Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / May 4, 1923, edition 1 / Page 3
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'American Individualism A Timely Message to the American People By HERBERT HOOVER Secretary of Commerce. 6—'THE FUTURE INDIVIDUALISM has been the primary force of American civiliza tion for three centuries. It is our sort of individualism that has sup — plied the motivation of America’s political, economic and spiritual institutions in all these years. It has proved its 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. Tlia Amnpinnn nlnnonr ?«? tho " “■■■ ““ --—' —————— expression of that indlvdualism, and the pioneer spirit is 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 it to achieve. There will al ways be a 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. It evolved gov ernment without official emissaries to show the way; it plowed and sowed two score of great states; It built roads, bridges, railways, cities; It car ried forward every attribute of high civilization over a continent. The days of the pioneer are not over. There are continents of human welfare of which we havW penetrated only the coastal plain. The great continent of science is as yet explored only on its borders, and it is 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. It is based on conviction born of experience. Equal opportunity, the demand for a fair chance, became the formula of American individualism because it is 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 It-has brought us. Now haltingly, but with more surety and precision than ever before and with a more conscious understand ing of our mission, we are finding solu tion of these problems arising from new conditions, for the forces of our social system can compass and com prise these. Our individualism is no middle ground between autocracy—whether of birth, economic or class origin—and soclajAsm. Socialism of different varie ties may have something to recom mend it as an intellectual stop-look and-listen sign, more especially for Old World societies. But It contains only destruction to the forces that make progress in our social system. Nor does salvation come by any device for concentration of powar, whether po 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 wu-eckage of individualism. What we need today is steady devo tion to a better, brighter, broader in dividualism—an individualism that carries increasing responsibility and service to our fellows. Our need is not for a way out but for a way forward. We found our way out three centuries ago when our forefathers left Europe for these shores, to set up here a com monwealth conceived In liberty and dedicated to the development of indi viduality. There are malign 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 it 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 hifce forgotten that progress must come from the steady lift of the indi vidual and that the measure of na 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 sult of radicalism itself but are de voted to defense of radicalism as proof of a liberal mind. Most theorists who denounce our individualism as a social basis seem to have a passion for Ignor ance of its constructive ideals. An even greater danger is 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 is never danger from the radical himself until the structure and confidence of society has been undermined by the enthronement of destructive criticism. Destructive criticism can certainly lead to revolution unless there are those willing to withstand the malice that flows in return from refutation. It has been well said that revolution is no summer thunderstorm clearing the atmosphere. In modern society it Is a tornado leaving in its path the de stroyed homes of millions vs 1th their dead women and children. There are also those who Insist that the future must be a repetition of the 1 ,£tt; that ideas are dangerous, that Ideals are freaks. To find that fine balance which links the future with the past, whose vision is of men and not of tools, that pos sesses the courage to construct rather than to criticize—this is our need. There is no oratory so easy, no writing ■0 trenchant and vivid as the phrase making of criticism and malice—there is none so difficult as inspiration to construction. We cannot ever afford to rest at ease in the comfortable assumption that right ideas always prevail by some virtue of their own. In the long run they do. But there can be and there have been periods of centuries when the world slumped back toward darkness merely because great masses of men became impregnated with wrong ideas and wrong social philoso phies. The declines of civilization have been born of wrong ideas. Most of the wars of the world, including the recent one, have been fought by the advocates of contrasting ideas of so cial philosophy. The primary safeguard of American individualism is an understanding of it; of faith that it is is the most pre cious possession of American civiliza tion, and a willingness courageously to test every process of national life upon the touchstone of <this basic social premise. Development of the human institutions and of science and of in dustry have been long chains of trial and error. Our public relations to them and to other phases of our na tional life can be advanced in no other way than by a willingness to experi ment in the remedy of our social faults. The failures and unsolved problems of economic and social life can be