of the earth, is growingly democratic as regards Englishmen, but
despotic as regards subject races. Taking the empire as a whole, neither
amalgamation nor self-government is within the possibilities of its
constitutional growth.

In America, on the other hand, we have attempted to unite all races in
one commonwealth and one elective government. We have, indeed, a most
notable advantage compared with other countries where race divisions
have undermined democracy. A single language became dominant from the
time of the earliest permanent settlement, and all subsequent races and
languages must adopt the established medium. This is essential, for it
is not physical amalgamation that unites mankind; it is mental
community. To be great a nation need not be of one blood, it must be of
one mind. Racial inequality and inferiority are fundamental only to the
extent that they prevent mental and moral assimilation. If we think
together, we can act together, and the organ of common thought and
action is common language. Through the prism of this noble instrument of
the human mind all other instruments focus their powers of assimilation
upon the new generations as they come forth from the disunited
immigrants. The public schools, the newspapers, the books, the political
parties, the trade unions, the religious propagandists with their
manifold agencies of universal education, the railroads with their
inducements to our unparalleled mobility of population, are all
dependent upon our common language for their high efficiency. Herein are
we fortunate in our plans for the Americanization of all races within
our borders. We are not content to let the fate of our institutions wait
upon the slow and doubtful processes of blood amalgamation, but are
eager to direct our energies toward the more rapid movements of mental
assimilation. Race and heredity may be beyond our organized control; but
the instrument of a common language is at hand for conscious improvement
through education and social environment.

CHAPTER II

COLONIAL RACE ELEMENTS

Doubtless the most fascinating topic in the study of races is that of
the great men whom each race has produced. The personal interest
surrounding those who have gained eminence carries us back over each
step of their careers to their childhood, their parents, and their
ancestry.[6] Pride of race adds its zest, and each race has its
eulogists who claim every great man whose family tree reveals e