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 DYNAMIC 
 
 DEMOCRACY 
 
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DYNAMIC 
 
 DEMOCRACY 
 
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 Copyright. 1918 • 
 
 By DR. CLAYBOURN GOOCH 
 
 <fj9 fW W5 
 
 Address Before 
 
 The National Executive Committee of 
 
 THE American Constitutional Alliance 
 
 New York City 
 
 April, 1918 
 
INTRODUCTION BY LOUIS RUBIN 
 
 First Secretary of the National Executive Committee .j^w. 
 
 of the U^ 
 
 AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL ALLIANCE^ 
 
 In the shadows of progress the world is engaged in a cruel and san- 
 guinary war. A universal, reckless sweep of unreason, inspired by German 
 autocracy, is breaking down all the living forces of the soul, leaving it 
 inert, trembling and terrified. The human mind stands bewildered in the 
 presence of its formidable creations, as this ineffable conflict is relent- 
 lessly plucking from the garden of life the flowers of youth and virginity. 
 Titanic in her destructive power, haughty in her dealings, wondrous in 
 her accomplishments of devastation, she would leave the world, which 
 bore the torturous windings of this conquest with the most unpretending 
 valor, a helpless, degenerating ruin. Atrociously criminal, she alone stands 
 upon the pinnacle of depravity. She only in the supremacy of crime hath 
 told us that she has forgotten the obligation to be virtuous ; and when 
 we gaze upon brave little Belgium, and war-stricken Europe in general 
 and behold her smitten fields, her ruined cities and desolate homes, we 
 are instantly confronted by these dreadful truths. 
 
 But, ascending from this yawning hollow, shining -above the horizon of 
 this universal pestilence, there looms up the energetic, inextinguishable 
 light of Democracy that radiates the path of moral rectitude, informing 
 us that we can firmly and confidently proclaim that the breath of that 
 divinely planted aspiration — the passion for freedom — will prove to be 
 mightier than all the brutally, materialistic strength, and all the prodigious 
 armaments which seem to have laid the world low. With the dawning 
 of Democracy, great, stirring human emotions will vitalize every fibre of 
 her glittering fabric, as the souls of men, women, and children are liber- 
 ated from the dungeons of warfare's greed in which they have been 
 heartlessly incarcerated by despicable autocracy, shocking their sensibili- 
 ties and marbleizing their spiritual faculties. 
 
 Then shall the human heart, pregnant with a desire for righteousness, 
 and under a solemn consciousness of the sanctity of the flame of life, 
 cry out in protest against a repetition of this most lamentable holacaust, 
 and, by adopting pure and courageous democratic government, make an 
 end of war forever. 
 
 On the 19th of April, 1918, Dr. Claybourn Gooch delivered this mas- 
 terly address on "DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY" before the Executive Body 
 of the American Constitutional Alliance. 
 
 The vigor of his thought ; the force of his expression ; his cold, calm, 
 collected manner; his unimpassioned voice, combined with his matchless 
 presentation of weighty facts, make him a very Interesting character in- 
 deed. His lecture was equally interesting, and until the world shall have 
 overthrown the treacherous bond of war-lords, who derive power, not 
 from the consent of the governed, but by brutal force, will productions of 
 this nature cease to be valuable as an aid to the world move for 
 Democracy. 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 By 
 
 DR. CLAYBOURN GOOCH 
 
 The world has come to the parting of the ways and must 
 decide upon its future course of government. 
 
 President Lincoln said of our own country, that it could 
 not exist "half slave and half free," and the time has come 
 when the world has grown too small for the continuance 
 of two such diametrically opposed ideas of government as 
 that represented by the allied Democracies and that repre- 
 sented by the Autocracies of the Central Powers. 
 
 In a book of Mr. H. G. Wells', published after the first 
 year of the war, in which he gives an account of his visit 
 to the several fronts in Italy and France, he says, '*My 
 memory of this tour I have just made is full of puzzled- 
 looking men," and he recounts that he saw thousands of 
 men, soldiers from many lands, in the streets, the cafes, the 
 trains, the trenches, ''their very outline a note of interro- 
 gation" ; and what was true of the soldiers at the front is 
 true of the majority of our people at home. 
 
 The thing which has come upon the world has been so 
 surprising, so unbelievable, a thing so inconceivable of 
 civilized nations that even now, after more than a year of 
 participation in the war, there are many persons who ap- 
 parently do not appreciate its profound significance. 
 
 To this lack of understanding is largely due the apathy 
 of many regarding the Liberty Loans, the Red Cross, the 
 Y. M. C. A., and other important war causes. Strange 
 things have been happening. Things have happened we 
 had never believed possible in our peaceful, busy country. 
 Men have been drafted wholesale into our army. In a land 
 where the military was scarce in evidence except on special 
 and gala occasions, soldiers have become everywhere com- 
 mon. Controls of food and fuel and transportation have 
 suddenly appeared and extra holidays enforced ; restrictions 
 upon our comforts and our appetites have been fixed, vet 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 nevertheless, while we know in a general way that the new 
 order is due to the war, deep down in the consciousness of 
 a large percentage of the people there is a suspicion that, 
 after all, many of these innovations are not really neces- 
 sary, and as a friend of mine said to me shortly after the 
 war began, they wonder '''What's all the fuss about, any- 
 way?" "AVhat is the thing?" 
 
 We have sent an army overseas, we have shed our blood 
 on the battlefields of a foreign country, we have spent and 
 will spend more of our millions of treasure, and for what? 
 
 There has been a vast deal written and spoken about 
 Democracy as related to this war. President Wilson de- 
 clared in his message to Congress that, "the world must 
 be made safe for Democracy," and therefore the United 
 States should go into the war, but with all the gravity such 
 a step held for the nation, the term Democracy had little 
 significance for most of us. We did not know just why 
 the world was not already safe for Democracy, for the 
 very simple reason that we did not comprehend what De- 
 mocracy was. There are some even now who can not see 
 that Democracy is in danger, or perhaps won't see is nearer 
 the' truth. To very many the term has had little more 
 meaning than a government by the Democrats, and its co- 
 relative term Republic, but signified a change to a govern- 
 ment by the Republicans. 
 
 OUTLINE OF DISCUSSION— DEMAND 
 FOR THINKERS 
 
 It is my purpose at this time to discuss what Democracy 
 is, its relation to this world Avar, and the effect of the w^ar 
 upon Democracy; and in examining the subject of democ- 
 racy in this manner, I hope we shall find the answer to at 
 least some of the most important questions regarding the 
 v/ar. 
 
 But I must first ask your indulgence for a little, that I 
 may set before you a few unfamiliar facts regarding gov- 
 ernment. These facts may appear a trifle prosaic, but 
 they are very essential to a correct understanding of the 
 
 MAV 24 1918 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 subject in hand, and I trust that you will find them not alto- 
 gether uninteresting. 
 
 This calamity that has befallen mankind is the result of 
 an affection of by no means superficial character. It is the 
 result of a true malady, long standing and deep seated. 
 Its roots extend a long way back into the very infancy 
 of the race and the predisposing factors include heredity of 
 a truly ancient origin. The virus of the disease has so 
 permeated a part of humankind that it has become in- 
 grained and they no longer appear normally human. v Ap- 
 parently, the normal human instincts and moral senses of 
 these people have been destroyed and they have developed 
 a phobia for their kind. If we are to escape mistaking 
 temporary improvement for a cure, we must go to the very 
 root of the matter and not allow ourselves to be deceived 
 regarding how thorough and extensive the cure must be. 
 
 When I submitted the draft of this address to a friend 
 for a first reading, he said, "Why — er — yes — it's — alright — 
 interesting — and all that — but don't you think you are a 
 little too long in reaching the place where you give the 
 Kaiser hell ^^ 
 
 Now that is just the very thing I fear too many of us 
 have been doing ever since the war began. We have been 
 damning men and nations and have not been doing much 
 thinking. I should say there has not been half enough real 
 thinking done. We have overlooked the fundamentals and 
 lost sight of the very things we needed most to know, the 
 things that would have been of the greatest comfort when 
 the days were the darkest, the things that would have been 
 the greatest stimulus to our courage and that would have 
 lead to intelligent action. Carlyle said, **A thinking man 
 is the worst enemy the prince of darkness can have," and 
 just now we need thinking men, if ever. 
 
