SEPTEMBER 13, 1918] 
Of course the degree of racial purity varies 
considerably, but this high percentage includes 
all those who have an obvious and undeniable 
admixture of indigenous blood. For this rea- 
son it is exceedingly important that anthro- 
pologists, who are already well informed as to 
the past of these people, should, for the sake 
of our continent as a whole, set themselves 
to learn about their present status. 
A beginning of this necessary study has al- 
ready been made. In Mexico, the well-known 
archeologist, Manuel Gamio, is now the head 
of a branch of the Secretaria de Fomento 
which has as its purpose the collection of data 
relating to the present numbers, cultural and 
economic condition of the Indians, and to the 
steps that should be taken to insure their 
highest development, not only on their own 
account, but for the sake of the benefits that 
will accrue to the state from such a policy. 
The work of Gamio’s Direccién de estudios 
arqueolégicos y etnograficos has already been 
sketched by him in a recently published book.* 
It is quite clear to any one who reads this 
remarkable little book with due care that the 
fundamental trouble with Mexico is not, as 
most of us North Americans are wont to 
think, some inherent wickedness and tur- 
bulence on the part of the Mexicans, but that 
it arises from the maladjustment of Mexico’s 
political institutions to her racial and psy- 
chological temperament. It is Gamio’s pur- 
pose to change this condition so as to make 
available to Mexico the great store of strength 
and virtue which lies hidden in the hitherto 
misunderstood and despised Indian element. 
To do this drastic reforms in the educational, 
agrarian and economic institutions of the 
country will doubtless be necessary. Time 
and study will reveal just what is needed. 
A situation very similar to that in Mexico 
exists in many other Latin American coun- 
tries, as I have said. It has been my especial 
good fortune to study this matter in Peru 
1Gamio, Manuel, ‘‘Forjando Patria,’’ Mexico, 
1916. Should any one who reads this article care 
to have a copy of Mr. Gamio’s work (which is in 
Spanish), I shall be glad to supply him with a 
copy gratis so long as the very few which I have 
hold out. My address is given below. 
SCIENCE . 
257 
and Bolivia. Because of my first-hand knowl- 
edge of the importance of race-appreciation in 
those countries I may speak about it fully, for 
it is an important matter. Before proceeding 
further, I would better define the term I have 
used. Race-appreciation is the study of those 
cultural elements which survive from the 
formerly independent cultural state of the 
Indians (or any similarly subjected race) into 
our own day. It seeks to blend all that is best 
in them with all that is best in white culture 
so that the dual population of such countries 
shall have institutions based upon those of 
both component races. 
The matter of race-appreciation in the An- 
dean countries is of the highest importance for 
their future development. On the coast the 
present situation of the Indians is not by any 
means of the worst. Many of their own social 
and governmental institutions survive, which 
makes for contentment on their part and for a 
firm but kindly control by the whites of the 
upper class. As elsewhere in the Andes, the 
land almost all belongs to very large landed 
estates. The owners of these, for the most 
part, differ from their Mexican counterparts 
in not being oppressive and unjust. I have 
known a great many people of this class in 
different parts of Peru, and I can say frankly 
that not only are they progressive and eager 
to better the conditions of their native tenants 
but also that the Indians esteem and like 
them. Nevertheless, a process of reform, es- 
pecially with regard to sanitary conditions, 
housing, clothing, pastimes and working- 
places, would be of inestimable value, es- 
pecially if it were so conducted as to take 
over the native administrative system (based 
on families, clans and tribes) and made use, 
at the same time, of the special skill of these 
people in such matters as weaving, irrigating 
and building. 
To reduce the matter to concrete terms I 
will speak of each one of these three aptitudes 
in terms of what might be done to make them 
useful to modern society. In the first place, 
I will venture to remind the reader that in 
pre-Columbian times the people of the Peru- 
vian coast made the finest cotton and woollen 
