The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-01-23

ment is not its popularity, but it's
persistence in consciousness. A fad
owes half its power to it's fascination
of newness.
The great mass of men have always
had their lives ruled by usage and
tradition. This habit of back-lool.
was broken about a century ago. The
masses after the French revolution
were lifted from the slough of custom
to the plane of choice and self-direc-
tion.. And for hundred years the
effort has been to explode superstition
to diffuse knowledge, to spread light
and to free man from the spell Of the
past and turn his gaze forward. The
attempt to break with the past has
beena success. With school and book,
press and platform progress has been
taught, till with us the most wither-
ing phrase is Behind the times -
But now we put one kind of imitation
in the place Of another. Instead of
aping our forefathers we now ape the
many. Most anything is acceptable
now ii it only meets the test of popu-
larity.
Frequently a half-educatfon has
supplied many ideas without develop
ing the ability to choose among them.
Discrimination tagging far behind the
power to receive, the man is left to
drift. Ideas in his mind are about of
equal value and succeed each other in
the order in which they have been re-
ceived. Formerly people rejected the
new in favor of won't and tradition;
now they ''go in" for everything new
with touching credulity. Themulti-
tude, popularity, is the reason and
guide. They follow the ever tickle and
changing currents OF opinion and are
in large measure at the mercy of
|eyery wind and tide. The laws Of
custom are narrow and lined by tall
|hedge-rows but they lead somewhere.
! The man On the open plain is tree.
but he may stampede With every.
crowd Of half informed zealots. He ~
subject TO \ force less stable and more
dangerous than tf1atSof custom.
1t is contended that the popular
mindtis not . mere aggregate OF indi-
(Yidual minds-a mere arithmettcal
sum Of so many units. There is rea-
son for believing that the social mind
|is the result Of ! trans alton simi- li
liar Ia . sscllsrsii iical process. 3 fer
Imentation of minds in contact with
other minds produces change in the
associated minds and leaves perman-
| ent effects on Individual mental life.
The process is as yet unexplained.
The product has been observed innu-
merable times.
So far as observed the conclusions
Of crowds are identical or nearly SO.
lin France it was the custom for a
ttime to have only picked juries from
1.-The intellectual classes. Later juries
we're made up of all grades, the ma
Iioritiy Of a jury usually being COM
lmoners. A careful study Of the con-
clusions Of the picked juries and the
mixed juries shows that they are the
same SO far as justice is concerned.
Grade of intelligence seems to cut no
Figure in the results. 1t seems that
the genius of the race, the spirit OF
1.-The times, the social mind, will not
tolerate anything beyond ITS advance
lcolumn nor behind its rear guard.
However, history reveals the fact that
castles are averse to progress. Change
/ is usually inimical to their interests.
They are somewhat fOssilized in the
present social order and lean hard on
tradition. Crowds, or the masses, are
lless bound up in what is, and their
is less concerned with the
perpetuation of the old and accus-
Itomed and are open to easier conVic-
ltion regarding progress or change in
the social order. Great upheavels are
generated in the soul of the masses,
and potentates and leaders are small
Factors only in retarding or fastening
them.
Association produced the most radl-
cal and most lasting changes Profes-
sor Ross observes: "When, last ol
IAN desire itself is altered in its fun
|damental direction. we have the
tereatest imaginable change OF the
Individual. For the probe OF science
shows the innermost core OF q man to
/ be not his activities or perceptions,
/ not his judgments or thoughts. not
4 his opinions or beliefs, but his feelings.
4 As Professor Lester r. Ward shows,
/ the mart held to be the undying ker-
nal Of mantle soul-can be nothing
y8, texl,o foo1inO taken collect.