American Ideals 27 



that no amount of commercial prosperity can supply 

 the lack of the heroic virtues, or can in itself solve 

 the terrible social problems which all the civilized 

 world is now facing. The mere materialist is, above 

 all things, shortsighted. In a recent article Mr. 

 Edward Atkinson casually mentioned that the regu- 

 lar army could now render the country no "effective 

 or useful service." Two months before this sapient 

 remark was printed the regular army had saved 

 Chicago from the fate of Paris in 1870 and had pre- 

 vented a terrible social war in the West. At the 

 end of this article Mr. Atkinson indulged in a curi- 

 ous rhapsody against the navy, denouncing its exist- 

 ence and being especially wrought up, not because 

 war- vessels take life, but because they "destroy com- 

 merce." To men of a certain kind, trade and prop- 

 erty are far more sacred than life or honor, of far 

 more consequence than the great thoughts and lofty 

 emotions, which alone make a nation mighty. They 

 believe, with a faith almost touching in its utter 

 feebleness, that "the Angel of Peace draped in a gar- 

 ment of untaxed calico," has given her final mes- 

 sage to men when she has implored them to devote 

 all their energies to producing oleomargarine at a 

 quarter of a cent less a firkin, or to importing wool- 

 lens for a fraction less than they can be made at 

 home. These solemn prattlers strive after an ideal 

 in which they shall happily unite the imagination of 

 a green-grocer with the heart of a Bengalee baboo. 

 They are utterly incapable of feeling one thrill of 

 generous emotion, or the slightest throb of that 



