what holds nations together

7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together

1/8

American Association for Public Opinion Research

What Holds Nations TogetherAuthor(s): Henry HaskellSource: The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 1, Special Supplement: Public Opinion in aDemocracy (Jan., 1938), pp. 88-94

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2/8

the economic art,will not be un-

attainable.

On theeconomic ide,democracy

demands hat ociety e so ordered

thatthe spiritual ffirmationas a

chance

to come true.

know, at

first and,parts f

New YorkCity,

parts

f

the

Kentucky ining

oun-

try, arts

f

theGeorgia

nd

Mis-

sissippi

farm

ountry,

here t is

merely ggravating,oday, o talk

about man's "right" o look after

himself

nd

his

family

n

decency.

It will not be easyto make that

"right" ometrue.

My point

s that

it will not

even be possible, nless

we

make

sure,

before

rying

o

re-

form

our

economy

n

democratic

lines, hatwe mean he piritual

ide

of democracy.

There are ways of seeking he

good ife, ther han hedemocratic

way. We shall not be disgraced f

we choose ne of these ther

ways.

But we shallbe disgraced

f we

pre-

tend o choose

he

democratic ay,

without eally oing o.

Beforewe can be unitedwe

must

know what a bold idea democracy

is, and know thatwe stillwant t.

That

want-that

act of will-is a

moraleffort. believeAmerica s

capable of the effort-but nly

f

we remain

steadily

conscious

of

what difficult

nd

exciting

ffortt

is.

WHAT

HOLDS

NATIONS

TOGETHER

HENRY HASKELL, Editor, ansasCity tar

I propose

o approach

my sub-

ject by

way

of a

European

ourney

made

last

spring. he

journey

ed

through

outhern rance

o

Rome,

then ack

to

London

or

he

orona-

tion.

On this

pilgrimage

made

two exciting

iscoveries.

discov-

ered thatthe Roman Empirefell

and that

he

thousand-year-old

ng-

lish

monarchy

s a

going concern.

hatred

nd

envy.

Both

of

thesephenomena,

be-

lieve,had

attracted

ome

attention

and

comment

efore

discovered

them. Perhaps

can

explain

my

quaintly xcited rame fmindby

the

circumstances

f the journey.

For the

first ime

saw the

great

Roman uins n the outh

f

France

and got a thrill

n

driving

ver

he

Pont du Gard-the superbbridge

and aqueduct the

Romans

built

2,000 years go. Revisitingome

for the first ime incethe

Musso-

lini excavations, was immensely

impressed y the massiveremains

now

so

magnificentlyisplayed.

o

the ge-old roblem

ame

omewith

new

vividness:

ow did

it happen

that all of this enormous nergy,

engineeringkill, and administra-

tive

ability hat made the Roman

Empire, houldhave faded ut?

I was still reflectingpon these

problemswhen

I

foundmyselfn

the

riforium

fWestminsterbbey,

88


3/8

watching

ceremonial

hat as come

down

with little changefor ten

centuries.he anthem,

adok

the

Priest, as

sung t the

oronationf

Alfred heGreat.On this spotthe

Conqueror

was crowned.

or the

momentwe were iving

n the re-

motepast. Yet we

were constantly

reminded

hat this ancient

realm,

founded

n conquest,

as developed

intangible inding orces.

he pres-

ence of glitteringndian

potentates

inthe oronationrocession

rought

to mind hefact hat heBritish aj

directs he

destiny f the

365,000,-

ooo people

of India

with a little

bandoffewer

han thousand

hite

civil ervants

nd a thinred ine of

fewer han

6o,ooo

British

oldiers.

The fall fRome,

hepermanence

of

England-here,

t seems o me,

aretwophenomenahatmight arry

suggestions,

t

least,

or he Amer-

ican Republic, f one

could really

get at the

causes.

What unifying

orcesweakened

or were

broken

n Rome

to

cause

the

Empire's

ollapse?

What

forces

hold together

hat xtraordinary

g-

gregationf peoples

known

s

the

British ommonwealth?ave these

historicorces

ny

relation o

Amer-

ican

democracyoday?

A

pupil

of

Lanciani's oldme in

Rome

last

spring

that

the

great

Italian archeologist

sed to

say

in

his ectures

hat

Romewas

destroyed

by

"waves

of

ignorance."

n

succes-

sive nvasionshe barbarians illed

the

engineers

nd

othermen

who

knew how to

do

things.When

a

roofof

a greatbuildingbegan

to

leak nobody

knew

how to fixit.

When the

building eganto

go to

pieces t

could not

be repaired. o

civilizationollapsed n the night

of the

Dark Ages.

But it was the

disintegration

within

that admitted hese

waves

of

ignorance.

