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"True Americanism" The Forum Magazine

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PATRIOTISM was once defined as “the last refuge of聽a scoundrel”; and somebody has recently remarked that聽when Dr. Johnson gave this definition he was ignorant聽of the infinite possibilities contained in the word “reform.”聽Of course both gibes were quite justifiable, in so far as they聽were aimed at people who use noble names to cloak base purposes. Equally of course the man shows little wisdom and聽a low sense of duty who fails to see that love of country is聽one of the elemental virtues, even though scoundrels play upon聽it for their own selfish ends; and, inasmuch as abuses continually grow up in civic life as in all other kinds of life, the聽statesman is indeed a weakling who hesitates to reform these聽abuses because the word “reform” is often on the lips of men聽who are silly or dishonest.

What is true of patriotism and reform is true also of Americanism.聽There are plenty of scoundrels always ready to try聽to belittle reform movements or to bolster up existing iniquities in the name of Americanism; but this does not alter聽the fact that the man who can do most in this country is and聽must be the man whose Americanism is most sincere and intense. Outrageous though it is to use a noble idea as the聽cloak for evil, it is still worse to assail the noble idea itself聽because it can thus be used. The men who do iniquity in the聽name of patriotism, of reform, of Americanism, are merely聽one small division of the class that has always existed and will聽always exist,- the class of hypocrites and demagogues, the class that is always prompt to steal the watchwords of righteousness聽and use them in the interests of evil-doing.

The stoutest and truest Americans are the very men who聽have the least sympathy with the people who invoke the spirit of Americanism to aid what is vicious in our government or聽to throw obstacles in the way of those who strive to reform it. It is contemptible to oppose a movement for good because聽that movement has already succeeded somewhere else, or to聽champion an existing abuse because our people have always聽been wedded to it. To appeal to national prejudice against聽a given reform movement is in every way unworthy and silly.聽It is as childish to denounce free trade because England has adopted it as to advocate it for the same reason. It is eminently proper, in dealing with the tariff, to consider the effect聽of tariff legislation in time past upon other nations as well as聽the effect upon our own; but in drawing conclusions it is in聽the last degree foolish to try to excite prejudice against one聽system because it is in vogue in some given country, or to try聽to excite prejudice in its favor because the economists of that聽country have found that it was suited to their own peculiar聽needs. In attempting to solve our difficult problem of municipal government it is mere folly to refuse to profit by whatever is good in the examples of Manchester and Berlin because聽these cities are foreign, exactly as it is mere folly blindly to聽copy their examples without reference to our own totally聽different conditions. As for the absurdity of declaiming against聽civil-service reform, for instance, as “Chinese,” because written examinations have been used in China, it would be quite聽as wise to declaim against gunpowder because it was first聽utilized by the same people. In short, the man who, whether聽from mere dull fatuity or from an active interest in misgovernment, tries to appeal to American prejudice against things聽foreign, so as to induce Americans to oppose any measure聽for good, should be looked on by his fellow-countrymen with聽the heartiest contempt. So much for the men who appeal to the spirit of Americanism to sustain us in wrong-doing. But聽we must never let our contempt for these men blind us to the聽nobility of the idea which they strive to degrade.

