Excerpt from The Open Court, Vol. 32

The psychological development of America seems to have been so rapid since the outbreak of the European war, and especially since April 6, 1917, that to an observer from Mars the face of the country might appear totally changed. It may be well, under the circumstances, to turn to what a prominent Frenchman had to say about us as early as 1910, to measure the distance that separates us from our pre-war state of mind. In some ways a mere retrospect will be suggested, a prospect in others, and a reaffirmation of our ideals will certainly become apparent that should be greeted as most propitious. Ed.

When the Academy, last February, before I started for America, was good enough to invite me to relate my impressions on my return I had no idea that I should have the honor of doing so in the presence of the most eminent representatives of American culture. It is a bold undertaking to discourse on foreign countries even before ones fellow-countrymen; they are disposed, naturally enough, to mistrust assertions which they are not in a position to verify, while to relate ones fleeting impressions before the very persons who are best acquainted with the things to which they refer, and who are constantly in touch with them, shows a degree of boldness for which it is difficult to find excuse. Of course one can put forward the doctrine which many psychologists regard with such favor nowadays, that, in order to know the self of an individual, the foreign observer who investigates from without is in a more favorable position than the subject himself who studies from within.

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