PRESENT PROBLEMS 219 



goods. This mobility concentrates men in productive regions, who 

 bring with them the traditions of the localities they leave. The 

 mixing of population forces a blending of traditions. Opposing 

 elements are suppressed while similarities are emphasized, and around 

 them the old traditions cluster in new forms. These blended tradi- 

 tions are elevated into morality, broadened into ideals, and pro- 

 jected as standards of future action. 



Each new mingling of population due to an increase of resources 

 makes a breach between economic conditions and inherited social 

 traditions. Before an equilibrium is reestablished a transformation 

 of tradition takes place, giving higher ideals and better institutions. 

 The breach between economic thought and social idealism is thus 

 steadily widened and the opposition between them is more pro- 

 nounced. In its lower forms tradition is the result of conflict, and 

 reflects the opposition arising when men contest for the meagre results 

 of isolated localities. It is usually expressed in race feelings and 

 hatreds. In its higher forms, however, tradition is an expression 

 of likeness. A consciousness of opposition and fear is replaced by 

 a consciousness of kind. 



Each element in a composite population has its own traditions, 

 which blend with other traditions only when the common points are 

 emphasized and the antagonisms are suppressed. The oft-repeated 

 stories of the old life are retold so as to interest larger audiences. 

 To each group of hearers the newly told story can have a meaning 

 only when it incorporates some of the tradition with which it is 

 familiar. Writers and orators instinctively suppress points of dis- 

 cord, and blend and elevate what appeals to all. Tradition is thereby 

 transformed into idealism, and becomes a standard far above that 

 realized by individual men. 



Government in England, for example, is plainly a group of tra- 

 ditions. Transferred to America it becomes political institutions, 

 transferred again to cosmopolitan France it appears as political 

 ideals, while in centralized Germany it is further transformed into 

 social democracy. Each step has resulted from the discarding of 

 local antagonisms and the emphasis of generalized truth. 



Because of the simple conditions under which the Republican 

 party arose it could concentrate its attention on three evils, Rum. 

 Romanism, and Rebellion; but in recent years, to meet the condi- 

 tions of a more composite population, it has been forced to elevate 

 its standards and to generalize its principles until it appeals to the 

 classes, sections, and races it formerly antagonized. The narrow 

 tradition of the primitive American is thus transformed into a broad 

 liberalism, and the American Government becomes capable of 

 handling race problems that our forefathers left untouched. 



A labor leader who undertakes to organize unskilled laborers 



