A Timeless Complaint About America

—“America and Tomorrow” by Isaac F. Marcosson from the June 9, 1923, issue of The Saturday Evening Post

In 1920 and 1921 we liquidated nearly everything but personal extravagance. Our whole economic perspective is distorted. We seem to be losing the sense for saving. The country as a whole is living beyond its means.

We are living in a period of bunk and demagogy, instead of an age of vital thought and constructive argument. Everywhere the eloquent side-stepper with a bag of popular tricks gets away with the goods. The present era demands Americans combat the cheap emotionalism that is pervading nearly every important issue.

This article is featured in the May/June 2023 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.