crew by
which an American can be recogniz-
ed in multitude. English customs
are the result of gradual dccretiOn
for which the habits and manners of
former ages furnish at once the foun-
dation and mould, and the habits
cling to and distinguish the English
man wherever he goes.
In the eyes of the Englishman
nothing is right unless it is copied
from an English pattern. This is
not surprising, for the germs of civil
lization were scattered in the Island
by the Romans nearly 1900 years
ago, and such a sturdy, reputable
and venerable growth has resulted as
would naturally produce an abundant
harvest of conservatism.
The English peasant is the fixed
product of the soil on which he sub
sists, to such an extent that each
county has its characteristic brogue,
while from the personal experiences
of the people of an American county
the geography of the world could be
reproduced, and since the people of
no two states, cities or even villages
are derived from the same source,
customs and habits must vary ac-
cordingly and continually change
with the influx of new elements.
The unbounded enterprise of this
union of races requires but a few
days to call cities into existence and
to transform the wilderness into pro-
ductive fields, which has caused the
granaries of the world to overflow.
No one locality is so superior to an
other, that It's people become ,cel3ed
TO it, no custom or habit acquires
such hold that it may not be shak
EN- off, no matter how much revered
by our immediate ancestors.
Every Englishman is born to a
social position in which he must al
most invariably live and die. The
instances are few of any rising above
the plane of life in which his parents
moved.
In America, it is true, we worship
money, but there is no real caste
A man is entitled to the position he
wins, but only while his own abili-
ties enable him to hold it. The poor
mans son of one generation becomes
the millionaire of the next, while
the prodigal son of the rich com
mands less respect than the common
laborer. In America ability, indus
try and perseverance, not ancestry,
win the battle.
In England they still lay enor-
nous taxes for the support of the
church, while we Americans pay
this tax for the education of the chill
dren. The public schools of the
state of New York contain more pu-
pills than all the schools of the labor
ing classes of England combined, for
the youth of aristocracy attend eX-
pensive private schools. In Amer
lea rich and poor drink the same
knowledge from the same fountain.
Across the water there is no effort
to make higher education popular.
At Oxford an education costs fully
twice as much as the fees of Yale
and Harvard combined.
Mechanical ideas and inventions do
not meet with that ready reception
among English capitalists that they
do among Americans, simply from
difference in education of the two
nations, and the consequent hesitaEcy
of the man, who has no industrial ed
ucation to engage in an enterprise,
for which his education does not
qualify him to Judge accurately of
its ultimate success. The English
man hesitates to educate his son in
the mechanical arts, which are still
little outside the bounds set by
social caste. The American capital
ist sends his sons to scientific and
technical schools.
Whatever their religious or ire
ligious veiws may be, Englishmen
are compelled to pay tax for the
support of the church, equal to all
our direct taxes combined.
This contrasts strikingly with the
manner in which our churches are
supported or perhaps | should say
unsupported, also the American min
ister of the Gospel obtains his exalt-
ed position in the church only by SUI
perior talents and piety, while an as.
pirant for honor in the church of
England should have the blood of
duke in his veins to merit the crown
and surplice.