Unto the hills; some of America's problems

Front matter

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Edward Nelson Dingley

Foreword

WHEN the Psalmist wrote, ''I will lift mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help," he recorded a profound truth underlying the development of the human race. Racial, political and economic progress have been possible because men of vision have been able to turn their eyes from the dead level of doubt to the living hills of hope. Throughout the ages of man, the hills have typified the power of personality and embodied the intensity of inspiration. The restless souls of the great have risen triumphant from the fogs and mists of human weakness, reached the heights, and, like Moses, viewed the promised land.

Nations and peoples have made progress only as their leaders possessed the power to lift their eyes unto the hills and gather from the abodes of the spirit the strength required to carry the burdens and responsibilities of their time.

Who has not experienced the awe and majesty of mountains and snow-clad hills ? Who has visited the Grand Canon without being keenly conscious of an almost unconquerable, yea breathless, longing to see the mysteries of the Infinite, so near? Who has viewed the mighty works of the Almighty in the Rockies or the Alps, without absorbing some of their majesty and strength? David knew; and all the leaders after him, knew.

In every epoch and among all nations, temples, shrines, mausoleums and structures commemorating historic events, have been erected on the hills or elevated places, because the thought, the inspiration, the ideal of the builder was beyond

Foreword

the common level. Harmony with that ideal demanded a sightly place. The very location was a constant invitation to lift the eyes unto the hills. The builders of nations realized the psychology of lofty ideals, and fashioned them in concrete form on the hills where they could be seen. They were symbols of religion or government. Their sublimity was emphasized by their environment. Whatever progress the world has made in three thousand years, either in science, invention, civil government or economic thought, has been due to this mysterious harmony between ideals of the finite mind and the hills of the Infinite. The Psalmist knew. Others know now.

True historians view the record of events from the heights, in perspective. They see the connecting links between great events, and measure the progress of mankind by the success or failure of ideals, by the rise or fall of institutions born of those ideals. The problem of the historian is to separate the eddies and whirlpools from the main current of the stream of human life. Often the forces of materialism are mistaken for the more essential ideals of human thought and spiritual culture. No historian can ignore these tremendously powerful forces we call spiritual. They are not found in treatises on politics or political economy, or in the statistics of trade and commerce; yet they are present and constitute an important factor in the modern problem of government and human welfare. They can not be discerned except when the eyes of the recorder are lifted unto the hills. Like all the silent forces of nature, they are the most powerful. They are manifest in the lives of all, and may be isolated and measured by the economist and the political scientist, just as an expert isolates and measures a chemical unit.

Foreword

The material progress of our country in a century and a quarter, has been the marvel of the world. The human brain has harnessed the elements, built cities and multiplied wealth. Inventions have challenged the miracles of old. We travel with the speed of the wind, on land. We fly with the birds. We explore the depths of the ocean and travel in submarines. We push a button and the night bursts into stars. We talk through space and hear voices in the air. Thus the material approaches the spiritual, slowly demonstrating that our future is wrapped up in and dependent upon, the spiritual.

In harmony with the spiritual uplift of the hills, the founders of America located the capitol on the highest available spot. This majestic structure is a symbol of enduring national life, and a shrine whose towering dome and crowning statue of Armed Liberty, afford an inspiring panorama of the nation's capital, and a vision of America's future. Here the wise and worth-while statesman need not keep his ear to the ground, but may lift his eyes unto the hills. Here great men may think and lead, and plan to solve America's problems.

The purpose of these chapters is to encourage observers of public events and students of national problems, to "lift their eyes unto the hills" and see the spiritual forces directing America, likewise the mighty course of the stream of American life. We can see the truth and gather strength for a correct solution of America's problems, only by lifting our eyes unto the hills.

E. N. D.

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CHAPTER I The Outlook

IT IS fortunate that the American people are blessed with a spirit of optimism. It had its birth in the indomitable spirit of the fathers and mothers, who, three hundred years ago established an empire and laid the foundations of what has proved to be an agricultural, industrial and financial world leadership. Often it is said they built better than they knew; yet it is not impossible that some had a vision of the future too spiritual and apocalyptic to record.

It is a far cry from Jamestown to Washington of today ; from Plymouth Rock to the Congressional Library and the Washington and Lincoln memorials. In that long intervening period can be visualized a panorama of devoted men and women, lofty ideals and ambitions, stern endeavor and achievement, marked by unerring progress and inevitable triumph.

Today the civilized world stands in amazement at the portals of America, and marvels at the magnitude of human endeavor when prompted by liberty and high resolve.

