Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/66

62 fad is apt to be found out and discarded before it makes its way over many states. If any features of the Oregon plan of government prove unwise, it is only a matter of time when they will be abandoned by the people of the state themselves.

The best way to conserve what is good is sedulously to remove what is bad. The nation that is genuinely progressive is in the best sense conservative. The man who gains recognition and promotion is inclined to take due credit to himself and to think that, after all, the world is not fundamentally wrong. Hence, there is no better way to maintain the social order than to remove every species of favoritism that prevents men of ability from advancing in life. The effect is at once to strengthen the powers that be and to deprive the forces of discontent of able leadership. The stability of the social order in England lies in the fact that the nation has not stood still, but has from time to time adapted its institutions to changing conditions. This is probably the most distinctive fact in English history. Every one is aware that revolutionary outbursts frequently miscarry by creating a reaction. But the reverse is also true. Where the dominant class places freedom of discussion under the ban and will permit no change, as has been true much of the time in Russia, the forces that make for progress have no alternative but revolution. The French Revolution itself was largely due to the obstructionists who held out blindly against reform. The reactionaries of our time are assuming a heavy responsibility.

American democracy is commonly associated with an open mind. We have avoided the extreme conservatism to which Sir Henry Maine thought a broad suffrage inclined. Our material civilization has been one of progressive improvement. Our inventive ingenuity has a worldwide reputation. We have become par excellence the land of large-scale production. The prevalence of the reading habit has familiarized the public with the more important achievements of science. The doctrine of the ascent of man has displaced that of the fall of man in secular affairs and to some extent in theology. We have been in a measure free from many of the old-world traditions. "The American people, as a rule, approach a new object, a new theory, or a new practise; with a degree of hope and confidence which no other people exhibit." Such facts as these indicate a state of mind favorable to progress, but they do not warrant the belief that we are prone to revolutionary suggestion.

Contrary to the common supposition, there is a large streak of conservatism in the American people. Bagehot claimed for the people of Great Britain the proud distinction of excelling every other people in "the virtue of stupidity," "nature's favorite resource for preserving steadiness of conduct and consistency of opinion." In this respect,