it inclines to
militarism and centralization, as did Rome in the hands of an emperor,
or Venice in the hands of an oligarchy. The true foundations of
democracy are in the character of the people themselves, that is, of the
individuals who constitute the democracy. These are: first,
intelligence--the power to weigh evidence and draw sound conclusions,
based on adequate information; second, manliness, that which the Romans
called virility, and which at bottom is dignified self-respect,
self-control, and that self-assertion and jealousy of encroachment
which marks those who, knowing their rights, dare maintain them; third,
and equally important, the capacity for cooperation, that willingness
and ability to organize, to trust their leaders, to work together for a
common interest and toward a common destiny, a capacity which we
variously designate as patriotism, public spirit, or self-government.
These are the basic qualities which underlie democracy,--intelligence,
manliness, cooperation. If they are lacking, democracy is futile. Here
is the problem of races, the fundamental division of mankind. Race
differences are established in the very blood and physical constitution.
They are most difficult to eradicate, and they yield only to the slow
processes of the centuries. Races may change their religions, their
forms of government, their modes of industry, and their languages, but
underneath all these changes they may continue the physical, mental, and
moral capacities and incapacities which determine the real character of
their religion, government, industry, and literature. Race and heredity
furnish the raw material, education and environment furnish the tools,
with which and by which social institutions are fashioned; and in a
democracy race and heredity are the more decisive, because the very
education and environment which fashion the oncoming generations are
themselves controlled through universal suffrage by the races whom it is
hoped to educate and elevate.

=Social Classes.=--Closely connected with race division in its effect upon
democracy are the divisions between social classes. In America we are
wont to congratulate ourselves on the absence of classes with their
accompanying hatred and envy. Whether we shall continue thus to commend
ourselves depends partly on what we mean by social classes. If we
compare our situation with an extreme case, that of India,[1] where
social classes have been hardened into rigid caste