Confidence is the heritage of this generation. The -optimism of ancestors hovers near, like a benediction. The hope of democracies and republics, lies in eternal conviction that a majority, knowing the facts and the truth, invariably decides and acts for the welfare of all. No crisis has overwhelmed this republic, because its foundation stones are laid in the firm belief that Providence watches over the affairs of people, if permitted to come in and abide. It is significant that the framers of the Federal Constitution, in the city of Philadelphia, were unable to agree or to frame a document acceptable to a majority until Benjamin Franklin reminded the delegates that they had failed to ask for help and guidance from above.

It is the fashion among not a few otherwise shrewd and sensible students of history and observers of current events, to call forth the ghosts of centuries gone, the horrors of revolutions, the fall of empires and the cruelties and wrongs of rulers and dynasties, the tyranny of gold and the power that goes with it. It is the fashion in some circles to point a warning finger and nod the head knowingly, as if the cynic were clothed with some superhuman power to divine the future, to write the nation's horoscope and predict its downfall. The misanthrope, the croaking raven in human garb, delights in tales of national disaster. All are false — born of a false understanding and analysis of American life. After all critics, in their assumed wisdom, have told of the perils and pitfals of the Republic, the weakness of our form of government and the impossibilities of democracies, somehow every crisis is passed safely and the people emerge stronger and more sanguine than before.

There is no concealing the fact that the people of America face a crisis now — a crisis of no small proportions. It has two phases — social and spiritual on the one hand, economical and financial on the -other. In its spiritual phase, America is undergoing a social or spiritual revolution. Our democracy is not a failure, however, because there appears to be an increase of crime, scandal and bad conduct in high places. Too often there is a failure to apply to moral affairs and religious matters, the same rule of averages, the same test, applied to other departments of life. One hundred per cent efficiency is

The Outlook

expected in the religious and spiritual world, while only seventy-five or eighty per cent efficiency is expected elsewhere. It can not be gainsaid that the social, moral and spiritual level of America is far higher today than it was fifty or a hundred years ago, despite appearances to the contrary. We hear promptly of the one who goes wrong, and seldom if ever hear of the ninety and nine who go right. The lost sheep is the most talked about, and makes the most noise. The route of national life for centuries has been upward, constantly. America leads morally and spiritually, because its chariot is guided by men and women who do not crowd out Providence.

Nor is the thoughtful student of current events unmindful of the existence of an economic crisis. It is apparent in all sections and among all classes. No one event or fact is responsible for this; it is the result of the law of cause and effect. There are some things even a republic of unusual vigor and strength can not do, without inevitable suffering. A violation of the laws of economics brings disaster to the national body, just as a violation -of the laws of health brings physical disaster to the oft'ender. In the physical and material world, nature presents its little bill, always. In the economic world, nature does likewise. The cure of the individual can be wrought only after great suffering and long recuperation. The cure 'of the republic can be accomplished only after all have borne their share of the burden and the suffering.

An economic illness spares nobody. All suffer. Americans, both those -of large and small means, are in travail today because of a violation of the fundamental laws of economics. The first cause is war; the contributing cause is national extravagance, waste and recklessness. What once had the appearance of unprecedented prosperity turns out to be a shadow — a bubble. What promised to be national wealth is ashes. High prices and high living have been the product of wild inflation and the printing press. Once more it has been demonstrated that Congress and the federal government can not create wealth and make people rich and happy. There is only one road to permanent wealth, and that is by industry, work and thrift. Most of the war time fortunes have disappeared, because they were accumulated contrary to the ordinary rules of sound economics. What is obtained quickly and without much effort, departs as quickly and with the same lack of effort. Experience teaches that to get rich quickly is to get poor quickly.

The unparalleled unemployment was the result of a violation of the normal economic laws under which wealth is created and distributed. Lured by an international mirage, an ignis fatuus, America lost its bearings and drifted. It forgot its real mission — the making and preservation of America first, the protection of Americans first. The war, begun and conducted to stamp out tyranny not only in Europe but in America, resulted in economic disaster to America. Men and women will fight for an ideal, will struggle to save liberty; but when the fighting is over they demand the economic fruits of liberty. Idle men and women with empty stomachs do not make good patriots. The war lost its glamor when the pinch of no-work and no-food came. The fever of world-patriotism has had its run. Now the sufferers demand employment and a chance to live in an America worth while. Three years of economic debauch bring the republic face to face with a tremendous problem. It can not be solved in a day, nor a month nor a year. But it will be solved in time, as other great national problems have been solved.

