Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/295

 imp of a demagogue leads a herd of swine into the sea and there are they drowned. The real truth of the matter is that the masses of the people are ill trained and uninformed. Their judgment upon any specific subject, and especially upon the involved questions of laws and statescraft, is an imperfect judgment. There are a few men who know how to run a railroad train and the rest of us only travel. There is one man who can perform an operation for appendicitis and we let him cut us to pieces. Since the permanence of the institutions of this country depends ultimately upon the good sense and conscience of the people, the outcome is still problematical and uncertain. It may be conceded that, given sufficient time, the popular judgment is apt to settle upon the correct principles, yet in the meantime Joan of Arc has been burned to death, Poland has been parted in fragments, the Boers have been robbed of their mines, and the Capitol at Washington has been lain in ashes.

Quite recently our system of government was changed by providing for the popular election of United States Senators. It was a long step in a wrong direction. But, what gives warning is the fact that it was done without anybody stopping to consider the significance or consequences of the change. Therefore, my inclination was to regard measures from the point of view of their propriety and utility and to give little heed to the interested or irresponsible comment which might follow

There were two subjects which gave me cause for anxiety. Having never been tested in serious executive work, I felt uncertain as to how I should act in the event of an extended labor strike. Mentally I proceeded no further than to determine to go to the locality and gather the facts for myself. I had also some dread of a collision with Roosevelt should he attempt to come into the state, as he had done before, a movement which it was my intention to prevent. It was one further step in the direction of a development, Rh