A Librarian's Open Shelf by Arthur E. Bostwick
page 53 of 335 (15%)
page 53 of 335 (15%)
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surprising efficiency." There are two motives for association, he thinks,
the consciousness of weakness, which is generally operative abroad, and the consciousness of strength, which is our motive here. He says: The need of association comes generally from the conscience of one's own feebleness or indolence.... When such people join they add together their incapacities; hence the failure of many societies formed with great eclat. On the contrary, when men accustomed to help themselves without depending on their neighbors form an association, it is because they really find themselves facing a common difficulty ... such persons add their capacities; they form a powerful union of capables, the only one that has force. Hence the general success of American associations. The radical difference in the motives for association here and in the old world was noted long ago by De Tocqueville, who says: European societies are naturally led to introduce into their midst military customs and formulas.... The members of such associations respond to a word of command like soldiers in a campaign; they profess the dogma of passive obedience, or rather, by uniting, they sacrifice entirely, at a single stroke, their judgment and free will.... In American associations, on the other hand, individual independence finds its part; as in society every man moves at the same time toward the same goal, but all are not forced to go by the same road. No one sacrifices his will or his reason, but applies them both toward the success of the common enterprise. Commenting on this, De Rousiers goes on: |
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