The Outlook

Linked to the economic crisis is the financial crisis. It is staggering, but must be met with courage and confidence. Likewise this crisis has its genesis in the war, its growth in national waste, and its culmination in almost criminal extravagence. The problem is serious in the extreme, and must be met. It can be overcome only with the aid of loyal and patriotic citizens.

There can be no return to employment, no resumed prosperity, no ''good times" until the nation's finances are put in order, credit money reduced, inflating of currency stopped, and prices due to inflation, lowered.

The credit of the republic measures the value of its obligations, including both bonds and notes. Its bonds were below par because there were so many of them. Its notes (federal reserve and others) had about 50 or 60 per cent of their purchasing power as compared with 1914, because there were so many of them. The process of recovery, of a return to normal conditions, will be tedious and prolonged. It is useless to promise a miracle. Congress can not create wealth or restore former conditions by a mere fiat. Eecovery will be a matter of years. Congress can help the operation of the laws of finance, that is all.

It is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the financial situation, yet the optimism and confidence of the fathers and mothers of early days are manifest in the halls of legislation and in the hearts and minds of patriots.

The republic never faced before such an appalling situation as confronts it today. In 1820, at the close of the war of 1812, the public interest-bearing debt was $91,000,000, or $9.44 per capita. In 1850, at the close of the Mexican war, the public debt was $63,000,000, or $2.74 per capita. In 1866, at the close of the Civil War, the public interest bearing debt was $2,636,000,000, or $74.32 per capita. In 1899, at the close of the Spanish-American war, the interest bearing debt was $1,044,000,000, or $15.55 per capita. In 1919, at the close of the great World war, the public interest-bearing debt of the United States was $26,596,000,000, or $228,63 per capita/

The great war cost the United States $32,830,000,000 including the credits to the allies, or $23,424,000,000 excluding those credits. The war of 1917-18 cost the United States approximately six times the total cost of the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Mexican war, the Civil war, and the Spanish- American war, combined.

The figures demonstrate that the eight years between July 1, 1913, and July 1, 1921, were the most costly and extravagant in the whole history of the republic. This statement has been made repeatedly, but it is most startling when visualized. During this period the federal government collected $85,789,000,000 and spent $87,800,000,000. These receipts and expenditures respectively, were more than the entire receipts or expenditures of the federal government for seventy-five years previous, including three wars.

During the fiscal year 1919 alone, 12 departments of the federal government expended $46,609,000 on account of ''National Security and Defense." This was in addition to the regular and 'ordinary appropriations for the several departments. Government construction and operation of ships, and government operation of the railroads required the expenditure of $7,000,000,000.

This analysis of the financial situation reveals the biggest problem of the hour. There is no short way out. The road •of extravagance, waste and recklessness must be retraced to

1 June 30, 1922, the interest-bearing debt was $22,963,000,000.

The Outlook

the safe and solid abode of financial solvency and economic equilibrium. All must share the burden. The journey may be long and tiresome.

To guide the republic through the fog and amid the shoals; to rescue the nation from peril if not disaster, is the great work -of this generation.

This outline of the situation and the problem challenges the patriotism, patience and pride of every citizen. The present duty is to justify and perpetuate the faith and optimism of the founders of the republic.

Chapter II

NO MORE inspiring scene has been enacted in the halls of Congress in recent years, than when the resolution to enter the world war was adopted. The air was charged with enthusiasm and patriotism, reverberating to the farthest confines of America. What was the impelling force? Nationalism and the spiritual power that accompanies it always. The eyes of all true Americans were lifted unto the hills. It was a sublime moment.

The United States did not enter the world war to make the world safe for democracy, but to save American nationalism. Viscount Grey said truly: ''The allies have been fighting for the same idea of national human liberty as the United States, but fighting also for the immediate preservation of national existence in Europe. '' England fought for her existence as a nation. So did France and Italy and the United States.

Congress enacted laws to protect and promote nationalism. Violators of the espionage law were punished severely. Disloyalty to the flag and the cause brought swift retribution. Conscientious objectors to the draft law were subjected to close examination, and were a synonym of mental and physical cowardice. This was a manifestation of nationalism to the highest degree.

