The new frontier, a study of the American liberal spirit, its frontier origin, and its application to modern problems

Preface

The main thesis of this book is one that emphatically needs to be uttered, and that is uttered here with admirable force, with convincing argument, with copious illustration. It proclaims a truth which is in danger of escaping our attention amid the general clamor of the times. That truth is this: America is not radical; America is not reactionary; America^ is liberal. And what she has been she will continue to be for the simple and sufficient reason that liberalism is native to the very air she breathes, is the compelling product of her history, is the heart of her national tradition, is the essence of her national psychology. ^ i

We are being much advised these days by many confident monitors of the public to discard our rich inheritance, as the work of men of darkened or narrow minds or of malevolent spirit. We shall not do so. At no time in her history has America stood still in complacent adoration of the past. At no stage has she been willing to cast aside her fundamental institutions and her customary habits of mind, both of which have served her well in many a period of trouble. Also at no stage has she been indisposed to improve the things that could be improved. America is neither troglodytic nor quixotic. She is optimistic and she is sensible.

But this fundamental and pervasive liberalism of America is not a detached force of nature operating vi PREFACE

ceaselessly and inevitably for the prosperity and happiness of the nation, is not something outside ourselves working automatically for righteousness. It is a personal force. It is the wisdom and the purpose that each individual is able to distil from the experiences of our people. It is self-conscious, and, therefore, the HberaHsm of America needs conscious organization and direction that it may be applied always and at every point to national problems as they arise.

These ideas and many others are set forth in this book with freshness, with vitaHty, with enthusiasm and with faith, controlled by a fine sense of the actual and of the possible. What is needed in America to-day is, as the author says, the organization of all the Hberal forces of the country, for, if united, they are irresistible, whereas, if disunited and dispersed, they lose their force, and general muddle results. America is not going to disown her past for the excellent reason that she knows that it has contributed incalculably to her wellbeing and will continue to contribute. She will not follow the frantic exhortations of the panaceamongers, since her sense of humor will forbid. Not vague Utopianism but reasoned programs of reform will appeal to her in the future as they have appealed to her in the past.

A remark of Ralph Waldo Emerson recurs to mind: "The destiny of this country is great and liberal. Nothing is impracticable to this nation which it shall set itself to do." It is because this book is charged and surcharged with this faith that it is both tonic and true.

Charles Downer Hazen.

Contents

PACK

Introduction ix

The Frontier of Ameejcan Character .... 3