assimilation. The aim of missions has
been, on the whole, to bring the world under the domination of a single
moral order; but in seeking to accomplish this task they have
contributed greatly to the fusion and cross-fertilization of racial and
national cultures.

The problem of origin is the first and often the most perplexing problem
which the study of primitive cultures presents.[248] Was a given
cultural trait, i.e., a weapon, a tool, or a myth, borrowed or invented?
For example, there are several independent centers of origin and
propagation of the bow and arrow. Writing approached or reached
perfection in at least five different, widely separated regions. Other
problems of acculturation which have been studied include the following:
the degree and order of transmissibility of different cultural traits;
the persistence or the immunity against change of different traits; the
modification of cultural traits in the process of transmission; the
character of social contacts between cultural groups; the distance that
divides cultural levels; and the role of prestige in stimulating
imitation and copying.

The development of a world-commerce, the era of European colonization
and imperial expansion in America, Asia, and Africa and Australia, the
forward drive of occidental science and the Western system of
large-scale competitive industry have created racial contacts, cultural
changes, conflicts, and fusions of unprecedented and unforeseen extent,
intensity, and immediateness. The crash of a fallen social order in
Russia reverberates throughout the world; reports of the capitalization
of new enterprises indicate that India is copying the economic
organization of Europe; the feminist movement has invaded Japan;
representatives of close to fifty nations of the earth meet in conclave
in the assembly of the League of Nations.

So complete has been in recent years the interpenetration of peoples and
cultures that nations are now seeking to preserve their existence not
alone from assault from without by force of arms, but they are equally
concerned to protect themselves from the more insidious attacks of
propaganda from within. Under these circumstances the ancient liberties
of speech and press are being scrutinized and questioned. Particularly
is this true when this freedom of speech and press is exercised by alien
peoples, who criticize our institutions in a foreign tongue and claim
the right to reform native institutions be