What we are

con-

cerned

with today s a glance

at

those

factorsn the general

eteri-

oration hat tended

o destroy he

original nity

f

the

Romanpeople.

So far s I can udge, herewere

three

such principal

actors.

he

first ad

to do with ducation,

he

second

with extreme entralization

of government,nd

the third,

nd

most

mportant,

ith the

growing

division

etween

ich nd

poor.

There

was a

cultured

pper

lass.

But the mass of the peoplewere

hardly ouchedby

education.

he

rich ived

n a world

f their wnto

which he

plebshad

little ccess. t

was

to

what

WilliamAllen

White

has called

he moronic

nderworld"

that

the leaders

had

to

appeal

for

support.

he

lackof common

asis

of

thought

nd ideas became

dis-

organizingnfluencen theRoman

world.

The

empire

rought

he

miracle

of

the

Roman

peace

to

Europe

for

two centuries.

ut

its

highly

en-

tralized

nd

pervasive

dministra-

tion

gradually

lunted

he sense

of

social

bligation.

ealth

was

based,

noton economicervice,uton the

plunder

f

conquered erritories,

n

slaves

nd on

speculation.

any

of

89


4/8

the

eaders,

emoralized

y

luxury,

becamecynical

nd lethargic. ife

went taleon them.Roman

ociety,

as

Rostovtzeff

ays, ost tsnerve. t

alreadywas

disintegrating

efore

the

tragic

ollapse f the third en-

tury.

Bothof these actorsf

mperfect

education nd of upper-class

emor-

alization re

closely

llied with

the

really atal

ack

of unity n

Rome,

both

n

republicnd empire,

rising

from

he

growing ivision

etween

rich nd poor.

The

centuryf civil trifehat e-

stroyedheRomanRepublic

was a

conflict

etween he haves

and the

have-nots

or a

better

istribution

of

property.

he disorder

inally

was

endedbythedictatorshipfthe

empire.

But while

Gibbon thinks

theracereachedtshighest oint f

well-being

nd happiness nder he

Antonines

he real picture merges

in

the

risis

hat ollowed: heurban

and

rural

proletariatrew

and

did

not share n

the

prosperity

f the

rich. Then when the

emergency

came nd the

mpire eeded efend-

ing,

he

rich,

Rostovtzeff

ays,

ould

not be aroused rom heir ndiffer-

ence

and the

poor

were

filledwith

hatred nd envy.

Turning

romRometo

England,

I

invite

your

attention

o

certain

significant

omment

y

two

keen

Continentalbservers. ndre

Mau-

rois,

with detachedGallic

clarity,

remarks hatthekeytoten centuries

of

comparativelyappy

ife lies n

the

power

of

compromise."

He

speaks f the

"disciplinedssent

o

the decisions of the majority."

Classes, e believesre sundered

by

fairly econcilablenterests,ot

by

memories r passions."

A Dutch critic,

. J.Renier,ays

that English

democracy akes for

granted a sense of decency

n

the

governing

nd the governed.

"It implies rust nd moderation

n

many

irections,"

nd a traditionf

freecriticism.

Of course, t is quite possible

o

describengland s a reformedea

robber

rotecting

is booty, s

an

Americanwriter

as done. Or

to

agreewith heFrench iewthat

by

a curious

oincidence he interests

of

the British

mpire

and of hu-

manity

and

civilization

always

march

and-in-hand.

r

to

take he

continentalositionmorebrutally

expressed y

that embittered

er-

man,

ProfessorWilhelmDibelius,

that

hypocrisy

s the outstanding

Britishrait.

Nevertheless,

nd

by

and

large,

believe

we

must dmit s

unifying

forces

n the

British

emocracy

n

unusual ense

f

decency,

fmodera-

tion, f ustice,

f

tolerance,

f

con-

fidence,

nd of readiness

o arrive

at practical

compromises. nciden-

tally,

we find

hese

ualities

n

the

greatdays

of

the

Roman

Republic,

and

persisting

n

the

empire.

heir

disappearance

as

coincident

ith

its

disintegration.

If thisdiagnosiss approximately

correct,

e

have

o nquire

hen

ow

we

can maintain

commonmoral

9o


5/8

and intellectualackground

n

our

society; ow we can

keep

it from

stratifyingnd falling

part; owwe

can strengthenhe

general enseof

decency,ftolerance,fmutual on-

fidence, nd

the

give-and-take

f

fair

compromise.

Fortunately,ur

early istory as

favorableo the

democraticystem.

Frontier conditions,

s Professor

Frederic . Turner

ointed ut,

en-

couraged the

neighborly

irtues.

The greatNorthwest

rdinance f

1787

expressed general onviction

in

saying hat

"Religion,morality,

and

knowledge eing necessaryo

good governmentnd

thehappiness

of

mankind,

chools

nd the

means

of

education hall

be forever

n-

couraged."

