New-York tribune., 1897-07-29

We have had crudity held up to us so persistent
ly as a standard that we are inclined to CONSIDER
these readers Of the best books and interpreters
| OF the best music as lonesome exiles In Kansas
| and perhaps most unjusty. They probably lorm
| a small ar1 influential part OF the community
there as elsewhere. though to judge from MI
Whites description their surroundings are de-
pressing and narrowing
But more important than the question Of the
! number of the enlightened is that OF the open
; ness Of the rank and file to influence. Mr.
! Whites town of pretentiously shabby houses
simple democratic society and good morals
exhibits exactly what Mr.. Arnold called
! "middle-class virtues" meaning by that term
| no opprobrium but using 1t merely to describe
| a one-sided existence which he thought charac-
| teristic Of the English middle class and or the
| great body of Americans. These Kansas people
| have conduct which is, after all, the greatest
thing in life: they have equality they nave SIM
| plcity; they have mobility. Those are great ad-
| vantages If they accepted for what they are
worth and made the groundwork Tor supse-
ouently rounded life. But such society is lack
ing In distinction and real sense OF beauty. II
is moi interesting 1t has not solved the human
nroblem Not that IL is to- blame for that or
that il is peculiar In that imperfection. IL is
the characteristic Of all narrow society isolated
from the great world. And the complex organi-
zation Of that great world likewise has its de-
fects What is wanted is an understanding by
each Of It's defects and striving for the
others exceencieg. How much better LONDON
or Paris or NewYOrk would be II their con-
ventions merely conserved virtues and never
protected vices On the other hand. how much
more worth living would life be in Kansas II
rudeness were not glorifed as self-respect and
pointed to as the fine flower of American civil
ization Society in the isolated small town every
where is unable to conceive Of conditions differ
ing from those with which 1t is familiar. The
great world to 1T is always wrong, hollow. insin-
cere decadent. That spirit prevails in the New
England village well as in the Kansas town.
Aside from the differences due to newer physical
surroundings and the fact that the Kansas towns
are seats of local government and not mere
hamlets with none but farming interests, the
spirit appears TO be he same East and West.
Mr. White has no antagonism to the older
civilization himself and does not hint that the
Kansas people have, yet the attitude of those
who in recent years have spoken for them
makes any estimate of the quality OF Kansas
civilization hinge on the question whether ths
society he tells Of is means or an end in the
view of those who form IT. 1t Is all very good
in its way. 1t may be accepted for what 1t Is
;eorth. and it is worth great deal. but 1t has
limitations If the Kansas people are TO hold II
up as a standard and ideal Of what American
life should be. if they to deny the need of
the things which the cultivated European or
Fastener feels the want Of, If they are going
to assert that 1t Is not crude and narrow. and
that it does not need contact with older civ-
zation they will simply prove to the world that
-, h,t,,,
problem for that beginning requires open-mind
edness. selfeXamination. liberation, sense OF
the many -sidedness Of civilized life. II. on the
other hand. they really accept their simple order
and morality, their schools (which are not the
best possible" their dark age theatres and their
e p Roe tastes as the starting point for bet
ter things. they will have the regard Of all
lovers of progress
They are sensitive doubtless. The older COM
nunities perhaps seem supercilious and conde-
scendng They surely need not be, for they have
problems enough Of their own. And yet Kansas
must not wonder II its civilization Is misunder-
stood. 1t has been the typical centre OF agita-
ton against conservative standards. It's ora
tors have spread the notion that Kansas did not
care for abroad" that it considered it unpatr-
otic to copy European at or politeness, that
its ideal for America an cTergrown farm
house family scornful of the manners ana the
wisdom of the great world. 1t Is. of course.
unjust to assume that this is the feeling OF Mr.
Whites typical town or that his people VINO
read the best books and go to Chicago each year
are not It's honored leaders. But this unjust as
sumption would be made less frequently in all
good faith. and that lack Of sympathy between
East and West which many think forbodes i'll
would be less menacng If We were not constantly
told that the old standards had been super
seded that complex civilization must be
overthrown and that hired men with their
ideas of finance. of society. Of books and OF
pictures must dominate the land. The East may
lack understanding and be irritatngly com
placent as Mr.. Lowell thought Europeans were.
but it certainly does not pretend that the ma
chnery of its social and industrial life is suited
to the simpler and newer conditions of the West
r. G. r. B.