1 68 THE THIRD POWER 



to maintain himself he is forced to seek the support 

 of the rich and powerful or of certain classes of the 

 rich and powerful, and to win their support he must 

 favor them at the expense of the rest of the commu- 

 nity. A study of the history of the South and Cen- 

 tral American republics will show that this is true. 

 To be just, a government must be great and strong, 

 owing no favors to any one, and granting none to 

 any one. 



To this extent, then, we intend to have a strong 

 government in this country. Putting the case in the 

 other way, surely no one will say that it should be 

 less strong than even the most powerful citizen, or 

 combination of citizens. We want all the people — 

 and not some of the people — to rule all the people. 

 And this, and this only, is self-government. We may 

 then start with the certainty that the success of the 

 American Society of Equity and the triumph of the 

 Third Power will mark the end of class rule and of 

 the favoritism that has grown out of it. Thus we 

 shall have justice and the destruction of all motives 

 that lead men in power to be guilty of injustice. 

 Surely that will be a great gain. Of course it would 

 be foolish to attempt to say what such a government 

 might do, for it could do whatever it pleased to do. 

 What it pleased to do would depend wholly on the 

 will of the people. It is conceivable that the new 

 system might develop along socialistic lines, and that 

 the central authority might interfere more than it 

 does now with what we call private business. Yet 