Education,

n

its widest ense

I

suppose,s at thebottom f theuni-

fying nfluences. ree

research s

necessary

or

an understandingf

the

auses f

disintegrationnd how

to

meet

hem.

Here

lay

a

conspicu-

ous failure

f

the

Romans,

whose

lack

of

magination,

s

H. G.

Wells

says,

was

as massive

s

their

rchi-

tecture.

he invention f

money

nearlywrecked hembecausethey

had not the faintest

otion f how

to

manage

t.

The free tudy f so-

cial

and

economic

roblems

n the

universitiesnd

in

such centers

s

the

Brookings

nstitute

hould

fur-

nish us the

information

eeded

to

recognize nd develop

he

unifying

factorsn our socialstructure.

Such conferencess this at Wil-

liamstown,hework f

thenewspa-

pers

and the radio,

all

phases

of

adulteducation,

re

important

ni-

fying nfluences.

o are

literature

and art.

Professor

.

A.

L. Fisher

suggests hatthe writings f Livy

and Virgil

helped maintain

the

unity f the RomanEmpire.

What

a binding

orceupon the

English-

speaking eoples s their

ommon

literature

The background

f moral deas

and ideals

is essential

n

holding

societyogether.

on

Bernstorff

old

theReichstag ommitteehatGer-

man propaganda

ot nowhere n

America

during the World War

becauseof

the disparityn funda-

mental dealsof thetwo

nations.

These

ideals

may

be

definitely

cultivated

n

the

schools,

he

press,

and the churches.

While the

skep-

ticalGibbonwrote hathisaccount

of

the all

f

theRoman

mpirewas

the historyf the triumph

f bar-

barism nd

religion, notherhis-

torian,olybius,

t theheight

f the

RomanRepublic,

aw n

religion,n

spite

of

its

superstitions,

binding

force.As expressed

n

ardent

nd

narrow ectaries

t

may

be disin-

tegrating; he Ku Klux Klan, for

example.

But in general, eligion

bringsmen together

n

recognition

of

common

deals.

The

sense

f

decency

as become

an

American radition.

t

is

the

product

f

frontier

ualities

devel-

oped underfreedom.

ight duca-

tion may help maintain and

strengthen

t. Thereare

needed, s

well,

certain

conomic tandards.

t

9I


6/8

wouldbe a miracle

f

a proper

tti-

tude hould merge

rom ity

lums

or theshare-cropperegions

f the

South.

Popular onfidencen government

thatMr.

Reiner tresses, ay well

concern s

because f ts nfluencen

nationalunity.Newton

D.

Baker

has quoted

Mr. Madariaga

s saying

to him, Democracy

s

possible

nly

so long

as the mass

of

the

people

retain faith

in their

leadership."

Loss of

such aith

pened

he

way

to

the revoltn Spain.

Obviously,

he leadership

must

deserve

onfidencef faith n the

leadership

s to be retained. ut the

problem ecomes

ncreasingly

iffi-

cult

as the radio makes t

possible

for cleverpoliticians

o capitalize

emotion

nd

prejudice.

ere, gain,

I imagineecentivingtandardsre

the

most ffectiverophylactic.

Fortunately,

olerance

nd readi-

nessto compromise

avebeen bred

into the

American train

hrough

the

onditionsnder

which he oun-

try

was settlednd

under

he chool-

ing

of the

common

aw and

of

democratic

nstitutions.

uropeans

often xpressmazementt theway

in which the results f a hard-

foughtlection

re acquiescedn by

Americans.

eadiness

o

accept

he

compromises

ecessary

nder

ma-

jority

ule

ends

o hold a

nation o-

gether.Ardently

herished

deol-

ogies,

uch

as

thoseunderlyinghe

dictatorshipsf Europe, re explo.

sive

forces.

With this factrecog-

nized, t is ithe lain duty

f tho


7/8

says

that, the

man who

first uined

the Roman

people was

he who first

gave them treats

and

gratuities."

I realize that this

discussion

eems

to offer nly feebleways to control

the powerful centrifugal

orces

in

the

American democracy.

Whether

individual effort

an

greatly affect

them

is far

from certain.

Yet the

contrasting

xperience

f Rome

and

England

may

help to a better

un-

derstanding

f

how

these

forces ave

arisen

in

the past

and

of how

they

are being held in check in one im-

portant

ection f the modern

world.

And

progress depends

on

under-

standing.

Discussion

MR.

LucE:

There

can

be manyop-

posing groups

and factions n a

de-

mocracybut theyhave a unity in

their

common

belief n freedom

of

discussion. That is the

basic unify-

ing

influence

n a democracy.