We Americans have many grave problems to solve, many聽threatening evils to fight, and many deeds to do, if, as we hope and believe, we have the wisdom, the strength, the courage, and聽the virtue to do them. But we must face facts as they are. We must neither surrender ourselves to a foolish optimism,聽nor succumb to a timid and ignoble pessimism. Our nation is that one among all the nations of the earth which holds in聽its hands the fate of the coming years. We enjoy exceptional advantages, and are menaced by exceptional dangers; and all聽signs indicate that we shall either fail greatly or succeed greatly.聽I firmly believe that we shall succeed; but we must not foolishly聽blink the dangers by which we are threatened, for that is the聽way to fail. On the contrary, we must soberly set to work聽to find out all we can about the existence and extent of every聽evil, must acknowledge it to be such, and must then attack it聽with unyielding resolution. There are many such evils, and聽each must be fought after a fashion; yet there is one quality聽which we must bring to the solution of every problem,- that聽is, an intense and fervid Americanism. We shall never be聽successful over the dangers that confront us; we shall never聽achieve true greatness, nor reach the lofty ideal which the聽founders and preservers of our mighty Federal Republic have聽set before us, unless we are Americans in heart and soul, in聽spirit and purpose, keenly alive to the responsibility implied聽in the very name of American, and proud beyond measure of聽the glorious privilege of bearing it. There are two or three sides to the question of Americanism,聽and two or three senses in which the word “Americanism” can聽be used to express the antithesis of what is unwholesome and聽undesirable. In the first place we wish to be broadly American聽and national, as opposed to being local or sectional. We do聽not wish, in politics, in literature, or in art, to develop that聽unwholesome parochial spirit, that over-exaltation of the little聽community at the expense of the great nation, which produces what has been described as the patriotism of the village, the聽patriotism of the belfry. Politically, the indulgence of this聽spirit was the chief cause of the calamities which befell the聽ancient republics of Greece, the medieval republics of Italy,聽and the petty States of Germany as it was in the last century.聽It is this spirit of provincial patriotism, this inability to take聽a view of broad adhesion to the whole nation that has been聽the chief among the causes that have produced such anarchy聽in the South American States, and which have resulted in presenting to us not one great Spanish-American federal nation聽stretching from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn, but a squabbling聽multitude of revolution-ridden States, not one of which stands聽even in the second rank as a power. However, politically this聽question of American nationality has been settled once for all.聽We are no longer in danger of repeating in our history the聽shameful and contemptible disasters that have befallen the聽Spanish possessions on this continent since they threw off the聽yoke of Spain. Indeed, there is, all through our life, very聽much less of this parochial spirit than there was formerly.聽Still there is an occasional outcropping here and there; and it聽is just as well that we should keep steadily in mind the futility of talking of a Northern literature or a Southern literature,聽an Eastern or a Western school of art or science. Joel聽Chandler Harris is emphatically a national writer; so is Mark聽Twain. They do not write merely for Georgia or Missouri聽or California any more than for Illinois or Connecticut; they聽write as Americans and for all people who can read English.聽St. Gaudens lives in New York; but his work is just as distinctive of Boston or Chicago. It is of very great consequence聽that we should have a full and ripe literary development in聽the United States, but it is not of the least consequence whether聽New York, or Boston, or Chicago, or San Francisco becomes聽the literary or artistic centre of the United States.

There is a second side to this question of a broad Americanism, however. The patriotism of the village or the belfry聽is bad, but the lack of all patriotism is even worse. There are philosophers who assure us that, in the future, patriotism聽will be regarded not as a virtue at all, but merely as a mental聽stage in the journey toward a state of feeling when our patriotism will include the whole human race and all the world.聽This may be so; but the age of which these philosophers speak聽is still several aeons distant. In fact, philosophers of this type聽are so very advanced that they are of no practical service to聽the present generation. It may be, that in ages so remote聽that we cannot now understand any of the feelings of those聽who will dwell in them, patriotism will no longer be regarded聽as a virtue, exactly as it may be that in those remote ages聽people will look down upon and disregard monogamic marriage; but as things now are and have been for two or three聽thousand years past, and are likely to be for two or three聽thousand years to come, the words “home” and “country” mean a great deal. Nor do they show any tendency to lose聽their significance. At present, treason, like adultery, ranks as one of the worst of all possible crimes.

One may fall very far short of treason and yet be an undesirable citizen in the community. The man who becomes聽Europeanized, who loses his power of doing good work on聽this side of the water, and who loses his love for his native land,聽is not a traitor; but he is a silly and undesirable citizen. He聽is as emphatically a noxious element in our body politic as is聽the man who comes here from abroad and remains a foreigner. Nothing will more quickly or more surely disqualify a man from doing good work in the world than the acquirement of that flaccid habit of mind which its possessors style
cosmopolitanism.

It is not only necessary to Americanize the immigrants of聽foreign birth who settle among us, but it is even more necessary聽for those among us who are by birth and descent already聽Americans not to throw away our birthright, and, with incredible and contemptible folly, wander back to bow down聽before the alien gods whom our forefathers forsook. It is聽hard to believe that there is any necessity to warn Americans that, when they seek to model themselves on the lines of other聽civilizations, they make themselves the butts of all right-thinking men; and yet the necessity certainly exists to give this聽warning to many of our citizens who pride themselves on their聽standing in the world of art and letters, or, perchance, on聽what they would style their social leadership in the community.聽It is always better to be an original than an imitation, even聽when the imitation is of something better than the original;聽but what shall we say of the fool who is content to be an imitation of something worse? Even if the weaklings who seek聽to be other than Americans were right in deeming other nations to be better than their own, the fact yet remains that to聽be a first-class American is fifty-fold better than to be a聽second-class imitation of a Frenchman or Englishman. As聽鈥檃 matter of fact, however, those of our countrymen who do聽believe in American inferiority are always individuals who,聽however cultivated, have some organic weakness in their moral聽or mental make-up; and the great mass of our people, who聽are robustly patriotic, and who have sound, healthy minds, are justified in regarding these feeble renegades with a half-impatient and half-amused scorn.

