FARMERS TO THE FRONT 165 



participants. It will involve either a direct breach of 

 trust or a direct acceptance of trust." 



How widely this "game" theory of politics is held 

 we all know, or if we do not we can easily learn by 

 a few minutes' talk with a ward worker. Perhaps 

 we ourselves have held to the theory. However this 

 may be, the theory is wholly pernicious. For what is 

 a "game" except something at which some one must 

 win and some other one lose ? It is the risk of los- 

 ing, the hazard, that gives the game all its charm. 

 There would be no betting on horse races if it were 

 positively certain that every one would win. If suc- 

 cess were sure for all, our gambling laws would en- 

 force themselves — for there would be no gambling. 

 What, therefore, are we to think of a political system 

 administered by, or in the name of, a free people, 

 which is avowedly based on the theory that some of 

 the people must win at the expense of others of the 

 people ? Yet that is the present situation. It should 

 be ended. An honest government is one under which 

 every citizen, even the humblest, would win — that is, 

 it is not a game. It is a business, and a business con- 

 ducted for the benefit of all. And that is the sort of 

 government that is advocated by the American So- 

 ciety of Equity. Politicians do not struggle, and 

 plot, and bribe in order that they may secure justice 

 and equity; what they seek is privilege. They play 

 the game, and they play it for rich stakes. So it is 

 proposed to uproot this game theory, for, as Presi- 

 dent Hadlcy truthfully says, our "affairs will not be 



