San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-12

Peace conference was sitting In Paris,
1 made my first visit to the United
States, and lectured in many Amer'
can cities. 1 went there again in
1920 and 1921, and on the third visit
Travelled from New York to San
Francisco.
I regard these American visits as
the greatest experience of my life,
apart from the war, and they added
enormously to the knowledge OF
world forces and the human problem
which / had been studying among
the peoples of Europe. l was, and
( still remain, convinced that the
United States will shape, for good
or ill-and / believe for good-the
future destiny of the world, for
these people, in the mass, have a
dynamic energy, clear-cut quality
of character, and a power not only
of material wealth, but of practical
idealism, from which an enormous
impetus may be given to human prog
ress in the direction of the common
well-being, international peace, lib
erty, decency and average prosper
ity Of individual life.
During those three visits, when 1
talked with innumerable men and
women of great intelligence and
honesty of thought, I was "made
WISE" as they call it, to many OF
the darker aspects of American life.
l was not unconscious of a strong
strain Of intolerance; a dangerous
gulf between the very rich and
not the very poor, there are few of
those-but well-paid, speeded-up,
ugly-living, dissatisfied labor; some
thing rather hysterical in mass
emotion when worked up by the
wire-pullers and the spellbinders /;
and the noisy, blatant. loud-mouthed
boasting vulgarity of the mob. l
saw the unloveliness of "Main
Street." / met "Babbitt" in his club,
parlor car, and private house. But
though did not shut my eyes to
al that, and much more than that
n good deal of it belongs to civiliza-
ton as well as to the United States
Il saw also the qualities that out
weigh these defects, and in my
judgment, contain a great hope for
the world. / met, everywhere, num-
lbers of men and women who have
what seems to me clean, sane,
level-headed outlook on life and its
problems. Ia They believe in peace, in
a good chance for the individual, in
a decent standard Of life for all peo-
pie, in honesty and truth. They are
impatient of dirt, however pictur-
csque, of ruin, however romantic, of
hampering tradition, however an
cient. They are, in the mass, COM
nonsense, practical, and good
natured folk, who, in the business of
life. cut formalities and get down TO
the job.
Likes American Audiences.
But behind all that common sense
and their practically, they are deep
ly sentimental, simply and sincerely
emotional, quick TO respond to any
call upon their pity or their charity,
and when stirred that way, enor-
mously generous. I agree with Cen
eral Swinton, the inventor of the
"tanks," who, after a tour in the
United States, told me, with a touch
of exaggeration, that he thought the
Americans, as a nation, were the
only idealists left in the world. Eu-
rope is cynical, remembering too
much history and suffering too
much establishment. The United
States, looking always to the future,
and. not much backward 10 the past,
is hopeful, confident of human prog
ress, and strangely and wonderfully
eager to find a philosophers stone
Of human happiness, for which we,
.16 Europe, have almost abandoned
search.
1 think that. as a people, they are
more ready than any other 10 do
some great work of rescue for hui
mainly Gas 1 write they are feeding
ten million people a day in Russia).
and to adopt and carry out an ideal
on behalf of humanity in the way
of peace and reconstruction, at some
personal sacrifice TO themselves.
That is possible at least in the United
States, and it may almost be said
that it is impossible in any other
nation.
As q personal experience, my first
visit to the United States was ex-
citing and rather Overwhelming, in
an extremely pleasant way, except
for my extreme nervousness. For
the first time in my life / was made
to believe Except for secret doubts
and a sense of humor, that / was a
person of some Importance. BY good
fortune, of which / was not aware
until my arrival in New York, | had
gained the good opinion, and almost
personal popularity, of an immense
Americau puhfic from coagt IN eoast