The New York herald., 1922-12-24
Showing Crowd Has the
Idea I Am as Good as
You Are.'
AS THEY SEE LIBERTY
Construc 1t as License-Mis
take Due to Paternalism of
Continental Europe.
by wM. STARR MYERS, PHI. d..


Professor OF Politics. Princeton Uniucr-
sity.
A very common experience for those
citizens of New York who attempt to
come uptown at the rush hour on the
subway is to try to get off say at
Fourteenth street and possibly succeed
at Grand Central. The mere sight OF
the pushing, showing crowd of human
cattle, for that is what they are, is
enough to make any person despair OF
tho future of this country. But a.
closer look at the faces and actions Of
these same individuals shows that they
are not American and do not know
what America is, or what it stands for.
Their idea Is that democracy means, to
quote Meredith Nicholson, Il am as
good as you are" and they are proceed
ing to show 1t. On the other hand. the
idea underlying that type of democracy
in which America believes is that you
are as good as l am and ! must exer-
else the consequent self-control and give
you a square deal" Putting 1t in an
other way, democracy does not mean Ii
cense. but freedom within the law. 1t
means self-restrained democracy, and
that 1 should feel the responsibility of
give You an equal chance with me.
Furthermore, glance over the names
Of the members of the Socialist party
and It's leaders shows an overwhelming
preponderancc of individuals who are
foreign born or of immediate foreign
ancestry, aud that ancestry of continent
tai Europe rather than British origin.
It Is a well known fact that Socialism
never has appealed to the people of the
United States. Great Britain or the self
governing commemorative of the British
Empire.
These countries are built up on the
principles of the English common law.
which stresses individual rights and
responsibilities. while the countries Of
continental Europe are based upon n
totally different idea. To the citizens of
these latter the state exists of Itself,
sepsrate and apart from the people. 1t
gives liberty and individual rights to
Its people. But in countries of Anglo
Saxon institutions the Government
comes up from the people. and rs merely
an added protection TO the Inherent. In
born. ''primordial' rights, as Francis
Lieber called them. which the people al
ready have. ,'
what American Equality II.
Thus II Is not surprising that our
foreign born population does not sp-
preciate the fact that America does not
stand for equality of condition, for that
Is impossible. but for equality OF op-
portunity for each individual to work
out his or her own salvation In the
economic. social and political. as well as
tho spiritual or mental spheres. This
again throws the responsibility back
upon the individual to take advantage
of these opportunities. While we be-
lieve in social legislation. We do not be-
licve in socialistic legislation. The
former Is predicated upon helping people
10 help themselves. in order to give
them an equal opportunity. Socialism
helps people in spite of themselves. and
thus paupcrizes them. Foreigners arc
more likely to be Socialists because they
expect tho state 20 give them economic
and other happiness. along with the
liberty for which our Government
stands. Our people of American stock
know that it is impossible to make
people happy by law, for happiness
comes from within. The Declaration OF
Independence declared the individuals
right to life. liberty and the pursuit
not gift, OF happiness.
According to the reports OF the
United states Commissioner OF Immi-
grafton this country has admitted n
total of 34.435,333 alien immigrants I'm
the years 1890 to 1921 inclusive. More
over. since 1895 there has been a shift
In the source of immigrants from
northern and western to southern and
eastern Europe. Thus I'm the year 1914,
Immediately preceding the war we ad-
mitted 1,21S.f30 foreigners, OF whom
about s17.550 were from Austria Hun
gary, Italy and Russia. and over 331 900
illitcrates. This means that In one
year we admitted a number OF illiterates
almost equal to the then population OF
our capital city, Washington. ID. c.
Furthermore in 1917 the United
States Government found that there
were 100000 persons of foreign birth
who could not speak English, while
100000 males OF military age (1S TO
As years inclusive) were unnsturalizcd.
Moreover. there were about 10000 men
In the training camps who could not
take the word OF command In English
and 10000 men OF the then draft age
could not read or write.
Too Many Mediocre.
The results OF the intelligence and
other examinations given by army and
ether authorities at that time have
caused a new and more recent consid-
Grafton OF tho mental ability OF our
people. While the mistake has beer
rnade OF resting conclusions exclusively
on tho army tests. yet comparison OF
the opinions Of psychologists. biologists,
social workers. students OF penoiogy.
charity organization workers. physi-
c,sns. educators. insurance experts. &c,
shows q very clear common denomina
tor OF their Views. / give this not az
absolutely correct from the mathemat-
icsi standpoint. but as showing un-
mistakably the common conclusions to
DO drawn from their opinions
According 70 this calculation. and tax
ing tho total population OF continental
United states as 100000. there arc
fS.ooo,ooo people OF subnornai intelligence
who will never pass beyond tho mental
ability OF tho normal child OF fourteen
Ncars OF age. Worse than this. there
arc 1900 900 feeble minded. or those be-
low eight years IN intelligence. This
makes 6o.ooo.ooo altogether OF subnormal
or fecblomindcd intelligence. In the
other direction there are about 5000, 900
people Of first class ability. and 1900 001
of tho second class. that Is 20 say,
tbosc whose ability is good but not OF
the finest type of mind. This leaves