444 



MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION 



rialism of virtue," holding on to the preconceived ideas of self- 

 government, and insisting that they must fit all the people who come 

 to our shores, even although we crush the most promising bits of 

 self-government and self-expression in the process? Is the Ameri- 

 can's attitude toward self-government like that of his British cousin 

 toward Anglo-Saxon civilization, save that he goes forth to rule 

 all the nations of the earth by one pattern whether it fits or not, 

 while we sit at home and bid them to rule themselves by one set 

 pattern? both of us many times ruining the most precious experi- 

 ments which embody ages of travail and experience. 



In the midst of the city, which at moments seems to stand only 

 for the triumph of the strongest, the successful exploitation of the 

 weak, the ruthlessness and hidden crime which follow in the wake 

 of the struggle for mere existence on its lowest terms, there come 

 daily accretions of simple people, who carry in their hearts the 

 desire for mere goodness, who regularly (deplete their scanty liveli- 

 hood in response to a primitive pity, and who, independently of the 

 religions which they have professed, of the wrongs which they have 

 suffered, or of the fixed morality which they have been taught, have 

 an unquenchable desire that charity and simple justice shall regu- 

 late men's relations. 



This disinterestedness, although as yet an intangible ideal, is 

 taking hold of men's hopes and imaginations in every direction. 

 Even now we only dimly comprehend the strength and irresistible 

 power of those " universal and imperious ideals which are formed 

 in the depths of anonymous life," and which the people insist shall 

 come to realization, not because they have been tested by logic or 

 history, but because the mass of men are eager that they should be 

 tried, should be made a living experience in time and in reality. 



In this country it seems to be only the politician at the bottom, 

 the man nearest the people, who understands this. He often plays 

 upon it and betrays it, but at least he knows it is there. 



This is perhaps easily explained, for, after all, the man in this 

 century who realizes human equality is not he who repeats the 

 formula of the eighteenth century, but he who has learned, if I 

 may quote again from Mr. Wilcox, that the " idea of equality is 

 an outgrowth of man's primary relations in nature. Birth, growth, 

 nutrition, reproduction, death, are the great levelers that remind 

 us of the essential equality of human life. It is with the guaranty 

 of equal opportunities to play our parts well in these primary pro- 

 cesses that government is actually concerned," and not merely in the 

 repression of the vicious nor in guarding the rights of property. 

 There is no doubt that the rapid growth of the Socialist party in all 

 crowded centers is largely due to their recognition of those primary 

 needs and experiences which the well-established governments so 



