10
THE UNITED AMERICAN
EDITORIAL
BRIDGING THE CHASMS
HERE are many undisputed signs that the human
family is unmistakably passing into the penumbra
of that brotherhood in the world which many have
come to look upon as a forlorn hope. While there
still are some disheartening manifestations of human
jealousy and hate to be overcome, indications are that
we are gradually moving toward the realization of
our ideals.
In a conspicuous place in England stands a statue
of George Washington, and a place of equal promi
nence has been given a statue of Abraham Lincoln.
Both statues are gifts of citizens of the American
republic.
In other lands similar statues of these American
heralds of world freedom have been given prominent
places in public parks and plazas, indicating that the
people of foreign lands in a measure are beginning to
grasp the significance of America, not alone as a
place to make a better living, but a place where the
principle of human equality and human brotherhood
has been established as an indisputable attainment in
the course of human progress.
George Washington made war on George III rather
than on the English people, but because historians
were not as impartial and discriminating as they
should have been the English people have borne more
than they deserve of the odium that attached to
that king. This fact has served as a hindrance to
kindly and mutual feeling. The many ideals and con
cepts of liberty, justice and democracy the people of
England and America cherish in common were given
little or no thought while hate reigned supreme.
Today there is a better understanding between the
common people of America and the people of the coun
try they fought to gain their freedom and independ
ence. This change has possibly been brought about
more rapidly because there is no difference in lan
guage. The ability of the people of America to under
stand the tongue of the people of Great Britain and
of the English Dominions has more than any other
thing served to remove the barriers that are still
keeping them at an unfortunate distance from the
point of better understanding with the people of the
non-English speaking nations.
The position of the German people of today is some
what analogous to the position of the English people
in the crucial days of the American revolution. The
British Lords, it is safe to say, did not consult the
common people of Great Britain in the matter of
warring on the American colonies or regarding their
decision to mow them down to the last man if neces
sary to hold the great land of the west for the crown
of England any more than the war lords of Germany
consulted the common people of that country regard
ing their war plans.
True, the German people (speaking a different
tongue) can not so readily efface the effects of that
war by common contact with the average American
FEBRUARY, 1924
as could the British, but we have come a long ways
since the decade of 1770-80 and we have learned much
of what the common people of every land in common
have endured and been forced to do at the biddings of
autocratic masters.
The bitterness against Germany and the German
people that is manifest quite plainly in America even
now: nearly six years since the armistice ended that
catastrophe, is not becoming to the people of America.
America has toe strongly emphasized that she holds
no grudge against any foe of any yesterday to retain
gracefully the anti-German spirit.
Even the best citizen of German birth feels that he
is still more or less on trial, that he is only, in a way,
acceptable among his fellow citizens. He may be a bit
sensitive, perhaps, but few native Americans, particu
larly, will successfully deny that there is an element
of mental reservation against the people of German
birth yet abroad in America. This attitude makes it
quite difficult to assert that traditional American
spirit which goes fearlessly to war for a principle,
but retains no malice to a foe when the pact of peace
has been entered into.
Ours is a young country with an abundance of the.
exuberance of youth and, perhaps, with a proneness
to strong likes and dislikes. Ours is a land of many
races and nationalities that diverge sharply in their
feelings towards one another as well as to the rest of
the world save and except when there is a fusion of
purpose for common defense. But the background
against which we stand is the picture of a consum
mate brotherhood, the state of good will, the state of
charity toward all and malice toward none.
Having the characteristics of a nation in its youth
we have naturally also the impulsiveness that goes
with it. We are more impressionable as to the less
salient things entering into international relation
ships, but there are fair indications that we are grow
ing more stable in our appraisal of human values as
they affect the destinies of all nations. It is quite
possible that we are now learning these truths—
though we should have learned them long ago—a
great deal faster since international chauvinism
plunged the world in chaos ten years ago.
A RESPONSIBILITY THAT RESTS HEAVILY ON
AMERICA
rFHE STORY of “The Immigrant Pilgrim from the
1 Russian Steppes,” appearing in this issue of The
United American should have the attention of every
reader of this magazine. It is a replete chapter of
the story of immigrant tribulations recorded only in
sections.
In every American community there are immigrant
“Holychucks,” there are “Industrial Accident Boards,”
there are judges and court attendants such as this
immigrant appeared before in Boston, there are “liv
ing death” institutions such as the one in Foxboro;
but thanks to Providence, there are also truly Ameri
can representatives of the kindly policeman at West
Mansfield, of the friendly people at work and play in
the town of Peabody, the friendly Italian workman at
Providence and the representative of heart and soul