The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-08
RUN DOWN THEIR HOME LAND
AMERICANS ABROAD UNPATRK-
OTTO, SAYS a TRAVELLER.
AN Europe Ready 70 believe the ''ExDos-
nrea'' u our CSrrwptness and FINDS
Toe Many Yankees VINO WIN Say They
Are Trwe-Retter ne ahe other way.

AN Europe Ready 20 Believe the "'ExDos-
nroa'' ~ 90 Csrruptnesa and FINDS
Tee Many ann VINE wul Say Thcy
Are True--Bettcr ne tine other way.
A special agent Of n Of the Govern
ment departments at Washington just
back from a prolonged tour through Europe
on a mission OF Investigation was speaking
OF he American habit OF running down
this country and Of the eject the pEactics
has upon Europeans.
Everywhere in Europe. from Paris to st.
Petersburg. 1 found a general undercurrent
OF genuine belief that the great Republic
OF the West (as some Of them called the
United States. a bit sneerinRly tool has
failed That's tho usual expression
failed They believe. that is. that our
system OF government has broken down
under its own weight to quote another
expression commonly used by Europeans
who take up this topic; that Our Constitution
has proved n fiz1le; that the States are
fighting the Federal Government tooth and
nail; that over here we're virtually on the
verge OF another civil war; that our ship
Of state is nearing the rocks.
Incredible as IL may seem. that 'rumOr'
that The American people intended to crown
~ NNOOSONoAb AAuk VI bnO OuhtSu otdLeS
found n still finds many believers
throughout Europe. They didn't take that
proposition as a joke at all. They took
it as the f~orerunning suggestion Of a fact
soon to be accomplished. The arguers
for the theory that there can be no lasting
Government that is not ruled by some sort
OF crowned head took up the absurd rumor.
magniied its Importance. treated it with
the greatest seriousness, and then became
platitudinous with their wearisome We
told-you-so style.
I'm SO enlightened a country as En- gland
they're swallowing boluses of that sort.
English writer's are writing homilies for
and about us. They're quoting everywhere
in Great Britain that careless and certainly
not profound observation made by Ma
caulay some time in the latter '5Cs to
the effect that the United States Govern
. probably would perish by the process
Of breaking under it's own weight at some
Unprophesisd time when labor came into
COniiict with capital. or something 20 that
general effect. They're very smug and
complainant in England with their predic-
tions abou what we're coming to.
Now, it's useless for an American travel
ling abroad TO enter into any sort OF argu-
ment with the folks who hold such beliefs.
WhyI Well. because the people who believe
these things have derived all Of their in
formation about tho state of things on
this side OF the Atlantic from American
publications That's the main reason. II
you undertake 20 try 10 convince a Euro
pean hat he's wholly mistaken in suppOsing
that the American Government is on the
verge Of a smash he calmly produces for
your inspection a lot Of wild articles from
American publications.
Reading this stuff the Europeans have
no OF knowing that the source Of
such knocks is anything but authoritative
that the publications that print them are
more or less dyed with the yellow; that
the municipal or State or Federal testers
dissected in these articles are not the rule
in the United States, but the exception.
You see, the average European has no
conception whatever Of the immense size
of the United States, much less Of its form
of government. So the European reading
q terrifioally worked up story ABOUT graft
and rottenness in San Fra nciscO jumps to
the prompt conclusion that the conditions
an San Francisco are merely a reflection
~ the state Of things all over the United
States. When you tell the average I'M
Of ig-nOramuses, but intelligent folk TINT
IL takes an express train, going at top apt Ell,
nes rly five days TO travel from san Fra NJ
cisco to New York he is pretty apt 10 te-
ueVe tNhb you AHe uEhWluH bUt LCnK DOW.
Even IL he takes your word for IL, such
a presentation stuns him and he doesn't ret
anywhere near to grasping the meaning
OF such big figures.
Then. too, he jumbles up in his mird
the relationship betwee the municipal,
State and Federal forms. He can't dis
sOciate these forms. They mean little or
nothing to him. II ne reads of the NUM-
cipal w~ickedness Of Philadelphia or st.
Louis OF Chicago or Minnea polls he doesn't
understand that this municipal corruption
is a matter with which the general Govern
ment has nothing whatever to do. He
hashes the whole thing up in his intellec-
tuals. and his inevitable conclusion IL that
we're rotten to the core and that we're
just naturally bound to fan
AN American travelling in Europe
in any part Of Europe-is ~astonished to
observe how infallibly every dismal, hys-
~terical. uniformed. misinformed or half
informed article printed in the United
States about United States conditions.
municipal, state or Federal-hOw infallibly
these articles are reprinted in European
publications.; how they are everywhere
translated and often distorted and
butchered and mad eSen worse in the
t~ranslations, and how thoroughly they are
believed in by the great mass Of the people
who read them.
We're the great seIf-knockers, we Ameri-