Citation

Addams J. Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 1899; 13(3): 33-55.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1899, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/000271629901300302

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The word "settlement," which we have borrowed from London, is apt to grate a little upon American ears. It is not, after all, so long ago that Americans who settled were those who had adventured into a new country, where they were pioneers in the midst of difficult surroundings. The word still implies migrating from one condition of life to another totally unlike it, and against this implication the resident of an American settlement takes alarm.

We do not like to acknowledgethat Americans are divided into "two nations," as her prime minister once admitted of England. We are not willing, openly and professedly, to assume that American citizens are broken up into classes, even if we make that assumption the preface to a plea that thesuperiorclasshasdutiestotheinferior. Our democracy is still our most precious possession, and we do well to resent any inroads upon it, even although they may be made in the name of philanthropy....