Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 107, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1916 — CARLYLE CALLED US BORES [ARTICLE]

CARLYLE CALLED US BORES

Equality Developed Monotony of Type In Country’s Second Epoch, Was His Assertion. Prof. Max Farrand of Yale, lecturing on “American Traits” as developed In the epoch of 1812 to 1840, said at Lowell institute recently, the Kansas City Star observes; “Equality of status is, of course, not a characteristic, but a condition; yet it is a factor which has led to the development of Important American traits. Here, where, If absolute equality did not exist, at least there was far greater equality than there was anything else; where, If there was not equality of opportunity for all, there was at least some opportunity for all, the European relationship of superior and inferior classes could not long continue. The inferior* of today were too likely to become the ‘superior’ of tomorrow. “This meant, of course, a great stimulus to Independence, and developed the people’s self-reliance. Independence is one of the most conspicuous American traits, and it has been not without unpleasant manifestations. It has induced a lack of respect for authority and for elders, and the existence of equality has tended to a remarkable monotony among the people who developed these opportunities, tarlyle could say: ‘Americans have begotten, with a rapidity beyond recorded example, 18,000,000 of the greater* bores ever seen in the world before.’ "Yet in contrast with this deadly equality, the existence of opportunity for all Individuals also led to a strong individualism among Americans, giving each man a chance to develop what was in him. Hence our love for the self-made man, and hence the American devotion to leaders rather than to principles.”