The Twentieth Century American

There are already many books about America; but the majority of these have been written by Englishmen after so brief an acquaintance with the country that it is doubtful whether they contribute much to English knowledge of the subject.

My reason for adding another volume to the list is the hope of being able to do something to promote a better understanding between the peoples, having as an excuse the fact that I have lived in the United States for nearly twenty years, under conditions which have given rather exceptional opportunities of intimacy with the people of various parts of the country socially, in business, and in politics. Wherever my judgment is wrong it is not from lack of abundant chance to learn the truth.

Except in one instance--very early in the book--I have avoided the use of statistics, in spite of frequent temptation to refer to them to fortify arguments which must without them appear to be merely the expression of an individual opinion.

H. P. R.

February, 1908.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

AN ANGLO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE 5

The Avoidance of Entangling Alliances--What the Injunction Meant--What it Cannot Mean To-day--The Interests of the United States, no less than those of England, Demand an Alliance--But Larger Interests than those of the Two Peoples are Involved--American Responsiveness to Ideals--The Greatest Ideal of All, Universal Peace: the Practicability of its Attainment--America's Responsibility--Misconceptions of the British Empire--Germany's Position--American Susceptibilities.

CHAPTER II

THE DIFFERENCE IN POINT OF VIEW 35

The Anglo-Saxon Family Likeness--How Frenchmen and Germans View it--Englishmen, Americans, and "Foreigners"--An Echo of the War of 1812--An Anglo-American Conflict Unthinkable-- American Feeling for England--The Venezuelan Incident--The Pilgrims and Some Secret History--Why Americans still Hate England--Great Britain's Nearness to the United States Geographically--Commercially--Historically--England's Foreign Ill-wishers in America.

CHAPTER III

TWO SIDES OF THE AMERICAN CHARACTER 60

Europe's Undervaluation of America's Fighting Power--The Americans as Sailors--The Nation's Greatest Asset--Self-reliance of the People--The Making of a Doctor--And of a Surveyor-- Society in the Rough--New York and the Country--An Anglo-Saxon Trait--America's Unpreparedness--American Consuls and Diplomats-- A Homogeneous People--The Value of a Common Speech--America more Anglo-Saxon than Britain--Mr. Wells and the Future in America.

CHAPTER IV

MUTUAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS 94

America's Bigness--A New Atlantis--The Effect of Expansion on a People--A Family Estranged--Parsnips--An American Woman in England--An Englishman in America--International Caricatures-- Shibboleths: dropped H's and a "twang"--Matthew Arnold's Clothes--The Honourable S---- B----.

CHAPTER V

THE AMERICAN ATTITUDE TOWARDS WOMEN 111

The Isolation of the United States--American Ignorance of the World--Sensitiveness to Criticism--Exaggeration of their Own Virtues--The Myth of American Chivalrousness--Whence it Originated--The Climatic Myth--International Marriages--English Manners and American--The View of Womanhood in Youth-- Co-education of the Sexes--Conjugal Morality--The Artistic Sense in American Women--Two Stenographers--An Incident of Camp-Life--"Molly-be-damned"--A Nice Way of Travelling--How do they do it?--Women in Public Life--The Conditions which Co-operate--The Anglo-Saxon Spirit again.