We believe in waging relentless war on rank-growing evils聽of all kinds, and it makes no difference to us if they happen to be of purely native growth. We grasp at any good, no聽matter whence it comes. We do not accept the evil attendant upon another system of government as an adequate excuse for聽that attendant upon our own; the fact that the courtier is a聽scamp does not render the demagogue any the less a scoundrel.聽But it remains true that, in spite of all our faults and shortcomings, no other land offers such glorious possibilities to the聽man able to take advantage of them, as does ours; it remains聽true that no one of our people can do any work really worth聽doing unless he does it primarily as an American. It is because certain classes of our people still retain their spirit of聽colonial dependence on, and exaggerated deference to, European opinion, that they fail to accomplish what they ought to.

It is precisely along the lines where we have worked most independently that we have accomplished the greatest results; and it is in those professions where there has been no servility聽to, but merely a wise profiting by foreign experience, that we聽have produced our greatest men. Our soldiers and statesmen聽and orators; our explorers, our wilderness-winners, and commonwealth-builders; the men who have made our laws and聽seen that they were executed; and the other men whose energy聽and ingenuity have created our marvellous material prosperity–all these have been men who have drawn wisdom from the聽experience of every age and nation, but who have nevertheless聽thought, and worked, and conquered, and lived, and died,聽purely as Americans; and on the whole they have done better聽work than has been done in any other country during the short聽period of our national life.

On the other hand, it is in those professions where our people聽have striven hardest to mold themselves in conventional European forms that they have succeeded least; and this holds聽true to the present day, the failure being of course most conspicuous where the man takes up his abode in Europe; where聽he becomes a second-rate European, because he is over-civilized, over-sensitive, over-refined, and has lost the hardihood聽and manly courage by which alone he can conquer in the keen聽struggle of our national life. Be it remembered, too, that this聽same being does not really become a European; he only ceases聽being an American, and becomes nothing. He throws away聽a great prize for the sake of a lesser one, and does not even get聽the lesser one. The painter who goes to Paris, not merely to聽get two or three years鈥 thorough training in his art, but with聽the deliberate purpose of taking up his abode there, and with聽the intention of following in the ruts worn deep by ten thousand earlier travelers, instead of striking off to rise or fall on聽a new line, thereby forfeits all chance of doing the best work.聽He must content himself with aiming at that kind of mediocrity which consists in doing fairly well what has already聽been done better; and he usually never even sees the grandeur and picturesqueness lying open before the eyes of every man聽who can read the book of America鈥檚 past and the book of America鈥檚 present. Thus it is with the undersized man of letters,聽who flees his country because he, with his delicate, effeminate sensitiveness, finds the conditions of life on this side of the聽water crude and raw; in other words, because he finds that he cannot play a man鈥檚 part among men, and so goes where聽he will be sheltered from the winds that harden stouter souls. This emigre may write graceful and pretty verses, essays,聽novels; but he will never do work to compare with that of his brother, who is strong enough to stand on his own feet, and聽do his work as an American. Thus it is with the scientist who spends his youth in a German university, and can thenceforth 聽work only in the fields already fifty times furrowed by the German ploughs. Thus it is with that most foolish of parents聽who sends his children to be educated abroad, not knowing – what every clear-sighted man from Washington and Jay down聽has known – that the American who is to make his way in America should be brought up among his fellow Americans.聽It is among the people who like to consider themselves, and,聽indeed, to a large extent are, the leaders of the so-called social聽world, especially in some of the northeastern cities, that this聽colonial habit of thought, this thoroughly provincial spirit of聽admiration for things foreign, and inability to stand on one鈥檚聽own feet, becomes most evident and most despicable. We believe in every kind of honest and lawful pleasure, so long as聽the getting it is not made man鈥檚 chief business; and we believe聽heartily in the good that can be done by men of leisure who聽work hard in their leisure, whether at politics or philanthropy,聽literature or art. But a leisure class whose leisure simply means聽idleness is a curse to the community, and in so far as its members distinguish themselves chiefly by aping the worst–not聽the best–traits of similar people across the water, they become both comic and noxious elements of the body politic.

