178 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

conscious of it than in other cities. In any case
a description of it here would be unnecessary.
It has been done, perhaps overdone, by American
writers, romantically by Upton Sinclair in his
novels, statistically by Theodore Dreiser in his
Tragic America—to name but two among many.

I am not in a position to question the truth
of what these writers allege; nor am I able to
confirm it except by reporting hearsay, which is
ooor evidence, or by recording " impressions,"
ivhich is hardly better. But of this I am sure
—that if what these writers tell "us were the
whole truth about the United States there would
be no United States, or even Disunited States,
no States at all, in fact, to write about either
romantically or statistically. I will only venture
to set down a few reflections which have occurred
after reading a mass of these damning accusations
and comparing it with my own experience.

Assuming all they tell us about America to
be true, there must be somewhere an immense
counteracting force to maintain American
civilization as a going concern. Hence, the more
one is staggered by these revelations of iniquity,
the more one's reverence rises for this unnamed,
hidden thing in the background that manages,
somehow, to carry on, in spite of all the sons
of Belial are doing to turn the country into a hell.
I have seen the sons of Belial at work. But I
have also met Jane Addams.

Were the " tragic America " described by Mr,