 HATE IS NOT OUR MOTIVE 
 
 I know there are some who hold that we cannot fight if 
 we do not hate, and you will see signs posted to the effect 
 that w^e must get ''our blood boiling" to "scrap right." But 
 this is something different from any experience the world 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 has ever had before, and we should think of it from an 
 entirely different angle. Hate is not the motive we need 
 to inspire us. Hate, I trust, has not brought us here to- 
 night. In the language of Brutus, 
 
 "The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse — 
 If these be motives w^eak, break off betimes — 
 And every man hence to his idle bed." 
 
 All we need to know are the facts, and, further in the Jan- 
 guage of the great democratic character of Shakespeare, 
 
 "If these, as I am sure they do, bear fire enough 
 To kindle cowards and steel with valour. 
 The melting spirits of women, then my countrymen 
 What need we any spur but our own cause." 
 
 You may ask, if hate is not the emotion the soldier must 
 feel to enable him to fight his best, what then is the emo- 
 tion or motive that inspires him? 
 
 Webster's dictionary gives as the synonyms of hate the 
 words detest, abhor, abominate, loathe. Hate, the general 
 term, implies extreme aversion, especially with enmity or 
 malice. Crabb's English Synonyms says ^'hatred, enmity, 
 ill-will, rancour — these terms agree in this particular, that 
 those who are under the influence of such feelings derive 
 pleasure from the misfortunes of others ; but hatred ex- 
 presses more than enmity, and this more than ill-will, which 
 signifies either an evil will or a willing of evil. Hatred 
 is not contented with merely wishing ill to others, but de- 
 rives its whole happiness from their misery or destruction ; 
 hatred is frequently confined to the feeling of the indi- 
 vidual, and he who is possessed with hatred is happy when 
 the object of his passion is miserable and is miserable 
 when he is happy." We cannot in this sense truly be said 
 to hate the mad dog, the rattlesnake or the tarrantula. We 
 recognize them as a menace and so destroy them, not in 
 malice toward them, but in love for our fellow men, for 
 the sake of safety. And so it is with our attitude toward 
 Germany. If we could come by the spirit of Autocracy, 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 that is moving Germany in this awful war, and not "dis- 
 member" Germany, I am sure that we should all be glad 
 to do so, but, "alas, she must bleed for it." 
 
 We have reached a stage of development where we can 
 perform an unpleasant duty as thoroughly, without appeal- 
 ing to the baser passions as under their excitement — and 
 better. Clear thinking and not blind hating is the thing 
 we need now, but, lest someone think that this is to be a 
 spineless apology of pacifism, let me tell you, this war had 
 to be, and all the pacifists in the world could not stop it. 
 
 And, another thing, we had to get into it. We will get 
 into it deeper still. We will get into it "with both feet," 
 and, thank God, there can be but one end. We shall win! 
 
 Never in the whole history of the world has a war been 
 so universally vmpopular as this war. House-cleaning has 
 never been a particularly pleasing thought to any of us, but 
 we do it just the same. Well, the old world has begun 
 house-cleaning, and, although we may have to sleep cold, 
 live out of tin cans and cracker boxes, take our meals 
 standing and drink our coffee without sugar for a while, 
 it's got to be done and we will do it. 
 
 This has got to be a finish-fight and we would not have 
 it otherwise. There must not be, what Darwin P. Kings- 
 ley, President of the New York Life Insurance Company, 
 calls ""a cowardly compromise with criminals." This thing 
 must never happen again. 
 
 DEFINITIONS— HOW GOVERNMENT 
 ORIGINATED 
 
 Now for those facts about government. 
 
 The dictionaries tell us that Democracy signifies a gov- 
 ernment. One in which the sovereign power resides in a 
 certain body of the people and is exercised by representa- 
 tives, elected by, and responsible to the people. That the 
 word is derived from two Greek words, one meaning people, 
 and the other to be strong. 
 
 It is then a peculiar form of government, and, it is well 
 to note in passing, that the chief characteristics being the 
 elective and representative features, it is not, therefore. 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 necessarily confined to a Republic, but may exist as a 
 Monarchy or Oligarchy, in fact, anywhere that the govern- 
 ment is based on those principles. 
 
 If, then. Democracy is a form of government vested in 
 either an individual or a- body, and, since all governments 
 are not Democratic, it becomes necessary for us to inquire 
 into the development of government in general, in order 
 to know what other forms of government there are and 
 how they are related to Democracy. Later we shall see 
 how very important this is. 
 
 ' We naturally turn to the historian and the ethnologist 
 for this information, but, since history cannot precede a 
 written language, the earliest developments of government 
 from that point of view are necessarily somewhat specu- 
 lative. Ethnology, however, shows us that it is not essen- 
 tial to have a written record of the lives of people living 
 thousands of years ago, in order to learn about the lives 
 of primitive peoples. It demonstrates to us that people 
 living in comparatively recent times have lived in prac- 
 tically the same way and under almost identically the same 
 conditions as the primitive peoples of the most remote ages, 
 and that conditions, not calendars, measure the primitive. 
 We can then explore the primitive, and in tracing the origin 
 of government, arrive at the source of Democracy and fol- 
 low its evolution. 
 
 Government, however primitive, presupposes some sort 
 of social order and social organization, and the first efforts 
 in its direction furnish the earliest emergence from sav- 
 agery. These first communal efforts undoubtedly had their 
 foundation in war, and the necessity of combining for 
 defense, creating a social order. 
 
 Owing to the low state of mental development, leader- 
 ship and consequent government was placed in the indi- 
 vidual of greatest physical prowess, and dominion was thus 
 coupled with might. In this connection it may not be 
 uninteresting to recall that Saul, the first king to be chosen 
 in Israel, was, as the biblical account records it, "from his 
 shoulders and upward, higher than any of the people." 
 
 Quite naturally these ideas of organization and rule by 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 force were extended to times of peace. In the chaotic 
 condition of such a society, organization and direction was 
 apparently impossible by any method other than the exer- 
 cise of physical dominion. Thus the man of might obtained 
 rule, and, but for the law of pre-natal culture, operating 
 through the medium of hero-worship, which tricked the 
 occasional individual of unusual physique, he himself, un- 
 consciously, furnishing the pattern after which other giants 
 v/ere fashioned, physical prowess might have continued the 
 dominating force indefinitely. When there became too 
 many of the mighty men for any one to enforce his will 
 by means of the physical strength he enjoyed, government 
 by mind first stirred in human consciousness, and, although 
 it doubtless found expression in the lowest cunning, it was, 
 nevertheless a mental act, and that day saw the beginning 
 of the end of government by might. 
 
 With the introduction of the mental as a factor in gov- 
 ernment, there was introduced another, if possible, even 
 more powerful influence, and one that should endure as 
 long as government endures. I refer to the influence of 
 religion. Let me say here that, despite the awful depths 
 to which it has been prostituted in the past, religion must 
 forever bear a conspicuous part in the government of men, 
 and, like everything else, it too is undergoing a change, 
 and is due a renaissance out of the effects the war is working 
 upon us. 
 
 RELIGION EARLY BECAME A 
 
 POWERFUL FACTOR IN 
 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 But let us go back again to the time these influences first 
 came upon the scene of government. 
 
 Simultaneously with the awakening of the mind, there 
 occurred the conception of a divinity or supernatural per- 
 sonified force that was to be feared and placated. When- 
 ever and wherever men begin to think — they think of God. 
 Mind meant imagination, and the phenomena of nature was 
 full of suggestions. The sun, the moon, lightning and 
 thunder, each supplied its wonder and its mystery, and 
 
10 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 was, in consequence, deified. It was an easy step, one 
 might say a natural step, for an advanced mind to connect 
 these ideas and fears of the supreme, with the thought of 
 power, and, by taking advantage of them, establish himself 
 as ruler with divine rights and prerogatives. 
 
