THE NEW DEMOCRACY 213 



viduals to act, to think, to believe, to worship, to gov- 

 ern, each according to the dictates of his own con- 

 science, will or interest! Men may follow a long, a 

 torturous, a steep and even a bloody road to freedom, 

 but freedom they will have. The democratic instinct 

 will push its way to the light. But men want the reality 

 not merely the forms of freedom. They must be free 

 to work where they will, free to move out of one 

 " class " into another, free to initiate enterprise, free 

 to go and to come. Freedom is impossible however 

 unless all people everywhere realize and acknowledge 

 the dignity of manhood. A man's a man. The man 

 himself must appreciate this fact. He must seek free- 

 dom from ignorance, from prejudice, from vicious 

 habits. He must desire earnestly the best gifts. If he 

 wants others to regard him as a man he must seek to 

 be a man. He must be as ambitious for himself as 

 others are for him. He must not only have the chance 

 to grow into the stature of full manhood, he must want 

 to do it. Real democracy means not merely freedom 

 of the individual from slavery to other individuals, but 

 from slavery to his own worse self. 



Is the American farmer free? Undoubtedly he is 

 more free than the farmer of any other country, and 

 probably fully as free as the member of any other great 

 group or class of citizens in America. The farmer's 

 independence has been his pride and has often made 

 him the envy of others. He has stood upon his own 

 feet on his own land, worked in his own way, moved 

 about as he desired. He has managed his own busi- 

 ness, bought his supplies and sold his products, made 

 his own bargains. His sons and his daughters have 

 stayed on the farm or have gone into other callings as 

 they chose. 



