New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-09-03
TIE TYPICAL AMERICAN.

TIE TYPICAL AMERICAN.
ma tho opinlon Of Europe generation or
. 80, ,bot America was one of the least inter
.s.,r, countries in the world. and as "" roN
,...,,. - ourselves we are willing to admH the
.,,he+ontial truth Of the charge. SegIega''"
so,, tbo rost of the world and occupied aIHoS'
,bo,,v in making strong and enduring the foun-
do+,one If their National life. the people OF me
1-ri,sd States presented to the superficial eye ol
t,,rona little that was picturesque or distinctive
rhon later came the period when queer Amer
,cons If all kinds found vogue abroad. ue'auS'
flair neculiarities Of speech or manner ana eve"
.hoir lanses from good breeding. amused 'H'
,Ios6 boirs Of tho ages Men and women WI"
nod exhausted every other form Of piquan'
o,nusement hailed with delight tho advent oi
.to crro,s outlandish person whose ordinary
conservation was "hifaluin' Grafton VINO
constantly bOasted that his country c"uld H'h
all creation" and whose fcats at table with ms
trifo sucqosted those Of the sword swalloWer III
tho nenny show II was This sort Of man VINO
corne widely 70 be known as the "Typcal Amer
lcon" IN Europe. oven by intelligent people. II
,ros useless TO point ont the fact that such
Americans were no more representative or ms
country than the London AIRY Is representa-
,ivo of England The fat went forth thar thoy
,vora "tvuical" and in the everyday philosophy
n rho modern world sort of divine Inspiration
envelops tho word typical
Rut the Identification Of The typical American
&c NOT such an easy task. Many Of Ms indeed
today are more than half convinced that there
are no typical Americans al all. and never were
any # was told Of the late Edward a. Free
man tho English historian, that during his last
visit 10 this country he determined to run ulS
elusive individual to earth, and that after Scour
,no New England and the Middle States ne
e,orr found him in a "dugout' on Kansas
nroirie The story may be apocryphal for IN
nolnt ~ fact no one community, either East or
Uost nroduces men who fill out the rather
vague idcalisic picture suggested by lncl' Sam
ord prother Jonathan Indeed. these men them
sol,.oe II thoy oyer existed outside the fancy OF
tho cartoonist. would today stand for only an
,rconeiderable segment Of the Nation. Not only
have the Down East" Yankees whom they
wore supposed to represent changed radically
during the last fifty years but even the Yankee
has ceased 10 be the prevailing factor in the
nonularlon though the ideals Of the Yankee
still largely shape the life and thought OF the
Nation Other peoples besides the British, and
other races besides the Anglo-Teuton. must De
Italian and Greek, Dutchman and Jew Bone
milan and Hun. negro and Japanese-these are
only few Of the strangely assorted races that
to,o heon thrown into the crucbe Of this con
plomerate Republic IN order that they may come
out of it in some sort typical Americans
Under these circumstances the search for the
tvn,cal American must he for n long time sort
Of chronological game of blind mans bun IL
would be far more useful r. give up the search
entirely. and instead study with some care the
many variant and contradictory kinds Of Amerl-
cans that in the aggregate make up the Ameri-
CON rAonle While as we have said. New-Eng-
land largely dominates the life and thought OF
the Nation. it is curious fact that New-Engand
has always produced Brahmin caste Of men
Who hold aloof from tho currents Of National
osniration. II we analyze this feeling we shall
And that It proceeds from a sort Of parochallSm
that rho Yankee has inherited from England
and which. in the old country. has produced me
rittle Englander Such men we find 10 be
ouiet. housekeeping people satisfied with the
duu routine Of their village life anxious only 70
nrosper IN business. and contemptuouSly indlf-
forent 70 the welfare or the fate of the great out
side world. What do We care for abroad Is
tho question Of this TYPE Of American. Almost
uncOnSCiOuSy he JOCKS III every '"iHE li"'" '''
,oint NJ Wow Of his personal interests; he Is
magnihcentlv egocentrc Boston IS not cilF'
II il n state Of mind once said General Horace
Porter. and there ls a touch Of truth IN me
epigram
The mental ferment of New England mas
without douh; produced much that is valuable
IN orr National and social life. But II Is equally
true that il has also produced much that Is triV-
,al transtory and vain 'isms' without mum
her in theology queer and nnworkable expert
ments in sociology and 4 Grass and grabbed diet
tartism in politics that has made many OF its
greatest public men the unstable leaders Of lost
and diving causes.