 To maintain supremacy and establish unquestioning 
 obedience and recognition of this divine connection and its 
 hereditary character in a world of unfolding mentality, it 
 became necessary that those minds be directed and con- 
 trolled, if not 'positively hindered in their unfoldment. 
 History records how effectual were the methods used in 
 establishing this control and reveals the crafty employ- 
 ment of religion in attaining this end. That religious 
 teachings were as effectual in the early days of government 
 as in more recent times is obvious. 
 
 However primitive the religion, it, nevertheless, had its 
 officiating functionaries or priestly class, and there seems 
 to have been a close agreement between these and the 
 ruling class, giving mutual support to each other's author- 
 ity. In some instances the two offices were combined and 
 the priestly was the ruling class. Since the priesthood 
 monopolized nearly all the learning, it was not a difficult 
 matter for them to instill into the minds of the ignorant 
 multitude the doctrine of the right divine of kings to rule, 
 and the religious duty of the people to submit and obey. 
 In return for this service especial privileges were granted 
 them, varying in kind and magnitude, in some cases taking 
 the form of grants of land and permission to collect 
 revenues. 
 
 A striking example of the abuse of religion and its em- 
 ployment by men to secure the gratification of their selfish 
 desires, even in this day, is found in Turkey, where the 
 women of the harem are taught that their condition is 
 ordained of God. What divine decrees may have been 
 promulgated among these unfortunates since the unholy 
 alliance of their government with Germany, we know not, 
 but it is interesting to note that the captured Turkish 
 soldiers claim that their allies have taught them methods of 
 torture of which the Turk had never dreamed. 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY ii 
 
 I recently heard a returned missionary from Armenia say 
 that when it was proposed by the Central Powers that Tur- 
 key declare the Jehad, or Holy War, and thus turn loose 
 upon the Christian world (outside of the Central Powers, 
 to be sure) the millions and millions of Moslem fanatics, 
 the one man whose word would have made it legal and, 
 therefore, possible, recoiled from a deed so hellish, and, 
 bigot though he was, with no love for the Christian to stay 
 his hand, refused to become a party to such an awful 
 crime, resigning his political office in the Turkish govern- 
 ment rather than do its bidding at the dictation of Berlin. 
 
 From these facts we have found the important part the 
 influence of religion has played in the establishing of gov- 
 ernment. It has been second only to the military power 
 in establishing and perpetuating nearly all the great gov- 
 ernments of earth since government was first conceived, 
 and now the time has come, when, in the advancing day of 
 thought and the high-noon vision of reason, religion is to 
 be divorced from the debasing connection it has maintained 
 through the ages, and the old combination under which 
 men have groaned so long will be dissolved on the battle- 
 fields of Europe. Mankind's emancipation is coming. 
 
 DEMOCRACY A NATURAL FORCE 
 
 Change is the order of the universe, the law of being. 
 In the material world nothing endures. "The most inde- 
 structible rock will in time disintegrate ; the mountain 
 peaks will crumble away and the rough places be made 
 smooth." Frost and wind and root and tendril, heat and 
 cold, will do their work ; in other words, natural forces 
 cannot be successfully and perpetually resisted. 
 
 In this war we are witnessing a great natural force in 
 action. 
 
 There has been, throughout all time, a well-defined law, 
 governing the mental and spiritual development of men. 
 just the same as that which has operated in the material 
 realm governing the development of the animal and vege- 
 table kingdoms. Under this law an equally well defined 
 force has been in action, and, expressed in government, we 
 
12 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 term that force Democracy. In it we find the source of all 
 the social, political, and, without greatly deviating from the 
 facts, all of the spiritual, changes about us. The movement 
 of this force is just as certain in the effects which it pro- 
 duces as the force of gravitation is certain in the effects 
 which it produces. 
 
 Walt Whitman recognized it and so have all the great 
 thinkers of modern times. Whitman expressed it in one of 
 his inimitable songs, which I quote : 
 
 "To thee, old cause ! 
 Thou peerless, passionate, good cause! 
 Thou stern, remorseless, sweet idea ! 
 Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands ! 
 After a strange sad war — great war for thee, 
 (I think all war through time was really fought, and ever 
 
 will be really fought for thee) 
 These chants for thee — the eternal m.arch of thee. 
 Thou orb of many orbs ! 
 
 Thou seething principle ! Thou well-kept latent germ ! 
 Thou centre." 
 
 Ah, how well he sensed it, and how perfectly he described 
 the qualities this force possesses. Old, peerless, passionate, 
 good, stern, remorseless, deathless, sweet idea. An orb of 
 many orbs, a seething principle, a well-kept latent germ. 
 It is all there. Working slowly, perhaps, but always in 
 action. Evolution has ever been a slow method, but it 
 has proven a sure one. 
 
 While the historian and ethnologist have furnished us 
 'with ample evidence of this evolutionary process, to fully 
 describe the infinite variety of influences which have op- 
 erated in shaping and modifying these developments is 
 manifestly impossible here. It is sufficient for us to ob- 
 serve that the tendency has been definite and that the 
 progressiveness of that tendency has been unquestionably 
 established. 
 
 History from the beginning of governments to the begin- 
 ning of the Republic is a seamy record of the tyrannies of 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 13 
 
 the strong, the rich and the powerfuL Arthur Gleason 
 says, "The democratic movement began consciously with 
 the purp(\se of freeing the human race from poverty," but 
 the earliest revolt against despotism, which is truly the 
 first evidence of the presence of the democratic force, was 
 doubtless due to the tyrannical exercise of power, and the 
 day that indomitable spirit of liberty, inherent in all men, 
 rebelled against tyranny, perhaps more truly marks the 
 beginning of Democracy. It was actually born when the 
 great natural force, the desire for freedom, asserted itself. 
 When this "deathless, sweet idea" became as deeply im- 
 planted in the minds of men as it had always naturally been 
 lodged in their hearts. When this "well-kept latent germ" 
 burst its shell and struggled up through the debris of 
 oppression to flower in the sunlight of freedom. When 
 this "seething principle" of justice burst the bonds of super- 
 stition and tradition, and men learned that life and liberty 
 should be synonymous terms. 
 
 MILESTONES IN THE EVOLUTION OF 
 DEMOCRACY 
 
 The history of the development of the democratic idea is 
 a record of slow and painf d evolvement. Like the brook 
 winding its tortuous way through the rocks and over pre- 
 cipitous falls, and traveling far before it has gained suf- 
 ficient volume to be dignified as a river, so has the current 
 of this idea struggled through the ages. 
 
 Poltical freedom, although the inherent right of all man- 
 kind (and womankind, if 3'ou please) has been won only 
 amidst the severest struggles of a people to obtain their 
 rights. Voluntary surrender of those rights by the privi- 
 leged class has been a thing unknown, and certainly not 
 without the exercise of some direct or indirect pressure 
 have the people's rights ever been granted. 
 
 John of England signed the IMagna Carta, only Avhen 
 compelled by the Barons to do so. Such presumptuous 
 interference with divine authority by subjects could not 
 be tolerated, and the Pope, to whom he appealed for abso- 
 lution from his act, promptly declared the charter null and 
 
14 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 void. The old combination of church and state was pow- 
 erful in those days, and the decree of the Church, as the 
 Church, regardless of its merit, was to be respected. But 
 the leaven was working, the first step toward liberty had 
 been taken and there was no turning back. War again 
 broke out and the curtailment of the monarch's power was 
 made permanent. 
 
 It is an interesting, but too-long story to tell here — the 
 onward march of this "old cause," its victories and its tem- 
 porary defeats. The ten years' war of the Great Rebellion, 
 1642, with the austere Cromwell as its central figure, the 
 Revolution of 1688, establishing parliamentary rule, and 
 the final passing of the Reform bill in 1867, by which Eng- 
 land became a democracy. The American Revolution, the 
 adoption of the Constitution in 1787-1791, the War of the 
 Rebellion, 1861-1865, the French Revolution, 1789, the 
 establishment of the French Republic in 1871, and the 
 throwing off of the papal yoke by Italy, in the same year, 
 all forward movements, all progressively assisting in the 
 evolutionary process, all widening and deepening the 
 channel for the gathering of the waters of freedom, that 
 were to finally engulf the despot and all his works. 
 
