The Washington times., 1922-08-06
LONDON, Aug. S.
FOREIGN ideal has been
creeping over England like

- - fever. I call Il a foreign
4 81 because II comes from an
utterly foreign country; the coun-
Try of the United States. will
no. discuss here the various delu.
sans that have made this simple
distinction doubtful to many.
vast proportion Of Americans
- not OF English extraction; and
loubt whether anybody Is of
. Aagio.Saxon extraction. To look
nowadays for Anglo-Saxons in
England Is an antiquarian antic
like looking for Jutes in JutlandI
England Is a nation, and America
is separate nation; as separate
rs France or even Ireland. Con-
sidered as foreigners. am very
fond of Americans; the more they
are American the more like them:
but the more they are American
the more they are alien.
Now the ideal I mean is that Of
what Is called success; that is. the
notion that there is something
meritorious about working very
hard for money, and the still more
Erotesque notion that there is some
thing meritorious about getting
II. am driven to call 1t a notion
because Il is hardly clear enough
really to be called an ideal.
TWO IDEALS SEEN.
There is one form OF work which
all these workers avoid at all
costs; and that is the work which
we call headwork. They will
plunge into any dissipations Of
energy in order to avoid thinking;
and thinking involves occasionally
sitting still. Hence their philoso-
ply Is q chaos Of all sorts OF
phrases to which they themselves
attach no definite meaning.
There is the word success"
there Is the word necessary:
there is the phrase wasting time"
The word success In itself means
nothing. You cannot succeed In
the abstract; you can only succeed
in doing something; and 1t all de-
pends what you are trying to do.
For instance, you may succeed In
sitting still or even in thinking.
The word necessary in itself
means nothing. A thing must be
necessary to something, and the
something Is never defined. 1t is
not necessary to bodily existence
to read a novel; still less Is 1t
necessary to wear necktie.
These American business men can
not define wasting time: they can
only do It.
This primary philosophy OF the
question is simple enough. There
are two intelligent ideals. which
may be called those Of the Pagan
and Christian; 1 do not say they
cannot be combined in the right
balance.
The one will get what pleasure
he can in his life; the other will
get what good he can for his
soul. Neither. II he is intelligent,
will admit that there is any sort
of moral obligation to succeed,
or to work for success, in the
sense of making money in the
markets of our corrupt Industrial
ism.
THE AMERICAN SPIRIT.
But that Is exactly what the
simple and enthusiastic Ameri-
can really does believe. He
brings an element of conscience
into his commercial ambition; and
seriously thinks worse of himself
II he has not got mountains OF
noney-preferabiy other peoples
money. To this superstition I
myself, as an Englishman. refuse
to show the smallest respect.
For It must be emphasized that
this money monomania Is pur-
sued at the expense. not only Of
honor, but also Of pleasure. We
will put aside, for the sake OF
argument, the much nobler thing
which have called the Christian
test, and consider solely the
pagan test Of how much we can
get out Of a life like that Of the
brutes that perish.
Now the master of Big Busi-
ness, on the American model,
Is q brute who perishes without
having got anything out of any
thing. His nerves are jaded, his
digestion is done for, his very
face Is often dried up like a
mummy's, his very demeanor in
the presence of his flamboyant
wife and daughters is that of a
dingy and overworked poor rela-
ton.
The modern millionaire is by
far the most small.minded ruler
that has ever ruled mankind. He
IL never so-small-minded as when