76 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

when questions of this kind arise that the absten-
tion of the American intelligentsia from the political
career seems most unfortunate, and the doubt
arises whether the setting free of high talent for
other forms of service is an adequate compensation
for the loss of their service at the national head-
quarters. Admitting that America needs very
little government it by no means follows from this
that the little she does need can be safely left to
minds short of the best the nation can produce.
Ought we not to infer the contrary ?

If America were as self-contained and as
independent of the rest of the world as she
traditionally aspires to be and as the masses of
the people have been encouraged to believe she
is, the loss she suffers from the cause I have been
discussing, though still great, would be less.
The American intelligentsia know very well at
what rate to value the popular myth of America's
independence of the rest of the world. Even if
they think, as some of them do, that America's
entanglements with the rest of the world should
be kept at a minimum, and avoided altogether in
certain fields, they yet see clearly that this
minimum is composed of priceless imponderabilia
and demands the wisest handling.

As the student of modern civilization waits for
the impenetrable veil which hangs over the future
to become transparent^ the two countries on which
he should concentrate his watch are, unquestion-