Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/585

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rulers are separated. Government is a monopoly. It is in the hands of a class, which, without forming a caste, constitutes a distinct group in society. It is even often wielded by a single man, who relies on that class and enjoys the powers of an autocrat in spite of the republican forms of the state. The bulk of the community endure this yoke with indifference or passivity, as in the old times when concern for the public welfare was forbidden them on pain of being treated as rebels. Government is at the beck and call of private interests and their designs on the general interest. Legislation and administration are bought and sold. Public office itself is virtually put up to auction.

It would, in truth, be difficult to find, in the history of human societies, a more pathetic drama than this ruin of so many generous aspirations, of so many noble efforts, of such high promise and expectations. But the tragic gravity of this spectacle, extorting cries of distress or of joy at the failure of democracy, cannot detain the scientific observer. What he has just seen simply suggests to him the very elementary reflection that if society, which set forth to realize a new ideal, finds itself after a time near its starting-point, it has evidently moved in a circle, or entered on a side-path, which has brought it straight back to the starting-point. The inference, then, is that the paths which have been taken to reach the goal were not the right ones. As for the goal itself, it is neither condemned nor justified by experience; the seekers turned their backs on it. Consequently, to arrive at a practical solution, the all-important point is to single out the paths which have misled society in its pursuit of the new ideal, and then to note those which appear more certain to lead to the goal. Our lengthy investigation has but accumulated the data which will enable us to distinguish, as from a vantage-ground, the one set from the other.

Space does not permit analysis of the data which the author presents in the body of the work, nor of the argument which the conclusion maintains. It will suffice to say that the author has made an invaluable contribution to knowledge of democratic institutions. This does not mean that his statement is free from serious defects. Indeed, if the author were an attorney for absolutism he could hardly present a more scathing indictment of democracy than some portions of his argument contains. They remind one of Dorman B. Eaton's summary of the sins of the spoils system in municipal government. One who did not know how to supply the silver lining would conclude that the outlook is all black clouds. As an exhibit of one phase of the party system, however, the book is magnificent, and it will probably be a long time before an equally able critique of the other phases of the democratic situation appears.

Author:Albion Woodbury Small