That

unity

we hope

is

stronger

han

the

unity

of

military

and

dogmatic

nations.

But I would

add one other

unify-

ing

influencewhich s peculiarly

m-

portantat this moment.And that

is

that we need to

be able to feel

a

pride

in

the

achievements f our

country

nd of

its

people

under

a

democracy.

We have

no enemies

on

our borders.

But we have enemies

everywhere

n

the

world

who hate

our

way

of life.

Our

enemies

are

proud. They despisedemocracy nd

sneer at it. The

Fascists are proud.

The Communists re

proud.

We

havebeen

very

usy

ecently,

telling

ach

other bout

he ins

nd

evils

in our

society.

nd we

may

be proud

of

our capacity

o

correct

ourselvesf sin.Butare there ome

other

hings

f

which

we

can

be

proud?

f so,

et

us

find

hem.

or

we

needto

have

a pride

f achieve-

ment

n a democracy

oday

o pit

against he

overwhelming

anity

f

tyranny.

MR. LINDEMAN:

Will

a few

mem-

bers

of

the

audience

briefly

men-

tionwhatyouthinkweought obe

proud

of in

the

American

emoc-

racy

MEMBERS:

Religious

cooperation

-The free

public

school

ystem-

The fact

hat

we have

ettled

ll but

one of

our internal

isputes

with-

out

violence-Unity

hrough

lural-

ity, PluribusUnum-The rights

of

all minorities,

ncluding

the

minority

f abor-The

fact hat

ur

democracy

s

based

essentially

n

respect

or the

individual,

egard-

less of

whatgroup

he belongs

o-

This

is still

the

freest

ountry

n

theworld-Intelligent

ursuit

f

elf-

interest-Freedom

or self-develop-

ment-The achievementf a gov-

ernment

o

good

that

its

people

know

t

can be

better.

MR.

LINDEMAN:

As

a

student

am very proud

of our

American

scholarship.

think

we have

pro-

duced

ome

of the

finest

cholars

n

the

last

sixty

r

seventy

ears.

At

themoment think f theAmeri-

can historian.

doubt

whether

here

is

anywhere

n the world

a finer

93


8/8

group r

that

here as been finer

traditionhan he

writingf

history

that

came

about

in

Americawith

the

beginning

f

the school of

Adams ndMcMasterndSchouler

and

Prescott,tc.

I am

proud,

lso,

of the

Ameri-

can

land. Because

am

the

son

of

an

immigrant

have

a

peculiar ort

of

pride

n

the American

and.

A

few

years go I visited

ur

National

Parks.We now

haveone

and seven-

tenthscresperperson f free ub-

lic land

in America orthe

use of

the people's

eisure.

On theother

and,

suppose

we

have

to face he

fact hat ur great-

estsource f shame n America,or

which

we must till tone,

ies

not

in either his

rea of scholarship

r

the area

of our

beautiful

and,

but

in whatwe

havedone o

eachother.

We have

4,300,000

upils

in our

high

chools.

utdo you

know hat

in Washington,

r. Edgar

Hoover

has

ust

thatnumber-4,300,000-of

known riminalsn hisfiles?

A

SUMMARY

STATEMENT

OF

UNIFYING

INFLUENCES

IN A

DEMOCRACY

EDUARD

C.

LINDEMAN, New

York

School

of

Social

Work

The real threatto American de-

mocracydoes not come from with-

out, that is, from the totalitarian

states of Europe, but rather from

within, that is, from the forces of

disintegration operating within

American ife.

iDemocracy can function uccess-

fully in the political sphere only

when there xists n effective inor-

ity. This minoritymust never be-

come sufficientlyowerfulor recal-

citrant to defeat the will of the

people.

Democracy

cannot

persist

unless

all the

channels

of freedom

re

kept

open, especially

freedom of

expres-

sion and

freedom

of research.

De-

mocracywill fail if we cannot soon

establish

an honest and

intelligent

civil service.Public

education

is an

instrumentf democracy.

he basic

spiritual

ssumptionspon which

democracy ests re still

alive and

active mong he

American olk.

These re the xpectedonvictions

of

men

of

good

will.

But,

taken

merely s

expressionsf

good will,

they o

not

suffice.ur

task

s not

primarilyhat f

conserving

r

pre-

serving he democracy hichnow

exists,ut rather o bring ur tradi-

tional

American emocracy p-to-

date,

o

make t

compatibleith he

necessities

f a

technologicalge.

Those

who

give ip-service

o the

democraticdeal

must

carry

heir

affirmationsurther.hey

must

re-

pare themselveso act on behalf f

fundamentalconomicustice. his

requires

ourage s well as

faith.

The

major

threats

o

American

94

what holds nations together

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