The  institutional  methods  of  the  army,  the  navy,
the  railroad  and  the  general  Christian  associations
attract  and  hold  increasing  numbers  of  young
men  who  are  reverent  and  loyal  to  the  Christian
profession.  The  religious  instinct,  instead  of  being
eliminated  in  the  process  of  mental  evolution,  has
come  to  its  flower  within  the  last  quarter  of  a  cen
tury  in  those  training  schools  of  intellectual,  social
and  political  leadership  —  the  colleges  of  America.
The  strength  and  genuineness  of  this  recent  re
ligious  movement  is  unquestioned  among  intelli
gent  observers.  It  was  not  brought  about  by


TRANSITION    PERIOD    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES        21$

the   old-time   methods.      They  would   have   been
impotent  to  accomplish  it.
The  decline  in  revival  is  only  partial  and
confined  to  certain  rather  highly  developed  areas
of  population.  We  have  still  within  our  borders
many  heterogeneous  and  highly  emotional  ele
ments.  In  the  tropical  dependencies,  among  the
negroes  and  Indians,  in  isolated  and  backward
communities,  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where
environment  and  temperament  combine  to  foster
emotionalism,  the  forms  of  impulsive  social  action,
whether  religious,  judicial  or  political,  will  linger
long.  Indeed  it  is  conceivable,  though  it  is  unlikely,
that  our  whole  people  might  be  plunged  into  the
moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  eighteenth-century
England,  when  it  might  be  necessary,  in  one  sudden
outburst  of  instinct  and  emotion,  to  brave  all  the
evils  that  follow  in  the  train.  And  such  a  move
ment  might  conceivably  advance  the  moral  and
social  order.  But  if  we  remain  a  sanely  progres
sive  people,  moving  steadily  and  rationally  for
ward  in  the  path  of  social  evolution,  primitive
religious  habits  will  be  sloughed  off,  and  popular
religious  movements  will  assume  new  forms  in
harmony  with  modern  development  and  enlight
enment.
