CONCLUSION
The conflict between extra-legal government and the popular demand
for a true democracy is as irresistible as was the conflict between
the South and the North over the institution of slavery. Extra-legal
government, like the South, represents a vast property interest which,
while at first seeking protection, soon became aggressive in its desire
to extend its power and its institutions. As the North sought to live
with the institution of slavery in the South, to compromise with it
and to check it here and there, so we have been trying to live with
extra-legal government, to compromise with it and to check it when
we saw it in an especially obnoxious form. But as the fight for and
against slavery was never settled till slavery was abolished, so the
war on politocracy will never cease till some great national crisis
has given birth to a new political philosophy and a sound practice
under it, which will sweep extra-legal government from the field. That
philosophy is summed up in three prosaic words: The Short Ballot. They
are the emancipation proclamation for our government. The faithful and
complete application of the principles underlying the short ballot
in our local and state governments will be as important and perhaps
as difficult a step for us to achieve as was the emancipation of the
slaves.
Transcriber’s Notes
Errors in punctuation have been fixed.
Page 142: “proprietory interest” changed to “proprietary interest” to
match the original source.