New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-15
CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
Wbitelaw Reds "Amercan and English Studies
Reflections on Government and Other
Topics-FIistory and Criticism.

I, in view throughout. his sympathy ior
those commentators-like Carlyle ana
Emerson-who attribute success in ma
ton building not to the chemical proc
esses of materialism. but to the virtues
in men. The success Of the great demo-
cratic experiment on these shores was
made first of all. he maintains, as most
successes are, by character. America
in the making" he continues, was IN
telligent moral. religious. ana reiiSio
! ly devoted to the education OF chlldrei''
1t was desperately earnest. Ii was
alert and Observation-Disclosures without
class that only amuses itself. III was
passionately attached to its personal
rights 1t had an Unborn respect lor
authority and reverence for law lts
ancestors had been used to represent
institutions for centuries. and II was
Thoroughly trained in parliamentary
government
Through all the adventures oil COL
onists making their homes in the VIII
derness. through the bitterness OF war
and through the hardly less strenuous
industrial developments of peace MI
Reid holds fast to the American spirit
II is his leading motive, and TO IL ne
makes his appeal when, again ana
again. he has to reckon with changing
conditions and to point out the dangers
which they have so often created. Thus
his paper on Organization in American
Life" and the one which follows, On
The Danger Point in Immigration
both urge non partisan return TO first
principles. Political parties are neces-
sarv. he says. and labor unions, too
but he protests against the exercise OF
tyranny through selfish organization IN
either sphere demanding, instead, the
organization which means cooperation
He would yield to no one in support Oh
our government as providing refuge
and a protection for the oppressed
alien. Lifelong observation had shown
him the value to us of millions of the
immigrants who have been welcomed
here. But he was not for a moment
hind to the peril of turning the United
States into a kind of dumping ground
for human refuse. Dstrusting alike the
self-interested arguments OF the cap
tains Of industry and the easy gem
civilizations of the vote-seeking dema =
eogue. he uttered this stern warning:
u We sill refuse to sift our immigra-
tion. If we still refuse TO require llOln
newcomers some lntelKeehce anu k ,pnm
Character and thrift before We ask theni
to helm us conduct our own goNeTnHlentt
il we neglect to hinder the pan OF poH-
tc!ans for gathering IN new states III e .l,e
American Union from the Carlppean oga.
from the Chinese Sea, or from Polyneaid'
II we refuse TO protect individual lhitla-
tive and fail TO keep white labor free
home. if we persist in making TINS land
an asylum for the anarchist ana oulSdS'a
from every other civilized lana IN tne
uoTId the common sewer for Christen-
dom-if we stu persist III all thls' tnch'
, to the imperfect vision OF the human es e,
| the path of our uneXampled progress
| seems likely some day to lead into hope
I less acknowledgements and end In an tHPd6S''
4 from which advance is improoaple.
Here. and elsewhere, he makes his
plea with that disinterested accent TO
which we have already referred. His
case is stated, but he leaves 1t. so far
as possible, to speak for itself. He
shrank from the hortatory note. Much
editorial experience had taught him
that too fervidly TO labor good counsei
is TO deprive it Of half its force, and
llong diplomatic service only confirmed
him in the cultivation Of light touch.
That, he knew. is never Incompatible
with the gravest earnestness. The du-
ties Of an ambassador, and. conversely.
those Of the people behind him, have
been discussed by generations of public
men. but it is doubtful If anywhere
even in exhaustive treatises on the sub
ject the gist of the matter has been
more cogently or more good-humoredly