Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/460

 444 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the spoil of war is an idea which is bound on the forehead of the victor till it cramps his growth, a theory which he cherishes in his bosom until it grows so large and so near that it afflicts its pos- sessor with a sort of disease of responsibility for its preservation, it may easily overshadow the very people for whose cause the warrior issued forth.

We have not yet apprehended what the scientists call "the doctrine of the unspecialized," what the religious man calls " the counsel of imperfection," and the wise educator calls " the wisdom of the little child." If successful struggle ends in survival, in blatant and tangible success, and, as it is popularly supposed to do, in a certain hardness of heart, with an invincible desire to cling fast to the booty which has been thus hardly acquired, government will also have to reckon with the many who have been beaten in this struggle, with the effect upon them of the contest and the defeat; for, after all, they will always represent the majority of citizens, and it is with its large majority that self-government must eventually deal, whatever else other governments may deter- mine for themselves.

Professor Weaver, of Columbia, has lately pointed out that "the cities have traditionally been the cradles of liberty, as they are today the centers of radicalism," and that it is natural that brute selfishness should first be curbed and social feeling created at the point of the greatest congestion. If we once admit the human dynamic character of progress, then we must look to the cities as the focal points of that progress; and it is not without significance that the most vigorous effort at governmental reform, as well as the most generous experiments in ministering to social needs, have come from the largest cities. Are we beginning to see the first timid, forward reach of one of those instinctive move- ments which carry forward the goodness of the race?

If we could trust democratic government as over against and distinct from the older types from those which repress, rather than release, the power of the people then we should begin to know what democracy really is, and our municipal administration would at last be free to attain Aristotle's ideal of a city, " where

men live a common life for a noble end."

JANE ADDAMS.

HULL HOUSE, CHICAGO.