The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-02
Differing Standards.


Differing Standards.
That the viewpoints OF the east are
in many respects different from those
Of the west is shown in more ways than
finance. 1t Is noted by many who at
tended the recent arbitration conven-
tion at Washington that from the east
came almost the only protest which
was uttered against war and especially
against those implements and mechan-
lsms of war which n prudent regard for
the national safety deems desirable as
a reserve force in emergency; while
the west. with enthusiasm and
singleness Of opinion. stood for q
larger navy, better coast defences,
an increased regular army and spirit
OF respectful but unflinching firmness
In the conduct of our foreign affairs.
Commenting upon this divergence Of
sentiment, z. v. smalley, himself a
delegate, writes to the Chicago Times
Herald: "Thc convention was very
largely made up Of college presidents
and professors, doctors of divinity and
retired politicians long past the COM
bative period Of life-all men of peace.
Still there was a considerable element
OF delegates which applauded the sem
timent. which came from the far west
that we have rights and duties In the
family Of nations, and that to main
tain our rights and perform ouc duties
we must be seq power; that we must
be prepared for war by coast defences
and an adequate navy to make our de-
mands for arbitration effective; that
to extend our commerce we must show
our flag around the globe; that in the
midst Of q world at arms, where great
nations are competing sharply for ter
ritory and for commercial advantages,
the United States cannot afford to rely
solely on her moral influence. II the
doctors Of divinity and the college
presidents and u few anglomaniacs
from New York and Boston had been
allowed to go on undisturbed the con-
vention, called to consider In busi-
ness-like way the best means Of avert
ing war with the nation with which We
have the most conflicts Of interest.
would have been turned into an old
fashioned peace and non-resistance
meeting. such as the Quakers used to
hold every year in Philadelphia"
It IL possible that Mr.. Smalley draws
an exaggerated picture; yet the differ
ing tendencies to which he refers are
readily apparent to those who have
eyes to see. There may be virile men
and patriotic men in the east; there
are unquestionably plenty Of them all
over this eastern country. Yet 1t is
fact Of record that as the east has
grown citified and cultured It has
grown also, to q considerable extent.
weak and anaemic. The drift Of the
times in the east Is away from hard
common sense and toward anglomania
or some kindred symptom Of degenera-
ton. Eastern people Of the weather.
class tend more and more to buy for
eign books. pictures and statuary; to
wed their daughters to foreign aristo-
era6; to copy foreign social customs
and to fall gradually into the bad habit
Of imagining that whenever a differ
ence arises between the United States
and foreign power the United States,
quite as matter Of necessity, Is in the
wrong. It therefore follows that they
have little sympathy with manifesto
tions Of the American spirit, at which
they come in time to sneer and to which
they have applied, as IL 1t alone set
tied the matter, the eplthet of jingoism.
This sneer is very faithfully expressed
in this months Forum by that incom-
parable exponent of Anglicanism in
America, z. L. Godkin. He deprecates
the fact that the west has hitherto been
SO busy reaping wheat and mining ore
that It has not yet accumulated the cul-
ture which teaches that we, in America,
are. after all, crude and vulgar lot.
who ought Immediately to humble our
selves before foreign interests and con-
slider It compliment when Europeans,
with their many centuries Of ancestors,
condescend to indicate to US what they
should like to have us do for them.
These are not his words. The latter
are put in much more grandiloquent
vein. But the foregoing is his idea.
translated into the language of the
herd. Because the west has not yet
been emasculated by civilization" suf-
ficiently to cause It to fall in with his
more recherche ideas Of national duty
and destiny. Mr.. Godkin is pleased to
bestow upon It, not only in the Forum
article, but in the columns of his Even
Ing Post. his distinguished disapproba-
tion.
Yet crude a. the western and middle
states may seem. when regarded from
~ New York or The Boston staudpoint