Evening star., 1934-12-02

makes the mistake of supposing that
politics Is, in some mysterious fash
ion. other peoples affairs, and not
his own, Of assuming that he Is not
master in his own country
It is political words and not polit-
ical measures that seem to frighten
the American. Thus he will approve
OF Government action that Is really
socialistic in principle, but on the
other hand he will still talk of Social
lists, radicals and reds" as If they
were strange. horrible monsters, eaters
Of children.
In the same way, though he is
peaceably inclined himself and only
too ready to deplore the war-monger-
ing in Europe he reads about, he talks
of "pacifists" as If they, too, were
creatures who ought to be outlawed
from decent society.
The fact Is that he has carried over
from the pre-slump period the violent
prejudices aroused by these mere
names, although actually by this time
he himself is probably both a radical
and a paciflst.
Being a Democrat, like the democ-
racy Of America. and prefer it to the
social muddle OF English life, which
Is neither a democracy nor an aris-
tocracy, but an uneasy snobbish mix
ture of both have no patience with
some Of your writer's here who pro-
fess a great contempt for democracy
and advocate an ariStocratic system.
These writer's, fancy, assume little
too easily that under an aristocratic
system they would be among the aris-
tocrats, and forget that they might be
wedged in among the lower classes,
touching their caps at the great mans
lodge gates.
They are like Bernard Shaw, who
processes a like contempt for liberty
Of speech, but takes care to go on
living in country where he is allowed
to say what he likes.
Two Democracies.
There are, however, two democracies
in America, 1t seems to me- There is
the democracy of bad manners and the
democracy of good manners You
meet the first chiefly in the cities. and
it is not pleasant. 1t assumes that
democracy means that everybody has
right to be rude to everybody else all
the time. The Say. listen. brother
man is typical of these democrats,
teriority complex.
You seem to find the other democ-
racy, that of easy but good manners.
well outside the cities. and perhaps at
best In the West. To an Englishman,
heartily sick of the uneasy class pre-
judices and snobberies of his own
island, there is something very re-
freShing about these Westerners, with
their friendly quality, free alike from
patronage or servility Will this real
democracy last, or is it merely lin
gering relic of cattle-punching and
prospecting days?
Here, anyhow, is the germ Of the
classics society, in which men are
really free and equal which mos:
good people would like to see estab-
lished in the world
Now, folks" says the guide, "just
come this way. please" 1t is good to
be folks" No sensible people would
ever want to be anything but folks.
America must cherish this democracy
Of good. easy manners. for it is one
of her finest possessions
II think the folks in the West are
grand folks In my trip across the
States this time / noticed the great
differences there are in people here
In the big cities you meet fine people
but you also seem to see, about the
streets. more shifty- looking men, more
potential scoundrels, than you see
almost anywhere else in the world
II am quite prepared to believe
as your criminal records would no
doubt prove, that most of these fel-
lows are among Europe's fairly recent
contributions to your population. Pos
sibly a very small proportion of them
are American-born citizens. But there
they are, thousands of them, COM
plete city rats. and I can we'll be-
lieve they constitute one of your ma jor
problems.
Grand Types Of People.
But away from this scum, your
people present grand types and espe-
cially-to English eyes-among your
hard-working outdoor men, whether
they are driving trains or tractors,
rounding cattle or taking their ovn