It is given to few men to serve their country as greatly as President
Roosevelt has done, yet vastly smaller services are still tremendously
worth while. I question whether there has ever been a time and place
(except in violent crises) when the demand for public spirit was greater
than now and the results of it more assured. Public spirit is never
needed more than in times of prosperity, and it is never more effective.
It is the boat which is floating easily and rapidly with the stream that
is most in danger of striking the rocks.
The reasons why public opinion may be so effective in the United States
are not far to seek. The extreme sensitiveness of our form of government
to political control is one of the commonplaces that has real meaning.
We seldom realize that ours is actually what it pretends to be--a
representative government--and our legislatures are extraordinarily
sensitive to what the people, the politically effective people, really
want. The Senators and Representatives in Congress do actually and
accurately represent the men who send them there, and they respond like
lightning to a clear order from the controlling element at home.
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