318 HARRISON, TYLER 



to number more than forty stars ; yet amid all this 

 huge development of human activity the political 

 structure reared a century ago has increased in elastic 

 strength. In spite of all shortcomings, it has shown 

 itself in grave emergencies equal to the situation, 

 and it has fulfilled with supreme efficiency the first 

 duty of government, the duty of preserving order and 

 inspiring confidence. While it has once been called 

 upon to deal with a convulsion as formidable as ever 

 threatened the existence of a nation, its success in 

 overcoming the evil has been such as to convince us 

 more than ever of its invincible strength ; and our 

 trust in it reaches sublimity when shown in the pro- 

 found quiet which attends upon a presidential election 

 in which eleven million votes are cast and the admin- 

 istration of affairs passes from one party to another. 

 People in the Old World often allude to American 

 things as if bigness were their only noticeable attribute. 

 But in the physical dimensions of the facts here cited 

 there is deep moral significance. They furnish unim- 

 peachable testimony to the essential soundness of Ameri- 

 can political life, and justify us in looking forward with 

 hope to the future. Without for a moment underrating 

 the perils that beset us, or the serious obstacles to right 

 living that are yet to be overcome, we feel that the 

 success already achieved is such that we may confront 

 these dangers and hindrances with cheerful courage. 

 If the partisan view of American politics were cor- 

 rect, no such sound development of national life would 

 have been possible in this country. According to the 

 partisan theory, which we may find daily expounded 

 in the newspapers and which makes every fourth year 

 the occasion for so much vapid rhetoric and so many 



