Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/16

 question is more fundamental than the critics’ criterion of art. And all the world knows that the world has welcomed, since Euripides, not only other artists (Wagner, for example), but prophets (Jesus, for example), and scientific discoverers (Darwin, for example), who were opposed by the authorities in art, church, state, and science.

Uninformed and misinformed; pauperized or over-worked; misled or betrayed by their leaders—financial, industrial, political and ecclesiastical, the people are suspicious, weary, and very, very busy, but they are, none the less, the first, last, and best appeal in all great human cases. Certainly the first rule for the political reformer is: Go to the voters. And the reason seems to be, not that the people are better than their betters, but that they are more disinterested; they are not possessed by possessions; they have not so many "things" and "friends." They can afford, they are free to be fair. And, though each individual in the great crowd lacks some virtues, they all together have what no individual has, a combination of all the virtues.

Mercy, for example, and forgiveness. It's wonderful how the people will pardon error. Mistakes don’t count for very much in the long run and the people, who make so many