412 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



conviction on such questions, the less 

 there will he of " political skepticism." 

 The mere conflict of opinions will nev- 

 er produce civil discord ; it is when 

 theories, in the strict sense, are flung 

 aside, and interests confront one an- 

 other in battle array, that real danger 

 arises. The question is simply, Shall 

 we or shall we not consult together 

 like loyal citizens for the good of the 

 state ? If we determine to do so, we 

 raise politics at once to the level of as 

 noble and honorable a pursuit as any 

 man can engage in. Our object, then, 

 is truth in its application to national 

 affairs, and politics becomes a branch 

 of science. If, on the other hand, we 

 can not, as citizens, summon up enough 

 disinterestedness to think and labor for 

 the general good, but allow ourselves 

 to be marshaled into parties fighting 

 for no determinate object save the 

 spoils of office or the vain satisfac- 

 tion of a party triumph, then, truly, 

 the reign of political skepticism must 

 ever become more absolute, and the 

 country be brought yearly nearer to 

 the edge of a dangerous convulsion. 



We think there are signs of an 

 awakening of the public mind to the 

 evils of the party system ; but some- 

 thing more is wanted for a true politi- 

 cal equilibrium than the mere cessation 

 of unmeaning party strife. We need 

 to come down to more moderate views 

 of what state action can reasonably be 

 expected to effect. We need a truer 

 perception of the methods by which, 

 and the rate at which, great social re- 

 forms are accomplished. We need to 

 repeat to ourselves continually that 

 might does not make right, and that 

 the might of a majority may be as 

 fatally in the wrong as the might of 

 an individual. Before invoking the 

 power of the state, we should ask our- 

 selves whether the case is one in which 

 the power of the state ought to be ex- 

 erted. The doctrine is now all but offi- 

 cially promulgated, that majorities can 

 not possibly do wrong, and therefore 



that the power possessed by a majori- 

 ty may at any moment be rightly em- 

 ployed to enforce its will. This is po- 

 litical skepticism with a vengeance, 

 substituting, as it does, the ballot-box 

 for the moral law. The notion is one 

 that we must unlearn, as we value our 

 integrity as a people ; for no communi- 

 ty can long prosper that has once en- 

 throned force in the place of justice. 

 It is impossible to develop fully within 

 the limits of an article like the present 

 the idea here outlined, but we are con- 

 vinced that many of the most discour- 

 aging characteristics of the present day, 

 including the " political skepticism " 

 above specially referred to, are in great 

 part traceable to the growing habit of 

 looking to the state to do things which, 

 if done at all, should be done by pri- 

 vate effort and the growth of opinion. 



A WONDERFUL ARGUMENT. 



We find in " The Varsity," a week- 

 ly journal published at Toronto, Onta- 

 rio, in the interest of Toronto Univer- 

 sity, a wonderful argument for the 

 perpetual retention of the present arbi- 

 trary rules of English spelling. "It is 

 a saddening reflection," says our con- 

 temporary, "that there should be men, 

 our brothers, whose limbs should^ be 

 stiffened by day-long labor of the body, 

 and into whose minds no light shines 

 through their lives; but the desire to 

 utterly obliterate whatever may in any 

 way serve to distinguish the man of 

 culture from his illiterate brother must 

 be looked on in no other light than as 

 one of the many manifestations of that 

 misty socialism which is clouding so 

 many minds to-day." Here is intellect- 

 ual snobbery with a vengeance. For- 

 sooth, we must keep up a difficult and 

 arbitrary mode of spelling in order that 

 the poor man may spell badly, and so 

 be distinguished from the man of cult- 

 ure! When we first began to read 

 about those unhappy men, "our broth- 



