64 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Germany and France, of Italy and Russia, of all Europe and all South America, 

 is to recall constitutions made and unmade, and codes that bear little relation to 

 their originals.25 



Our most distinctive and persistent tradition is our self-reliant 

 individualism. This is at once our strength and our weakness. It has 

 hastened the industrial conquest of a continent, but it has wasted our 

 natural resources, needlessly sacrificed human life, and it has been 

 indifferent to the general welfare. So long as private profit is con- 

 sistent with public ends, it is a source of strength, but the moment it 

 becomes inconsistent it is a source of weakness. The flagrant evils of 

 American life are largely due to applying to present-day conditions a 

 philosophy suited to the frontier. We can not regulate the railways 

 and the trusts, reform the tariff, or abolish the slums without encoun- 

 tering an overweening individualism. The disregard of speed ordi- 

 nances by automobilists, the prostitution of public office to private ends, 

 the corrupting influence of business on our political life, and the all too 

 prevalent spirit of lawnessness are traceable to this characteristic. We 

 have been optimistic to a fault. We have cherished the delusion that 

 our manifest evils if left alone will eradicate themselves. We have 

 assumed that we are in a special sense the chosen people of God. No 

 matter which way we turn, the " psychological twist " which originated 

 in pioneer days interferes with our becoming a socialized democracy. 



VI 



The opponents of the demand for a larger measure of popular 

 government forget the growing intelligence of the people. Schools and 

 colleges, books, newspapers and magazines, modern transportation and 

 communication, business intercourse, the trade union, political dis- 

 cussion, the numerous clubs and Chautauqua circles, and the growing 

 density of population which brings mind more frequently in contact 

 with mind, are so many agencies for promoting the general enlighten- 

 ment. Eural free delivery, the telephone, the interurban trolley, and 

 the influence of the city are widening the mental horizon of the farmer. 



More fundamental is the influence of the scientific spirit to which 

 Darwin's works gave such a decided impetus. Laboratory methods of 

 research are pushing forward the frontier of knowledge. Many of our 

 universities and technical schools are devoting themselves to pure sci- 

 ence as well as to vocational training. Electrical machinery, the aero- 

 plane, the automobile and wireless telegraphy arouse the scientific 

 curiosity of the young. They also engender respect for the profession 

 of the engineer who delves into the mysteries of nature. Besides, the 

 ideals of democracy are permeating all classes of society. 



25 A. Maurice Low, ' ' The American People, A Study in National Psychol- 

 ogy, The Harvesting of a Nation," Vol. 2, p. 300. 



