"But I think--" protests the theorist.

"_Thinks_ don't pass currency as coin. _Go to work, and pass up
facts_," says Canada.

VI

It may be objected that all this means the survival of the fit, the
rule of the many by the few. That is exactly what it means. That is
the fountain spring of Canada's national idea, whether we like it or
hate it. That is the belief that binds Canada's loyalty to the
monarchical idea--though Canada would as soon call it the presidential
idea as the monarchical idea. She does not care what name you tag it
by so long as she delegates to the selected and elected few the power
to rule. She believes the selected few are better than the unwinnowed
many as rulers. She would sooner have a mathematical school-teacher as
finance minister than a saloon keeper or ward heeler. She believes
that the rule of the select few is better than the rule of the
thoughtless many. She delegates the right and power to rule to those
few, lets them make the laws and bows to the laws as to the laws of
God, as the best possible for the nation because they have been enacted
by the best of her nation. If that best be bad, it is at least not so
bad as the worst. She never says--"Pah! What is law! I made the law!
If it doesn't suit me, I'll break it. I am the law."

Canadians acknowledge they have delegated power to make law to men whom
they believe superior to the general run. Therefore, they obey that
law as above change by the individual. In other words, Canadians
believe in the rule of the many delegated to the superior few. Those
few do what they deem wise; not what the electorate tell them. They
exceed instructions. They lead. They do not obey. But if they fail,
they are thrown to the dogs without mercy, whether the tenure of office
be complete or incomplete. It is the old Saxon idea of the
Witenagemot--the council of a few wise men ruling the clan.

There is the fountain spring of Canadian loyalty to the monarchical
idea. It is not the fat king. It is not any king. It is what the
insignificant personality called "king" stands for, like the
five-dollar bill worthless as wrapping paper but of value as a promise
to deliver the goods.

CHAPTER IV

AMERICANIZATION

I

"The Americanizing of Canada" is a phrase which has been much in vogue
with a section of the British press ever since the attempt to establish
reciprocity between the United States and the Dominion. It is a
ques