frequently in error, not to say that it is served up often with the
minimum of taste; but the readers gladly take the risk of mistakes for
the sake of the greater advantage it is to public opinion to have a
searchlight which penetrates every highway and byway, showing up every
sign of change in the social or political situation, and every
intimation of danger.
And if reporters are accused of being indiscreet, one must first inquire
whether the fault does not really lie with some one or other who, while
pretending to shrink from publicity, really wants to see his name in the
paper. Anyone familiar with the newspapers of the country knows that he
is perfectly safe in telling any editor, and even any reporter, whatever
he likes if he adds the caution that he does not wish it given out. It
will not be printed. The American journalist is usually a gentleman, and
can be relied on to be discreet. The principal journalists and editors
of the leading newspapers are among the ablest men of the country, and
they often go over to important political positions and become even
ministers and ambassadors.
The powerful influence of the American newspapers is outwardly displayed
in the sumptuous buildings which they occupy. While in Europe the
newspapers are published generally in very modest quarters, where the
editors have to sit in dingy rooms, the buildings of the American
newspapers compare favourably with the best commercial edifices; and the
whole business is conducted on an elaborate scale. Scarcely less
astonishing are their achievements in the way of illustration. While the
most select papers decline on principle to appeal to the taste for
sensation, many large papers have yielded to the demand, and have
brought the technique of illustration nearly to perfection. A few hours
after any event they will have printed a hundred thousand copies of the
paper with pictures taken on the spot, and reproduced in a manner of
which any European weekly might well be proud.
Taken all in all, the American press very worthily represents the
energy, prosperity, and greatness of the American nation; and at the
same time with its superficial haste, its vulgarity and excitability,
with its lively patriotism and irrepressible humour, it clearly evinces
the influence of democracy. The better the paper the more prominent are
the critical and reflective features; while the wider the circulation,
the more noticeable are the obtrusive self-satisfaction and
provincialism, and the characteristic disdain of things European. Going
from the East to the West, one finds a fairly steady downward gradation
in excellence, although some samples of New York journalism can vie for
crude sensationalism with the most disgusting papers of the Wild West.
And yet the best papers reach a standard which in many respects is
higher than that of the best journals of the Old World. A paper like the
_Boston Transcript_ will hardly find its counterpart in the German
newspaper world; and much good can be said of the _Sun_, _Tribune_,
_Times_, and _Post_ in New York, the _Star_ in Washington, the _Public
Ledger_ in Philadelphia, the _Sun_ in Baltimore, the _Eagle_ in
Brooklyn, the _Tribune_ in Chicago, the Herald in Boston, the _Evening
Wisconsin_ in Milwaukee, and many others which might be named. Even
small cities like Springfield, Massachusetts, produce such large and
admirable papers as the _Springfield Republican_. And to be just, one
must admit that the bad papers could be condensed into tolerably good
ones by a liberal use of the blue pencil. For their mistakes lie not so
much in their not having good contributions as in their inclusion of
crude and sensational material by way of spice. Very often the front
page of a paper will be overrun with the most offensive scandals,
caricatures, and criminal sensations, while the ninth and tenth pages
will offer editorials and other articles of decided merit. The
newspapers which care only for a large circulation will have something
for everybody; and they are not far out of the way in calculating that
the educated reader who looks first at the editorials and political
dispatches, will have enough that is unregenerate in his soul to make
him relish a sideward glance at the latest sensational reports. The
newspaper is content on the whole not to bore its readers, and to hold a
close rein on public opinion rather than on party politics.
With all this, it is not to be denied that there are lower motives which
degrade journalism. One of the chief temptations lies in the
amalgamation of newspaper politics and party activities. The editor who,
in the interests of public opinion, scans all the parties with a
critical eye and professes to be impartial, is for this very reason the
more tempted to misuse his position for private gain. He may diligently
support one party in the name of impartiality and fairness, while in
reality he counts on a remunerative office if that party is successful;
and from this point the steps are few to the moral state of those who
attack a certain party or an industrial enterprise in order to discover
the error of their position on receipt of a sufficient compensation. The
energy with which some newspapers stand up for certain financial
interests casts grave doubt on their personal independence; and yet
direct bribery plays an exceedingly small role, and the government or a
foreign country is never the corrupting influence. Very much more
important are the vanity and selfishness of newspaper proprietors, who
for one reason or another choose to lead the public astray. But such
perversities are less dangerous than one might think, for the American
newspaper reader reads too much and is politically too discerning to
take these newspapers at their face value. The mood induced by one paper
is corrected by another; and while the journalist is tickled at his own
shrewdness in writing only what his readers will like, the reader slyly
preserves his self-respect and belief in his own critical ability, by
hunting out everything with which he does not agree and reading that
carefully. If the journal is above the party, the reader is above the
journal, and thus it is that the newspapers are the most influential
support of public opinion.
