The quote is stating that the "average" man wants to be safe and holds this as a priority over free. I don't know much on Menkin but a quick wiki look and I see he is admirer of Friedrich Nietzsche, which can explain his position a lot.
The point he is making is that the majority are sheep. It's actually interesting that the majority in this poll think that the majority of "average" men care about freedom over safety; I imagine many of them are American. Globally, the value for "freedom" is perhaps not quite so high. Also, I assume that the freedom Menkin is taking about is less to do with American perspective of "freedom" and and more to do with Nietzsche's idea of freedom, which is freedom from the herd. The herd obey social contracts, abide by laws and submit to the herd in order to keep the peace and have safety; it's a daring man that goes against the grain and walks away from the safety in numbers, perhaps even goes against them.
I don't know Menkin well, but I know Nietzsche. Its important to note the word average. You can teach the average and majority to value "freedom" but they are just obeying conformity, they have no idea what freedom is.
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