Show american individualism A timely message to the i 1 american people by HERBERT HOOVER secretary of commerce 6 TIIE THE FUTURE has been the primary force of american civilize jl tion for three centuries it is our sort of individualism that has supplied the motivation of americas political economic and spiritual institutions in all those these years it has proved its ability to develop its institutions with the changing scene our very form of government is the product of the individualism of our people tho the demand for an equal for a fair chance the american pioneer Is the alc plc espres expression on of that in and the pioneer spirit Is the response res poise to the challenge of opportunity to 0 o the challenge of nature to the challenge of life to the call of the frontier that spirit need never dever die tor for lack of something for it to achieve there will always be a frontier to conquer or to hold as long lone as men think plan and dare our american individualism has received much of its character from our CO contacts with the forces of nature on en a new continent it evolved government without official emissaries to show the way it plowed and coved sowed two score of great states it built roads bridges railways cities it carried forward every attribute of high civilization over a continent the days of the pioneer are not over there are continents of human welfare of which vie e have penetrated only the coastal plain the great continent of science Is as yet explored only on its borders and it Is only the pioneer who will penetrate the frontier in the quest tor for new worlds to conquer the very genius of our institutions has been given to them by the pioneer spirit our individualism Is rooted in our very nature it Is based on conviction born of experience equal opportunity the demand tor for a fair chance became the formula of american individualism because it Is the method of 0 american achievement after the absorption of the great plains of the west came the era of industrial development with the new complex of forces that it has brought us now haltingly but with more surety and precision than ever before and with a more conscious understanding of our mission slon we are finding solution of these problems arlsie arising from new conditions tor for the forces of our social system can compass and comprise these our individualism Is no middle ground between autocracy whether of birth economic or class origin and socialism socialism of different varieties may bane bae something to recommend it as an intellectual stop look and listen sign more especially for old world societies cut but it contains only destruction to the forces that make progress in our social system nor does salvation come by any device tor for concentration of power whether political or economic tor for both are equally y reversions to old world autocracy jn in new garments salvation will not come to us out of the wreckage of individualism what we need today Is steady devotion to a better brighter broader individualism an individualism that carries increasing responsibility and service to our fellows our need Is not for a way out but for a way forward we found our way out three centuries ago when oar forefathers left curave for these shores to set up here a commonwealth mon wealth conceived in liberty and dedicated to the development of individuality vidu vi allty there are malign social forces other than our failures that would destroy our progress there are the equal dangers both of reaction and radicalism the perpetual howl of radicalism Is that it Is the sole voice of liberalism that devotion to social progress Is its geld field alone these men would assume that all reform and human advance mut must come through government they bave forgotten that progress must tome come from the steady lift of the ind individual and that the measure of national idealism and progress la Is the quality of idealism in the individual the most trying support of radicalism comes from the timid or dishonest minds that shrink from facing the result of radicalism itself but are devoted to defense of radicalism as proof of a liberal mind most host theorists who denounce our individualism as a social basis seem to have a passion for ignorance of its constructive ideals an even greater danger Is the destructive tive criticism of minds mindi too weak or too partisan to harbor constructive ideas for such criticism Is based upon the distortion of perspective or cunning misrepresentation there Is never dever danger from the radical himself until the structure and confidence of ocleta society has been undermined by th the e enthronement of destructive criticism destructive criticism can certain certainly ly lead to revolution unless there are arc those these willing to withstand the malice that flows in return from refutation it has haa been well said that revolution I 1 Is a do BO summer thunderstorm clearing the atmosphere in modern society it Is a tornado leaving in its path the de strayed homes send dead women and children there are also those who insist that the future must be a repetition of the past that ideas are ara dangerous that ideals ideal 6 are freaks to fand that fine balance which links the future with the past whose vision Is of men and not of tools that possesses the courage to construct rather than to criticize this la is our need there Is no oratory so easy no writing so 90 trenchant and vivid as the phrase 9 making ot of criticism rind and malice there Is none so difficult as inspiration to construction we cannot ever afford to rest at ease in the comfortable assumption that right ideas always prevail by some virtue of their own in the long run they do but there can be and there have hare been periods period of centuries when the world slumped back toward darkness merely because great masses of men became impregnated with wrong ideas and wrong social philosophies the declines of civilization have been born of wrong ideas most of the wars of the world including the recent one have been fought by the advocates of contrasting ideas of social philosophy the primary safeguard of american individualism Is an understanding of it of faith that it Is Is the most precious poi possession session of american civilization and a willingness courageously to test every process of national life upon the touchstone of this basic social premise development of the human institutions and of science and of industry have been long chains of trial and error our public relations to them and to other phases of our national life can be advanced in ID no other way than by a willingness to expert experiment in the remedy of our social faults the failures and unsolved problems of economic and social life can be corrected they can be solved within our social theme and under no other system the solution Is a matter of will A III to find solution of a sense of duty as well ns as of a sense of right and citizenship no one who buys bootleg whisky can complain of gunmen and hoodlumism humanity has a long road to perfection but we of america can make sure progress if we will preserve our individualism it if we will preserve and stimulate the of our people if we will build up our insistence and safeguards to equality of opportunity it if we will glorify service as a part of our national character progress will march it if we hold bold nn an abiding faith in the intelligence the initiative the character the courage and the divine touch in the individual we can safeguard these ends it if we nye give to each individual that opportunity for which the spirit of america stands we can make a social system as perfect as our generation merits and one that will be received in gratitude by our children TOE THE END copyright 1923 by doubleday page A co published by arrangement with western newspaper union |