In this, however, they do not enjoy a monopoly; beside them are the
weekly and monthly papers. Here again we shall consider their literary
merits in another connection, but their greatest significance lies in
their influence on public opinion. The political efforts of the weekly
papers are mostly indirect; they deal primarily with practical
interests, religious and social problems, and literary matters; but the
serious discussions are carried on as it were against a political
background which lends its peculiar hue to the whole action. The monthly
magazines are somewhat more ambitious, and consider politics more
directly. In their pages, not merely professional politicians, but the
very ablest men of the nation, are accustomed to treat of the needs and
duties of city and state; and these discussions are almost never from a
one-sided point of view. A magazine like the _North American Review_
usually asks representatives of both parties to present their opinions
on the same question; and a similar breadth of view is adopted by the
_Atlantic Monthly_, the _Review of Reviews_, and other leading
monthlies, whose great circulation and influence are hardly to be
compared with similar magazines of Europe. The point of view common to
all is that of a very critical public opinion, well above party politics
and devoted to national reform and everything which makes for progress
and enlightenment. Much the same can be said of those magazines which
combine politics with literature and illustrations, such as the
_Century_, _Harper’s_, _Scribner’s_, _McClure’s_, and many others. When
_McClure’s Magazine_, for example, presents to its half-million readers
month after month an illustrated history of the Standard Oil Trust,
every page of which is an attack on secret evasions of the law, it is
not serving the interests of any party, but is reading public opinion a
lesson.
The spoken word vies with the printed. The capacity of Americans, and
especially of the women, to listen to lectures is well-nigh abnormal.
And in this way social and political propagandas find a ready hearing,
although a purely party speech would not be effective outside of a party
convention. The wit and pathos of the speaker generally reach a level
considerably above mere matters of expediency, and appeal to public
opinion from a broadly historical point of view. The dinner speaker is
also a power, since he is not constrained, as in Germany, to sandwich
his eloquence in between the fish and game or to make every speech wind
craftily around and debouch with the inevitable “dreimal Hoch.” He is
quite at liberty to follow either his whims or his convictions, and
herein has come to be a recognized spring of public opinion.
Finally, somewhat the same influence is exerted by the countless clubs
and associations, and the various local and national societies which are
organized for specific ends. Every American of the better sort belongs
to any number of such bodies, and although concerning two-thirds of them
he knows no more than that he pays his dues, there is left a third for
which he sincerely labours. There is much in these organizations which
is one-sided, egotistical, and trivial, and yet in the most of them
there is something which is sound and right. There is not one at least
which fails to strengthen the conviction that every citizen is called to
be the bearer of public opinion. Just as the parties complain that the
voters neglect the routine duties of the organization, so to be sure do
the strenuous reformers of the country complain that the ranks behind
them informally break step. But the main thing is that behind them there
is a host, and that public opinion is to-day as thoroughly organized as
the official parties, and that it sees each day more clearly that its
qualitative effect on the national life is at least equally important
with the quantitative efficacy of the parties.
Every important question is treated by both organizations, public
opinion, and the parties. At the approach of a great election the
parties create such a stir and bustle that for a couple of months the
voice of public opinion seems hushed. Party tactics rule the day. But on
the other hand, public opinion has its own festivals, and above all,
works on tirelessly and uninterruptedly, except for the short pause just
before elections. Public opinion reacts equally on both parties, forces
them to pass laws that the politicians do not relish, and to repeal
others that the politicians would gladly keep; and, ignoring these men,
it brings the public conscience to bear on the issues to be pressed, the
candidates to be nominated, and the leaders to be chosen.