corrected; they can be solved within our social theme and under no other system. The solution is a mat ter of will to find solution; of a sense of duty as well as of a sense of right and citizenship. No one who buys “bootleg” whisky can complain of gun men and hoodlumlsm. Humanity has a long road to perfec tion, but we of America can make sure progress If we will preserve our individualism, If we will preserve and stimulate the Initiative of our people,1 if we will build up our insistence and safeguards to equality of opportunity, if we will glorify service as a part of our national character. Progress will march if wTe hold an abiding faith In the intelligence, the initiative, the character, the courage, and the divine touch in the individual. We can safe guard these ends if we give to each in dividual that opportunity for which the spirit of America stands. We can make a social system as perfect as our generation merits and one that will be received in gratitude by our children. [THE END.] (Copyright, 1923, by Doubleday, Page A Co. Published by arrangement with Western Newspaper Union.) DIDN’T KNOW GREAT PAINTER Woman's Criticism Decidedly Amus ing Considering the Standing of 'the Artist. The amateur who “knows It all” be longs to all arts and all periods. Our grandparents laughed over the anec dote, once familiar throughout Britain and America, of the nonprofessional lady singer who complained to a hotel clerk of the woman In the room next door to her, whose vocal exercises were not only too frequent but an offense to the sensitive ear. She was told that unfortunately the only rem edy was for her to change her room, as the management would scarcely care to remonstrate on thut point with Madame Patti! At Dublin not so long ago, writes a contributor to the Boston Herald, a woman painter of distinction was walking on a woodsy path in company with another woman painter, a New York society woman who dabbles and daubs but who Is not professionally distinguished. They came presently upon a gentleman who was sitting by the wayside, blocking in a water color. Recognizing a friend who doesn’t like to be disturbed when at work, the first woman nudged the other to be quiet, and they both stood for a few mo ments to watch. As they walked on the society wom an observed compassionately: “O dear, isn’t it pitiful? Why do people Imag ine they can paint? There is a man whose hair Is turning gray, and you can see from his work that he Is one of those who will never do anything at It.” The man with hair turning gray was Mr. John Singer Sargent, who re ceives a thousand dollars apiece for his little splashes In water color t He Was Not Wise. A North side family had a pair of scales that had to be handled a certain way in order to get accurate weight, relates the Indianapolis News. The colored man who worked for the fam ily, however, was not “wise” to the fact, so, in leaving the family employ, he took with him the scales and es tablished himself at a stand on the market. Before the day was over he was arrested for giving false weight and the scales were confiscated. 0 I Rising Temperature Fanny Proved It to Felix LOOKET "TUE. CROCUSES Sj>*s+' • »*vri v 1 4 r T 1 The Candy Man Can Better Afford It voo OOGrU*f '<0 <S\V)E NOOR KAOViEM 'tME POOR <dTAR>JIW<x £OROPEAW3, UiStEAfc OP BV>N»KiG: CAWOV vwetv, v fcWE VK 'to A -ru' CAViON KAKVi 90 ) Coot© <3rlV)E tY “fo j '■fU* flOEE EOfcOPE^UsW i Aft$r Every Meal k WRIGLEY5 and give your stomach a lift. Provides "the bit oC sweet" Is bmnmficimt form. Helps to cleanse the teeth and keep them healthy. | Good to the last drop gjjothingbut many years of coffee ex perience could give the housekeeper her calm confidence in the unvarying flavor of Maxwell House. MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE $3.50 BY MAIL An exclusive fountain pen that suits the moat exacting taste, made of the latest Red Car dinal Rubber. Fitted with 14-karat solid gold pen point, gold-filled clip, and box lever filling device. Hand ground and Iridium pointed. Satisfaction guaranteed. MODESTY FOUNTAIN PEN CO. 132 Nassau Street New York City Wanted Y#nn8Men * " t Vi a onplrnr to learn the barber trade and enroll for the spring and summer course. Good jobs await our graduates. Charlotte Barber College, Charlotte, N.£. OUR AGENTS OUR MAKING $1.50 AN HOUR selling guaranteed pure silk hosiery, spare or full time. Write for full particulars. MOHEGAN HOSIERY CO.. 157 West 123rd Street. New York City. Stearns’ Electric Pasta Is recognized as the guaranteed exterminator for Bats, Mice, Antt, Cockroaches and Waterbugs. Don’t waste time trying to kill these pests with powders, liquids or any experimental preparations. Ready for Use— Better than Traps 2-os. box, S5c lfj-oz. box, $1A0. SOLD EVERYWHSRC Your Hair quickly retire It and bring back sail its origin*! color and luxuriance. At all good druggists, 7Sc. < Deed not be thin or streaked with gray — ©-BAN HAIR COLOR RESTORER *111 direct from HESS1C - ELLIS. MEMPHIS, TON. Let Cuticura Be Your Beauty Doctor Saap 2Sc, Oiahasal 25 aad 50c, Talcma 25c. For Sale—Porto Kico Potato Plants; also tomato plants. $1.60 per 1.000; 10,000 and up, $1.26 per 1,000 Bermuda onion plants, Wakefield and Succession ctibbage plants. $1.00 per 1.000; 10.000 and up. 76c per 1,000. KENDALL PLANT CO.. VALDOSTA, GA IN. N. U.. CHARLOTTE, NO. 18-1923.
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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May 4, 1923, edition 1
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