e here a conflict between two
political systems--between two sets of ethical standards. The supporters
of minority rule no doubt often feel that the whole plan and purpose of
the democratic movement is revolutionary--that its ultimate aim is the
complete overthrow of all those checks designed for the protection of
the minority. The only effective means which they could employ to retard
the progress of the popular movement involved the use of money or its
equivalent in ways that have had a corrupting influence upon our
national life. Of course this need not, and as a rule does not, take the
coarse, crude form of a direct purchase of public officials. The methods
used may in the main conform to all our accepted criteria of business
honesty, but their influence is none the less insidious and deadly. It
is felt in many private institutions of learning; it is clearly seen in
the attitude of a large part of our daily press, and even in the church
itself. This subtle influence which a wealthy class is able to exert by
owning or controlling the agencies for molding public opinion is doing
far more to poison the sources of our national life than all the more
direct and obvious forms of corruption combined. The general public may
not see all this or understand its full significance, but the conviction
is gaining ground that it is difficult to enact and still more difficult
to enforce any legislation contemplating just and reasonable regulation
of corporate wealth. The conservative classes themselves are not
satisfied with the political system as it now is, believing that the
majority, by breaking through restraints imposed by the Constitution,
have acquired more power than they should be permitted to exercise under
any well-regulated government. It is but a step, and a short one at
that, from this belief that the organization of the government is wrong
and its policy unjust, to the conclusion that one is justified in using
every available means of defeating the enactment or preventing the
enforcement of pernicious legislation. On the other hand, the supporters
of majority rule believe that the government is too considerate of the
few and not sufficiently responsive to the wishes of the many. As a
result of this situation neither the advocates nor the opponents of
majority rule have that entire faith in the reasonableness and justice
of present political arrangements, which is necessary to ensure real
respect for, or even ready comp