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Show THE NEW FREEDOM (By Emanuel Sternheim.) Prominent as Lecturer and in Social Movements of England and the United States. t Spenkln :.t the l'nl entity Hub of Indianapolis during tho war, Senator K.vt-rldise sal. I tfrosa words: "Th milv pea km if that Is n'ceptnblc now is Lhat which meet the formula of C.trlyle Ttt-r m word that la not so frHURht with !".-' ;tnd moanlnij that It results In a deed-' What he fiu'Jtl very truly of upcaklnK at that moment during war, may be said during thin aftermath of war condition! condi-tion! of both speaking and writing, j Moreover, it may be suiil with a apuc-lal apuc-lal appropriateness In this Journal. be CftUM aj the mccrsslnn of luncheons of Rotary clubs "all over tho country, there Is considerable speaking which does not insult in a deed, and It Is probably eii that it dues not. for if all the speechts resnlte.i In deads vc should have much deadly doing. Vet in spite of th avalanche of speaking and welting with whl h ltl i i:iiin me bombarded, there is still need for constructive con-structive speaklnf and thinking that "hall lead tu de fls in this hour v ru n America needs the constructive contribution con-tribution of any group of nun with high purpose. Shorn of excrseoancas the Rotary j ideal rclutes itself with democracy; but! the troublo Is that many ltotarlans. llko many non-Uoiarians. haV a fee- llo If not perverted conception of democracy. de-mocracy. For the purpose of this pa-j). pa-j). i I would Ujcc IP use i-or.i Morley' aa the definition Which makes the greatest appeal to me. it is strange that we have to look to Knglnnd for the best literary presentation ns well las the best dramatic presentation of Lincoln's life, and it might be well to, look across the seas for the best defi-! inltlon of democracy and to go one step further and look across the seas tor the best expression of democracy, for if the truth be told without veneer : r.ngland has In many ways readied rearer the democratic Ideal under an autocratic form thnn wi have under a i publican form. n 1)11 R HI I I I 1 K To the scholarly definition of Lord i Morley 1 would like to add Mie slm-jple slm-jple one of Mary P. I'ollett. Together they constitute 1 1 1 basis upon which 1 would like to build the argument of ihls article: I ''What is democracj 7 Sometlmesi lit is tho name for a form of government govern-ment by which the ultimate control of the maehlncry of government Is I oonunltted to a numerical majority oi the community. Sometimes, and In-rorrectly. In-rorrectly. it Is used to denote the numerical nu-merical majority tself, th- poor or the multitude exlslliiK' it! a slat.' Some-tlmes. Some-tlmes. and still more loosely. It is the name for a policy, directed exclusively- or mainly to the advantage of th" i laboring claw- Finally. In Its broad - t and deepeat, moM comprebanfelve jand most interesting sense, deuioc- i 1IMIWI I II ! racy Is the mime for a certain general eondltlon of society, having historic origins, springing from circumstances circumstan-ces and the natur of thine.-, rot only Involving the political doctrine of popular sovereignly, but representing Knate group of corresponding tendencies ten-dencies over the whole flrld of moral, social and even spiritual life within the democrats community ' (Lord Morley t. "To .he a democrat Is not to decide on a certain form of human association; associa-tion; it is to learn how to live with other men." .(Mary P. Follett.) it would be possible to take iheee two definitions of democracy and write a thesis of considerable length upon them- 1 do not propose lo do this, but merely to use them as peC Upon which to hang several outstanding outstand-ing thought in leitunl some aspects, of our contemporary lif- in which W( fall short of theae Ideals and in regard to which the men banded together as Rotarjane, with certain definite, ideals Ir regard 10 and obligations toward demot racy, must turn their attention by wj of amendment and solution here if !h y r to bo true to the profession pro-fession which is thelrB. EFFECT I VSTTBD &TAfTE& A i'-ihliclst has Just said, writing of Italy: "What is now potentially in the ioul