The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-19

eral soul shall be made fat" The age
of the average American is thirty
seven years, and his annual income
seven hundred and fifty dollars. His
three children are better fed and bet
ter clothed tnan are the children of
any other average national type.
Mr.. Gannett you observe, confines
himself to physical characteristics.
But a more important question is,
What sort of character has the aver
age American . In the larger qualities
of heart and head, how would he COM
pare with the average Englishman or
German or Frenchman? 1t is this
question to which l shall try to suggest
an answer, though / must promise at
no claim to completeness and that
the average American of today will
not be the average American of to-
morrow.
There are five qualities in which it
seems to me that the average Ameri-
can may confidently challenge COM
parison with the average representa-
tive of any other nation, past or pres
ent, and there are two qualities in
which he seems to me inferior to the
average types of other great nations.
ask you now to de-nauOnaize your
self for a while and to approach the
subject neither aS a eulogist nor as
a censor, but as an impartial stu
dent. Remember, too, that the subject
is one of vast significance; for just
as surely as the lives of our national
heroes show us what American in
StitutionS may do in exceptional
cases, the character of our average
man shows us what American institu-
tions have done in the majority of
cases.
The quality that lies at the basis Of
oil afr1aS iaI ixrjdtI oil &c
courage; and it deserves this pre-emi-
nence. for it is the virtue which gives
security to all other virtues. No truly
great man ever lived who was not
brave. Ben Johnson says,
MANS Valor is the salt, t his other
virtues,
They're all unSeasoned without it."
| hazard nothing in saying that the
average American is as brave as the
average of any other race whatsoever.
have seen in foreign journals many
taunts and jibeS at the expense of
Americans; | have never seen Ameri-
can bravery called into question. From
his earliest contests with the Indians
the American has given abundant il
lustration both of the courag4 that
dares and of the fortitude that bears.
Call it what you will, pluck"
"spunk,' sand, grit" or back
bone" our history shows more illus
trations Of it than our language has
names for it. And the battlefield has
not been its only arena nor the only
measure of it's genuineness. Civic
and social and religious crises have
called for it i'm ever period of our his
tory. and they have not called in vain.
American literature has more trib-
utes to courage than to any other sin
gle virtue. a recent critic has de-
clared that the first characteristic of
our prose style is resoluteneSS. The
thought is a suggestive one. There
is undoubtedly in the speech of the
average American a frank outspoken-
ness that differentiates it sharply from
the speech of foreigners of the same
class. II is not the note of defiance
except, perhaps defiance of English
grammar: it is rather the expression
of self-conscious independence, a
passing challenge to conventionalism,
and an almost whimsical determina-
ton to give prompt and adequate ex-
preston to what he thinks and feels
But courage both in peace aud in
war is the heritage of the American
He comes of brave stock. He is broth
er to the Norwegian. the Swede, the
Icelander the Dane. the Hollander, the
German, and the Englishman. All be-
long TO the Teutonic race, which has
starred the pages of history with it's
victories Says Holmes.