The third sense in which the word “Americanism” may be聽employed is with reference to the Americanizing of the newcomers to our shores. We must Americanize them in every聽way, in speech, in political ideas and principles, and in their聽way of looking at the relations between Church and State. We聽welcome the German or the Irishman who becomes an American.聽We have no use for the German or Irishman who remains such. We do not wish German-Americans and Irish-Americans who figure as such in our social and political life;聽we want only Americans, and, provided they are such, we do聽not care whether they are of native or of Irish or of German聽ancestry. We have no room in any healthy American community for a German-American vote or an Irish-American聽vote, and it is contemptible demagogy to put planks into any聽party platform with the purpose of catching such a vote. We聽have no room for any people who do not act and vote simply聽as Americans, and as nothing else. Moreover, we have as聽little use for people who carry religious prejudices into our聽politics as for those who carry prejudices of caste or nationality. We stand unalterably in favor of the public-school system in its entirety. We believe that English, and no other聽language, is that in which all the school exercises should be conducted. We are against any division of the school fund,聽and against any appropriation of public money for sectarian purposes. We are against any recognition whatever by the聽State in any shape or form of State-aided parochial schools. But we are equally opposed to any discrimination against or聽for a man because of his creed. We demand that all citizens, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile, shall have fair treatment in every way; that all alike shall have their rights guaranteed them. The very reasons that make us unqualified in聽our opposition to State-aided sectarian schools make us equally聽bent that, in the management of our public schools, the adherents of each creed shall be given exact and equal justice,聽wholly without regard to their religious affiliations; that trustees, superintendents, teachers, scholars, all alike shall be treated聽without any reference whatsoever to the creed they profess.聽We maintain that it is an outrage, in voting for a man for any position, whether State or national, to take into account his聽religious faith, provided only he is a good American. When聽a secret society does what in some places the American Protective Association seems to have done, and tries to proscribe聽Catholics both politically and socially, the members of such聽society show that they themselves are as utterly un-American,聽as alien to our school of political thought, as the worst immigrants who land on our shores. Their conduct is equally聽base and contemptible; they are the worst foes of our public-school system, because they strengthen the hands of its ultra-montane enemies; they should receive the hearty聽condemnation of all Americans who are truly patriotic.

The mighty tide of immigration to our shores has brought聽in its train much of good and much of evil; and whether the good or the evil shall predominate depends mainly on whether聽these newcomers do or do not throw themselves heartily into聽our national life, cease to be Europeans, and become Americans聽like the rest of us. More than a third of the people of the聽Northern States are of foreign birth or parentage. An immense number of them have become completely Americanized,聽and these stand on exactly the same plane as the descendants聽of any Puritan, Cavalier, or Knickerbocker among us, and do聽their full and honorable share of the nation鈥檚 work. But where聽immigrants, or the sons of immigrants, do not heartily and聽in good faith throw in their lot with us, but cling to the speech,聽the customs, the ways of life, and the habits of thought of the聽Old World which they have left, they thereby harm both themselves and us. If they remain alien elements, unassimilated,聽and with interests separate from ours, they are mere obstructions to the current of our national life, and, moreover, can聽get no good from it themselves. In fact, though we ourselves聽also suffer from their perversity, it is they who really suffer聽most. It is an immense benefit to the European immigrant to change him into an American citizen. To bear the name聽of American is to bear the most honorable titles; and whoever聽does not so believe has no business to bear the name at all, and, if he comes from Europe, the sooner he goes back there聽the better. Besides, the man who does not become Americanized nevertheless fails to remain a European, and becomes聽nothing at all. The immigrant cannot possibly remain what聽he was, or continue to be a member of the Old-World society.聽If he tries to retain his old language, in a few generations it聽becomes a barbarous jargon; if he tries to retain his old customs and ways of life, in a few generations he becomes an聽uncouth boor. He has cut himself off from the Old World,聽and cannot retain his connection with it; and if he wishes ever聽to amount to anything he must throw himself heart and soul,聽and without reservation, into the new life to which he has聽come. It is urgently necessary to check and regulate our immigration, by much more drastic laws than now exist; and聽this should be done both to keep out laborers who tend to depress the labor market, and to keep out races which do not聽assimilate readily with our own, and unworthy individuals of聽all races–not only criminals, idiots, and paupers, but anarchists of the Most and O鈥橠onovan Rossa type.聽From his own standpoint, it is beyond all question the wise聽thing for the immigrant to become thoroughly Americanized.聽Moreover, from our standpoint, we have a right to demand it.聽We freely extend the hand of welcome and of good-fellowship to every man, no matter what his creed or birthplace, who聽comes here honestly intent on becoming a good United States聽citizen like the rest of us; but we have a right, and it is our duty, to demand that he shall indeed become so and shall not聽confuse the issues with which we are struggling by introducing聽among us Old-World quarrels and prejudices. There are certain ideas which he must give up. For instance, he must learn聽that American life is incompatible with the existence of any聽form of anarchy, or of any secret society having murder for聽its aim, whether at home or abroad; and he must learn that聽we exact full religious toleration and the complete separation聽of Church and State. Moreover, he must not bring in his聽Old-World religious race and national antipathies, but must merge them into love for our common country, and must take聽pride in the things which we can all take pride in. He must聽revere only our flag; not only must it come first, but no other聽flag should even come second. He must learn to celebrate聽Washington鈥檚 birthday rather than that of the Queen or Kaiser,聽and the Fourth of July instead of St. Patrick鈥檚 Day. Our political and social questions must be settled on their own merits,聽and not complicated by quarrels between England and Ireland,聽or France and Germany, with which we have nothing to do:聽it is an outrage to fight an American political campaign with聽reference to questions of European politics. Above all, the聽immigrant must learn to talk and think and be United States.聽The immigrant of to-day can learn much from the experience of the immigrants of the past, who came to America prior to聽the Revolutionary War. We were then already, what we are now, a people of mixed blood. Many of our most illustrious Revolutionary names were borne by men of Huguenot blood–Jay, Sevier, Marion, Laurens. But the Huguenots聽were, on the whole, the best immigrants we have ever received; sooner than any other, and more completely, they became American聽in speech, conviction, and thought. The Hollanders took聽longer than the Huguenots to become completely assimilated;聽nevertheless they in the end became so, immensely to their own聽advantage. One of the leading Revolutionary generals, Schuyler, and one of the Presidents of the United States, Van Buren,聽were of Dutch blood; but they rose to their positions, the highest in the land, because they had become Americans and had聽ceased being Hollanders. If they had remained members of聽an alien body, cut off by their speech and customs and belief聽from the rest of the American community, Schuyler would聽have lived his life as a boorish, provincial squire, and Van聽Buren would have ended his days a small tavern-keeper. So聽it is with the Germans of Pennsylvania. Those of them who聽became Americanized have furnished to our history a multitude of honorable names from the days of the Muhlenbergs聽onward; but those who did not become Americanized form to the present day an unimportant body, of no significance in聽American existence. So it is with the Irish, who gave to Revolutionary annals such names as Carroll and Sullivan, and to the聽Civil War men like Sheridan–men who were Americans and聽nothing else: while the Irish who remain such, and busy themselves solely with alien politics, can have only an unhealthy聽influence upon American life, and can never rise as do their聽compatriots who become straightout Americans. Thus it has聽ever been with all people who have come hither, of whatever聽stock or blood. The same thing is true of the churches. A聽church which remains foreign, in language or spirit, is doomed.聽But I wish to be distinctly understood on one point.聽Americanism is a question of spirit, conviction, and purpose, not of

