SUPERIORITY COMPLEX

Nothing danced by her own back-yard, America has employed these postwar years in annihilating Europe, in opinion at least. The wealth which brings prestige and the prestige which brings prestige and the prestige which breeds pride have undeniably fallen into American hands. If the pride be sufficient to rationalize crudity to culture, then it may be said that American supremacy is complete, colonialism over, and provincialism truly begun.

Writing in the current Atlantic Monthly, of this public attitude, Agnes Repplier correlates a surprising unanimity of conceit among Americans. Her authorities range from Dr. Frank Crane who advises Europeans to study American conduct since the war before continuing their wilful ways, to the late Walter Hines Page, who once wrote that he would not give Long Island or Moore County for the whole of Europe. In between, of course, lies the general run of journalistic and political opinion, spoken by editors and Congressmen, whose respective publics relish a savory Americanism.

However, Miss Repplier reminds the public that but fifty-seven years have passed since James Russell Lowell wrote "On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners"; While much less time has elapsed since William James felt constrained to protest that "in the last analysis, the Yankee also is a creature of God." Styles may shift but, it is Miss Repplier's uncontentious contention, culture itself is not transplanted within half a century. Even if it be allowed that seeds of artistry have thriven somewhat in the western world, at least salt has not been strewn on the soil of Europe.

The data available leads to an obvious conclusion. America is wealthy, powerful, and politically-minded. She holds a strategic position in the economic world and possesses enough political ability to exploit it. And her journalists respond with unpremeditated "hurrahs". While the rope of sand holds, this new "Condescension in Americans" will retain its still plebeian savoir faire.