 The mask of hypocrisy, by which Autocracy had shielded 
 its true purpose, the subterfuge of its secret diplomacy, was 
 torn aside on that August morning in 1914, when not a war 
 to punish a little European state, but the world war was 
 announced. That day was a long way from the day the 
 first thinking tribesman conceived the trick by which he 
 undid his rival, but it was the logical consequence. Mind 
 and might stand face to face, — right and might have meas- 
 ured lances, and can we doubt the issue? 
 
 Whatever may have been the immediate cause of this 
 war, the potential cause was the old conflict between 
 Democracy and Autocracy. Throughout the ages, Autoc- 
 racy's mightiest foe has ever been the democratic idea, and 
 we have come now to another epoch in the evolution of 
 Democracy, when it confronts this ancient enemy under 
 circumstances and conditions, which promise a final deci- 
 sion in the long and bitter struggle for supremacy. Sen- 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 15 
 
 ator Borah, in a recent speech before the Senate, quoting 
 from the German historian, Professor Meyer, who, in a 
 book written since the beginning of the war, sums up the 
 issues involved and makes the following important resume 
 of the situation, "The truth of the whole matter undoubt- 
 edly is that the time has arrived when two distinct forms 
 of state organization must face each other in a life-and- 
 death struggle," and the Senator reminds us that this is 
 not a war, "involving merely the interests of all the citizens 
 of the great nations participating, but that it is distinctly 
 a war between systems of government," and should be so 
 recognized. 
 
 IMPERIALISM AND MILITARY RECORD 
 OF AUTOCRACY 
 
 In order that we may gain a better perspective of the 
 situation at the time this conflict was precipitated and 
 understand something of the character of our chief op- 
 ponents in the struggle, a glance at their history for the 
 last century will be helpful. 
 
 Over one hundred years ago, in fact, the great monarchs 
 of Europe formed a combination which had for its aim " 
 the suppression of the slightest expression of the demo- 
 cratic idea. They recognized then that the democratic doc- 
 trine furnished the most powerful menace to their Auto- 
 cratic privileges, and, if it were permitted to survive and 
 flourish, the days of their power were numbered. To stifle 
 the free spirit of the new-born revolutionary era, expressed 
 by popular movements in Spain, Portugal, the German and 
 Italian states, military force was employed in the most 
 ruthless and even barbarous manner. Particularly was this 
 true in Italy, where the Austrian troops were used, and 
 where they perpetrated the most unspeakable atrocities. 
 To describe their barbarities would be to impose on the 
 sympathetic feelings of this audience, let it suffice to say, 
 that helpless women and children were not spared by the 
 brutal representatives of these autocrats, and we have here 
 one of the reasons why Italy refused to join the Central 
 Powers in this war. Italy has not forgotten, and when the 
 
i6 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 secret agents of these powers attempted to induce the 
 Italian army .to join them, they replied that they would not 
 fight beside Austria, "even if God Almighty commanded 
 them to do so." Prussia, then as now, was the high priest 
 of the autocratic faith among the nations, and the house 
 of Hohenzollern, then as now, closely allied with the Aus- 
 trian house of Hapsburgs, were the ardent defenders of 
 hereditary autocratic authority. It is not, therefore, sur- 
 prising that similar atrocious methods of Avarfare are being 
 employed by the armies of these same houses to-day. 
 Truly the "leopard cannot change his spots." 
 
 By provoking quarrels with smaller states, that an ex- 
 cuse might be had for their subjugation, by the establish- 
 ment of the most elaborate S3'stem of espionage the world 
 has ever known, by the careful planting of colonies in 
 friendly countries, through which an efficient propaganda 
 might be most speedily put into operation at any time it 
 was deemed necessary, by secret diplomacy, censcienceless 
 briberies and coercions, wherever possible, and, above all, 
 by the building of a military system requiring universal 
 service, reinforced by a complete and powerful literature, 
 this autocratic government has been preparing for the time 
 when it could most favorably strike and sweep Democracy 
 from the face of the earth. 
 
 Not only would they sweep away the despised Democ- 
 racy, but these war lords conceived what was at once one 
 of the most gigantic and diabolical projects that ever en- 
 tered the minds of men. They dreamed of extending their 
 rule across Europe and into the very heart of Asia. They 
 proposed to absorb Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, 
 Turkey and Armenia, and eventually India. They would 
 force the amalgamation of most incompatible races, regard- 
 less of their wishes and the remoteness of their possible 
 assimilation. Autocracy's military power would bind them 
 together or exterminate the stubborn and they would thus 
 form an autocratic empire that would dominate the world. 
 
 In 1914 the tide of their plans was "at the flood." They 
 knew that the armies of England, France and Russia were 
 unprepared, the latter undergoing a process of re-armament. 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 17 
 
 An Irish revolt seemed about to plunge England into civil 
 war, France was beset with labor troubles, and Russia's 
 railway system was improperly developed. As for the 
 United States, "she was too busy, too grasping, too far 
 away, too soundly asleep in her prosperity to be counted, 
 and, if she did interfere, well, she would have to pay the 
 bill for them all." 
 
 On the other hand, Germany was ready, her railways had 
 been developed to the utmost of strategic perfection, and 
 the Kiel canal had been so enlarged as to permit of em- 
 ploying the entire German navy, interchangeably in the 
 Baltic and North Seas. This seemed an unusually favor- 
 able time to strike, and the murder of the Austrian Prince 
 Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian student furnished the 
 excuse. At last "the day," to which they had drunk their 
 dearest toasts and of which they had sung and dreamed, 
 had arrived. You know the rest, the story of Belgium, of 
 France, Serbia, Armenia, Russia, Poland, and, to a large 
 measure, it appears that her dream is being fulfilled, but, 
 the end is not yet. That "old cause," that "good cause," 
 that "remorseless sweet idea" is working still, and it shall 
 prevail. It has been said that "whom the Gods would 
 destroy, they first make mad," and these war lords have 
 the very ecstacy of power madness. 
 
 POLITICAL ASPECTS OF GERMAN 
 GOVERNJNIEXT 
 
 We have glimpsed at their militarism and imperialism, 
 and now let us look for a little at the political aspects of 
 the German government. Both England and Germany 
 have been for long listed in the gazetteers as "limited mon- 
 archies," and there has been no dearth of statements set- 
 ting forth the "liberality of the German government." I 
 mention England with Germany in this connection, for the 
 reason that the majority of our people have usually thought 
 of them as being in the same category, but we have already 
 shown how the government of England is democratic, and 
 a close scrutiny of the facts will show that there is a vast 
 difference in the meaning of the word "limited," when 
 
i8 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 applied to the governments of these two nations. We can- 
 not enter into a detailed comparison of these governments, 
 but, since we have determined England's status, and we 
 fmd Germany opposed to all of the great Democracies of 
 the world, it will be of interest to note to just what extent 
 the German government is liberal and to what extent it is 
 truly the representative of absolute autocracy. 
 
 Throughout the ages the government of Germany has 
 been generally represented by unlimited paternal power 
 vested in a single monarch, a king in whom all authority 
 centered and from whom all authority emanated, supported 
 by the religious belief of divine right. As the Empire now 
 stands, it is a confederacy, composed of the smaller German 
 states, welded together by that master-warrior-politician, 
 the Iron Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck, and the 
 product of his fertile brain. A representative of the sturd}^ 
 landed aristocracy, imbued with the harsher qualities of 
 the Prussian temperament and true to Prussian traditions, 
 he held in contempt the liberal ideas of his time, and, recog- 
 nizing the policy of *'blood and iron" as the true policy of 
 government, he gave to Germany a system that offered 
 the most perfect guarantee against the development of 
 democratic ideas that could possibly have been conceived, 
 i.e., a government by military aristocrats, but providing 
 universal suffrage for the people, with that suffrage so 
 arranged that it was nullified before it was exercised. 
 
