Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-03-28


Of war. Seven years Of contending
with economic degeneration. with So
cial dsintegration. with ih"essant po-
litical dis.ocation. with all of its 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 l
emerge IN individualist--an unashamed
individualist. But let ME say also
that ! am an American individualist
For America has been steadily develop
ing the Ideals that constitute progress
sive individuaiism.
No doubt, ipdividualisln run riot.
with no ten.paring principle, would pro
vide a long category of Inequalities. OF
tyrannies. nominations. and iniustices
America. how ever, has tempered the
whole conception Of indiNidualsm by
the injection of definite principle.
and from this principle II follows that
attempts at domination. whether In
government or In the processes Of In
dustry and commerce, are under al
insistent curb. If we would have the
values Of individualisin, their stimun-
ton to initiative. to the development
Of hand and intellect, to the high tie-
velcpnent of thought and Spirituality.
they Elrst he tempered with that firm
and fixed ideal of American individl-
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 individuaIisin>o Amer
lea. Our individualism differs from
all others because it embraces these
great ideals: that while we build oar
society upon the attainment OF the IN
dividuHl, we sl; safeguard to every
individual an equality of opportunity
to take that position in the cn,nnUn-
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
stimulate effort of each individual to
achievements that through, an en'arg-
Ing serae of responsibility and under
standing we shall assist him to this
Attainment; while he in turn mt'st
stand Up to the emery wheel Of com
petition.
indiyitiHn!iSm cannot be maintained
as tie foundation Of society If 1t
loo,;s to only legalistic justice based
UPON contracts, property, Gnd politi.
cal equality. Such legalisric safe
guards are themselves not enough. III
our individuu1isra we have long since
abandoned The laissez faire Of the
Ei-iitecn'h century-the notion that it
is lever i.a.!: 20, t.'I..%af and BE
devil take the hindmost.' We ahan
doned that when we adopted the ideal
OF equality Of "onortunity-the fair
cha, GO of Ahru Lincoln. We have
confirmed its abandonment in terms of
legislation, OF social and economic JUS
tice--in past because we have learned
that it is the hindmost who throws
tfiS III fl\S at 'uI c'tloi ShliiNCs III pa
because we have learned that the fore
most are not always the best nor the
iindmost the worst-and In part be-
cause we have LEAF ned that social in.
iustice Is the destruction of Justice
itself. We have learned that the i'm
pulse to production can only be main.
taired at high pitch if there is a
fair division Of the product. We have
also learned that fair division can
emily be obtained by certain restric-
tons on the strong and &he dominan1.
We have indeed gene even further in
the Twentieth century with the en-
hracemont of the necessity Of a greater
and broader sense of service and re-
gponsibility to others as part of In.
dividualism
Whatever may be the case with re-
gard to Old World individualsm (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 it; we constantly improve
it; we have seldom tried to define it.
1t abhors autocracy and does not argue
with 1t, but fights it. 1t is not capital
ism, or socialism, or syndicalism nor
a cross breed of them. Like most
Americans. | refuse to be damned b.
anybody's word-classifcatiOn of il. s'cl'
US "capitalism," "plutocracy," "rr0'e
tariat" or "middle-claSs," or any Gt''er.
or to any kind of compartment + IS
based on the assumption of "fW"
group dominating somebody else
The social force in which ~ 80
ested Is far higher and n"