STANDARDIZATION 145

to sea and said in a solemn voice, " Our
ancestors came over yonder sea in the samt
canoe" "We Americans," said the Texan,
" have a stronger tie than that. , We all ride
about in Ford's cars and chew Wrigley's gum
as we drive them." This, I thought, was an
exaggeration, but the point of it went home.
Our talk then turned to standardization, and
this chapter is largely derived from the Texan's
instructive remarks on that subject. He seemed
to have a firmer grasp of its significance than
any American I had so far encountered. Unlike
the St. Louis pessimist mentioned at the begin-
ning, he was quite cheerful about it. His views
may be summarized in the following pithy remark
of M. Henri Bergson:

" On a reproche' aux Ame'ricains d'avoir tous le mSme
chapeau. Mais la t&e doit passer avant le chapeau.
Faites que je puisse meubler ma tfite selon mon gofit
propre,et j' accepterai pour elie le chapeau de tout le
monde. Lk n'est pas notre grief centre le machinisme."