creed or birthplace. The politician who bids for the Irish or German vote, or the Irishman or German who votes as an Irishman or German, is despicable, for all citizens of this commonwealth should vote solely as Americans; but he is not a whit less despicable than the voter who votes against a good American, merely because that American happens to have been born in Ireland or Germany. Know-nothingism, in any form, is as utterly un-American as foreignism. It is a base outrage to oppose a man because of his religion or birthplace, and all good citizens will hold any such effort in abhorrence. A Scandinavian, a German, or an Irishman who has really become an American has the right to stand on exactly the same footing as any native-born citizen in the land, and is just as much entitled to the friendship and support, social and political, of his neighbors. Among the men with whom I have been thrown in close personal contact socially, and who have been among my stanchest friends and allies politically, are not a few Americans who happen to have been born on the other side of the water, in Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia; and there could be no better men in the ranks of our native-born citizens.

In closing, I cannot better express the ideal attitude that should be taken by our fellow-citizens of foreign birth than by quoting the words of a representative American, born in Germany, the Honorable Richard Guenther, of Wisconsin. In a speech spoken at the time of the Samoan trouble he said:

“We know as well as any other class of American citizens where our duties belong. We will work for our country in time of peace and fight for it in time of war, if a time of war should ever come. When I say our country, I mean, of course, our adopted country. I mean the United States of America. After passing through the crucible of naturalization, we are no longer Germans; we are Americans. Our attachment to America cannot be measured by the length of our residence here. We are Americans from the moment we touch the American shore until we are laid in American graves. We will fight for America whenever necessary. America, first, last, and all the time. America against Germany, America against the world; America, right or wrong; always America. We are Americans.”

All honor to the man who spoke such words as those; and I believe they express the feelings of the great majority of those among our fellow-American citizens who were born abroad. We Americans can only do our allotted task well if we face it steadily and bravely, seeing but not fearing the dangers. Above all we must stand shoulder to shoulder, not asking as to the ancestry or creed of our comrades, but only demanding that they be in very truth Americans, and that we all work together, heart, hand, and head, for the honor and the greatness of our common country.

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