While our soldiers were helping in the cause of nationalism and civilization, many who remained at home in safety, not only evaded their duties and responsibilities, but sowed seeds of doubt and disloyalty in the field of nationalism. Wrote one: ''The immoral aim of national expansion and self-sufficiency gives way to the moral aim of the brotherhood of mankind and the solidarity of human interest." Another wrote : ' ' There must be a partial surrender of these ambitions which nationality, in its blind seeking for self-determination, has inhibited." Said another in an address in Philadelphia : ' ' The root of war lies far less in competitive capitalism than in competitive nationalism. Nationalism is an instrument created by disorganization and can serve only disorganization. ' *

At this writing, there exist organizations and private propagandists seeking to destroy the spirit of American nationalism. It comes from foreign sources or their allied interests in America, largely. He is blind to passing events who denies this. It is possible to write the names and active officials of many of these organizations created ostensibly to promote peace and brotherhood, but really to rob the United States of its birthright. Even many of our school histories are rewritten with the spirit of American nationalism, which the founders and fathers of the Republic created, omitted. The insidious purpose is to teach the coming generations in America, that nationalism is a myth and national heroes of little account. Lecturers and writers from foreign lands preach the doctrine of internationalism, and seek to rob us of all we and our forbears have held dear for more than three hundred years. In a recent address almost under the shadow of the capitol, a United States judge said: ''The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States would not have been written if some of the most ardent exponents of so-called Americanism of today had been living at that time/

Business and industrial America must be awake to the fact that insidious forces are seeking to change the current of our national life, and revolutionize fundamental principles of economic and political evolution. Our ancient landmarks are being destroyed; and social, industrial and political experiments are offered as antidotes for all human ills. We are being lulled to sleep by soft words.

America faces a crisis because of the nostrums handed out by an army of quacks burdened with much theory and blessed with little practice or experience. Strong men, sturdy men, practical men, are needed now more than ever, to point out the dangers ere the Ship of State is wrecked on the shoals of world brotherhood, or on the rocks of false internationalism — a disaster that if it comes, will be due to a failure to follow the milestones of history and to profit by the experiences of mankind. It is said that nationalism is immoral. This is a summary way of disposing of the great march of historic events since the world began. Was America's national expansion immoral? On the contrary, America owes her national power to the inspiration of the fires of nationalism.

After the fall of Rome, Europe learned, at the cost of centuries of anarchy, that the destruction of the principle of nationalism was an utterly false method of establishing and prom-oting civilization. The Thirty Years' War will live

1 In the Senate June 5, 1922, Senator Watson of Indiana referred at length to the activity of certain foreign representatives and foreign writers^ and speakers in the United States. Among other things he said: "I for one insist that these gentlemen wrho come here to represent foreign nations should not undertake to dictate to us what our policy skall be . . . I desire as one Senator, to resent intereference from abroad in our domestic affairs." The Boston City Council has passed an order calling upon the trustees of the Boston Public Library, to ban from its shelves a recently published anglicized volume entitled "Book of American Wars," on the ground that it "grossly misrepresents heroic characters and events."

forever as a tale of horror ; but its close marked the eclipse of the aim of world dominion and world citizenship, such as many Romans cherished, and witnessed the definite appearance of territorial nationality. Then came Hugo Grotius, giving the world its first clear definition of international rights. Three centuries of war brought territorial settlement which is essential to any stable civilization. It was the birth of the nation.

Democracy has m'oved forward in perfect step with nationalism. Freedom and self-government have been possible only under the protecting care of nationalism. The national spirit has spelled progress, education, civilization. Washington never lost sight of a nation in the western world. Garibaldi, exiled, never turned aside from his purpose of making Italy a free nation. When a people loses its spirit of nationality, decay follows speedily. Edward Everett Hale told the story of nationalism in The Man Without a Country. Said Nolan : ' ' If you are ever tempted to say a word or to do a thing that shall put a bar between you and your family, your home and your country, pray God in His mercy to take you that instant home to His own Heaven . . . And for your country and for that flag, never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells."

Now it is proposed by some to turn back the hands of the clock, and submerge nationalism in some sort of internationalism. Already America, an independent nation, is vexed and tried with many problems certain to tax the wisdom, skill and ingenuity 'of our strongest, safest and best men and women. We are facing grave dangers, both industrial and economic, as well as political. Democracy at home is an experiment still. Will an international political alliance

[II]

Unto The Bills

make our problems less serious and acute? The problems of peace are as serious as the problems of war. Peace and world brotherhood will not eliminate the problems of commercial competition. They are right upon us. We can win only by adhering to nationalism and patriotism. In 1918 a writer in the British Fortnightly Review said: ''When the war ends, the nations which have destroyed their accumulated wealth must work the more feverishly to renew and replace their lost capital. If that be the world's commercial position, how can it be pretended that the normal relationship of one state to another will be that of friendly neighborliness ? " These wise words apply to America as well as to Great Britain. The United States can promote the cause of peace best by remaining independent — a strong, virile and proud nation, protecting herself against 'Other nations, yet at the same time contributing generously to human brotherhood and world progress.

