as
theocratic king ruling in the name of a god, or aristocracy ruling by
military power; and the forces represented by these twain, superseded
by the autocrats of industry, have become the allies of the power which
took their place of pride. Religion and rank, whether content or not
with the subsidiary place they now occupy, are most often courtiers of
Mammon and support him on his throne. For all the talk about democracy
our social order is truly little more democratic than Rome was under the
Caesars, and our new rulers have not, with all their wealth, created
a beauty which we could imagine after-generations brooding over with
uplifted heart.

The people in theocratic States like Egypt or Chaldea, ruled in the
name of gods, saw rising out of the plains in which they lived an
architecture so mysterious and awe-inspiring that they might well
believe the master-minds who designed the temples were inspired from the
Oversoul. The aristocratic States reflected the love of beauty which is
associated with aristocracies. The oligarchies of wealth in our time,
who have no divine sanction to give dignity to their rule nor traditions
of lordly life like the aristocracies, have not in our day created
beauty in the world. But whatever of worth the ancient systems produced
was not good enough to make permanent their social order. Their
civilizations, like ours, were built on the unstable basis of a vast
working-class with no real share in the wealth and grandeur it helped
to create. The character of his kingdom was revealed in dream to
Nebuchadnezzar by an image with a golden head and feet of clay, and that
image might stand as symbol of the empires the world has known. There is
in all a vast population living in an underworld of labor whose freedom
to vote confers on them no real power, and who are most often scorned
and neglected by those who profit by their labors. Indifference turns
to fear and hatred if labor organizes and gathers power, or makes one
motion of its myriad hands towards the sceptre held by the autocrats of
industry. When this class is maddened and revolts, civilization
shakes and totters like cities when the earthquake stirs beneath their
foundations. Can we master these arcane human forces? Can we, by any
device, draw this submerged humanity into the light and make them real
partners in the social order, not partners merely in the political life
of the nation, but, what is of more importance, in its economic lif