armers, their numbers
kept up by land reforms and scientific farming encouraged by government,
may continue as now to constitute another fifth. We can estimate that
these classes together with those among the shopkeepers, professional
elements, etc., who are directly dependent on them will compose 40 to 50
per cent of the population, while the other capitalists and their direct
dependents account for another 10 per cent or more. Here we have the
possibility of a privileged _majority_, the logical goal of "State
Socialism," and the nightmare of every democrat for whom democracy is
anything more than an empty political reform. With government employees
and capitalists (large and small)--and their direct dependents, forming
50 per cent or more of the population, and supported by a considerable
part of the skilled manual workers, there is a possibility of the
establishment of an iron-bound caste society solidly intrenched in
majority rule.

There are strong reasons, which I shall give in later chapters, for
thinking that some great changes may take place before this day can
arrive.

FOOTNOTES:

[35] William Allen White in the _American Magazine_, January, 1911.

[36] Dr. Lyman Abbott in a series of articles published in the
_Outlook_, 1910, entitled "The Spirit of Democracy," now in book form.

[37] _New York Journal_, Aug. 2, 1910.

[38] The _Outlook_, Sept. 10, 1910.

[39] In his enthusiasm for these undemocratic measures, Dr. Abbott has
retrogressed more than the Southern States, which do not require both a
property and educational qualification, but only one of the two.
Moreover, by the "grandfather" and "understanding" clauses they seek to
exempt as many as possible of the whites, _i.e._ a majority of the
population in most of these States, from any substantial qualification
whatever. Nor does it seem likely that even in the future they will
apply freely; against the poor and illiterate of the white race, the
measures Dr. Abbott advocates. Just such restricted suffrage laws were
repealed in many Southern States from 1820 to 1850, and it is not likely
that the present reaction will go back that far.

[40] The _Outlook_, May 24, 1911.

[41] Governor Woodrow Wilson, Speech in Portland, Oregon, May 18, 1911.

[42] Speech in Senate, May 24, 1911.

[43] Miss Jessie Wallace Hughan in her "American Socialism of the
Present Day" (page 184) has quoted me as saying (in the _New York Call_
of December 12, 1909) that