The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-22

tary. Never Of old was there an
American Forefathers' Day like that
Of 1918. Probably none now realize
this more than the quondam rulers,
now hernits In Holland, and their
millions Of dupes left In the land out
Of which they sneaked.
Nourished In hundred creeds and
OF nearly rs many ethnic strains, two
million young men sprang up ready
to cross the seas and die, II need be,
for American ideals. Less spectacu-
lar bat equally real were the gen.
crosby and willingness Of patriots at
home. To spend billions, or to toll,
even abnOrmally. In their boys behalf,
was their ambition. Equally prompt
to sacrifice, yes, even to suffer, was
the daimler half Of the nation. Be-
hind every American soldier marched
woman. y All prejudlces, sectional or
otherwise. were thrown into the cru
chile Of sacrifice. Before the mean
descent flame Of patriotism every OBJ
stacle yielded like bar OF steel sawn
asunder by the ace,ylene torch.
What was the secret. the meaning
Of all this7 What the unseen element
possessing potency sufficient to inform
a body and infuse q soul out of ma
terials so diverse rs those In the
American composite? As Surely rs
ideals are not visible so also Is 1t true
that some alleged philosophers and
reputed statesmen are sightless. A
commonplace remark heard for years
In Prussia and apparently so mani
fest as to be accepted as automatic
was this: Americans have no na-
tionality, and hardly the instinct Of
It," How even whea guests in Ber-
lin we had repeatedly to listen to
this insult How fluent were the pre-
dictions in the German newspapers
just before the Spanish war that our
navy could not possibly face that Of
Spain! Our guns. our ships. and
especially our crews, were defective.
mo possible unity" mo coordina-
tion." were words Of the Prussian
chorus. Our army was a mob"
Yet while the GermanS evolved
from their inner consciousness a
United States which was as fictitious
as the creatures on medieval maps
/; the canny Scot BRYCE went in search
of reality. At first hand and sight,
, and only after years of travelled scru-
tiny, he wrote his wonderful book
The American Commonwealth" In
! this he gave the country Of Uncle
SAM the accolade. No crusader was
ever more highly honored or more
Justly appraised. In word. he saw
under well articulated organism one
animating spirit. Where Bernstorff
might discern only n heterogeneous
mass, as Of fungus or polyp, in diver
sity as Of the dust of the earth,
BRYCE beheld living soul.
This demonstration of national
unity has already surpassed even the
most grandiose dream Of our fathers,
whether Of 1920 or 1887. They did
we'll to select the national motto az
Pluribus Unum" from the sonorous
Latin Of st. AUGUSTINE. Yet which
Of them "heard the thanks of millions
yet to be"r
The impressive actually Of to-day
requires the revision even of our own
traditional pride in the single event
Of December. 1920; for that shore boul-
der. ice borne ages before from Can
ada, was more than the stepping stone
to a colossal national history. We
see now that It was the unsupported
token prophetic Of the union Of the
English speaking peoples.
All worthy as are the memorials
Of the Pilgrims In tradition, oratory,
literature and an annual festal re-
membrance, we must Widen our hori.
zon. Our intent is not for one mo-
ment to dim the halo Of persons or
to lessen the splendor of events at
Provincetown or Plymouth. Yet the
verdlcts OF critical scholarship COM
pei us to enlarge our view, enrich our
imagination and be ready for grander
interpretations In poetry and art. Not
only Pilgrim and Puritan in the East
but Walloon, Fleming and Neither
lander, Quaker, Palatinate md Scotch.
Irish In the central region, the Cath.
ollie in Maryland, English and Hugue.
not In the South, deserve very nearly
equal honor. They were God-fearing
men. loving independence, determined
to be free and equally resolved to
safeguard liberty by law. What II
most Of them were opposed to the
form and spirit Of both the churches
and the States In the semi-feudal Eu.
rope that then was? Has not history
discredited most OF the prelates and
much Of the royalty of their times
What II certain intensity Of real
ism, a determination to penetrate be.
meath and behind all symbols. domi.
mated their minds1 They loved not
beauty less but truth the more, Even
II theirs had not been the proverbial
poverty OF pioneers they would have
cast aside the ornaments and "the
letters unproliflc sheath" in order to
get at reality. For the most part
A MT cd In nil