HARVARD LIBRARY Copyright, 1902, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. First Edition Published September, 1902. Introduction. N this volume of the present we have the IN classics of the future in the field of Democracy-the imperishable gems which must continue to shed their luster upon age after age. The American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution resulting therefrom have become the greater Magna Charta of the rights and liberties of Man. Government of the people, for the people, and by the people, and the equality of the citizen under the Law, constitute the solid foundation upon which is to rest hereafter the whole structure of human Government. The history of agitation by the people for enhanced power shows that concessions. gained only lead to renewed demands and that no finality is possible until pure democracy is reached. The question of the suffrage, for example, has not yet been settled, even in the old home of our English-speaking race. Step by step, after prolonged agitation, the franchise has been widened, but still "it will not down." It never will be at rest while the slightest inequality remains. In the American Union the national franchise, having been settled upon this basis, and adjusting itself automatically each decade, is never heard of; any change would destroy the equality of the citizen, which is equivalent to saying that the reign of justice, once established, would give place to injustice. Any man's privilege must be every man's right before there can be permanent peace. Inequality produces dissatisfaction. Equality brings content. Since the reign of the people must therefore prevail, and their voice be accepted as if it were indeed the voice of the highest or anarchy ensue, it follows that the most imperative duty of the State is the universal education of the masses. Demos must be trained to the highest possible standard of enlightenment on pain of certain disaster. No money which can be usefully spent for this indispensable end should be denied. Public sentiment should, on the contrary, approve the doctrine that the more that can be judiciously spent, the better for the country. There is no insurance of nations so cheap as the enlightenment of the people. |