But a difficulty is suggested: Our people will never become alike, never
a homogeneous people; the differences of country and climate will
forever prevent this. Very good; we don't want sameness throughout the
society of a great empire. This is a distinctly marked feature of
primitive society. The more unlike as to industrial pursuits, the more
variety in the tastes and wants of the people of different sections, the
more dependent may these different sections become upon each other; and
with facilities for intercourse, the more intimately do they become
related. Unity develops itself through the specialization of parts and
functions. This specializing process, as in the gradual formation of the
vital organs in fetal development, is the very creation of unlikeness;
and unity is the mutual dependence and necessary cooeperation of these
dissimilar organs. The more diversity the more complete the unity. It is
antagonism--a very different thing--that does the mischief. It is not
desirable that a people should be homogeneous; that would be a falling
back into barbarous conditions. Unity demands that the people shall be
heterogeneous and diversified, with heterogeneous and diversified
occupations, tastes, and habits; and then, with proper facilities for
mental intercommunication, travel, and transportation, they become a
cooeperative and coalescent people.
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