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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
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for PublicOpinion ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2744794
Accessed: 29/07/2010 17:05
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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
7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together
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
7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together
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
7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together
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
7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together
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
7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together
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
7/24/2019 What Holds Nations Together
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