of Italy as distinguished from tM outward phenomena of the moment, mo-ment, is a new' Renaissance; but It Is a Ranajeeancc as wholly spiritual as the' Rcnalsfeuiirc of glorious memory was wholly Intellectual." Can wo not. In fact, shall wo not. apply this to the United States of America'.' Unless Un-less there be a spiritual Renaissance there will be no new freedom. I would hasten to explain lhat I do not mean bv a spiritual Renaissance a religious Renaissance 1 am not concerned to argue and do not propose to argue the religious question in all its variations, but I do wish to postulate that the chaos in which organised religion finds itself at this time his nothing to do with spirituality. If 1 an do nothing rnoae than Impress Ro tartans with the fact that there Is a vast chaern between be-tween religion as the term la generally understood and spirituality as it is generally gen-erally misunderstood, this article will be worth while. far be It from the to sneer at religion, but It Is the business bus-iness of religionists fn ling religion with spirituality. It Is mine only for the purpose of this article and argument argu-ment to postulate spirituality as an entity. If there Is to be new freedom free-dom there must be a how and finer unit Which liltis' be al otic.j spiritual ami social. jn an English novel by J. C. 8naJth, published under the Kng-lish Kng-lish translation of the Zeitgeist, i. e The Times Spirit, the anther pres. 'til" in the course of an Interesting novel containing a vivid picture of mlddle- I class English life and the effect of, the war upon it. the postulatlon that1 I "flnnkeyism' is one of the dangers threatening democracy. The avers f 1 reader of this article would be ajit to dismiss this with thi thought thai while it may be true of Knglard. It is. not true In the United States of Ain-i erica. i Here is a profound fallacy. It is net only true In the United States of Am erica to an overwhelming degree, but i 'there is no greater danger besetting I 'America than the danger which arises, from bodies bke Wotarians. and they are legion, developing tlM worst f rm of flnnkeyism." The baals of ehOlci i for Rotary Is the fact thut its men 'are the cream of the middle class.; Alas. tj),. niurk of the middle class is tluniceylam! It permeates American life- Between the life of the denUe-is of the New Vork slums and the life of its l"our Hundred there are as! many gradations of society as any Eur-, opean system presents. "Klunkey-Km", "Klunkey-Km", or, to translate it Into a big-j funding philosophical term, "class coiisdlottaneas'' Is a resultant of tra- dltion oi Europe- in the United States of America it is a resultant in I part of that same tradition brought, to America and In part and much less defensibly, upon a new tradition which grude.s society aeeordlng to i -bank balance, which is in the final; analysis h graver form of the same disease. tVHAI i ll (.itlM. BROl .n I We are celebrating the three hun-j dredth anniversary of the landing of j the Pilgrims and r Imagine that Rotary Ro-tary clubs, like eyerV other organization organiza-tion which listens to speakers from time to time, has. during current months, heard much slush anent till-I till-I celebration. As a matter of fact, I jmust be remembered that the Pilgrim", jar.d the Puritans were far from believing be-lieving in democracy. t!iough they-brought they-brought much that w:- valuable to tile foundation of this experiment In de-! mocracy. I fear that the things they brought lhat were of v.iiu were not the thlnsc that have been most emphasized em-phasized In the speeches maue and the essays tbat .were written during this year. That was a true word, however, how-ever, which .Tohn Robinson gue the Pilgrims as they vvere embarking from Delft Havn: "I bid you remembe,-that remembe,-that new light will ever be bursting from the word of God." Uy the hormr with which the aver-aRe aver-aRe American business man today approaches ap-proaches the new in whatever form it may bo presented to him. It may be ' appropriate to turn back to this-thought this-thought of John Robinson's. It is; an anachronism in American life thrti the same man who will eagerly seize ( OUtlllUCd n