CHAPTER EIGHT
_Problems of Population_
We have surveyed public opinion and party politics as two distinct
factors in the American national consciousness, as two factors which are
seldom in complete agreement, and which are very often in sharp
opposition, but which finally have to work together like an upper and
lower legislative chamber in order to solve the problems of the day. We
have not the space to speak minutely of all these problems themselves
with which the American is at the present moment occupied; since the
politics of the day lie outside of our purpose. This purpose has been to
study that which is perennial in the American spirit, the mental forces
which are at work, and the forms in which these work themselves out. But
the single questions on which these forces operate, questions which are
to-day and to-morrow are not, must be left to the daily literature. It
is our task, however, to indicate briefly in what directions the most
important of these problems lie. Every one of them would require the
broadest sort of handling if it were to be in the least adequately
presented.
So many problems which in European countries occupy the foreground, and
which weigh particularly on the German mind, are quite foreign to the
American. Firstly, the church problem as a political one is unknown to
him. The separation of church and state is so complete, and the results
of this separation are viewed on all sides with so much satisfaction,
that there is nowhere the least desire to introduce a change. It is
precisely in strictly religious circles that the entire independence of
the church is regarded as the prime requisite for the growth of
ecclesiastical influence. Even the relations between the church and
party politics are distinctly remote, and the semi-political movements
once directed against the Catholic Church are already being somewhat
forgotten. There is no Jesuit question, and the single religious order
which has precipitated a real political storm has been the sect of
Mormons, which ecclesiastically sanctions an institution that the
monogamous laws of the nation forbid. Even here the trouble has been
dispelled by the submission of the Mormon Church.
As a matter of course, America has also never known a real conflict
between the executive and the people. The government being always
elected at short intervals by the people and the head of the state with
his Cabinet having no part in legislation, while his executive doings
merely carry out the wishes of the dominant political party, of course
no conflicts can arise. To be sure, there can be here and there small
points of friction between the legislative and executive, and the
President can, during his four years of office, slowly drift away from
the party which elected him, and thus bring about some estrangement; but
even this would only be an estrangement from the professional
politicians of his party. For experience has shown that the President,
and on a smaller scale the governor of a state, is successful in
breaking with his party only when he follows the wishes of public
opinion instead of listening to the dictates of his party politicians.
But in that case the people are on his side. One might rather say that
the conflicts between government and people, which in Europe are
practically disputes between the government and the popular
representatives of political parties, repeat themselves in America in
the sharp contrast between public opinion on the one hand and the united
legislative and executive on the other; since the government is itself
of one piece with the popular representation. Public opinion, indeed,
preserves its ancient sovereignty as against the whole system of
elections and majorities.
There is another vexation spared to the American people; it has no
Alsace-Lorraine, no Danish or Polish districts; that is, it has no
elements of population which seek to break away from the national
political unity, and by their opposition to bring about administrative
difficulties. To be sure, the country faces difficult problems of
population, but there is no group of citizens struggling to secede; and
in the same way the American has nothing in the way of emigration
problems. Perhaps one may also say finally that social democracy,
especially of the international variety, has taken such tenuous root
that it can hardly be called a problem, from the German point of view.
For although there is a labour question, this is not the same as social
democracy. The labour movements, as part of the great economic upheaval,
are certainly one of the main difficulties to be overcome by the New
World; but the social democratic solution, with its chiefly political
significance, is essentially unknown to the American. All this we shall
have to consider in other connections. Although this and that which
worry the European appear hardly at all in American thought, there is,
on the other hand, a great sea of problems which have mercifully been
spared to the European. It is due to the transitional quality of our
time that on this sea of problems the most tempestuous are those of an
economic character. The fierce conflicts of recent Presidential
elections have been waged especially over the question of currency, and
it is not until now that the silver programme may be looked on as at
least provisionally forgotten. These conflicts were immediately preceded
by others which concerned protection and free-trade, and the outlook is
clear that these two parties will again meet each other in battle array.
Meanwhile the formation of large trusts has loomed up rapidly as a
problem, and in this one sees the real influence of public opinion as
against that of party politics, since both parties would doubtless have
preferred to leave the trusts alone. At the same time the great strikes,
especially that of the Pennsylvania coal districts, have brought the
conflicts between capital and labour so clearly to the national
consciousness that the public attention is strained on this point.
