[bukwash] evolution AND DEGENERATION OF PARTY 7 



cj eate the enthusiasm for them which leads up to the necessary action. 

 1- or this purpose leadership in our day has two most important instra- 

 ments, the platform and the press. Of these the platform is the more 

 immediately powerful. It brings into effective operation not only the 

 rational considerations by which the party position or policy is sus- 

 tained, but also all the personal influence of the speaker, the force of 

 Ins emotional nature, his power to transmit this to his audience, in fact 

 the influence of the orator, which was so exemplified in Demosthenes 

 and Cicero. Added to this is the contagious enthusiasm of the audience 

 itself, reacting again on the speaker, and arousing him to the veiy 

 highest exertion of his powers. But if this is the more immediately 

 powerful agency, the press is far more permanently and more safely 

 influential in its results. It affords opportunity for calm consideration. 

 That which it presents can be reconsidered at leisure and deliberately 

 weighed apart from the tumult of an excited assembly. This is also 

 true of the leader himself. In the calm quiet of his study he can come 

 far nearer to simple truth than under the excitement of the great 

 public gathering. What he writes can be laid aside, reconsidered, 

 improved, and finally presented as the very best. Nor is the process of 

 selection confined to the man alone. The whole country will give its 

 attention not to every one who writes, but to those who write that 

 which is worth reading. To lead the people permanently to the truth 

 the press has thus many advantages over the platform. And to these 

 15 to be added the fact that there is no limit to the constituency which 

 i^ can reach. The physical strength of the greatest orator can reach 

 cnly thousands where the press reaches millions. The creation of a 

 party press becomes for these reasons one of the most important steps 

 in its evolution. 



Following the process of development especially in modern times 

 we are led next to the subject of party organization. This branch of our 

 subject is capable of almost indefinite expansion. It is at the same time 

 a point of great practical interest inasmuch as here first appear those un- 

 healthy influences which lead rapidly to degeneration. 



The organization of a party may be of a very simple and of a per- 

 fectly legitimate and useful character. If any body of citizens are to 

 co-operate in the effort to bring their convictions and the reasons for 

 them to the notice of their fellow citizens, some form of organization is 

 for this purpose indispeuisably necessary. There must be a meeting to 

 arrive at a common understanding of their fundamental principles. 

 Such a convention must have a chairman and secretary. It is but a 

 step from this to a permanent organization for the promotion of these 

 principles. To this organization are attached local branches in all parts 

 of the country. To employ the platform and the press in the work of 