Page Eight) THE NEW FREEDOM 1 i . f . A (Continued Prom PogeN6.j i upon every nevv tiling which tends to perfect efficiency in business life or to render easier and more graci-fnl some aspect of the hectic search after pleasure, will i eject the more QUlCklj I any new proposal In regard to social standards. I i vn I s i ii DEfiOCRACl if the first enemy of democracy Is r'lunkoylsfh" undoubtedly the naxl ill hate- Sir Arthur QuIUcf COuch has presented the Idea in splendid form In '.his novel, Foe Knrrcl. The iledieattpO lis significant : ,"To anyone Irn s ip-poses ip-poses h has Q worse enemy than himself. ' There id a tremendous message mes-sage here for democracy because It 'define the place of Individualism In the new soclh) ortler. Fop Was psychologist accused unjustly by Parrel Par-rel of the crime pf vivisection. There lb a moral hi pai iH whi- h Is worth j noting aa to how much hatred cm-anales cm-anales from shind.r. 'This was as itrue during the war as at any oth. r i time. If throughout the last i years we eould.have gotten the truth land nothing but the truth from ever: ceased and fpi hi I :nt tbln ;'.ir not' jof the smoiw of guns, hut of the ln- telllgence ot humankind i'his story, howwer. demonstrates that Poe, In the first Instance superior, sinks t Parrel's leVel as a result ot constant hatred pursued through a lifetime That Is all. unless you want a mOral and this is presented lersfH bs Blr Arthur Onlller Couch himself "As I see It, the more you ti at Fritz by becoming like him tho more lo won " The publicist and thinker rha today uses an open mind In the Unit! .1 States of America, and accepts Sir Arthur Ar-thur Qulller ouch's dictum will feel jth.it Germany has Indeed achieved Ipyrrchlc victory over the United States or 'America as well as over our quolT-dam quolT-dam allies in Europe. V(. nr.- nil to ! obsessed by the spirit of our She'mS 'that he bids fair 10 achieve the fhml victory. The problem that today confronts America is not one of the aftermaths of the war In which ye h.i.- bei tl ' l -Itorlous, bttt Is rather the problem that Is bound up In 'the query; has ;. r-Imany r-Imany won ths war. or i . Ths problem Is one of corporate consciousness conscious-ness :is oppn-e.i tc "he Individual, etc. Tarde, the French sociologist, expressed express-ed the point jiptiv Po'i our worthy shjcestoVf decelVgd themselves finely ' when they persuaded themselves that social pf ogress led to what thy termed term-ed freedom of thought. We have , something better: WC DOSSeSa the Joy !uml the strength of mind which attains at-tains a certainty of Its own. founded, as it is. on its only sure basis, the unanimity of other minds n certain essential matters: on this rock wo 'can rear the highest const ructions of thought nay. the most gigantic ByS-I ByS-I terns of philosophy."' MI ST ElEApJtT&T THINKING. There must he a definite readjustment readjust-ment of American thinking'. The Old iorder postulated uniformity in human relationships ;;kln to the uniformity in ' Inorganle matter In this democracy of ours, theoretically postulatlngXroa-dom, postulatlngXroa-dom, there hi beoii i passlpn for i uniformity that has been inimical tOf any real froedcih. While wetolerat-ed wetolerat-ed ho bestialities Of segregated districts, dis-tricts, we held up our hands injboly horror at the suggesllons of a rtirls-ian rtirls-ian I-itln quarter. There was more human, degradation In act in an average aver-age segregated district In an American City in ah hour than took place in the L tin quarter of Paris In a year- It is group thinking run amuck. Tli" new appro ,, h, happily, of education Is not for collective will, but a seelrch for the dlscovenf ;is to how Individuals Individ-uals and groups! behave The new theory, and It Is one which Rotarlans must learn not by rote but through profound conviction, tending to practice. prac-tice. IS that Individuality rather than Individualism must be the aim of the Individual who Is to contribute to a new freedom In America. i i The Art of Heading, Sir Arthur Quiiier Couch ag-iin presents the same point: "l preach CO vou thnt the base ol all literature, of all poetry, of all theology Is one ard stands on one. rock. The