 The German Empire is a confederation consisting of 
 25 states and the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine. 
 Its legislative power rests with two bodies, the Bundesrat 
 and the Reichstag. The most powerful body, and one 
 which meets in secret, is the Bundesrat. Its members, 
 exercising 61 votes, are virtually diplomats chosen and 
 instructed by the rulers of the states they represent. 
 Prussia controls 17 votes, and its ruler, the Kaiser, chooses 
 the representation of Alsace-Lorraine, whose 3 votes make 
 a total of 20 which are instructed by him. Since 14 votes 
 can defeat a constitutional amendment, and since the 
 Kaiser controls 20, if every individual in Germany except 
 this one,' including the other kings and princes, wanted a 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 19 
 
 chang^e in the constitution, they could not get it unless 
 William II chose to give it to them. The Reichstag con- 
 sists of 397 members, elected by the universal suffrage of 
 all German male citizens who have attained the age of 
 25 years. The electoral districts were laid out in 187 1 so 
 that each district represented approximately 100,000 citi- 
 zens, but since no change has been made in these districts 
 in over 46 years, the population has so changed that some 
 members are elected by only a few thousand voters, while 
 others are elected by hundreds of thousands. Besides all 
 this, the acts of the Reichstag are subject to the veto of 
 the Bundesrat, and this body may dissolve the former at 
 any time. With the Reichstag responsible to the Bundes- 
 rat, the Bundesrat practically responsible to the Chan- 
 cellor, who presides over it, and the Chancellor responsible 
 only to the Kaiser, the power of this Prussian king is 
 virtually absolute. 
 
 No sadder travesty upon democratic ideals can be con- 
 ceived than this government of Germany, with its preten- 
 sions of being representative, while, in fact, it is most 
 unrepresentative. 
 
 MORAL BREAKDOWN OF GERMAN 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 As an indication of the "moral slough," as he calls it, 
 into which the German government has fallen, and the 
 complete breakdown of its morality, I quote just one sen- 
 tence from a recent address by Mr. J. P. W. Gardiner, 
 Military Expert of the "New York Times," which is suffi- 
 cient in itself, to say nothing of other phases to which he 
 refers, such as lateral marriages, the official forming of 
 liaisons between deported Belgian men and German 
 women, and other methods of increasing the population, 
 ad nauseam. Mr. Gardiner says, under the heading, ''Ger- 
 many's Method of Increasing Her Population," ''the first, 
 in order of time, was the authorized and systematic rav- 
 ishing of the women of Belgium and France and the send- 
 ing of the offspring from this official and bestial debauch- 
 ery into German}^, to form part of the future "defense of 
 the fatherland." 
 
20 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 Shades of Goethe and Schiller, how can we conceive 
 your land so fouling the beauty of motherhood, so degrad- 
 ing the morals of its women as this official prostitution ; 
 but such is the finishing touch to the picture of this mon- 
 ster of Autocracy, such is the government that leads the 
 wolf pack of Autocrats in this struggle to-day, and such, 
 my friends, is the character of the foe we face. 
 
 Let there be no misunderstanding, this is as much our 
 war as it is the war of France or England or "noble- 
 souled little Belgium." If there can be such a thing as 
 degrees of hate in the war lord's black heart, he reserves 
 the superlative of all his hate for America. If, for no other 
 reason, the fact that here we have demonstrated that the 
 democratic principle is a practical principle of government 
 and have raised a peaceful prosperous country on that 
 basis, it were sufficient cause for quarrel. If this demoniac, 
 insane government can be so dead to the rights of its own 
 men and women, its own fathers and mothers and daugh- 
 ters, what consideration could that nation expect, that 
 would have the temerity to cross its path and hinder the 
 fulfillment of its ambition? 
 
 AMERICA "EN MASSE" FOR LIBERTY 
 
 We know now why we are at war. Why we are at war 
 with Germany. We are fighting for our own land, for 
 our own homes, for our wives and mothers, sisters and 
 daughters. We are fighting for our liberty, and our ene- 
 mies and all the world shall know, that our love of liberty 
 is as powerful to-day as when our fathers faced the auto- 
 crat at Lexington and Bunker Hill. 
 
 In another of those bugle calls, Walt Whitman wrote : 
 
 "Long, too long, O, land, 
 
 Travelliug roads all even and peaceful, j^ou learn'd from 
 joys and prosperity only, 
 
 But now, ah now, to learn from cries of anguish, ad- 
 vancing, grappling with direst fate and recoiling not ; 
 
 And now to conceive, and show to the world what your 
 children en masse really are." 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 21 
 
 It might have been written yesterday. There have been 
 those of our foes who have despised us, but they have 
 reckoned without the all-important factor. They have not 
 taken into account the spirit of Democracy that is "death- 
 less" and native to the air we breathe. They have not con- 
 sidered that principle, that natural force of liberty, which 
 stirs in every true American and every true man. They 
 have not realized how completely America can move en 
 masse, when that liberty is threatened. We shall, we must, 
 show to the world what we are en masse. Not vainglori- 
 ously, but nevertheless surely. We shall show to our ene- 
 mies one unbroken front, and to our gallant allies, we 
 shall give the assurance that as one united mighty nation 
 we will take our place in this evolutionary movement, 
 side by side with them, and bear our share in the liberation 
 of the race. 
 
 Some time ago I found some lines written by that right 
 gallant gentleman, Lieut. Col. John McCrae, of Canada, 
 who, himself, now sleeps in Flanders fields. I give them 
 to you for their inspiration and beauty. They too utter a 
 call we shall not fail to answer. 
 
 "In Flanders fields the poppies blow 
 Between the crosses, row on row, 
 That mark our place ; and in the sky 
 The larks still bravely singing fly, 
 Scarce heard amidst the guns below. 
 We are the Dead. Short days ago 
 We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 
 Loved and were loved and now we lie 
 In Flanders fields. 
 
 **Take up our quarrel with the foe. 
 To you from falling hands we throw 
 The torch ... be yours to hold it high. 
 If ye break faith with us who die 
 We shall not sleep though poppies grow, 
 In Flanders fields. 
 
22 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 That torch shall not go out. Though it takes our all, 
 and we are called upon to tread what Conningsby Dawson 
 calls the "winepress of new ideals," though it takes sacri- 
 fice, of which we have never dreamed, we shall gladly lay 
 our all upon the altar of freedom, and hold that torch on 
 high until Democracy is triumphant. 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY 
 
 We have seen somewhat of the relation of Democracy 
 to the war, now let us consider the effect of the war on 
 Democracy. 
 
 The reactions of material chemistry are not more re- 
 markable than those of mental and spiritual chemistry, and 
 the conversions occurring in the social, religious and po- 
 litical world are just as real and concrete as the conver- 
 sion of starch into sugar or any other of the changes of a 
 chemical nature. 
 
 War has ever proven a great converter and it is incon- 
 ceivable that the Democracy which entered into this fur- 
 nace, the greatest of all wars, should come out as it went 
 in. When this cataclysm of war befell the nations the 
 development of Democracy had been confined chiefly to 
 changes in national governments, and in some of those 
 governments which claimed to be democratic, the light of 
 true democracy burned with but a feeble flame. The 
 benefits derived from the changes of government all too 
 frequently were confined to the franchise, as in the case of 
 Prussia, but it will not be so this time. The changes 
 wrought by this war will be very real changes, and not 
 merely political camouflage. 
 
 The first effect of the war on Democracy will be the 
 wider and fuller understanding of its nature and principles 
 by all peoples everywhere. It has been placed in such 
 awful contrast with the hideous monstrosity of Autocracy, 
 and so vivid has the comparison loomed against the cur- 
 tain of fire furnished by a world in conflagration, that all 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 23 
 
 the race will come to understand its meaning and recog- 
 nize it as something vital and intimate, to every individual, 
 as much so as light and air. 
 
 It will no longer appear in the circumscribed role of a 
 solvent of decadent governments and a breeder of revo- 
 lution, but it will be released from the limitations imposed 
 upon it by the conservatism of tradition and precedent, and 
 will strike out upon its true mission of construction. 
 
