35° THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



plain in a measure the reason for the rise and fall of specific nations, 

 parties and principles. Before broad and reasonable generalizations 

 can be drawn an enormous mass of exact and uncolored historical data 

 must be gathered and digested. This material must relate not merely 

 to political events or to the work and ideals of certain great and more 

 or less spectacular personages who have stood in the foreground in the 

 generations which lie forever behind the present. This data must, if 

 it be highly valuable, tell the true story of the life, ideals, customs, in- 

 dustrial and social relations of the mass of the common people. Each 

 locality, class and individual can add its quota toward the accurate 

 knowledge of the true history of a given nation. 



In the past our historians have often been guilty of presenting a 

 false picture of the history of a nation. Their conclusions have often 

 been very much prejudiced and distorted. In part this unfortunate 

 situation was the direct and inevitable result of a lack of minute and 

 local historical data. In part, it was due to a false idea of patriotism 

 which led the writers to over-emphasize the good qualities of certain 

 historical personages and to accentuate the moral weakness of others ; it 

 caused the historians to find altruistic and broad-minded ideals where 

 in reality egoistic and particularistic ambitions were uppermost. Not 

 only were false ideals presented, but the glorification of the past inevi- 

 tably made the student and reader pessimistic in regard to the present 

 and the future. The past was seen constantly surrounded by an un- 

 real halo. The imaginary good old days and the more or less mythical 

 heroic heros of the past when placed in comparison with the somber, 

 but actual, present checked the enthusiasm of many a young idealist. 

 "With this contrast in view the present seemed hopelessly degenerate; 

 corruption, graft and political chicanery were believed to be of recent 

 origin, whereas in reality these evils are as old as history. It is often 

 difficult for the student to realize that the men of former generations 

 were not supermen, but men liable to be influenced by prejudice, parti- 

 san bias and ignoble motives. American history has suffered greatly in 

 the past because of superficial and prejudiced interpretation of facts, 

 and because of the lack of definite and accurate data. 



The forces concerned in history-making are a multitude in compari- 

 son with those more simple and tangible forces which operate in the 

 laboratory of the physicist or the factory of the manufacturer. Each 

 nation and each age has its own peculiar problems, balance of social 

 forces and rate of change. The complexity and the magnitude of the 

 forces involved insure the existence of social inertia. The first law of 

 social change is that social formation and deformation take place grad- 

 ually. Eevolutions, signifying great and abrupt changes in national 

 economic or social life, are more apparent than real. The revolution is 

 a mere surface manifestation. Deep-seated changes never occur in this 



