ABSTRACT
The remote factors are those which render crowds capable of adopting certain convictions and absolutely refractory to the acceptance of others. Among the remote factors there are some of general natures, which are found to underlie all the beliefs and opinions of crowds. They are race, traditions, time, institutions, and education. Traditions represent the ideas, the needs, and sentiments of the past. They are the synthesis of the race, and weigh upon with immense force. In social as in biological problems time is one of the most energetic factors. It is the sole real creator and the sole great destroyer. It is time that has made mountains with grains of sand and raised the obscure cell of geological eras to human dignity. The idea that institutions can remedy the defects of societies, that national progress is the consequence of the improvement of institutions and governments, and that social changes can be effected by decrees—this idea is still generally accepted.
