Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-06-05
Our public Mfdiness

T~ HE average American is pretty well
satisfied with his own country and
people. However small his know
ledge of foreign lands, he has az
i ways-at least until recent years
been noted for his confident assurance
that his own land is the best the sun
shines on. He has been wont to look
upon the Old World ass "effete, and 10
resent criticism of American ways; re-
torting usually upon such criticism by
shifting the issue to soriething on which
he could advance a tn quoque to the ad-
yocate of the British German or Italian
example This provincial complaeency
has, however. received many rude shocks
of late years, and tends TO disappear
through larger contact with the world
about us Wider horizons are already be-
ginning to broaden our views of our own
institutions, and we are occasionally SUD-
tected to searchings If heart which are
no doubt good for souls.
Amid the varied shocks which our ma
tional self-satisfaction Is bound to re-
ceive in the process of our graduation
from insularity to woTld-power, there Is
one in preparation which may come as a
surprise even to well educated Americans
although it's cause has long been a mat
ter of painful consciousness to lndlVldu-
ais especially to Americans who have
travelled abroad We are slowly learning
that we are the most untidy among all
the great nations Of the world. we are
gradually awakening to the Illuminating
embarrassment of one VINO, entering
company of his fellow men, discovers that
he alone among them is shabby and un-
kempt and that he has entirely failed TO
apprehend the ideas of dress ana the
standards of personal appearance that
prevail among those whose company he II
to frequent.
The discovery that there is more of hlth,
saualor and general slovenliness In puphc
..lyaf In, At
ersides, docks, quays, roads and bridges
in the United States than in any other
country of the first or even second RANK
is a humbling but salutary experience IN
what may be called our public housskeep-
ing. in the outward appearance and main
tenance of places and works administered
nv public or semi-public enterprise, we
rank with Turkey. rather than with Eng
land or Germany. Oriental Japan, uhy
Switzerland, and slow-golng Holianu
stand far ahead of the United states IN
this respect Our national slovenliness IL
seen in dirty streets and unsightly water
fronts. in ill-kept squares, ragged slue-
walks and abominablc paVemenlsi IN
shabby railway stations and embankment
walls built up Of rotting sleepers, ana III
@ thousand shiftless substitutes ior 3oilu'
| ncrnnanent works. The unspeakable cOuh-
,ry roads which abound in so many re-
yions. not only illustrate the existence
hut also demonstrate the folly, OF TINS
semi-barbarous slackness of admihlstla-
ton: for they constitute the most c'sty
means of transportation possible, Impose
| a heavy tax on every farmer ana o'hef
resident. and are a clog upon the general
prosperity of the regions they traverse.
| Tlainess and the efficient maintenance OF
nublic works costs more in the first out-
iay than negligence; but they save TINS
/ excess many times over in the END.
Dirt has been defined as matter out OF
/ MACE disorder, as things out OF place
When both matter" and things are out
| of place. we have In the combination OF
| Firt and disorder one OF the comnonest
/ nanifestations of untidiness Now. un-
| tidiress is the unfaling concomitanl of
! wastefulness. and we are notorie ls'y
| wasteful people. We possess abundance
| of energy hut perhaps little thrift, Tidi-
| ness. like thrift. requires attention tC
| details: wastefulness scorns details But
/ untidincss is also often and largely due
/ to Ignorance and thus amenable To the
| corrective influence of educatlon-A. ID
| F. Hamlin, in Forum.