CHAPTER VIII. 



THE HUMAN FACTOR. 



It is a commonplace statement of a certain class of 

 writers that the history of western civilisation is the 

 history of man's emancipation from the tyranny of 

 his surroundings and that the history of tropical 

 civilisation is the record of his enslavement to them. 

 Americans in particular are prone to make such state- 

 ments ; and it is perhaps natural that they should do 

 so, contrasting the enormous and rapid development 

 which they have effected in their own country with 

 the stagnation which they found in such naturally 

 fertile countries as Hawaii and the Philippines when 

 they assumed the rule of those islands. Perhaps they 

 are apt to minimise the part which the great physical 

 advantages of their own country have played in this 

 development, and the almost unique opportunity which 

 was presented to the men who divided up a continent 

 amongst themselves. Still it was not without a severe 

 struggle that they entered into their heritage and 

 turned it to such good account, and we may forgive 

 the complacency with which they regard their handi- 

 work. 



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