 There are certain changes impending. They have al- 
 ready begun in Europe, and especially in England, and we 
 can well profit by them. We are informed that to a very 
 large number of men now in the ranks, the fight against 
 Germany is a fight against Prussianism, and the spirit of 
 Prussianism represents to them only an extreme of that 
 to which they object in the industrial and social institu- 
 tions of their own country. They regard the present strug- 
 gle as closely connected with the campaign against capitalist 
 and class domination at home. There can be little doubt 
 that this is the mental attitude of some of our soldiers, 
 too, and of large numbers of our people at home. While 
 not to so noticeable a degree perhaps as in England, yet 
 this is the attitude of a sufficiently large number, both in 
 the army and out, and we must recognize the condition 
 and meet it fairly. The internal changes in Great Britain 
 indicate the drift of men's thoughts generally, — the trend 
 of the times, — and we must prepare to meet a very dif- 
 ferent body of our own men coming home from those who 
 marched away. The social status of the soldier returning 
 will be something different from the position he accepted 
 previously. He will not recognize the flimsy barriers that 
 have been raised by class distinction, even in America as 
 well as England, and society is due some mighty jolts to 
 its smugness and snobbishness unless it learns the lesson 
 this war is teaching, the lesson of Democracy. There are 
 indications of improvement already, and I am encouraged 
 to believe we shall not be found wanting. It is the spirit 
 of Democracy we need to give us a clear vision of our 
 fellows and teach us the true appraisal of social values. 
 
24 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 REACTIONS RESPECTING WOMEN 
 AND CHILDREN 
 
 One of the greatest things that will be accomplished by 
 this war is a better understanding between the sexes. A 
 great deal has already been accomplished. For too long 
 man has been exerting his autocratic powers, in the sub- 
 jugation of women, and it seems to have taken a great 
 war like this to bring the truth home to him. Prior to the 
 declaration of war, England was wondering how she could 
 overcome the militancy of her suffragettes, who were put- 
 ting gray hairs in Lloyd George's head, but when war 
 came, no more ardent supporters of the government could 
 be found than the leaders of these same militant organiza- 
 tions. As Mr. Lloyd George rode about in his motor-car, 
 . under the skilled steers-womanship of his chauifeuse, Miss 
 Caroline Marsh, the celebrated hunger-striker, he doubtless 
 found food for thought and for fresh sympathy. The late 
 Lord Kitchener is quoted as saying, "The army in the field 
 could not last a single day without the efforts of that other 
 army, the whole of the civil population at home," and 
 included in that army are over half a million of women, 
 who have answered the call of the nation by entering in- 
 dustry, many of them employed in munition factories. In 
 our own country we have been enlisting women in nearly 
 every field of endeavor, in ever-increasing numbers, and 
 fmding their Avork as satisfactory if not better, in some 
 instances, than the men whose places they have filled. 
 Strange, is it not, that we have been so slow to recognize 
 their worth, strange that we have been so slow to recog- 
 nize the inevitable changes the times are bringing, and 
 that the political rights of women must be .recognized. 
 Whether we like it or not, the same inexorable power that 
 means progress in the freedom for nations, as inexorably 
 means freedom for the sexes, not of the sexes, and it cannot 
 be long stayed. So frightful has been the brutal degrada- 
 tion of women in this war, the reaction will be of a very 
 positive type. The slaughter of infants and the unthink- 
 able mistreatment of children will have an equally positive 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 reaction, and woe betides any system of government or 
 employment that continues to abuse them. 
 
 We shall have a new Democracy after this war. Out of 
 the' crucible of its trial it shall come forth renewed, a 
 shining thing, vital and free from the dross of tradition 
 and superstition. Sincerity and true faith shall not be 
 ashamed. 
 
 RELIGIOUS AND ECONOMIC 
 RENNAISANCE 
 
 We have said that religion was due a renaissance. It 
 has already begun. Experience and not authority is now 
 fast becoming the measure of men's faith. The old de- 
 caying walls of denominationalism are being wiped out 
 completely, and the brotherhood of all men and the reality 
 of the common fatherhood of God is beginning to be felt 
 as something more than a theory or creed. 
 
 Christianity is to have a chance at last. Real Christian- 
 ity, the unlabeled and unbranded kind. The teachings of 
 the Christ, the philosophy of the Nazarene Master, is going 
 to be given a trial. Somehow, when men are brought 
 face to face with the stern realities of battle, they become 
 shorn of their prejudices and conventions, their shams of 
 class and cast distinctions, and there doesn't seem to be 
 such a difference after all. Under the tape-line and stetho- 
 scope and upon the scales, Jew and Gentile, Catholic and 
 Protestant, Christian and Hindu, do not present a world 
 of difference. We are assured that, once in the trenches 
 under fire, men undergo a sort of new birth, that the change 
 is so great that it can easily be told who have and who 
 have not been there, and that they come back just human 
 beings who have found themselves. 
 
 "After this war, the world will never be the same again," 
 said President Wilson, and no truer word was ever spoken. 
 The meaningless materialism that has stunted and with- 
 ered the minds and souls of men, that reign of materialism 
 that contributed no ethical or social ideas of real value has 
 come to an end. The new Democracy and the new faith 
 will mean the establishment of true ethics and true ideals. 
 
26 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 Men will come to see that mere physical possession does 
 not carry with it the right to use anything to the hurt of 
 their fellows, and will recognize their obligations to the 
 generations which are to follow. They will realize that 
 it is quite as dishonest to steal from posterity as from 
 the man across the street. 
 
 Labor will recognize its obligation to the whole body of 
 society and capital will develop a soul. Labor will want 
 to give full return in production, and capital will come to 
 understand the necessity of a living wage to that produc- 
 tion. I say these things will be, — they will happen if labor 
 and capital are wise. 
 
 In another quotation (and I wish to acknowledge I have 
 used a number already), from Arthur Gleason's remark- 
 ably interesting and illuminating book, "Inside the British 
 Isles," he says, "Anyone who looks forward to a peace on 
 earth following the war of the trenches is going to be 
 present at a surprise party." He quotes a prominent 
 Scotch employer as saying, "As I look into the future I 
 see nothing but bloodshed." Congressman Rainey, of 
 Illinois, one of the most conservative and highly respected 
 of our national representatives, has said, "I am not so much 
 concerned about war problems confronting us as I am 
 about the serious problems which will confront us when 
 the war ends." * Mr. Kingsley says, "When this war began 
 we were utterly unprepared to do our plain duty. We 
 must not face the crisis that will lie in after-war conditions 
 still totally unprepared. A comprehensive post-bellum pro- 
 gram, thought out in advance and agreed to in principle 
 by the allies, is almost as important as victory itself." 
 Harold MacGrath says, "No more Bolshevikism. No more 
 I. W. Wism. No more Socialism that has no country and 
 no loyalty." We are facing an after-war problem, a seri- 
 ous problem, and we need thinking men to solve it, not 
 fanatics nor precedent-bound "stand-patters," but devoted, 
 fearless thinkers. Mr. MacGrath has struck the keynote, 
 and in these three sentences we have the crux of the whole 
 problem. Is Democracy big enough to meet it? Is Amer- 
 
 * See page 29. 
 
DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 27 
 
 ica and American business far-sighted enough to read the 
 future, and reading, take heed? 
 
 Mr. Charles Schwab, in an address delivered last Jan- 
 uary, said, *'The time is coming when the men of the 
 working class will control the destiny of this world of 
 ours. We are at the threshold of a new era. . . . The 
 aristocracy of the future is not going to be the aristocracy 
 of wealth." What do all these men mean? They mean, 
 and every thinking man must realize, that we are facing a 
 tremendous economic problem, as the after-war problem, 
 insistent, imperious, and that there can be no "side-step- 
 ping" it. 
 
 Are we to have annulment and confiscation, as they have 
 in Russia, or, by meeting the situation fairly and unselfishly, 
 find the answer to such possible calamity in the adoption 
 of truly democratic principles? Remember, "Long, too 
 long, oh land, you have learned from prosperity only," 
 said Whitman. Will we refuse to learn from adversity? 
 As Ave read the fate of mighty crumbling Russia, disinte- 
 grating through the curse of unrestrained Bolshevikism, do 
 we take no warning? Shall we be so stupid that we shall 
 miss the lesson that story holds? 
 
