Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1923-05-24
American
Mdiuidualisn1
A Timely Message to
the American People
BY HERBERT HOOVER
Secretary OF Commerce.
yI.--The Future.

| SORT OF lnulNluuuiisiu thht ms Sup
piled the motivation Of Americas pO-
liticaI, economic and spiritual institu-
lions In all these years, II has proved
It's ability to develop Its institutions
with the changing scene. Our very
form of government Is the product OF
the individualism Of our people, the
demand for an equal opportunity. for
a fair chance.
The American pioneer Is the epic
expression OF that indivdualism, and
the pioneer spirit IL the response to
the challenge of opportunity. to the
challenge Of nature. to the challenge
Of life, to the call Of the frontier. That
spirit need never die for lack Of some
thing for II to achieve. There will al
ways be q frontier to conquer or to
hold as long as men think. plan and
dare. Our American individualism has
received much Of Its character from
our contacts with the forces of nature
on a new continent. 1t evolved gov
eminent without Official emissaries to
show the way; II plowed and SOW ed
two score Of great states; 1t built
roads, bridges, railways, cities; II car
ried forward every attribute Of high
civilization over continent. The days
Of the pioneer are not over. There are
continents Of human welfare Of which
we have penetrated only the coastal
plain. The great continent Of science
Is as yet explored only on its borders,
and II IL only the pioneer who will
penetrate the frontier In the quest for
new worlds to conquer. The very
genius Of our institutions has been
given to- them by the pioneer spirit.
Our individualism Is rooted In our very
nature. II Is based on conviction born
OF experience. Equal opportunity. the
demand for fair chance, became the
formula of American individualism
because II IL the method Of American
achievement.
After the absorption OF the great
plains Of the West came the era Of
Industrial development with the new
complex Of forces that II has brought
US. Now haltingly. but with more
surety and precision than ever before
and with more conscious understand
Ing Of our mission. we are finding solu-
ton Of these problems arising from
new conditions. for the forces OF our
social system can compass and COM
prise these.
Our indiyiduallsm Is no middle
ground between autocracy-whether
Of birth, economic or class origin-and
socialism. Socialism of different varie-
ties may have something to recon-
mend II as an intellectual stoplook-
and-listen sign. more especially for Old
World societies. But II contains only
destruction to the forces that make
progress In our social system. Nor
does salvation come by any device for
concentration OF power, whether POI
litical or economic. for both are equal.
ly reversions to Old World autocracy
In new garments.
Salvation will not come to us out
OF the wreckage Of indlvidualism.
What we need today Is steady devo-
ton to better. brighter. broader In
dividualism--an individualism that
carries Increasing responsibility and
service TO our fellows. Our need Is not
for way out but for way forward.
We found our way out three centuries
ago when our forefathers left Europe
for these shores, to set up here CON-
monwealth conceived In liberty and
dedicated to the development of indi.
yiduality.
There are mallgn social forces other
than our failures that would destroy
our progress. There are the equal dan
gers both OF reaction and radicalism.
The Perpetual howl Of radicalism Is
that Il is the sole voice Of liberalism
that devotion to social progress is Its
field alone. These men would assume
that all reform and human advance
must come through government. They
have forgotten that progress must
come from the steady In Of the indi-
vidual and that the measure Of ma
tional idealism and progress Is the
quality Of idealism In the individual.
The most trying support OF radicalism
comes from the timid or dishonest
minds that shrink from facing the re-
suit OF radicallsm itself but are de
voted to defense Of radicalism as proof
| OF a liberal mind. Most theorists who
denounee our individualism AZ a social
basis seem to have passion Tor ignorS
ance Of It's constructive ideals
An even greater danger b the de-
structive criticism OF minds too weak
or too partisan to harbor constructive
ideas For such, criticism Is based
upon the distortion OF perspective or
cunning Misrepresentation. There ID
never danger from the radical himself
until the structure and confidence Of
society has been undermined by the
enforcement Of destructive criticism.
Destructive criticism can certainly
lead to revolution unless there are
those willing to withstand the malice
that lows In return nom REPUTATION
II has been well said that revolution 10
no summer thunderstorm clearing the
atmosphere. In modern society II 10 q
tornado leaving In Its path the de-
strcyed homes Of millions With their
dead women and children.
There are also those who insist that
the future must be u repetition Of the
past: that ideas are dangerous. that
ideals are freakA