The Delta independent. [volume] (Delta, Colo.) 1886-19??, 1923-04-20

SCINiCC Al thC DuShN hch anu h'ATS' >
of war. Seven years of contending
with economic degeneration, with so
cial disintegration, with iE"essant po-
litical dislocation, with all Of It's seeth-
ing and ferment of individual ard
class conflict, could but impress me
with the primary motivation of social
forces, and the necessity for broad
er thought upon their great is
sues to humanity And from it all I
emerge an ndividualist-an unashamed
individualist But let me say Also
that I am an American individualist.
For America has been steadily develop
ing the ideals that constitute progress
sive individualism.
No doubt, individualism run riot.
with no tempering principle. would pro-
vide long category Of inequalities, of
tyrannies, Nominations, and injustces
America, how ever, has tempered the
whole conception Of individneltsrn b
the injection of a definite principle.
and from this principleyit follows that
attempts at domination, whether In
government or in the processes of In
dustry and commerce, are under an
insistent curb. II we would have the
values Of individualism, their stimula-
ton to initiative, to the development
Of hand and intellect, to the high de-
veloprhent Of thought and spirituality.
they must be tempered with that firm
and fixed ideal Of American fndividu-
alism-an equality Of opportunity. II
We would have these values we must
soften Its hardness and stimulate prog
ress through that sense Of service that
lies In our people.
Therefore, it is not the individualism
Of other countries for which would
speak, but the individualism Of Amer
lea. Our individualism differs from
all others because 1t embraces these
great ideals: that while we build our
society upon the attainment Of the In
dividual, we shall safeguard to every
individual an equality Of opportunity
to take that position in the commun-
ity to which his intelligence, character,
ability, and ambition entitle him; that
we keep the social solution free from
frozen strata Of classes; that we shall
achievement; that through an enlarg-
ing sense Of responsibility and under
standing we shall assist him to this
attainment; while he In turn must
stand up to the emery wheel of COM
petition.
Indiv1dualism cannot be maintained
as the foundation Of a society II It
looks to only legalistic justice based
upon contracts, property, and politi-
ool Cafo-
guards are themselves not enough. In
our hdividualism we have long since
abandoned the laissez faire of the
Eighteenth century-the notion that 1t
is every man for himself and the
devil take the hindmost" We aban-
doned that when we adopted the ideal
Of equality of opportunity-the fair
chance of Abraham Lincoln. We have
confirmed its abandonment in terms Of
legislation, of social and economic Jus
tice-in part because we have learned
that 1t is the hindmost who throws
the bricks at our social edifice, In part
because we have learned that the fore
most are not always the best nor the
hindmost the worst-and In part be-
cause we have learned that social In
justice Is the destruction Of justice
itself. We have learned that the i'm
pulse to production can only be main
tanned at high pitch II there Is
fair division Of the product. We have
also learned that fair division can
only be obtained by certain restric-
tions on the strong and the dominant.
We have indeed gone even further in
lath rttrr rr,ffh tho
bracement Of the necessity Of a greater
and broader sense of service and re-
sponsibility to others as part of In
dividualism.
Whatever may be the case with re-
gard to Old World individualism (and
we have given more back to Europe
than we received from her) the truth
that is Important for US to grasp to-
day is that there is a world Of differ
ence between the principles and spirit
of Old World individualism and that
which we have developed in our own
country.
We have, In fact, a special social
system Of our own. We have made 1t
ourselves from materials brought In
revolt from conditions In Europe. We
have lived 1t; we constantly improve
1t; we have seldom tried to define 1t.
It abhors autocracy and does not argue
with II, but fights 1t. 1t Is not capital
ism, or socialism, or syndicalism. nor
cross breed Of them. Like most
Americans, refuse to be damned by
anybody's word-classihcation Of 1t, such
us capitalism" "plutocracy." "proIe-
tariat" or "middle-class," or any other,
or to any kind Of compartment that is
based on the assumption of some
group dominating somebody else.
The social force In which am inter