 It was this very danger that has led many of the greatest 
 thinkers to question the possible success of the Democratic 
 idea of government. You will recall that President Lin- 
 coln said, in his Gettysburg address, that the Civil war was 
 a "test," whether our nation, or any nation, dedicated to 
 the principle of equality, could long endure. Is it not 
 possible that he too saw, in prophetic vision, that equality, 
 misdirected, held the seeds of a destructive socialism? 
 
 Civil strife and bloodshed are obsolete and antiquated 
 and altogether unsatisfactory methods of solving economic 
 problems. All we need Is a little common, unselfish hon- 
 esty. Honesty with ourselves and with our fellow man. 
 If we are true to ourselves, to our better selves, "It needs 
 must follow, as the night the day, we cannot be false to 
 any man ;" and on this principle rests the whole fabric of 
 Democratic government. 
 
 The laborer who is tempted to enter Socialism, that he 
 
28 DYNAMIC DEMOCRACY 
 
 may thereby get Avhat he has not himself produced, must 
 be prepared to suffer the disappointment of a shattered 
 dream. The thing is fundamentally wrong. 
 
 The employer, who continues to cling to the idea that 
 the aim of industry is a product, rather than human wel- 
 fare, must be prepared to face Bolshevikism. That is the 
 logical result of unjust and unreasoning materialism. 
 
 The statesman, who is honestly desirous of securing 
 corrective and constructive legislation, must turn to pure 
 Democracy and be contented with nothing less, no make- 
 shifts, no half measures, no fakes, or he must be prepared 
 to enter that limbo of oblivion that is fixed for the medi- 
 ocre, selfish and visionless politician. 
 
 DEMOCRACY ASCENDANT 
 
 Mr. Gleason based his prediction upon the inevitable 
 changes that will be wrought in the character of some of 
 the people, changes which he sees already begun, and the 
 conflict those changes are bound to produce as they clash 
 with traits of character in others which he clearly believes 
 to be fixed and that the war will not change. 
 
 I cannot believe that there Avill be any appreciable num- 
 ber of sane men and women who will not be changed. 
 Are we not already changed to some degree, and w^e so 
 far from the actual scenes of carnage? Are we not more 
 considerate, more kindly, more gentle in our thoughts? I 
 cannot believe this baptism of fire and suffering will be 
 in vain. 
 
 "God is in Kis world remaking it," and I believe that 
 the whole world "under God shall h^ve a new birth of 
 freedom," and that Democracy shall not only triumph upon 
 the battlefields but also in the hearts of men. 
 
 There can be but one end to this conflict. Democracy is 
 "mighty yet," and the spirits of its mighty dead, the spirits 
 of Cromwell and Kitchener, of Lafavette and Joan of Arc, 
 the spirits of Garibaldi and Mazzini, of Washington and 
 Lincoln and Jefferson, still "walk abroad" in the proper 
 person of every loyal soldier who faces the common foe, and 
 they will range on, until victory is won. 
 
 Democracy, that "orb of many orbs," is in the ascendant 
 and no earthly power can stay its ^'eternal march." 
 
DEMOCRACY AND SOCIALISM 
 
 IN DEATH GRAPPLE AFTER WAR, 
 SAYS CONGRESSMAN RAINEY 
 
 John Temple Graves, Washington correspondent, writing 
 for the New York American, as published under date of 
 January 13, 1918, presents the mind of Henry T. Rainey, 
 Congressman from the State of Illinois, in a most remark- 
 able exposition of events which will most likely occur as a 
 natural reaction caused by the present debacle of war. 
 
 '"'It is a thought-compelling utterance which will chal- 
 lenge the serious consideration of thinking men through- 
 out the country. His views are worthy of far more than 
 ordinary consideration by reason of his profound studies in 
 economics and history. 
 
 "For sixteen years a member of Congress, a stalwart 
 Democrat, reckoned among the leaders of his party from 
 his first term, the effective chairman of a powerful com- 
 mittee, Rainey commands the respect of his contemporaries 
 and the confidence of his State to a notable degree. 
 
 "He seldom speaks, but when he does he speaks as the 
 result of study and reflection. His conversation was on the 
 question of the tremendous problems which will force them- 
 selves upon us at the conclusion of the war, which Mr. 
 Rainey thinks are of even greater moment than the war 
 itself.''' 
 
 "The world has entered a shadow from which it will not 
 soon emerge. I am not so much concerned about the war 
 problems confronting us as I am about the more serious 
 problems which will confront us when the war ends. We 
 have pledged all our resources for the success of the under- 
 taking in which Ave are now engaged, and the nation is 
 already beginning to think on war questions as a unit. 
 
 "Bills involving the expenditure of fabulous sums are 
 enacted into law without opposition. Our national expen- 
 ditures are without precedent in the history of nations. 
 \\q feel the Avar must terminate Avith victory for oursehxs 
 and our allies, but not until our great army reaches Europe. 
 
 "We cannot expect to become a decisive factor this year. 
 The chances are the Avar Avill continue Avith a tremendous 
 diain CA'en on our unparalleled resources for three or four 
 years to come. No one has been courageous enough to 
 guess at the expense to us of maintaining an army of tAvo 
 million men in France, and Ave must haA^e that many men 
 there to accomplish anything. A peace Avithout victory 
 means the continuing, but on a scale tremendously larger, 
 of Avar preparations for another greater war, Avhich Avill 
 occur within the next quarter of a century. As a nation 
 we are doing Avhat we must do — no other course is open. 
 
AFTER-THE-WAR PROBLEM 
 
 "It is not too soon to consider tremendous problems 
 which Avill be presented after the war ends, and it is part 
 of wise statesmanship to consider the possibilities of the 
 future. The interesting thing in the world, both from an 
 economic and political standpoint, is the Russian situation. 
 Nothing so amazing has happened in the world for two 
 thousand years. Is the world being made over before our 
 eyes? Are the old systems of holding property, of govern- 
 'ing even republics, to end with the- war? 
 
 "A ncAV issue demanding consideration is being injected 
 into the fabric of every civilized government, and its in- 
 fluence is being felt here. Present party differences are 
 academic when compared to the great issue now tendered. 
 Are we, as a nation, being irresistibly drawn into the mael- 
 strom of Socialism? Are our methods of government 
 established with sufficient strength to resist it? After all, 
 is Socialism and what it appears to stand for, the govern- 
 ing method which should be adopted here and throughout 
 the world? Socialism, unless it is international, must fail 
 to reach the ideals. These are serious questions and de- 
 serve serious consideration. 
 
 "How far will we progress in the next two or three years 
 along the lines of Russian Socialism? Under laws now 
 on the statute books, we have confronting us, an annual 
 expenditure for war pensions of five hundred million dol- 
 lars — perhaps more than this. The submission of the pro- 
 hibition amendment to the States may mean the loss of 
 three hundred and fifty million dollars in revenue before 
 the war ends. The submission of this amendment was 
 proper and inevitable. Ever}/- Government employee is 
 demanding his compensation be increased. They are rap- 
 idly organizing and becoming affiliated with the American 
 Federation of Labor. There can be but one reason for 
 this, to increase their salary. 
 
 "The American Federation of Labor is pledged to assist 
 them in bettering their conditions, and this, of course, 
 means a demand on Congress for larger compensation. 
 The demands they are making now mean, if granted, an 
 increase in our annual budget of one hundred million dol- 
 lars per year. We have taken over the railroads. This 
 makes a million additional Government employees. They 
 are all organized and all demanding wage increases up to 
 40 per cent of their present compensation. Part of their 
 demands, we are told, will soon be granted. We now have 
 on the Governm_ent payrolls (counting railroad employees 
 as Government employees) nearly one-fifth of the adult 
 voting population of the United States, all demanding wage 
 increases. 
 
 "The taking over is hailed with delight, not only by 
 railroad employees, but by stockholders of railroads and 
 
bondholders, who expect their securities under Government 
 control to be more stable than they have been in the past. 
 The holders of railroad stocks and bonds are evidently as 
 anxious to receive compensation from the Treasury of the 
 United States — possibly increased compensation — as are 
 the railroad employees. If the railroad employees and 
 railroad owners are both anxious for the Government to 
 take over the railroads, it is hardly possible that Govern- 
 ment control will end with the war. Government owner- 
 ship of railroads seems now to be inevitable. Government 
 ownership of telegraph and telephone systems must follow 
 as a matter of course. 
 
