politics of comparatively stupid people, driven by sound but ill-conceived motives to grope after collective advantage, capable of choosing leaders and policies less from a clear intellectual apprehension of their meaning and worth than by a sort of 'feel' which enables them to sift the better from the worse, a power more akin to art than to science." 1 However this may be in England, democracy in America has not lacked for leaders and has drawn those leaders chiefly from the legal profession. D CHAPTER XLII CONCLUSIONS It is impossible to fathom the mystery of what Nature is striving to accomplish in this little world of ours. Apparently it is to evolve a higher and higher type of mana man of culture and with the cardinal virtues. And foremost in the process is good government. Let no one imagine that America is not contributing its full quota to civilization if it confines itself to perpetuating popular sovereignty and republican institutions. That is quite enough for one nation to do. And there is no higher constructive work in the growth of civilization than the establishment of correct principles of government. The form of the government of a people largely determines the career of that people. In Greece pure democracy led to the wonderful achievements of Athens, but failure to combine Grecian cities led to their downfall. In Rome the republic gave law to the civilized world, but failure to adopt representative and federal principles led to Rome's downfall. England adopted the representative idea and built up a world-wide empire, but lost America, the best part of it, by failure to adopt the federal idea. America for a hundred and thirty-eight years has been demonstrating that a republic, based on the combined federal and representative plan, is possible and safe. No greater contribution to civilization is possible. All of the creative ability of a people in every direction is released by a stable republican government. Justice itself, particularly international justice, grows under that system. Men are allowed to keep their own, and choose their career, and rise if they are able. It is enough for America to devote itself to working out the problems and meeting the dangers of the republican form of government. Materialistic success, wealth, power, population, and growth merely add to those problems and dangers. The safety of the republic is more important than all these. Under a free government civilization advances; under other forms of government it stagnates or recedes. The degeneracy of the age is loudly proclaimed from the housetops and in books, the press, on the lecture platform, and in magazines. This may be true enough in a few great cities whence emanate most of these fulminations, especially New York City where over half of the adult men are foreign born and only twenty-one per cent of the entire population is of colonial descent. But back on the farms and in the small cities and towns in every state the true Americans are found and there the Calvinistic spirit dominates the daily life. There New England ideals and conscience permeate the people and he who thinks them less than their ancestors in the sterling qualities of men will find himself mistaken. Foreign races may temporarily dominate our great cities; alien ideas may prevail in some places; American institutions may be shaken by disorder and corruption; socialism may rear its hydra-headed front; the red flag may flaunt its anarchy; the Constitution may be assailed by demagogues; strange theories may have their vogue; pleasure and profit may usurp duty; a consuming passion for perfection may be called a Greek dream; conscience may be thrown into the discard, — all this may happen from time to time and here and there, but the principles and beliefs of the Pilgrim and Puritan still live. The cry of the old Stoic still thrills "Strengthen the wavering line, Stablish, continue our march, There is no Appian Way to the safety of the republic. That safety depends on the character of the American people. If further immigration is prohibited except from kindred nations, and if immigrants now here but undesirable are encouraged to go back, the lowering of American character by lowering of the race will be averted. As to other dangers, all depends on the character of the American people and that is still sound. America swings wide but returns from afar. And the diffusion of knowledge of American institutions and the dangers thereto is the best safeguard of the republic. So long as the character and intelligence of the people are preserved, the republic is safe; when they are lost, all is lost. Ideas move the world. When an idea becomes firmly implanted in the American mind it moves with the irresistible power of a glacier. It has been so with slavery, prohibition, the World War, immigration, equality of opportunity, the unity of the republic, and republican institutions themselves. The best political economy, the highest public service, is the care and culture of men. Professor Munro of Harvard encourages us when he says, "Taking all things into account, the future in America does not seem clouded. There will be political changes, in the way of orderly evolution, adapting our scheme of government to new needs as they arise. There will be a continuance of the capitalistic system, so called, but with the wage earner steadily passing into the capitalist class. By heavier inheritance taxes and by surtaxes on large incomes there will be a restriction upon the accumulation of great fortunes. The middle class is likely to grow, while extremes in the economic scale are steadily diminished. The most serious danger in a democracy is the growth of a wide gulf between the rich on the one hand and the poor on the other. That danger, in America, seems steadily growing smaller." And Professor Abbott of Harvard is equally strong in his opinion. He says, "Viewing the human scene as it presents itself in other lands, would any candid soul deny great measure 1 of success to the United States? Not merely in size and wealth; not merely in territory and population; not merely, even, in the possibility of higher wages, and more comfortable existence; but in other and deeper qualities which make life worth while, this society has been successful. For, with all its grumbling and complaints, it probably contains as large a proportion of contented people as any nation in the world - and if this be failure, what is it to be counted as success in government or society; and whither shall we flee to find it?" 1 And it was Carl Schurz who said in 1859, "They speak of the greatness of the Roman Republic! Oh, sir, if I could call the proudest of Romans from his grave, I would take him by the hand and say to him, Look at this picture, and at this! The greatness of the Roman Republic consisted in its despotic rule over the world; the greatness of the American Republic consists in the secured right of man to govern himself. The dignity of the Roman citizen consisted in his exclusive privileges; the dignity of the American citizen consists in his holding the natural rights of his neighbor just as sacred as his own. The Roman Republic recognized and protected the rights of the citizen, at the same time disregarding and leaving unprotected the rights of man; Roman citizenship was founded upon monopoly, not upon the claims of human nature. What the citizen of Rome claimed for himself, he did not respect in others; his own greatness was his only object; his own liberty, as he regarded it, gave him the privilege to oppress his fellow-beings. His democracy, instead of elevating mankind to its own level, trampled the rights of man into the dust. The security of the Roman Republic, therefore, consisted in the power of the sword; the security of the American Republic rests in the equality of human rights! The Roman Republic perished by the sword; the American Republic will stand as long as the equality of human rights remains inviolate. Which of the two Republics is the greaterthe Republic of the Roman, or the Republic of man?" 2 |