The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-07
Ordinary Briton's Conceit
and Sublime Self-COnfi-
dence Shaken.
Ik1sTOCRATs UNCHANGED
Craze for Pleasure Paralleled
BY "Rebirth" of Religion
and Spiritualism.
nv SHAW DESMOND.


re athe human factor" America has.
rrc,o..k has usually discounted, at
times suppressed, "the human factor"
America gives 1t first place In her
nolItics. 1t runs through her heart
n heart" advertisements as through
her congresses and churches.
This Is one of those psychological
.Aems which separate American and
rnglishmen, just as they are sep
anted physically in the London
streets, where, although the doughboy
nermeates the landscape, you never
sae the Tommy and the doughboy
together.
Does the effect of the war upon the
British human factor" matter to
America? think it does. 1t matters
MT only in the prize rings Of COM
merce, where the Englishman Will be
the Americans chief opponent, but
IN those subtler arenas of the intellect
IN which the writer at least believes
America is about to challenge the
vorld. Inside the squared circle Of
the six ounce glove the knowledge or
the human factor is half the battle.
II means the same in those other
arenas.
The war has changed the American
human factor itself. despite the as
sertion of a young Englishwoman VINO
has passed some years in the States
Who said to me the other day:
"The war hasn't changed the Amer
lean save to Undue him still more
deeply with a feeling Of invulnera-
blity and dissatisfaction. Some OF
us had hoped in the States that sur
fering would bring a new spirit. But
America has not suffered enough. She
has not to mourn her millions like we
have in England"
Is she right? I don't think so.
The war has changed the human
factor in England. The man the
North American had to meet in 1914
is not the man he will have to meet
now. The effect of the war upon the
Englishwoman has been even more
vital. but she demands a separate
chapter.
That "subIime seIf-Conhdence."
In the first place, the war has
shaken the sublime self-confidence or
the Englishman. What the famous
photographer, Prof. Keane. once wrote
sdmiringly about the Englishman:
g. his quiet belief in the SUI
periority of England and all that is
English verges on the sublime. Hence
that complacent self-assurance, that
ingrained national and personal con-
ceit which prevents him from unbend-
Ing and joining as an equal -
could not be written to-day, and at no
time did it apply to other than small
minority.
The war has taught him the danger
OF isolation-the entrance of America
the significance of brotherhood. 1t
has taught him that the sticking
power" which he had always thought
perquiste of the imperial Briton is
possessed by the. people across the
Channel whom he had always re-
garded as having only an elan which
was powerless in the face Of adversely.
as the Times itself has generously ad
mitted. Even the terrible efficiency Of
brutal Prussian militarism has made
nm aware of the existence of other
forces. 1t has been a splendid lesson.
This shaking of confidence is shown
as much in the newspaper headings as
anywhere. A possible shifting of the
worlds financial centre from London
10 New York is discussed quite calmly
To-day in the papers. Five years ago
man who suggested such POSSIBLE
Ivy would have been regarded as a
candidate for madhouse or prison. \
Standing headline to-day in certain
newspapers seems to be: British ST.
premacy in Danger" usually In con-
hecuon with the American shipping
challenge. Shall the American Boss
the World?" is the weeks poster for
Hngland's most popular weekly.
Inc man Just back from the front,
VINO came yesterday to stop a gas
ieak' said resgnedly: We'll, 1 sup
pose we've got to see the Yank scoop
the lot" The editor of big London
ua1ly' fresh landed from the States,
treets me with: "Well, 1t is a ire
mendous proposition!" He was refer
ring 10 America. An official who is
neipihg to run the empires trade said
10 me; TITS going to be a hard fight.
america Is young and strong and con-
nueht and" after a moment, "or-
ganized."
mat last, coming from one Of the
former "mandarins," is to my mind
''e most significant of all.
within the last few months have
spoken to some hundreds of, "the COM
mon people"-in the North, the Mid
-aiIs and the South: In trains, at
.NAet matches, in the street. My
conversations have left no doubt in
Wy mind OF the change in the Eng
,,S''H'ah outlook on life. The man in
.ne street is no longer sublimely as
sured OF his superiority. With the
Tug nlhg OF old beliefs he is discover
s Ihe really fine qualities under
,ea'h And 1t is this new human fac
Sr which is going ultimately, and
a atet Ihe transition stage. to make the
s ,eI the war Englishman more re-
Ivpu'" and, therefore, as an antagon-
more TO be feared.
nut | am speaking chiefly OF the