Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/547

Rh power of custom and tradition is strong. The religion or politics of most men is a birthright. The keen joy which the partisan of any cause experiences comes partly from being one of a multitude. The average man feels a sense of loss without a political party. There is an element in human nature which craves authority. Obedience is easier than disobedience. Many men instinctively crave direction. One function of dogma is to relieve people from the disagreeable necessity of doing their own thinking. The raison d'être of the political boss lies partly in relieving the community from a lot of trouble. The extraordinary longevity of the Roman Catholic Church indicates that it ministers to something fundamental in human nature. As James Bryce says:

At first blush, the difficulty of solving the problems of the day seems a good argument against popular government. But second thought points to just the reverse conclusion. The frequency with which men vote according to their interests rather than according to reason makes it well to give the mass of men a voice in affairs to protect them from oppression. What state or section would be willing to entrust its interests to the remainder of the country? Likewise, what reason is there to suppose that the interests of any class will receive as much consideration if it is disfranchised as if it has the ballot? Would the Irish or the Scandinavian elements in our population receive as much political recognition if they did not have votes? Now that women vote in a number of states, there is some chance that an amendment to the federal constitution granting the ballot to women will be submitted to the legislatures of the several states. The disfranchisement of the negro in certain states has been followed by a movement to segregate the school funds. But altogether aside from this, the judgment of the untutored mind is often worth taking into account in solving social problems. When one considers the sophistry with which many men of reputed intelligence habitually deceive themselves and others upon the tariff, one feels encouraged to appeal to the good sense of the common man. The results frequently justify the appeal. What class is so well qualified by experience to know the evils of ill-ventilated workshops, dangerous machinery and unsanitary tenements as the working class? The associations of the professional man, the merchant or the large manufacturer tend to produce a class spirit that precludes any great familiarity with the common lot. The initiative for much of the legislation that has