The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-21
AMERICAN TYPE
STILL LACKING,
SAYS DUKE
LeinsteF Finds Henry Ford and
FIatiron Building Symbols
Of Country.

peer, the DUKE Of Lei1ster, recent
Iy visited AMseficG TO complete
plans for d race across the At
l0sstic this saesNtter ~ a tsOetVe-t0n
ketch. What he has to sag about
Henry Ford and the FlGttrO,s
building az being Representative
Of the spirit Of America, e original
az welt as i,tteTsBtfsc. The Duke
Of LeisstOr q COMMONLY called the
hereditary ling Of Ireland" for
u royal rUssk still held stUGv IN
Erin he sOoNI6 occupy the throne.
BY THE DUKE OF L1c1NBTER.
(copyright. 1873. by Cosmopolitan
News gsrvics.l
LONDON. May 21.--One Of the
| great fallacies OF history 10 that
Christopher Columbus discovered
America. America hasn't been dis
covered yet.
I have read about q dozen
books by men Of high reputation
and abysnal wisdom, purportinR
TO lay bare the soul Of the country.
This. they say, ''is the real Amer.
ica."
Each writer has left me con.
vfnced that his conceptions are en-.
tirely wide Of the mark, and each
time have revisited the country
have had completely to revise my
own previous conceptions.
Finds Types Are Various.
The fact 10 that America 10 still
too diverse for assimilation by one
mind. In no two States, for ex.
AN4AsAaa 49, ~SAAsAfM ka4AeaMtAs. &fsx
alike TO Justify their inclusion In q
type.
Yorker, and your Bostonian, and
your man from Peoria, ILL.,, ana
from nowhere else, and your Chi
cagoaa, but nowhere IL there q
typical American.
Imagination in cookery and vocab.
ulary. and many more things are
common TO all corners I have
visited, but the American IL still
somewhere on the astral plane, de-
Gliding on the form he means to
take.
| The native Of Peterhead Ii much
more akin to the resident OF County
Glare than Ii the Californian to the
| Pennsylyanian, though G0d and
Oliver Cromwell know that the
Scots and the Irish are the most
different people In Europe.
America GtiI TOO Young.
A century or two hence Ii may
be possible to cfiticISe the United
/, States az nation, but not yet. You
are promising youth and In your
immaturity more mature, In your
| growth more developed than us OF
the static and nationally cud-chew.
ing peoples Of the East; but you
haven't come Of age.
To me the two great symbols Of
America are the FlatIron building
and Henry Ford. They both spell
youth with D Z as large as the
Mississippi.
Take the Flatiron building, which
I have selected from its schooifel-
lows because it beats them all in
sheer gawkishness.
After the Albert Memorial in
London, which being merely an
ornament does not count, 1t 10 the
ugliest thing I have ever seen. It
IL preposterously big for its age e
lank, awkward, Unbalanced gossoon,
But It means something.
Admires SlSyscraper Ideal.
The edifices that have been
cautiously, and with q due respect
for ell the proprieties--everys solemn
one or them-reared in England in
the last generation mean precisely
nothing.
Not that I admire the skyscraper
as 1t stands. I admire the ideal at
which 1t aims--the provision of the
housing needs Of q vast commercial
community combined with grandeur
Of physical uror0rfinna
Size 10 not grandeur, ana the
skyscraper has 30 far only achieved
size. The grandeur will evolve with
q succession Of architectural Ren.
fuses capable OF sincerely interpret.
Ing the spirit of their generation,
until the ekyecraper earns as great
q claim to the admiration Of the
world a. Cologne Cathedral or ST.
Peters.
Makes Generosity Pay.
After the F1atiron, Henry Ford.
have never met Mr.. Ford, and I
speak Of him entirely in the alb.
stract. Il should say / speak of,
them" for there are several of
Mr.. sFordO
He represents in industrial life
the most foolish Of ali the impulses
Of adolescence, and one that Europe
has long outgrown, generosity,
There Is no let or hindrance to II.
To the astonishment Of European
industrialists, the workers. to tale
one example, are actually paid mora
than 1t takes to keep body, aoul,
and brace buttons together. And
what is most disEraceful of ALI n
pays Henry Ford!