of artists within the bounds of intelligible communication, the illumination
of life, and the harmony of parts in a logical sequence and a coherent
whole. If art now seems to lose itself in bizarreries, this is not only because
it is vulgarized by mass suggestion or domination, but also because it has
exhausted the possibilities of old schools and forms, and flounders for a
time in the search for new patterns and styles, new rules and disciplines.
All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and
more good, than any other form of government. It gave to human existence
a zest and camaraderie that outweighed its pitfalls and defects. It gave to
thought and science and enterprise the freedom essential to their operation
and growth. It broke down the walls of privilege and class, and in each
generation it raised up ability from every rank and place. Under its stimulus
Athens and Rome became the most creative cities in history, and America
in two centuries has provided abundance for an unprecedentedly large
proportion of its population. Democracy has now dedicated itself resolutely
to the spread and lengthening of education, and to the maintenance of
public health. If equality of educational opportunity can be established,
democracy will be real and justified. For this is the vital truth beneath its
catchwords: that though men cannot be equal, their access to education and
opportunity can be made more nearly equal. The rights of man are not
rights to office and power, but the rights of entry into every avenue that
may nourish and test a man’s fitness for office and power. A right is not a
gift of God or nature but a privilege which it is good for the group that the
individual should have.
In England and the United States, in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, in
Switzerland and Canada, democracy is today sounder than ever before. It
has defended itself with courage and energy against the assaults of foreign
dictatorship, and has not yielded to dictatorship at home. But if war
continues to absorb and dominate it, or if the itch to rule the world requires
a large military establishment and appropriation, the freedoms of
democracy may one by one succumb to the discipline of arms and strife. If
