Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/471

 STUDIES IN POLITICAL AREAS 457

The broad area of a Russia or United States exerts an influence not merely through its own greatness, but also through the greatness of that which it embraces. Russia unites to our conception of its immense superficial extent the imposing monotony of its plains, the massive heights of the Caucasus, unparalleled in Europe, the greatness of its river systems and lakes, and the largest inland sea in the world, all of which only help to magnify the general impression. The larger a geo- graphical space is, so much a truer picture of the earth does it form, even in regard to the proportions of the different telluric phenomena which are to be found within its area. This fact contributes to the development of a certain breadth of view in the spirit of the people who inhabit and rule such a land. Still trueV it is that the larger their territory, so much the more diverse is their contact with nature. The problem of gaining the mastery over space brings man every moment face to face with the things of nature ; the result is a literal and material tendency of thought. " To see in everything the immediate purpose and the reality of life," the Russians say, is the effect of the work of cultivation upon Russian soil. The same practical quality goes through the North Americans and the Australians. People from large territories are, therefore, better practical geog- raphers than those from small countries. England and the United States, as formerly Rome, have a politico-geographical insight which contrasts singularly with their meager knowledge of theoretical geography. In a great stretch of territory, differ- ences in the character of the country and in nature as a whole become less conspicuous ; many disappear altogether against the broad horizon. Not only the mind's eye sees them so, but the will of the people in political matters tends to regard them in the same way ; it attaches to them no importance, rather ignores them. Because France and Spain are destined for separate political existences by the pronounced articulation of the outline of southwest Europe, the Pyrenees perform the function of mountain barrier. Germany, so poor in natural boundaries, lays stress upon the importance of the Vosges. Hut