me means for
the protection of majorities.

For after all, in spite of the English sneers at government by count
of noses, from Carlyle and Sir Henry Maine to the latest utterances,
there is nothing so safe for humanity's interests as the political
majority. It is perfectly true that "the vanguard of human progress
must ever be in the minority." But the hope of this minority lies in
one day becoming the majority. As Disraeli said, that is the
minority's business. The minorities of hereditary privilege, of
priesthood, of monied classes, can perpetuate themselves and their
power. But the majority of voters is always changing and always losing
its power. The minority of radicals is always becoming the majority of
conservatives,--the steadfast power to which progress has tied itself.

Is socialism necessary to the progress of the race? Will not a
perfected fraternalism make the strong hand of socialism needless?
Both questions are to be answered, yes. The perfect state is
undoubtedly pictured in Rousseau's ideal, where every man remains
perfectly free, so that when he obeys the State he obeys only himself.
This is the deep and eternal truth of the law of brotherhood, which is
also the law of liberty. Love is the fulfilling of all law; no laws
will be needed when love is the protection of the weak. Belief in that
coming government of Love is the real religion.

But the practical politics of the present deal with a society where a
strong arm is needed to protect the weak from the tyranny of the
giants. To talk about the principles of brotherhood fully prevailing
in our present conditions, is to treat the laws of Christ with
flippancy. Nine-tenths of the maxims of our modern business system
contradict the law of love. In our present environment it is
impossible for business people or working people to obey the Sermon on
the Mount and not starve. Perhaps a few sacrifices of this kind are
needed to teach us how abhorrent the present selfish system is to the
Christianity of Christ. "I suppose I ought to be thankful to get the
work at all, for they told other women they had no work left for
them," said a woman to me who was making men's pantaloons for two
dollars a dozen. She was part of the system; she was competing with
other less fortunate women as truly as her employer with other firms;
she drank her tea at the expense of her less lucky sister, who had no
work and no tea. What chance does this system afford for perfect
fra