rgely segregarious, enjoying privacy, and thus
liberty of action, variations from the moral standards will be
frequent and positive transgressions not uncommon. In the one case,
where "communalism" reigns, moral action is, so to speak, automatic;
it requires no particular assertion of the individual will to do
right; conformity to the standard is spontaneous. In the latter case,
however, where "individualism" is the leading characteristic of the
community, the acceptance of the moral standards usually requires a
definite act of the individual will.

The history of Japan is a capital illustration of this principle. The
recent increase of immorality and crime is universally admitted. The
usual explanation is that in olden times every slight offense was
punished with death; the criminal class was thus continuously
exterminated. Nowadays a robber can ply his trade continuously, though
interrupted by frequent intervals of imprisonment. In former times,
once caught, he never could steal again, except in the land of the
shades. While this explanation has some force, it does not cover the
ground. A better explanation for the modern increase of lawlessness is
the change in the social order itself. The new order gives each man
wider liberty of individual action. He is free to choose his trade and
his home. Formerly these were determined for him by the accident of
his birth. His freedom is greater and so, too, are his temptations.

Furthermore, the standards of conduct themselves have been changing.
Certain acts which would have brought praise and honor if committed
fifty years ago, such, for instance, as "kataki uchi," revenge, would
to-day soon land one behind prison doors. In a word, "individualism"
is beginning to work powerfully on conduct; it has not yet gained the
ascendancy attained in the West; it is nevertheless abroad in the
land. The young are especially influenced by it. Taking advantage of
the liberty it grants, many forms of immorality seem to be on the
increase. So far as I can gather by inquiry, there has been a great
collapse not only in honesty, but also in the matter of sexual
morality. It will hardly do to say dogmatically that the national
standards of morality have been lowered, but it is beyond question
that the power of the community to enforce those standards has
suddenly come to naught by reason of the changing social order.
Western thought and practice as to the structure of society and the
freedom of