And State Papers 471 



to turn the government into a government primarily 

 for the benefit of one class instead of a government 

 for the benefit of the people as a whole. 



Again and again in the republics of ancient Greece, 

 in those of mediaeval Italy and mediaeval Flanders, 

 this tendency was shown, and wherever the ten- 

 dency became a habit it invariably and inevitably 

 proved fatal to the state. In the final result it mat- 

 tered not one whit whether the movement was in 

 favor of one class or of another. The outcome was 

 equally fatal, whether the country fell into the 

 hands of a wealthy oligarchy which exploited the 

 poor or whether it fell under the domination of a 

 turbulent mob which plundered the rich. In both 

 cases there resulted violent alternations between tyr- 

 anny and disorder, and a final complete loss of lib- 

 erty to all citizens destruction in the end overtaking 

 the class which had for the moment been victorious 

 as well as that which had momentarily been defeated. 

 The death knell of the Republic had rung as soon 

 as the active power became lodged in the hands of 

 those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, 

 rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class 

 and for its interests as opposed to the interests of 

 others. 



The reason why our future is assured lies in the 

 fact that our people are genuinely skilled in and fitted 

 for self-government and therefore will spurn the 

 leadership of those who seek to excite this ferocious 

 and foolish class antagonism. The average Ameri- 

 can knows not only that he himself intends to do 



