Evening star., 1922-06-04
BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER.
Especial Correspondence of The Star ant
Chicago Daily News.)

BY PAUL SCOTT MOwRER.
Especial Correspondence Of The Star and
Chicago Daily News)
PARIS, France, May 16.-If open
mindedness is a virtue then preju-
dice. which means the passing of
judgment before the weighing of
evidence. is a vice. There are Just
now two prejudices intervening be-
tween the people of the United States
aud an open-minded estimate of the
requirements of our new position in
the world. One is the belief that
We are blessed with an inherent
moral superiority over the other
denizens of the globe The second
is the suspicious fear that, by COM
ing into touch with foreign nations,
we lay ourselves open to being
harmed or tricked, or evilly en-
tangled. Until we can eradicate
these two prejudices there is little
hope that we shall be able to take
other than distorted view of our
foreign affairs.
efgn Relations" Prof. Willis Fletcher
Johnson makes of our notable de-
ficiency in this respect the following
lively Indictment: The British ma
tion. from which We are chiefly
sprung. is often spoken of as in
suIar'; but its insularity is vastly
apd generously comprehensive. in
contrast 10 the bigoted, parochial
egotism of its gigantic offspring.
From this excess of adulatory intro
Spection, this sometimes SNUG ana
some times hifalutin self-complacency
and this lack of appreciative per-
spective and proportion in viewing
other nations and their affairs have
arisen many of our domestic ana
most of our external ills
No Need IN SfresS Point.
There is no need to stress the
point. Every American knows that
we consider our customs. our insti-
tutionS. our motives and our state
of progress TO be far in advance of
those of any other national group
We have done our full duty to the
rest OF the world. we think, by set
ting it a splendid example. If the
world will not follow the fault is
not ours. Let us, at least. preserve
keeping out of bad company:
Within certain limits, it is right
and even vital that we should pc
lieve invincibly in ourselves. our
deed, good; they fit us. Our motives
. generally speaking, are really nigh
minded. Our state of progress, II
not actually superlative- does, al
least. compare favorably with any
Moreover. self confidence is leaven-
ing force of such power that. to a ma
tiop of heterogeneous composltlon'
like our own, it is really lndlspe hsa
Bile. This is the thought underlying
the present characterization cam
paign among our foreiSn-born resi-
dents, and ii is sound.
When self-confidence. however. pc
comes elf-complacency. that is an
other matter. We live in changing
world, and progress is a coquettish
mistress. quick to abandon the pre-
tender who no longer is assiduous IN
his courting. Given that We are, lead
ing the van, we cannot hope long to
continue to do so if we sit down to
doze comfortably under our lauTeIs
1t behooveS us to be restless TO as
certain INCREASINGLY what others are
planning and doing, and. without 60
ing counter to our own proper char
acter and OUT own more salutary
traditions. to adapt to our own uses
whatever is good. wherever we find it.
Must Watch Future.
Again. are we inherently superior to
other peoples. or only temporarily
and accidentally so? Or conversely,
are other peoples necessarily, by
kind of geographical and ethical pre-
destination our interiors, or have they
been outdistanced merely through the
fortuity of circumstance? If the for
rIer, then, of course, we have no need
to worry; the heaven of our self
satisfaction will continue cloudless.
If, on the other hand. the outlander's
inferiority is found to be rather the
result of changing circumstance than
of an irrevocable decree OF tate,
vigilance is to be recommended, for
the old breeds are by no means recon-
ciled to falling obsequiously into sec
Ond or third place, and the race will
be not to the runner who stultities
himself with overconfldence or the
benum bing sense of moral superiority
but TO the swiftest. strongest and
most actively intelligent.
One may we'll be perpleXed whether
to marvel more at the differences which
separate and diversity the various in
dividuals and races of the earth or at
the profound identity by which black,
brown, yellow and white we are all
united. To the alert eye and mind the
differences are undoubtedly the more
striking: yet the identity, human and
ineradica BILE. lies buried there under
the outward appearance, ever ready
to echo to the throb of a kindred
emotion.
Despite this fundamental identity it
would be fatuous not to take full ac-
count of our human divergences.
People vary. both in kind and in the
degree of their development. Most of
Africa. parts of Central and South
America. parts of Asia are too primi-
tive to have much meaning for us.
Other parts of Asia and of Africa
have civilizations far removed
from our own in kind that we are
scarcely able even to raise the Ques-
tion of degree.
Tread on Marshy Ground.
Cufturally, we are born of the re-
1igious inspiration of Palestine. and
Of the arts. laws and PHILOSOPHERS of
Greece and Rome. We belong to the
great white race of Europe, which
in the last four centuries in a mag
nificent burst of intelligent power
has established it's dominion over
most of the globe, exploiting, order
ing, coloniZing. Within this race our
least aflnities are with the peoples of
eastern and southern Europe; our
greatest with the peoples of the self
governing British dominions. But
both we and these self-governing
dominions-and, indeed, we to
greater extent than the dominions-
are vitally bound, racia1ly, culturally,
I intellectually, to the divers peoples of
as it were, single great dominant
group. representing what is at least
the highest material civilization the
world has ever seen. Scotland, Eng
land. Ireland, Scandinavia, Holland,
Germany. Belgium. Switzerland,
France, Italy, even Spain and Portu-
gal-these nations, for all their diff
feTences from US and from one an
/ other. are our intimate kinsfo1k, over
! whom to pretend to an intrinsic
| moral superiority is to tread on
marshy ground.
{ I know western Europe pretty WELL
] know, or think know, the cunning
distinctions of character, thought and
great and highly civilized groups Of
nenn1e Mnch lova opd roCpacf