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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



the very roots of society and the civic 

 order. It must be a process of adjust- 

 ment and growth that works itself out 

 slowly. Whenever you touch agriculture, 

 you touch the foundations of society. 



Education in agriculture means 

 larger and better holdings. There are 

 ])ersons enough who would vote public 

 funds for the farmer if lie be kept in 

 his proper sphere and disturb not tlie 

 established order of things: yet the in- 

 troduction of even practical agriculture 

 into the school means that the farmer 

 is not to remain where he is, and that 

 the present subdivisions of the earth are 

 not likely to be adequate to men with 

 more vision and more ))ersonal power. 



It is not my object to suggest the 

 ways of bringing about changes or 

 what occidentals might call improve- 

 ments in the agriculture of China : that 

 would be pre^uMii)tion. I approach the 

 subject with no desire to criticize tlu- 

 Chinese or to offer them remedies or 

 panaceas, but rather to evaluate the 

 situaticm in terms of the Occident. 

 A\'ith the Chinese themselves I am in 

 greatest sympathy, and my attitude is 

 to learn what their situation, as a great 

 school of exj)erieiu'e, suggests for us. 



The hearing of the .situation on the 



maintenance of a democratic 



societji 



We come now to see that the agricul- 

 ture of China has direct relation to the 

 constitution of the civic order in China. 

 Agriculture has such relation in any 

 country, but the relationship is particu- 

 larly marked in China, where the con- 

 stitution of the body politic is vet evi- 

 dently rural, or at least not industrial, 

 and where, also, the element of time 

 has worked out certain results: there- 

 fore I use my reflections in China to 

 bring to your attention certain funda- 

 mental questions touching the consti- 

 tution of society. 



I read in a press despatch the other 

 dav that Germanv had now become a 



democracy, the change having taken 

 place within a space of five days. I 

 wonder whether the German people 

 know it. If the leaders alone know it, 

 then there is not a democracy, however 

 perfect may be the piece of political 

 machinery that may have been devised. 



In the Far East I asked a German of 

 the oHice-holding class how the war 

 would end. He replied that it would 

 end by governmental changes and revo- 

 lutions in the different countries. I 

 asked wluit would be the nature of the 

 change in (ierinany, to which he replied 

 that there would be no change in his 

 country for the reason that it is at 

 ])resent so democratic that no change 

 is needed. I then asked myself whether 

 men mean the same thing when they 

 talk about democracy. Apparently we 

 are glibly confusing many ideas under 

 one catchword. 



Wlien a monarch is overthrown, we 

 hail the revolution as an instance of 

 democracy : yet the ])eople may be as 

 far from democracy as nadir is from 

 zenith. Contrariwise, when a king is 

 set up we de])lore the defeat of democ- 

 racy ; yet democracy may be only stabil- 

 ized there])y. Democracy is not a form 

 of government. It is a constitution of 

 society that allows each member to de- 

 velop his personality to the full and to 

 ])articipate in public affairs on his own 

 motion. Freedom is not democracy: it 

 is only release from restraint. Xo peo- 

 ple needs discipline and restraint so 

 much as a democratic people, but it 

 should be self-discipline. Freedom is 

 only a condition antecedent to democ- 

 racy. Of all forms of society, democ- 

 racy is farthest removed from anarchy. 

 Xeither is it popular politics. A people 

 may be ever so free politically and yet 

 not constitute a democracy. Democracy 

 cannot be bestowed. You cannot give 

 it to anybody. It must be won, by pa- 

 tient preparation. It is a result, not 

 a gift. 



Democracy is primarily a sentiment 

 — a sentiment of personality. It is the 



