Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1923-04-19


searching experiences Of seven years OF
service In the backwash and misery
OF war. Seven years Of contending
with economic degeneration, with so
cial disintegration, with incessant po-
litical dislocatiOn, with all Of Its seeth-
ing and ferment OF individual and
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 II all l
emerge an lndIvidualist--an unashamed
individualist. But let me say also
that ! am an American indiyidualist
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 a long category Of inequalities, Of
tyrannies, nominations, and injustices.
America, how ever, has tempered the
whole conception Of individualism 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 an
insistent curb. IL we would have the
values OF fndividuaiism, their stimula-
Of hand and intellect. to the high de-
velopment OF thought and spirituality,
they must be tempered with that arm
and fixed Ideal OF American individu-
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, II In not the individualism
of other countries for which / would
speak. but the individualism Of Amer
lea. Our indlvidualism differs from
all others because II 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 eommun-
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
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.
Individualism cannot be maintained
as the foundation of a society II II
looks to only legalistic justice based
upon contracts, property. and politi-
cal equality. Such legalistic safe
guards are themselves not enough. In
our individualism we have long since
abandoned the laissez faire Of the
Eighteenth century--the notion that Il
II "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 II 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
hlndmost the worst-and In part be
cause we have learned that social In
justice II 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 a
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
the Twentieth century with the en-
bracement OF the necessity OF a greater
and broader sense Of service and re-
sponsibility TO others rs part Of In
dividualism.
Whatever may be the case with re-
gard to Gid World individualism tand
we have given more hack to Europe
than we received from her) the truth
that is important for us 70 grasp to-
day Is that there is q 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 Il
ourselves from materials brought In
revolt from conditions In Europe We
have lived Il: We constantly improve
L.: We have seldom tried TO define Il.
II abhors autocracy and does not argue
with Il. but lights Il. II Is not capital
Ism. or socialism. or syndiealism.. amor
a cross breed OF them. Like most
Americana I refuse to be damned by
anybody's word-clsssincstion Of Il. such
as Capitalism" "plutocracy." "proie-
tariat" or 'middleciass." 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
ested is far higher and far more pre-
eious a thing than all these. II springs
from something Infinitely more en-
during; Il springs from the one source
Of human progress-that each individ-
ual shall be given the chance and