Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/385

 MOOT POINTS IN SOCIOLOGY 371

right is bound up with the triumph of free associations giving play to the conscience and judgment of each.

Certain under-ripe philosophers assure us that character is everything, machinery nothing. Constitution-tinkering is time lost. Never will you get better government or laws or creeds or standards till you get better citizens. The stream cannot rise higher than its source. Castaways can never make a living by taking in each other's washing. No silk purse out of a sow's ear. No social progress save by individual improvement. And as the improving of millions of men and women is the most formidable of undertakings, the practical conclusion is, "Do nothing!"

Nevertheless, if it is true as I have shown that the sagacity and virtue a given body of persons display is not con- stant, but depends in no small measure upon their mode of association, a vista opens. Why not improve the mode of association ? Faultily organized at many points, society by no means realizes on its present spiritual assets. Argal, teach it to exploit them more skilfully. Let the making of better men go on. Tis a grand work, though slow. But why not in the meantime exalt wisdom and justice by organizing men in better ways? Let us by all means thresh out the jury system, municipal home-rule, proportional representation, the refer- endum, the mode of choosing senators, the direct primary, the responsibility of directors, the general army staff, the walking delegate, bishop vs. congregation, mayor vs. council, superin- tendent vs. board of education, advisory vs. mandatory com- mission, and questions of that ilk. These matters have greatly to do with the triumph of intelligence, conscience, and faculty in social affairs, and are by no means to be airily waved aside as "mere machinery."

To sum up :

The properties displayed by a social group depend, for one thing, upon the Characteristics of its Units. But this is not all the truth. When people throng under exciting circumstances, actions