Evening star., 1928-05-27

feet out tneS are taoSNIh va - %
does not he cannot get his trousers OH
or his sleeping suit on. The lack or
deficiency of other things, and eSpe-
ciallv smoking accommodation. is such
as in England would fill the news
papers with the groanS of sufferers,
but the American accepts them good
humoredly as part Of the nature OF
things. This good-humored tolerance
Of things said TO be inevitable Is to the
English observer a leading American
characteristic.
Queer Little Differences.
The Englishman notices queer little
! differences between the old and the
new country-for example, III the pre-
/ vailing sounds. The soft hoot of the
/ American locomotive is an improve
ment on the Shrill whistle of the Eng
/ lish, and the ingenious variety of the
American motor horns is amusing and
| not diSagreeable. But why should there
| be so few bells in the towns and on
! the countryside? What the English ear
most misses is the sound of bells-the
| chimes of clocks, the ringing to church.
! the wedding bells, the funeral oell.
| Coming back. one recognizes this as
one of the permeating familiar things
| which one notices only when they are
not there. There are some old things
| which cannot be reproduced in a new
| country. but the bellfounders art IS not
| dead and is one of the ancient, familiar
| things that will bear tranSplanting.
characteristics and Ways Of Life.
| I am not surprised that Americans
/ are irritated by the stream OF petty
! criticism which comes to them from
| Europe. The ultra-refined Englishman
| who comes out for short time. visits
/ a few cities and is panied by the lack
/ Of culture" which he finds in them,
( or patronizinglY discovers few prom
/ ising beginnings" seems TO them nat
/ urally rather absurd person: and, If
/ they retort, he generally deserves what
/ he gets. For criticism, to be worth any
| thing, must at least begin by recogniz-
| ing the extraordinary achievement of
| the American people-an achievement
/ like nothing else in the world.
| Travelling over the country I get a
| vivid sense of what the French philoS-
opher means when he talks of creative
evolution" sense of great collective
movement carrying individuals to ends
greater than themselves and unforsee-
able by living men. Never in the
worlds history can there have been
energy spread out over a whole conti-
nent. Yet these words alone do not
suffice. II is not mere seethe OF en-
ergy. There IS design imposing itself
on the mass, which Is recognizably
American, as recognizably in San Fran
cisco and Los Angeles as in New York
and Boston
Dominant American Design.
Seeing it in the large modifies all
preconceiyed ideas about the mixture of
races IN the United States and checks
any hasty inference from the statistics
OF immigration. The extraordinary
thing to my eye is not that there should
ne oifnculties about the races, but that
| there should be such a clear and def
mite national stamp upon the total re-
suit. and that 1t should SO quickly be
impressed on the newcomers. The
image which America suggests to me
Is not that OF melting pot, but rather
tnat OF kaleidoscope in which the
oiHerent European elements make diff
/ Ierent patterns. as you turn it one way
or another. but in which there is AL
ways a recognizable and dominant
| American design.
But the collective energy is the nair
thing, and ! know nothing like ii in
europe. the stress must be on the adj.
Jective, Tor In comparison we English
seem scattered and sporadic in spite oi
/ the compactness of our country
America appears 70 be modified 70,
the winning of an industrial war in i,,st
the same way as a few years ago ".
we're all modified for another kind o.
var. All the newspapers, all the mean,
OF publicity and advertisement even thu
government itself, seem to be com.
mandeered Tor and concentrated on an
industrial movement which is broadly
conceived as national effort. witt
this go the unrest and the nervous ex
element which we noted in Europe a.
wartime symptoms, and they appear Il
be chronic In America
Men and women live so much in th,
future that they seem to have littl
, time TO enjoy the present they dislik
solitude and do everything In common
whether work or pleasure. That ais
! was our own mood 10 years ago, bu
|, 1t passed with us, leaving exhaustion
and reaction.
America mercifully was spared SOM
part OF the European ordeal, and look
Ing at her now Is 10 be reminded a lit
tie sadly OF what Europe has suffered
by the loss OF her youth and the drain
Ing OF her vitality and capital in tn
, four years OF the World War. We ar
| stiH patching up the past. while she /
ieaping into the future; our spirits ar
depressed and she is buoyed up by al
. unquenchable optimism.
Optimism Is Striking.
, Nothing strikes the Engiishman NOR
: than this optimism Just AS In Call
fOrnia no one speaks of earthquakes, e
. 4 f1FfulUkyasft Y5a -,
depression or failure. Christian Scienc
is everywhere applied 10 business AM
economics. Britain solemnly counts u
q her unemployed and issues a month";
/ statement Of them TO a sympathizin
> world America counts only her en-
e ployed and leaves IL 10 be inferred tina
: there are no others Virgil says Of tn
4 winning c1cw In his Eneid p0ssun
/ quia posse yidentur can becaus
r they think they can" Faith remove
Y mountains, and unfaith destroys nerve
r and confidence. This Is the seriou
y philosophy Of American business, an
: accounts, In large measure, for wha
d the Englishman calls American boost
It ing" Certainly 1t Is Ia striking contrai
: with the English method, which is
It disarm opposition by understatemen
n but undeniably it works IN Americl
e where the industrial movement Rot
r forward on high tide ri confident cIj
e terpriGe which sweeps distractions OF
n Of its path.
0. Ouiwardly the thing is extraord
e Ftariiy impressive 10 the traveller VII
Ie reyisits the country after six year
Ie Nowhere In the world during this perid
j. has building been on such an immeni
scale, whether Of dwellings or factories
s. nowhere are there such vast schemes q
GasFa a u&s.sa sg4t
n development.
-l When you have left Chicago benin
m you, you think IL cannot 90 on, bi
" when you have crossed the Rockies yG
ID md 1t beginning again and taking ne
~ and characteristic but always Amer