ABSTRACT

The European traveller in America—at least if I may judge by myself—is struck by two peculiarities: first, the extreme similarity of outlook in all parts of the United States (except the old South), and second, the passionate desire of each locality to prove that it is peculiar and different from every other. The second of these is, of course, the cause of the first. Every place wishes to have a reason for local pride, and therefore cherishes whatever is distinctive in the way of geography or history or tradition. The greater the uniformity that in fact exists, the more eager becomes the search for differences that may mitigate it. The old South is in fact quite unlike the rest of America, so unlike that one feels as if one had arrived in a different country. It is agricultural, aristocratic and retrospective, whereas the rest of America is industrial, democratic and prospective.