But into the best that the foreign-born can retain,
America can graft such a wealth of inspiration, so high a national
idealism, so great an opportunity for the highest endeavor, as to make
him the fortunate man of the earth to-day.
He can go where he will; no traditions hamper him; no limitations are
set except those within himself. The larger the area he chooses in
which to work, the larger the vision he demonstrates, the more eager
the people are to give support to his undertakings if they are
convinced that he has their best welfare as his goal. There is no
public confidence equal to that of the American public, once it is
obtained. It is fickle, of course, as are all publics, but fickle only
toward the man who cannot maintain an achieved success.
A man in America cannot complacently lean back upon victories won, as
he can in the older European countries, and depend upon the glamour of
the past to sustain him or the momentum of success to carry him.
Probably the most alert public in the world, it requires of its leaders
that they be alert.
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