eight of
the collective interests of humanity. They prove the priority of the
principle of construction over that of destruction, and the essentially
thrifty and provident function of the state.

The present form of progressive political institutions will serve as an
index of the times and a pledge of the future. It reflects better than
any other element of civilization that growth of {163} liberality and
solidifying of interests which is the deep current of progress. Human
society is becoming one enterprise, provident of all existing interests
and covetous of the best. Now I know that this is to many but a dreary
spectacle. There are those who feel diminished by it, overwhelmed by
numbers, and degraded to the low level of average capacity and average
attainment. Therefore I wish in conclusion to deal further with this
spirit of the age, to guard it against misunderstanding, and make its
fine quality more apparent.

V

It is charged that modern democracy is contrary to enlightenment
through subordinating the strong man to the multitude of weak men, or
the wise man to the multitude of ignorant men. But the modern idea of
justice is based fundamentally neither on the mere sentiment of pity
nor on fear of the mob, but on love of truth, and respect for all
organs that mediate it. Society cannot afford forcibly to repress the
judgment of any individual or class, lest her deeds be deeds of
darkness. The task of good living is a task of well-nigh overwhelming
difficulty, because it requires that no interest shall be ignored, and
yet that all interests shall be in unison. Interests left out of the
account will inevitably assert themselves, and through their steady
pressure or {164} violent impact destroy the organization which has
excluded them. Hence the need of an order that shall provide for its
own gradual correction; stable enough for security, and pliant enough
to yield without shock to the claims of neglected or abused interests.

This need underlies the modern sentiment of tolerance, and the love of
all the liberties that give a hearing to any sincere demand: freedom of
speech and press, the wide distribution of the franchise, and of
opportunity for power. Contrary to a theory that philosophers have
done much to support, democracy is not a method of confounding
intelligence with the clamor of many voices, but a method of correcting
the single intelligence by the report of whatever other intelligence
m