SOCIAL REGULATION 271 



civilized people, and exclusion is possible only under favorable 

 conditions. 



In other cases an attempt has been made to transform or absorb 

 a race. This is the solution commonly tried by the governments 

 of Continental Europe. It is manifestly out of the question except 

 when the differences are not very profound. It may or may not be 

 possible to make Slavs into Germans, or vice versa, but no one would 

 expect to make Europeans and Chinese interchangeable. Even as 

 between European races the efforts in this direction have not of 

 late been generally successful. 



The third solution is to ignore the difference of race and legislate 

 as if it did not exist. That was the solution applied in this country 

 after the Civil War; but it cannot be said to have fulfilled the hopes 

 cherished by its authors, and the present generation, even in the 

 Northern States, seems inclined to regard it as neither satisfactory 

 nor final. 



The fourth solution has been that of disregarding the rights of the 

 weaker race altogether. This has been tried at various periods in 

 the world's history, especially in the case of colonies. It is safe to 

 say it will never commend itself permanently to the conscience of 

 mankind. 



Other partial solutions have been tried, more or less deliberately, 

 and with varying degrees of success. This is not the place to follow 

 them in detail, but merely to point out that the problem is one that 

 will hang heavy on the hands of the twentieth century; and that 

 with the growth of popular government and the increasing indus- 

 trial, intellectual, and social opportunities throughout the world, 

 the task of governing a people that is not homogeneous has become 

 far more difficult. Although these very forces may tend to efface 

 race differences where they are not profound, the differences are 

 often so great that one can entertain little hope that they will 

 disappear. 



Except for the questions arising from race, legal and political 

 problems connected with status have tended to decline in import- 

 ance, while those connected with voluntary associations are increas- 

 ing in gravity, and are likely to do so for a considerable time to come. 

 Man's mastery over the forces of nature, and the improvement in 

 transportation that is bringing the whole world into active com- 

 petition, have made cooperation upon a large scale a necessity. 

 One form of this has been economically highly successful. That is 

 the combination of small amounts of capital into great corporations, 

 and its very success has made abuses possible and legislation neces- 

 sary. Transportation has also made the wants of all civilized 

 mankind more alike, while the diffusion of a common elementary edu- 

 cation and the ease of communication have brought about uniform- 