The world war, in which so many brave Americans gave their all, ought to make a new America by inspiring a new nationalism. That nationalism, more than ever, should take the form of preparedness for peace as well as war, of protection in all forms, and of sacrifice for established institutions. The test of democracy is nationalism. Our boasted democracy long since disappeared in a Republic. Let all patriots unite in making America a safe republic, a safe nation, in which to live. That is a problem sufficiently large and important to absorb the attention of this and succeeding generations.

The late Theodore Roosevelt wrote: "Patriotism was once defined as the 'last refuge of a scoundrel.' Dr. Johnson was a cynic and did not comprehend the full meaning of patriotism. He failed to realize that love of country is one of the elemental virtues, even though scoundrels play upon it for their own selfish ends.'* Again he wrote: ''There are philosophers who assure us that in the future, patriotism will be regarded not as a virtue at all, but merely as a mental stage in the journey toward a state of feeling when our patriotism will include the whole human race and all the world. That may be so ; but the age of which these philosophers speak is still several aeons distant. In fact, philosophers of this type are so very advanced that they are of no practical

service to the present generation As things now are

and have been for two or three thousand years past and are likely to be, for two or three thousand years to come, the words 'home' and 'country' mean a great deal. Nor do they show any tendency to lose their significance. At present, treason ranks as one of the worst of all possible crimes." Again he wrote: "No one of our people can do any work really worth doing, unless he does it primarily as an American. He who deserts America and lives abroad, does not really become a European, he only ceases being an American, and becomes nothing." Again he said: "Americanism is a question of spirit, conviction and purpose, not of creed or birthplace. ' '

We are concerned with the great drama of the present and the future. It forbids us to look at the future with blind and careless optimism. Said Mr. Roosevelt: "We must neither surrender ourselves to a foolish optimism nor succumb to a timid and ignoble pessimism. Our nation is that one among all the nations of the earth which holds in its hands the fate of the coming years. We enjoy exceptional advantages, and are menaced by exceptional dangers, and all signs indicate that we shall either fail greatly or succeed greatly. I firmly believe that we shall succeed; but we must not foolishly blink at the dangers by which we are threatened, for that is the way to fail."

Viscount Bryce said : ' ' Race sentiment is one of the elements which go to make up national sentiment and national pride. It helps to make a people cohesive. Race consciousness is the core of nationality. ' '

Francis Lieber said: ''Without a national character, states can not obtain that longevity and continuity of political society which is necessary for our progress. Even our patriotism has become pre-eminently national."

Someone has said : " A nation is a collective memory and a collective hope. It is cemented in remembered sacrifice and maintained by expected devotion. ' '

Nationalism and patriotism have promoted civilization, stirred the souls of millions, given the world its best poetry and song, and tuned the harp-strings of melody to the heartthrobs of humanity.

God forbid that we should lose either nationalism or patriotism !

In a speech delivered in the Senate July 26, 1917, Senat-or Borah discussed the causes and consequences of the entrance of the United States into the world war. Here are a few words from this eloquent, patriotic and American speech: ''After we have declared war and taken steps upon the part of the Government which necessarily follow, we come then to deal with another world entirely. "We leave the field of form and formality to find ourselves in the world of the concrete, of the real, where hearts throb and grieve and men are prepared to suffer and die. From this forward we must deal with the man on the street, in the field, and in the factory; the man of simple and fixed, but noble national instincts ; the man, bless God, in whose moral and intellectual fiber are ingrained the teachings and traditions and aspirations of a century of national life — a national life separate, distinct, exceptional and sublime. Y-ou will not change these things overnight. The American citizen must live his character ; you can not transplant in a few weeks the habits and ideas, the methods and ways of other people. We have our allies, and with them a common purpose, but America is still America, with her own institutions, her individuality, the moral and intellectual conceptions -of her own people; she is still a sun and not a satellite. Sir, if our own institutions are not at stake, if the security of our own country is not involved, if we as a people and as a Nation are not fighting for our own rights and the honor and lives of our own people, our declaration of war was a bold and impudent betrayal of a whole people, and its further continuance a conspiracy against every home in the land."

CHAPTER III Protection and Civilization

IN THESE post-war and readjustment days, there has appeared a school of economists declaring that new world conditions impose upon America a departure from the tried precepts of ''America for Americans," and a substitution therefor of "America for the world." It is asserted that patriotism is national selfishness and protection is isolation. It is argned that civilization will be lost unless America plays her part in world problems by surrendering American problems. It is claimed that nationalism is a peril and a cause of war.