The times., 1901-06-16
AMERICA AS IT is.
The Interesting Views of Mr.. Fred
eric Harrison.
From the Nineteenth Century,

eric Harrison.
(From the Nineteenth Century,
| My own impression is that in spite Of
the vast proportion of immigrant popula-
tion, the language. character. habits of
native Americans rapidly absorb and in
corporate all foreign elements. In the
second or third generation all exotic diff
! ferences are merged. In one sense the
| United States seemed to me more homo
| geneous than the United Kingdom. There
is no State, city. or large area which has
| a distinct race of it's own, as Ireland,
Wales, and Scotland have, and, of course.
| there is nothing analogous to the diverse
| uationalities of the British Empire. From
| Long Island to San Francisco, from Flor
| ida Bay to VancOuver's Island, there is
/ one dominant race and civilization, one
| language, one type of law. one sense Of
nationality. That race, that nationality
| is American to the core And the con-
| sciousness of its vast expansion and col
! lective force fills the mind Of American
! citizens as nothing can do to this degree
/ in the nations of western Europe.
| Vast expansion, collective forge. mex
| haustibIe energy-these are the impress
| sions forced on the visitor beyond all
| that he could have conceived or had ex-
pected to find.
| No competent observer can doubt that
! in wealth. manufactures. material pro-
gress of all kinds, the United States, in
| a very few years, must hold the first
place in the world without dispute. The
natural resources OF their country ex-
ceed those of all Europe put together.
| Their energy exceeds that OF the British;
their intelligence is hardly second to that
of Germany and France And their social
Z IL. fayr n hfsl
to material development than any other
society ever devised by man.
OF course for the American citizen and
the thoughtful visitor. the real problem is
whether this vast prosperity, this bound
less future of theirs, rests upon an equal
expansion in the social, intellectual, and
moral sphere. They would be bold critics
who should maintain it, and few thinking
men in the United States do so without
qualifications and misgivings.
The whole educational machinery must
be at least tenfold that of the United
Kingdom.
This ingrained sense of the absolute
equality of all white citizens reacts on all
things Men who manage affairs of state
in their shirt sleeves are too apt to make
a rough-and-rea view of life and of
that which is becoming and right As
Mr.. Bryce has so well said. the sense of
uoblesse oblige, which still survives in
Europe as a force constraining men in
high office or in great social position, has
hardly any equivalent in American life.
Not that the representatives OF the Re
public are wanting in personal bearing.
The President sat through the ceremonies
of the Inauguration with placid dignity,
his fine features, in their stern repose
looking like a bronze figure of the Elder
Brutus or Cato the Censor. But at a per-
sonaI reception in the White House Mr.
Mckinley will show as much grace and
courtesy of demeanor as any sovereign
by divine right, and his smile and his
voice are pronounced mot only by women)
to be perfectly winning. The diplomatists
of Europe agree In assuring US that moth
ing can exceed the tact and correctness
which distinguish Mr.. Hay, the accom-
plished Secretary of State. 1t is true that
Congressman Gn the shirt sleeves) have
not that repose of manner which marks
the caste of We're de We're. But the men
who are charged TO speak in the name of
the State will usually be found to rise to
the occasion with that facility which en-
ables every genuine American TO adapt
himself to play a new part and to fulfill
an unacCustOmed duty. The Capitol at
Washington struck me as being the most
effective mass of public buildings in the
world, especially when viewed at some
distance. and from the park in which il
stands. As an effective public editice OF
a grandioSe kind. | doubt il any capital
city can show its equal
Washington, the youngest capital ~
of the world bids fair to become before
the twentieth century Is ended, the most
beautiful and certainly the most commO-
diOus.
America is making violent efforts to
evolve a national architecture; but as yet
il has produced little but miscellaneous
limitations of European types and some
wonderful constructive devices
AS To the worship of the Almighty
Dollar" neither saw it nor heard OF it.
hardly as much as we do at home. 1 may
say the same as to official corruption and
political intrigue. New York, Of course, |
has the vices of great cities, but they are
not visible to the eye, and they are
drop in the ocean of the American people.
Even the passing tourist must note the |
entire freedom of American towns from
the lndeCeucieS that are paraucd IN Eu-
ropean cities. 1 received a ttCep impress
sion that in America the relations of the |
sexes are in 4 state Ear more sound and /
pure than they are in the Old World. /
that the original feeling of the Pilgrim
Fathers about woman ana about man has
sutfced To colon the mental and moral
atmosphere.
that the New WHld offers great field. |
both moral and Jtellectual to a peace /
full development of an industrial society;
that this society Is IN the main sound, |
honest and wholesome; that vast num-
bers and the passion of equality tend to
low averages in thought, in manners. and |
in public opinion, which the zeal Of the |
devoted minority tends gradually to
RI tse to higher planes of thought and con
duct: that manners If more bOisterOus.
are more hearty than with US, and, Il |
less refined are free from some cOnVen- |
tional morsue and hypocrisy, that in cast |
ing off many of the bonds of European |
tradition and feudaI survtvals. the Amer |
icau democracy has cast off also some |
thing of the aesthetic and moral inherit |
ance left In the Old World: that the zeal |
for learning, justice, and humanity lies |
so deep in the American heart that it viii |
in the end solve the two grave problems |
which face the future of thei~- -citiZeus-i
the eternal struggle between capital and |
la bor-the gulf between people of color |
and the people of European blood
FREDERIC HARRISON.