The New Mugwumps

(From the New York Tribune)

"Holier than thou" was the phrase pinned on the souls of the first Mugwumps. It served admirably to describe that note of well-bred moral condescension which was a distinguishing quality of these aloof reformers a generation and more back.

The new breed of mugwump has all the holiness of his ancestor and he has added something to it for good measure. He is "wiser than thou" as well. That is to say, he has mixed his moral snobbery with an intellectual snobbery as complete as it is confident. "How simple it would all be if you were only as wise as we!" they have the air of saying.

"Liberal" is the fine old adjective that these haughty souls have written upon their banners. "Aloofers" would be more accurate. In fact, it would be hard to find a word less appropriate than "liberal." We are indebted to the address of President Hopkins at the opening of Dartmouth College for an exact portrait of these reformers.

President Hopkins is undoubtedly right in his facts. But how have they come to be? Why must a modern "Liberal" be an insufferable prig? Take that organ of the politer circles of "Liberalism," "The New Republic. It began bravely with a real will to be free and generous; within a year it developed a consciousness of its mission, and today it is the pattern of rigid dogmatism and complacent self-esteem. We give up the answer — unless it is that man was not intended to be aloof and that too much wisdom is no better than too little — especially if you are holy to boot. Perhaps a little sin and ignorance are good for us!