EDUCATIONAL ADVANCE 547 



be the birthright of each and all. Leisure makes possible study, social 

 intercourse and the expansion of the life of the individual to the 

 measure which the modern world community spirit demands. 



At the beginning of the last century, the United States was a weak 

 nation possessing an unknown immensity of undeveloped resources. In 

 a century it grew to be one of the richest and most powerful nations 

 of the earth — an acknowledged great power. Development of re- 

 sources was the demand and the necessity of the period. Exploitation 

 of natural treasures and constant expansion was the program of the 

 century. Kesourceful, self-reliant and individualistic men who were 

 willing and able to devote untiring energy to the task of building up 

 the material strength and resources of the nation, were needed, and 

 became the familiar, successful and progressive type of American man- 

 hood. The fundamental, all-absorbing economic question was pro- 

 duction, which was carried on chiefly through the exploitation of natural 

 resources. The rough and crude form of frontier life reacted upon the 

 entire people, and left an imprint which many generations will not 

 entirely eradicate. As long as the frontier remained there was con- 

 tinual contact with the new and primitive. This type of civilization 

 tended to continue and to perpetuate itself long after the conditions 

 which caused it had passed into history. The primitive type of so- 

 ciety is highly individualistic; it resents the interference of organized 

 society in any form. In such a community might often spells -right. 

 It places little or no limitation upon the use or abuse of property. 

 The right of the individual completely over-towers the right of society. 



After the disappearance of the frontier a different set of conditions 

 confronts the people of the United States. Widely separated farming 

 communities or sparsely settled mining districts, and the presence of 

 immense tracts of practically free land, demand one system of ethics, 

 one code of human relations, and one kind of educational principles 

 and precepts; while densely populated cities, the scarcity of free land, 

 and increased mutual interdependence make imperative a new scheme 

 of social relations. The disappearance of the frontier induces a 

 weakening of the individualistic and a strengthening of the social 

 qualities of the American people. Sociological, as well as psychological, 

 principles begin gradually and timidly to creep into the educational 

 world. Society must adjust itself to a more crowded environment ; and 

 the problem is to make this adjustment along the lines of least resist- 

 ance. New social, industrial, agricultural, commercial, educational, 

 ethical and legal forms now become necessary. What is desirable and 

 even highly commendable in a new, fertile, undeveloped and expanding 

 country may become a positive menace and hindrance in an older, better 

 developed and more densely populated nation. New aims and new 

 ideals are requisite to this adjustment from the old to the new. Educa- 



