Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-21
A STANDARDIZED WORLD


NONE of the delegates attending the Con-
~ ference on the Limitation of Armaments
in Washington next month unless It be the
delegate from India, will be conspcuously
different in dress or manner from the per-
manent inhabitants of the National Capital.
The costume and customs of modern Europe
and America have become so standardized
that the variations are slight.
Yet Frederic Harrison. distinguished
British philosopher. has lately been bewail-
ing in the London Times the disappearances
Of those differences among the communities
Of Continental Europe which gave TO travel
in 1S45 n delightful variety. He says that
at that time each Belgian town was different
from every other Belgian town; that Bou-
logne was an eighteenth century city unlike
Havre, which was old Norman; that part of
the Riviera was wholly French and part
was wholly Italian, with different customs,
and that Germany offered still another vari-
ETY. Of town structure and native costume.
Going about Europe then gave the traveller
unexpected and interesting experiences and
stirred emotions which the modern traveller
cannot experience. Mr.. Harrison regrets
the change.
Is the change really regrettable? It may
be from the point of view of those who re-
gard the world as merely a spectacle for the
entertainment of the curious. But the con-
ditiOns of life In Europe at present are 80
much more comfortable for those who live
in it than they were in 1S45 that few would
like the old conditions TO be revived.
This has come about through the develop
ment of the railroad, the steamboat the
electric telegraph and the automobile. 1t is
easy for men and women 10 go from England
to France and from France to Germany and
to Italy. The mingling Of the people of
lis1a
with one another has tended to destroy the
external differences No one likes to be con-
spicuous. Even the educated native Chinese
who comes to America usually adopts the
American costume when he is on the street,
even if he wears the costume Of China when
he is indoors.
It has come about that the costume of the
men and women of the towns Of Europe and
America is modelled on the same general pat
tern. Some variations survive in the rural
districts Of the Netherlands and of Spain
and Of Italy. But these are disappearing
slowly, and in two or three generations they
may have been lost entirely. They will sur
vive only so long az comparative isolation
survives.
When tho country districts and the small
towns that have been out of touch with the
main currents of the century are brought
into the great stream of modern life they
will gain much more from the contact than
they will lose. They will have an intellec-
tual and political awakening that will be
reflected in the industrial and political de-
velopment of their respective countries.
The whole tendency of the present is
toward this end. TIL" European populations
are not likely TO become quite so homo
geneous as the population of the United
States. but the difference will gradually grow
less. What has happened here is unique in
the history of the world. We have a popu-
latiOn OF 10000, 900 extending over an cnor-
nous area with a varied climate and
varied industry, yr, as DIR. Vnson. president
of the University of Texas. said at the state
College the other day. the most impressive
fact that attracts the attention of the man
who travels about the country is that the
same ideals and the same motives prevail
from Maine to California. Men are attack
ing the same problems in all parts of the
Nation, and they are seeking the same re-
suits by similar means. As the contacts
with the rest of the world become more fire.
Qucnt this homOgeneousness will develop
until Western civilization has become so
standardized that II will be difficult to find
any vital differences among the ideals OF the
| nations.
Then those who wish 70 seek the pic
turesque Will have to go to Asia or Africa
But even there the adoption of Western
ideas is progressing along with the adoption
Of Western costume. The uniform of the
modern japanese and Chinese Armies Is
modelled on the Western pattern. The West
ern railroads are ending the isolation of the
separate communities and no one can tell
how soon It will be before even Asia loses its
peculiar characteristics and enters on the
pursuit of the ideals which have brought
about the gradual Standardization of the
greater part of the Western world.