Show ono trait of american character there is ono trait of our national character which foreigners can never comprehend aud that is our unshakable faith in conr ability to como ont right in tho cud we stand idly and more or less indifferently by and allow a country to be pushed to the verge of a financial or political precipice under the impulse of some kind of popular craze or another entirely confident that just before it slips over we can take hold of it and pull it back wo have couo this again and again and nothing seems to shake our faith in our ability to repeat the operation whenever occasion arises it coso us enormously fofe only in reputation but also in bouey and regards retards oar growth and progress in a thousand ways but nothing seems likely to cure us of the habit unless it bo a great national calamity due to our failing in some crisis to take alarm quickly enough century |