 "There is a strong sentiment in favor of taking over 
 the coal mines, and not even the mine owners are seri- 
 ously opposing this proposition. If the war lasts two or 
 three years, the taking over of these mines seems inevitable 
 as a war measure. The taking over of developed water 
 power possibilities is already, or soon will be, in process of 
 accomplishment. I think I have enumerated enough pos- 
 sibilities of the immediate future to indicate the danger 
 (if it is a danger) to which I desire to call attention. 
 
 ''There is a strong demand to compel the larger incomes 
 and well-to-do to pay the increasing expenses of govern- 
 ment. We are already taking in excess profits and incomes 
 about thirty per cent, after allowing an exemption ranging 
 from 7 to 9 per cent. In England they take 80 per cent 
 over an exemption to about 8 per cent. Large increases 
 in our taxes on incomes and excess profits are a possibility 
 of the very near future. It is necessary — absolutely in- 
 evitable. All the above is Socialism. Millionaire stock- 
 holders and employees who work for a monthly or daily 
 wage are all exhibiting Socialistic tendencies without 
 realizing it. Modern Socialism, as now being developed in 
 Russia, means that every man's income must be increased 
 by the State. 
 
 POLITICAL PARTY AIMS 
 
 "If the present alignment of political parties is to con- 
 tinue in the future as in the past, and if we have on our 
 federal pay rolls nearly one-fourth of the adult voting pop- 
 ulation of the United States, all demanding wage increases 
 and salary increases, we then have on our pay rolls enough 
 federal employees to determine the election in favor of 
 that political party which will unequivocally promise to 
 agree to their salary demands. If we take over the utilities 
 I have mentioned with as much enthusiastic support on 
 the part of stockholders as the owners of our railroads now 
 exhibit with reference to the taking oveo of railways, we 
 will have no considerable influential portion of our popu- 
 lation opposing the advance of Socialism. 
 
 "I might call attention also to the fact that with the 
 enthusiastic support of stockholders and employees in our 
 
shipping corporation we have practically now taken over 
 our merchant ships and are providing for the construction 
 of a tremendously large government-owned merchant 
 marine. When we have taken over the utilties I have men- 
 tioned in connection with the utilities we already control, 
 that party which is pledged to a continuation of Govern- 
 ment ownership will receive the support of all employees 
 who are demanding still further wage increases and of all 
 stockholders who are willing to agree to those demands, 
 provided their stock dividends are secured by the Govern- 
 ment, and that party which promises these things in order 
 to win will win. And when that victory comes Socialisn^ 
 has assumed control and will be ready to start upon the 
 work of carrying out the theories for which it really stands 
 and for which it avowedly stands in Russia to-day, .to-wit : 
 
 "i. — Essential changes in land titles. 
 
 "2. — Modification of our taxing systems, with perhaps a 
 tax on land values. 
 
 "3. — Abolition of private property rights. 
 
 "4. — Distribution of the profits of industrials among 
 working men. 
 
 TAXES, A BIG QUESTION 
 
 "How to raise five or six billion dollars a year by Federal 
 taxes after the war is over is one of the most serious prob- 
 lems presented now. Tariff differences between the two 
 parties are not now worthy of serious consideration. 
 Tariffs of the future ought to be arranged to compel each 
 schedule to yield the maximum tariff. In other words, a 
 tariff for revenue only will in the future mean the maximum 
 tariff rate. This will be neither free trade nor protection, 
 but a tariff arranged on this basis cannot be expected to 
 yield over $400,000,000 a year. As a matter of fact, it is 
 doubtful whether it could be made to yield $400,000,000 a 
 yeai;^ but with a six billion budget confronting us either 
 amount is, from a revenue standpoint, almost negligible. 
 We expect to collect from manufactured tobacco for each 
 year under the increased rates the sum of $164,000,000. 
 This amount can be increased without injuring the business 
 $25,000,000 in all probability. 
 
 "How can we collect the tremendous balance which re- 
 mains? I am assuming the revenues from distilled and 
 fermented liquors will grow less as the years pass, and I 
 am not discussing the moral questions involved. Even if 
 this source of revenue remains unimpaired at $350,000,000, 
 we are still left with the possibility of being compelled to 
 collect annually after the war ends until we have paid off 
 enough bonds to eliminate our interest charge, which will 
 probably not occur within the next twenty-five years, ap- 
 proximately $6,500,000,000, practically all of which must be 
 collected by direct taxes of various kinds, especially by 
 taxes on incomes and profits " 
 
ORGANIZATION, 
 
 PURPOSES AND PLANS OF THE / 
 
 AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL ALLIANCE ' 
 
 ('i) The American Constitutional Alliance was organized by Amer- 
 ican patriots for the purpose of creating an influence for purity in all 
 legislative and political actions ; 
 
 (2) To induce a more general knowledge of the ideals of Amer- 
 icanism, eminating from the Federal Constitution, and to advance the 
 belief that the fundamental governing power of the nation should be 
 grounded within the Constitution in fact, as well as theory, and should 
 not be created by the legislatures of the several states, nor by Congress ; 
 
 (3) To induce the sovereign people to take upon themselves a 
 mentorship over men desiring public office and places of responsibility in 
 American political affairs, so that the Government need not be afflicted 
 by politicians seeking positions for self-aggrandizement only ; 
 
 (4) To oppose government by Bureaucracy, the antithesis of self- 
 government as established by the Federal Constitution ; 
 
 (5) To secure the recognition of the Federal Constitution as the 
 "supreme law of the land," representing the will of the people as the 
 sole governing power, so that under it and its amendments, the Nation 
 may become more and more actually self-governing; 
 
 (6) To defend the rights of private ownership of property and the 
 maintenance of the profit system ; 
 
 (7) To recognize that corporations derive their chartered powers 
 from the State-^the people — and that they should therefore be governed 
 by the laws of the people and not by the absentee capitalist nor by a 
 bureaucratic form of labor unionism ; 
 
 (8) To promulgate the abolishing of the Hamiltonian theory of 
 taxation, i.e.^ that government should be supported in the last analysis 
 by an indirect tax upon consumption ; and in its place, secure the 
 adoption of the Jcffersonian theory of a direct tax upon profits and 
 incomes. To prevent these taxes from being shifted to the backs of 
 the consumers, the American Constitutional Alliance advocates that the 
 mathematics belonging to the Geometric Tax principle be so applied that 
 equity and justice may thereby be dispensed to every American citizen 
 in the exact proportion as each is entitled to it through the government 
 installed by its citizenry; 
 
 (9) To accord persuasion, through enlightenment and constitutional 
 nrovision, a governing power superior to that of legislative concentra- 
 tion, the American Constitutional Alliance advocates that the American 
 people add the Geometric Tax amendments to the Constitution, so that 
 an inflexible rule governing distribution may be created and thereby sup- 
 port the morals of that which is an integral part of pure ethics in gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 (10) Therefore, to preserve the good created in the nineteenth 
 century for the use of the civilization of the future, the American Con- 
 stitutional Alliance calls upon true Americans, with real patriotism in 
 their souls, to come forward and form club Alliances, each center electing 
 a member to the State Executive Committee and perm.it the Chairman of 
 this committee to automatically take his place as a member of the 
 National Executive Committee stationed at New York City. 
 
 The American Constitutional Alliance believes that the Geometric Tax 
 on incomes and profits, in connection with its plan for Government Own- 
 ership, will give to the National Government an income of more than 
 $5,000,000,000 annually, without hurt or reaction to the American people. 
 Send 20 cents in stamps to the Anti-Socialist Press, 117 West I32d Street, 
 / New York, for a copy of "Americanism, A Contrast to Single Tax and 
 ^^^ Socialism," anda copy of "The Menace of the I. W. W.," with the remedy 
 X> specifically outlined to cure all troubles now existing between capital and 
 W)or and for the safety of American wealth to its owners. TliESE TWO • 
 BOOKS HOLD THE KEYS TO UNLOCK THE MYSTERIES SUR- 
 ROUNDING THE DEMOCRATIC FORM OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 
 
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