very highest universal truth i Something SO simple-vthat a child may understand It." I would bring this challenge to Rotary: that, the 1n-i dlvlduallty of each must giw us tho insu freedom after whlrh America ;arns and without which America IvviH retrograde rather than progr. i would tike to Interpolate s word on progteMi anient tho same thought be-i be-i re prcaented. A bcjief in prbgreee oblige:, you to actcul the test i reality real-ity which it holds up, nyt Utopia, but an actual or possible fact. The ac-tui ac-tui I fact that 1 vyant tu bring oat Is that whether we like it or not. organized or-ganized religious systems have failed to brink' the world th. idealism Which the world needs and. In my opinion, the thought of human progress Is today to-day linked with an inspiring thought which Ijshould like to phrase as "Secular "Sec-ular Idealism-" As 1 understand It and feel it "sec:; 7a r idealism" will not shut out religious idealism, but will h. separate from It. overlapping It when religious Idealism I8 genuine and sincere, but ruthlessly crushing It where religious Idealism Is based up-1 'n Puritanism ami the things thul Impede rather than help progress tb- ward that new social unity betweon r .1 plrltuS'llty and social life which must be the basis of the new freedom.; M AT CAM YOUNG MAN I . From an entirely different angle andj In striking fashion the same thought Is presented by Harold Stearns In n bIk-niflcant bIk-niflcant article In a recent publication Which he calls "What Can a Young, Man Do?" The philosophy is humor-, ously and simply explained by tho title of that expressive if not classic song which was a favorite of the boys' at the front: "How Are You tiolng to Ke.p 'Km Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree?" Upoh this humorous hum-orous treatise thei author presents a plea thai the really cultured young! American has overwhelming tempta-, tl .n to bet-ike himself with his culture cul-ture to lands where culture m Indigenous. Indig-enous. I am not in agreement with the philosophy. I would present i mor. robust philosophy, that we have the task of pr serving culture In this di mocraoy Of our own. but I am In absolute sympathy with the points- which are raised In the article. In brief form It Is presented In theso words: "'n of the most amazing results re-sults of Furopw's years of misery has been the MulckenJnt; of-ll kinds of cultural and Intellectual life. In spit of starvation, disease, political chaos, the br.-akdo'vvn of old Standards of lifo and perhaps because of them, the people peo-ple who are Interested in art. in literature, litera-ture, in music. In the theatre and in revolution tthe genuine, not our 1ml-tatioh 1ml-tatioh klnd.i can find these more or less satisfied In Europe today. There arc music festivals In Vienna even though tho children are starving: the youth who wants to take part in real revolution can do so In Italy today though food and shelter are lacking; for those who seek carnival and the litin spirit, there is still Paris, though Frane,. s face to face with financial ruin: thois to whom the theatre no. ins everything, will get the stimulation stimu-lation they need In Berlin and Mirnlch, though Germany lives under the Treaty Trea-ty of Versailles; and for the more ad-vi ad-vi nturous there Is Kussla." This summarization sum-marization Is that of the young pub-ItOhrt pub-ItOhrt i Have quoted and it Is worth some examination. There 'l.v music In j America, too, in the averago city.! There Is' n Jazz-hand at the usual picture pic-ture show and in the large cities an occasional vocal recital with f!Ve-do-lar admission so that the vocullst may to tho bourgeoisie and st that the recital may be tinned Into a re-; Wi There are attempts in one. or two larr inters to create a social literature sad ;i iodal expression of ait .iiiii a socio expresalqn f music, but I am wondering whether tho money mon-ey that Is sprnt on graft in municipal government in our American cities might not better be spent In some subvention sub-vention to free music- This will ln- voys i v hoi. sal.