"Albert Einstein. The world as I see it (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

Europe is half-way between the two. Once the machine is sufficiently highly
developed it becomes cheaper in the end than the cheapest labour. Let the
Fascists in Europe, who desire on narrow-minded political grounds to see
their own particular countries more densely populated, take heed of this.
The anxious care with which the United States keep out foreign goods by
means of prohibitive tariffs certainly contrasts oddly with this
notion.…But an innocent visitor must not be expected to rack his
brains too much, and, when all is said and done, it is not absolutely
certain that every question admits of a rational answer.

The second thing that strikes a visitor is the joyous, positive
attitude to life. The smile on the faces of the people in photographs is
symbolical of one of the American's greatest assets. He is friendly,
confident, optimistic, and-without envy. The European finds intercourse
with Americans easy and agreeable.

Compared with the American, the European is more critical, more
self-conscious, less goodhearted and helpful, more isolated, more fastidious
in his amusements and his reading, generally more or less of a pessimist.

Great importance attaches to the material comforts of life, and peace,
freedom from care, security are all sacrificed to them. The American lives
for ambition, the future, more than the European. Life for him is always
becoming, never being. In this respect he is even further removed from the
Russian and the Asiatic than the European is. But there is another respect
in which he resembles the Asiatic more than the European does: he is lest of
an individualist than the European-that is, from the psychological, not the
economic, point of view.

More emphasis is laid on the "we" than the "I." As a natural corollary
of this, custom and convention are very powerful, and there is much more
uniformity both in outlook on life and in moral and ”sthetic ideas among
Americans than among Europeans. This fact is chiefly responsible for
America's economic superiority over Europe. Co-operation and the division of
labour are carried through more easily and with less friction than in
Europe, whether in the factory or the university or in private good works.
This social sense may be partly due to the English tradition.

In apparent contradiction to this stands the fact that the activities
of the State are comparatively restricted as compared with Europe. The
European is surprised to find the telegraph, the telephone, the railways,
and the schools predominantly in private hands. The more social attitude of
the individual, which I mentioned just now, makes this possible here.
Another consequence of this attitude is that the extremely unequal
distribution of property leads to no intolerable hardships. The social
conscience of the rich man is much more highly developed than in Europe. He
considers himself obliged as a matter of course to place a large portion of
his wealth, and often of his own energies too, at the disposal of the
community, and public opinion, that all-powerful force, imperiously demands
it of him. Hence the most important cultural functions can be left to