62 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



gerous fad is apt to be found out and discarded before it makes its way 

 over many states. If any features of the Oregon plan of government 

 prove unwise, it is only a matter of time when they will be abandoned 

 by the people of the state themselves. 



The best way to conserve what is good is sedulously to remove what 

 is bad. The nation that is genuinely progressive is in the best sense 

 conservative. The man who gains recognition and promotion is in- 

 clined to take due credit to himself and to think that, after all, the 

 world is not fundamentally wrong. Hence, there is no better way to 

 maintain the social order than to remove every species of favoritism 

 that prevents men of ability from advancing in life. The effect is at 

 once to strengthen the powers that be and to deprive the forces of dis- 

 content of able leadership. The stability of the social order in England 

 lies in the fact that the nation has not stood still, but has from time to 

 time adapted its institutions to changing conditions. This is probably 

 the most distinctive fact in English history. Every one is aware that 

 revolutionary outbursts frequently miscarry by creating a reaction. 

 But the reverse is also true. Where the dominant class places freedom 

 of discussion under the ban and will permit no change, as has been true 

 much of the time in Russia, the forces that make for progress have no 

 alternative but revolution. The French Revolution itself was largely 

 due to the obstructionists who held out blindly against reform. The 

 reactionaries of our time are assuming a heavy responsibility. 



American democracy is commonly associated with an open mind. 

 We have avoided the extreme conservatism to which Sir Henry Maine 

 thought a broad suffrage inclined. 21 Our material civilization has been 

 one of progressive improvement. Our inventive ingenuity has a world- 

 wide reputation. We have become par excellence the land of large-scale 

 production. The prevalence of the reading habit has familiarized the 

 public with the more important achievements of science. The doctrine 

 of the ascent of man has displaced that of the fall of man in secular 

 affairs and to some extent in theology. We have been in a measure 

 free from many of the old-world traditions. " The American people, as 

 a rule, approach a new object, a new theory, or a new practise ; with a 

 degree of hope and confidence which no other people exhibit." 22 Such 

 facts as these indicate a state of mind favorable to progress, but they do 

 not warrant the belief that we are prone to revolutionary suggestion. 



Contrary to the common supposition, there is a large streak of con- 

 servatism in the American people. Bagehot claimed for the people of 

 Great Britain the proud distinction of excelling every other people in 

 "the virtue of stupidity," "nature's favorite resource for preserving 

 steadiness of conduct and consistency of opinion." 23 In this respect, 



21 "Popular Government," pp. 35, 36, 41 and 98. 



22 Charles W. Eliot, op. cit., p. 63. 



23 Thomas Nixon Carver, "Sociology and Social Progress," pp. 501-502. 



