XV THE AMERICAN NATION CO-OPERATIVE industrial organization presupposes racial unity. There can be no co-operation as long as there is racial strife and antagonism within the nation. The Ameri- can nation was formed— rather is being formed, since it is still in the formation period — by the commingling of the Anglo-Saxon, Teuton, Celt, Slav, and Mediterranean. None of these races is in the majority or even in such a large mi- nority that it could expect to have its character, its viewpoints, habits, and temperament pre- dominate in the resultant race. The white pop- ulation of the United States to-day probably comprises about 30 to 35 per cent, of Anglo- Saxon origin (English, Scotch, etc.), about 30 per cent, of Teuton origin (German, Dutch, Scandinavian, etc.), 15 per cent, of Celtic origin (Irish), and 20 to 25 per cent. Slav and Mediter- 188 THE AMERICAN NATION ranean. Of the latter, the latest immigrants, many are not yet citizens. The American race thus cannot be Anglo- Saxon, or Teuton, or Irish, or Slav, or Latin, but nuist have characteristics of all these races, and to talk about "blood is thicker than water," and apply this to "our British cousins," or speak of Germany as "Fatherland," or of our country as a "Greater Ireland," this is not American citizenship, but is racial sectarianism, and as such to be condemned as reprehensible, since it retards the bringing about of the racial unity which is the first and fundamental requirement of a stable nation. On the other hand, it must be recognized that the Anglo-Saxon, or, more correctly speaking, the English, have an exceptional position in our race, as the original and oldest constituent. While all races contributed in the early coloni- zation of the Atlantic coast, nevertheless the British were so much in the majority that in the Colonial days, and even still in the first part of the nineteenth century the United States were essentially Anglo-Saxon, that is, the citizens of British descent were in the majority. But the great German and Irish immigration of the middle of the nineteenth century and the 18!) AMERICA AND THE NEW EPOCH tendency of the descendants of the early Col- onists toward race suicide changed this, and America is not Anglo-Saxon any more, but is a mixed race in formation. What might have happened if the gates had been closed to immi- gration early in the nineteenth century, and the non-Anglo-Saxon races kept out, does not con- cern us now any more; history deals with what is, and not what has been or what might have been; deals witli facts, not with sentiments. The English language has conquered and through it the United States are closely related to England by a common language, common forms of expression and intercommunication, and a common literature, so much so that with many writers it is difficult to say whether they are British or American. In some respects it must, therefore, be regretted that the complete racial unity of the two English-speaking nations has not been preserved, that America has not remained completely of Anglo-Saxon race. On the other hand, however, it must be real- ized that it was the mixed races which have done the world's work, which have led in all human advance, and it was the vitality given by the mixture of races which has created all great nations. Thus England as a nation was lyo THE AMERICAN NATION formed by the mix Lure oi" the Norman and the Anglo-Saxon; France by the Celt, Roman, and Frank; far back before history, tradition tells of the creation of the Roman nation bj^ the tri- union of tribes — even the name "tribe" con- tains the root "three," in memory of this formation of the Roman nation from three branches. Thus there is no doubt that had it not been for the mixture of the various leading races of the world America would not be what it is to-day. We can easily realize this by review- ing the racial characteristics- of the foremost races which contributed to the American union. The characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon is his great initiative. He is the empire-builder. We only need to think of names like Hastings, Washington, Nelson, Gordon, Rhodes, Kitch- ener, etc. To him thus is due the push and the energy which have opened up and conquered the New World. We see it in the rapid growth of the English colonies, compared with the slow growth of other nations' colonies. But charac- teristic of the Anglo-Saxon also is the excessive; individualism which handicaps him in co- operation, and co-operation more and more becomes the essential of progress. Thus the 13 191 AMERICA AND THE NEW EPOCH Anglo-Saxons are not prominent as organizers, but rather are likely to be muddlers; the pres- ent world's war affords an excellent illustration hereof. Thus the Anglo-Saxon creates and originates, but does not organize what he cre- ated. The Teuton does not have the same initiative as the Anglo-Saxon; he also is an individualist — especially those of the Teuton races who emigrated here, because their individualistic ideas did not conform to the governments under which they had lived in Europe — but the in- dividualistic nature of the Teuton is tempered and controlled to a considerable extent by a collective or co-operative temperament. As the result, the Teutons, by their racial charac- teristics, are the great organizers. We only need, in the history of our nation, think of a few names as Astor, Goethals, Guggenheim, Harriman, Roosevelt, Schijff, Schuster, Schwab, Strauss, Vanderbilt, Vanderlip, Warburg, Wey- erhausser, Rockefeller, Wanamaker, etc. Characteristic of the Celtic race is the strong collectivistic temperament, associated with an individualistic nature, which specially fits them as administrators. It is the Celt who is most proficient to rule as boss by the consent of the THE AMERICAN NATION governed, not as disciplinarian by orders which his subordinates have to obey, but by giving the conception of primus inter pares. Thus he has been most successful in politics, while the individualistic Anglo-Saxon necessarily is much less successful in this activity. It is charac- teristic that America's largest city has been ruled almost uninterruptedly by the Celtic race, and that, in the rare instances where a "reform government" succeeded to carry New York, it was such a failure that it always was wiped out at the next election. Also, look around es- pecially among those corporations which by their close relationship with large numbers of the public require a specially high grade of social sense in their management — public utility