- change of staff at most of our city halls but It might alSO result In making tho city halls such In fuel rather than merely In n..iii' . Hon lontr it will take Kotar-i.ms Kotar-i.ms i.. ijenllxe that the city hall -is their business not only at election time when thev are feverishly excited about the election of a reactionary as or-pi or-pi d to a radical, but for three hun-d.-. .1 atid m: -five iav in a year because be-cause the city hall shoxfld be the phy-i slcn! embodiment of the social spirit of the community? MISTAKE in l.AW MAKING. IVe havi been pinning our faith up-, on false shibboleths for reform, Americans Am-ericans make more laws ami break, mor. than any people In the universe. Tie r, is en Lntenser Puritanism and a more supine asceticism in America I ban exl.-ts anywhere. We have Inher-li-.l the traditions of the Puritan and a. i soon as wo escape from one tyranny tyran-ny we impose another, Puritanism, asceticism, code-maklnc ad lib, money-lud, money-lud, i h ui inl.Mii- -all these challenge the evangel of culture. President Paunce, delivering a bac-: calaureate address at Brown university univer-sity to his own students, spoke of tho 1 Over-organ Iratlpn ol the American un-l Iversity ahd said these pregnant Words: "Without spontaneity there la no true life" il. rc is on.- of the fundamental fun-damental evils of our responsibility for, all the 1 1 Ik of ths universe upon the odj politic in i i -i i to t ik.. his share In the solution of tho difficulties difficul-ties which present themselves to our contemporary life. -This he does in the name of an Individualism which la the precious heritage "f this typo of American- As a resultant of this spirit, w mistake machinery for culture. ry few Americans can read a book unless they are stimulated by membership mem-bership lti a roadlnjf club, pay dues to the organization, have an election (to prepare them for tho four-yearly No-rember No-rember affair i and appoint recording .md corresponding secretaries. After all this machinery has been effected.' none of tho members read books for they have used their limited leisure upon the machinery. Women, who will he a factor In the creation of the new freedom, are prone to copy those who previously were their lords and peers and who are In large part today their Intellectual Inferiors, taking the Line of least resistance. To some extent the women are in advance of the men. for a least they organize rending dubs even though they do not read, while the men, including Flotarlans. do not; even make the approach to any form of intellectual life. We have become as dependent upon canned Intellectual food as we have upon the same variety va-riety of beans. There is grave danger thai Rotary mav contribute to this1 very disease unless It Ifl careful, for T am afraid the intellectual stimulation of many Rotarians Is provided in the: sacred twenty minutes (which period' is no doubt a relic of the same sacred period assigned to the germ on) which' Is dosed out to them upon the week- ly meettng-day. The nevv freedom de-t mauds a spiritual Renaissance postu-l Uttlng individuality plus social con-j sciousness. LOXESOMEX1 in i h i . There Is another aspect of this same1 thought which is of real importance and which found expression in an ar-, tide ly an American writer in a re-, cent weekly journal under the caption "Tho I.onesomeness of American !,lf.-The !,lf.-The author postulates that while wc i arc more gregarious In America than any white in the world, there is lessi tendency to real friendship- The fa eragc American of decent demeanor j will have more acquaintance than aj like European of the same status .ind outlook, but he will have far fewer; friends. Once again we mistake ir.a- chinerv It Is very nlco to call fellow Rotarlans by their first names, but It. can become a verv empty and super-1 ffcial formula. Jim Is no dearer thans Mr- Itrown unless he becomes a friend) i j.. ioii ii.-'t ait ' ' .