414 COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION 



to a few among its members. We have already dwelt upon the fact 

 that civilization can affect the condition of backward societies only 

 by setting in operation economic forces which will gradually modify 

 the social structure. But the attempt to eradicate the intellectual 

 character of these peoples and to substitute for it the complex 

 intellectual and moral culture of Western civilization through the 

 process of instruction, cannot in the nature of things be accompanied 

 with any large measure of success. Psychological characteristics 

 are among the most stable and fixed phenomena of which we have 

 any knowledge. They are undoubtedly subject to modification, 

 but only very gradually in the course of centuries and as a result of 

 radical structural modifications. 



The British policy of educating the Hindus according to Euro- 

 pean methods has failed and has produced lamentable results, 

 because it entirely overlooked the truth that we cannot modify 

 societies by giving them the accessories, even the highest, of 

 another civilization, but only by influencing structural development. 

 As in this case of India, so in general, this can be effected only by 

 changing the economic basis on which the social structure rests. 

 The form of education which will yield the greatest results is technical 

 training, accompanying the actual development of economic life 

 and the growing consciousness of control over natural forces. The 

 political organization that will be most potent in influencing social 

 growth is the city; and through the creation of a true communal life 

 in towns and cities lies the road to the ultimate self-realization of 

 native societies, just as national life in the West is only an expansion 

 and development of the ideals and institutions of the classic- and 

 medieval city-state. 



A more rapid and direct influence could be looked for should race 

 mixture between Europeans in India and in the tropics become 

 general. Were the conditions in the tropics such that the Europeans 

 could freely intermarry with the native populations the problems 

 we are considering would assume an entirely different aspect, for, 

 as in the white population of the United States, there would come 

 into being a new race. Through the amalgamation of racial charac- 

 teristics there would arise new beliefs, customs, and ideals, in fact a 

 new philosophy of life and a new intellectual constitution. Though 

 in the past there has been some mixture of European and native 

 blood, and especially the Latin races have shown themselves willing 

 to enter more freely into alliance with dependent races, it still remains 

 true that the results of such racial union have not been of the most 

 encouraging nature. The mixed breeds have at times, as in the case 

 of the mulattoes, shown great excellence of physique and considerable 

 power of mind; in most cases, however, they have appeared rather 

 as degenerate types. They have occupied an unfortunate social 