corporations — and you find an abnormally large number of Irish names among their leaders. And how about the contribution to America by the other races, outside of these three leading civilized races of to-day? Do not let us forget that the greatest of all Americans was neither Anglo-Saxon nor Teuton; nay, was not even Aryan, but was of the Turanian race — Abe Lincoln. The three great races which contributed to the American citizenshiji of to-day are supple- 19;} AMERICA AND THE NEW EPOCH mentary, commensal — originator, organizer, ad- ministrator— jointly they have made our com- monwealth, and any split between them means disaster. The Anglo-Saxon alone, without the co-operation of the Celt and German, may originate, but probably would not accomplish much more than a chaotic muddle — somewhat of this we have seen in the last year in our country. On the other hand, with the Teuton and Celt alone, without the Anglo-Saxon, progress would slow down for lack of initiative. There really never was a serious racial an- tagonism in our country. It is true, during the century of immigration the "native" has looked down on the "Dutchy," he then in turn on the "Mike," and again on the "Dago," etc., but only the names were racial, the antagonism was not racial, but that of the previous immigrant toward the lower standard of living of the later comer, who threatened the higher standard of living acquired by the former, and as quickly as the new immigrant acquired the American standard of living and thereby ceased to be a danger in lowering the standard, the antag- onism disappeared. Politically, racial hatred has found an expres- sion only once in our country, in the notorious 194 THE AMERICAN NATION Know-Nothing party of a past generation; but, unfortunately, there is at present some danger of a revival of racial antagonism, and this would be a national calamity, as our nation needs the friendly co-operation of all the races which have contributed to the coming American race. All the nations which are involved in the pres- ent world's war have contributed to the immi- gration which has formed the American citi- zenship of to-day, and it is natural to expect, however much the immigrants and their de- scendants have become true Americans, that they should have some sentimental attachment or sympathy for the nation of their forefathers. Indeed, a type of mind which in one or two generations can lose all attachment for his an- cestors' nation is not the type of mind from which to build a strong and enduring nation, is not the type of mind which we want here m America; in England, after [nearly a thou- sand years, the Norman and the Anglo-Saxon type are still distinguishable. Thus it is natural and proper that American citizens of English descent should largely sym- pathize with England, American citizens of German descent with Germany, American citi- zens of Irish descent wish England's defeat, etc. 195 AMERICA AND THE NEW EPOCH This has nothing to do with their duty as American citizens, with their allegiance first, last, and always, toward America. Unfortunately, an American expatriate raised the cry of "hyphenate," and an influential press, misguided by business interests, took it up, and finally in the utterances of extremists — among them, unfortunately, some politically very prominent men — it reached the ultra Know- Nothing attitude that "only a citizen of British descent can be a real true American, and any- body not of Anglo-Saxon descent cannot have the type of mind which is required for an American citizen." With this it became a national menace, for it challenged the right to citizenship of the ma- jority of our nation, as the majority is not Anglo-Saxon any more. Naturally, all political differences, all issues between the various politi- cal parties, became secondary in importance be- fore the defense of the right to citizenship of the majorit^^ of our present citizens. As seen, it is a very dangerous and very unfortunate political issue, which has been raised thus inadvertently by [)oliticians playing to temporary excitement of racial prejudice. Such vicious attempts of making political 19G THE AMERICAN NATION capital by creating racial hatred within our nation should promptly be squashed by all fair- minded citizens. It is obvious that all Ameri- cans— with the exception, perhaps, of the red Indian — are hyphenates; that there are un- undoubtedly a few — a very few — British-Amer- icans who are more Englishmen than Americans, German-Americans who are more Germans than Americans, etc., but that the overwhelming majority of all the British-Americans, German- Americans, Irish-Americans, etc., are Americans and nothing else. But some good features the raising of this issue has produced : it has shown the anachron- ism in many of our conceptions and forms of speech. We have been talking of the native- born Americans "assimilating" the immigrants. There can be no such thing; assimilation im- plies two parties becoming similar, but implies both changing. Thus the native does not assim- ilate the immigrant, but native and immigrant assimilate with each other, and the native as well as the immigrant changes, fortunately, for it would be a sad America if we still hanged witches as the Puritan "natives" did, if we still had the Blue Laws and the religious intolerance of the old New-Englanders. Or we may say, 197 AMERICA AND THE NEW EPOCH "America assimilates all the immigrants coming to its shores into a new, American nation." But this nation is not like the Puritan, or the Dutchman of New Amsterdam, or the German of '48, but has, more or less, the characteristics of all of these. Thus, when we speak of America as the melting-pot of the nations we must realize that in melting together different metals the alloy is not like any one of the metals put into the pot, and thus we must not expect that the prod- uct coming out of the melting-pot of the nations will be in temperament and characteristic like the British-American, will have the British view- point— or that of any other constituent nation — however much this may disappoint us. Inversely, however, we must realize that the Anglo-Saxon strain is one of the largest in the composition of the American race; that his- torically, by the previous preponderance of the Anglo-Saxon, it has exerted more influence on the molding of the new nation than any other race, and that, therefore, at least for some time to come, Anglo-Saxon characteristics should be more prominent than those of any other race; but they cannot be predominant.