-I..., i I. . . mistake mis-take tho husk -for the kernel as wc do in so many of these matters-One matters-One of the reasons whldi goes deep and Is fundamental to this particular issue Is the absence of leisure In America, Amer-ica, and the relationship of labor to leisure. This Is, in the filial u.iulysls, one of the keys to the seething discontent discon-tent of tno. hour. I confess to being of English olrth, training and educa-, tlon, though my residence here Is nowj of ten years' staidlng and 1 am an ! American citizen. When I came over here, however.' i number of my delusions regarding America were '(julckly shattered 1 had been told many things about America Amer-ica None of them were true. An il ) u s- traUon (a that I wits told that, where-! a.s If you sit In a train In England next' a pretty girl for four or five hours It would not be all right for you tol speak to her. In America If you sit In I a train beside a pretty girl she would speak to you. After ten years of continuous con-tinuous travel In America I am definitely defi-nitely convinced that this la untrue. There Is a favorite story of mine which illustrates the point aptly After delivering de-livering an address at one Of tho great universities l had to leave immediately One of tho prettiest of the fair scholars schol-ars of thnt particular university left at the same lime for some reason or other. She sat by my side for some hours ii nd I had not I he courage speak to her and evidently she had not the courage to speak to me. Reflecting Reflect-ing for a moment or two I realized that ( was reading The American So-olologlcal So-olologlcal Review" which might have been a sufficient explanation of her lack of loquacity, so I changed it for a copy of Mary Robert Rlnehart'S Eove Stories," which huppened to bej In my bag, ostentatiously malciru- th--title of the book manifest. No signal' difference was manifest, but after sit-1 ting together for five hours. Just us o were pulling into the station at which wo were to got out she leaned I lo me and said, "I enjoyed your speech this morning very much.-' " I was told also when I came to America that Americans were tho most efficient, people on the face of the earth. Ofl ourse, at that time. It was fashionable j in Europe to say. "except in Germany."! f presume that today this particular escrvailon would be unpopular. After I en years of residence in America T ivniild my thnt we make more noise iur, any otheK:"r earth. ' ' f. r.g 'hlsW' i . ..r.stituto f. Laxg " our so-called cfticieney, ua have not tho llicc tj rcatHL. . read the r.gajJlin; Jam-". ." ruai'd this a wel!.K-'r 1 Uie headings aad raucsty a i nut, matter under th-:m jnEj and mlaJeadlnp, to t4K)Ci: then Is little; ot I'-Lsuro .heret"' -r ,,USaBsB'r.lj ii-otfic. t.j poUH" v. but he ' " It (n a noetic ushB ll usaS -nits in Ins being late for (IHHB irritating the menage to ar. citeBtae in order to es -p 10 rr.nu Its lnfl monopolization ho niur.iiuUUaM i, ls !"sHfOTil l'-.J3dM W111 Ljrjjafl out, .i ' ':--''ic,JJ,':e ( AfV the problems winch controatH and o.'i '. I . " " lllial to at cept 'hlnga ar 0TCnM7 il and of efcr j!v 1?lS'ie' j IB of what real leisure would ." n hlch Is introspction. I m M LXDn 1 1 l II 1 iT8 A,. 'lue I" ''Hfc1 to individu U ffort. hut it mrM which is inspired by Indgg -J i. h I." :ri ,' I -i i JLVJ In 't". r:k must stand for tin- m l 1' 1 tB' ' ..r.'pvfty. 1)'BlJ' . .at ion lb it arc ineniDeMJ it f-o;. rt "I. th ;. putt, 'JM iKiP eHsa m V i 'emocracy w- shall 'iTL dution of the 0BBBBBBB 11 SsMii', Th. S tho Krave d3SJBBB l v'lnr-3 .'in 'b difference. soiiKtim.-s VBtZ. peif. etioii. but mor. often vJJBi ,,. rte. Mon In reuan fc,' point u to International rewBBBBBk shibboleths of both of UH ' '1'nSh tl hHte m.Tilal that America snai tn ' .:,ili.o'!.o '- ?ri-U,,.5C . itSn lt nuBNi " .'".r-bMsW llv of na . ' M. an be found for - S, w'h nfiSB,S 19 1 S." that " Ame,:.- "lBfu I devotion to sound Sy1, that it shall point VtncyWft , the earth ho tho .,l,s,,lut(,1 ..vveullal '"..JBT3 pr, her, r.-t m-re! ' bssKrifi :tnv our mind, und l,u'JKf-. ,.. the things lliat S, ..I..', to ll... 't.ln 1,.onlisS'ilai " '''"''TV-'m "orderdUHSL leisure V'dcvote ''jLe things that shul go -( jil-tlon jil-tlon great and to c,aicn iB into a brotherhood. 7 3 Upon th- ;-r 1 ir eof.,tri,ct the ''I'Vl'ubUrfBfiSl Idealist, and of tno frtWh K.n.J and dime I - rS munds not only a v , and Individuality . f but. I' d-.-nM'f 11 uitMih '-iture '-iture whl. h I:.. ';r;:, ,fSK of the imgui.-h "! " , n-illn,.. oxpression of hn "i n .Hi ships. "S, |