Others say that the most serious economic problem of the United States
is the irrigation of the parched deserts of the West, where whole tracts
of land, larger than Germany, cannot be cultivated for lack of water;
while American engineers, however, now think it entirely possible with a
sufficient outlay of money to irrigate this region artificially. Still
others regard the tax issue as of prime importance; and the circle of
those who believe in single-tax reform is steadily growing. Every one
agrees also that the status of national banks needs to be extensively
modified; that the reckless devastation of forests must be stopped; and
that the commercial relations between the states must be regulated by
new laws. Some are hoping for new canals, others for the subvention of
American ships. In short, the public mind is so filled with important
economic questions that others which are merely political stand in the
background; and, of course, political questions so tremendous as was
once that of independence from England and the establishment of the
Federation, or later, the slave question and the secession of the South,
have not come up through four happy decades.
Besides the economic problems there are many social problems which
appear in those quarters where public opinion is best organized, and
spread from there more and more throughout political life; such are the
question of woman’s suffrage, and the half economic and half social
problem of the extremes between poor and rich, extremes which were
unknown to the New World in the early days of America and even until
very recent times. The unspeakable misery in the slums of New York and
Chicago, in which the lowest immigrants from Eastern Europe have herded
themselves together and form a nucleus for all the worst reprobates of
the country, is an outcome of recent years and appeals loudly to the
conscience of the nation. On the other side, the fatuous extravagance of
millionaires threatens to poison the national sense of thrift and
economy.
Among these social problems there belongs specially the earnest desire
of the best citizens to develop American art and science at a pace
comparable with the extraordinary material progress of the country.
Doubtless the admirable results which have here been obtained, came from
the extraordinary earnestness with which public opinion has discussed
these problems. The great development of universities, the increase in
the number of libraries and scientific institutions, the creation of
museums, the observance of beauty in public buildings, and a hundred
other things would never have come about if public opinion had let
things go their own way; here public opinion has consciously done its
duty as a governing power. Somewhat nearer the periphery of public
thought there are various other social propagandas, as that for the
relief of the poor and for improving penal institutions; the temperance
movement is flourishing, and the more so in proportion as it gives up
its fanatical eccentricities. Also the fight against what the American
newspaper reader calls the “social evil,” attracts more and more serious
attention.
Besides all these, there is a considerable number of purely political
problems; first among these are the problems of population, and notably
the questions of immigration and of the negro; then come internal
problems of government, such as civil service and municipal reforms,
which especially engage the public eye; finally, the problems of
external politics, in which the watchwords of imperialism and the Monroe
Doctrine can be heard shouted out above all others. At least we must
briefly take our bearings, and see why these problems exist, although
the treatment cannot be exhaustive.
The first issue in the problem of population is, as we have said, that
which concerns immigration; and this is just now rather up before public
opinion since the last fiscal year which was closed with the beginning
of July, 1903, showed the largest immigration ever reached, it being
one-tenth greater than the previous record, which was for the year
ending in 1882. The facts are as follows: The total immigration to the
United States has been twenty million persons. The number of those who
now live in the United States, but were born in foreign countries, is
more than ten millions; and if we were to add to these those who,
although born here, are of foreign parentage, the number comes up to
twenty-six millions. Last year 857,000 immigrants came into the country.
Out of the ten millions of the foreign-born population, 2,669,000 have
come from Germany, and 1,619,000 from Ireland.
The fluctuations in immigration seem to depend chiefly on the amount of
prosperity in the United States, and, secondly, on the economic and
political conditions which prevail from year to year in Europe. Up to
1810 the annual immigration is estimated to have been about 6,000; then
it was almost wholly interrupted for several years, owing to the
political tension between the United States and England; as soon as
peace was assured the immigration increased in 1817 to 20,000; and in
the year 1840 to 84,000. The hundred thousand mark was passed in 1842,
and from then on the figure rose steadily, until in 1854 it amounted to
427,000. Then the number fell off rapidly. It was a time of business
depression in the United States, and, moreover, the slavery agitation
was already threatening a civil war. The immigration was least in 1861,
when it had sunk to 91,000. Two years later it began to rise again, and
in 1873 was almost half a million. And again there followed a few years
of business depression, with its correspondingly lessened immigration.
But the moment economic conditions improved, immigration set in faster
than ever before, and in 1882 was more than three-quarters of a million.
Since 1883 the average number of persons coming in has been 450,000, the
variation from year to year being considerable. The business reverses of
1893 cut the number down to one-half, but since 1897 it has steadily
risen again.