where man in his struggle for existence developed the qualities of mind
and will--the ingenuity, self-reliance, self-control, strenuous
exertion, and will power--which befit the modern industrial
civilization. But in the tropics these qualities are less essential, for
where nature lavishes food, and winks at the neglect of clothing and
shelter, there ignorance, superstition, physical prowess, and sexual
passion have an equal chance with intelligence, foresight, thrift, and
self-control. The children of all the races of the temperate zones are
eligible to the highest American civilization, and it only needs that
they be "caught" young enough. There is perhaps no class of people more
backward than the 3,000,000 poor whites of the Appalachian Mountains,
but there is no class whose children are better equipped by heredity to
attain distinction in any field of American endeavor. This much cannot
be said for the children of the tropical zones. Amalgamation is their
door to assimilation.

Before we can intelligently inquire into the agencies of Americanization
we must first agree on what we mean by the term. I can think of no
comprehensive and concise description equal to that of Abraham Lincoln:
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people." This
description should be applied not only to the state but to other
institutions. In the home it means equality of husband and wife; in the
church it means the voice of the laity; in industry the participation of
the workmen.

Unhappily it cannot be said that Lincoln's description has ever been
attained. It is the goal which he and others whom we recognize as true
Americans have pointed out. Greater than any other obstacle in the road
toward that goal have been our race divisions. Government for the people
depends on government by the people, and this is difficult where the
people cannot think and act together. Such is the problem of
Americanization.

In the earlier days the most powerful agency of assimilation was
frontier life. The pioneers "were left almost entirely to their own
resources in this great struggle. They developed a spirit of
self-reliance, a capacity for self-government, which are the most
prominent characteristics of the American people."[136] Frontier life
includes pioneer mining camps as well as pioneer farming.

Next to the frontier the farms of America are the richest field of
assimilation. Here the process is sometimes thought to be slower than i