D

Dante

When Dante deals with the crimes which he most abhorred, simony and barratry, he flails offenders of his age who were of the same type as those who in our days flourish by political or commercial corruption; and he names his offenders, both those just dead and those still living, and puts them, popes and politicians alike, in hell. There have been trust magnates and politicians and editors and magazine-writers in our own country whose lives and deeds were no more edifying than those of the men who lie in the third and the fifth chasm of the eighth circle of the Inferno; yet for a poet to name those men would be condemned as an instance of shocking taste. . . . An imitation of the letters of the times past, when the spirit has wholly altered, would be worse than useless; and the very qualities that help to make Dante’s poem immortal would, if copied nowadays, make the copyist ridiculous. Nevertheless, it would be a good thing if we could, in some measure, achieve the mighty Florentine's high simplicity of soul, at least, to the extent of recognizing in those around us the eternal qualities which we admire or condemn in the men who wrought good or evil at any stage in the world’s previous history. Dante s masterpiece is one of the supreme works of art that the ages have witnessed; but he would have been the last to wish that it should be treated only as a work of art, or worshipped only for art's sake, without reference to the dread lessons it teaches mankind. (Outlook , August 26, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XIV, 446-447; Nat. Ed. XII, 104-105.

Darwin, Charles

See Science.

Davis, Richard Harding

As for Richard Harding Davis, although in his life he did much good work, he never did better work than in his last two years, when he served France and thereby served America with all the intensity of his virile Americanism. During the past three years, every man who has been a pacifist, or pro-German, and every man who has failed from the outset to strive with all his strength for preparedness, has been false to America, and false to humanity, and has deserved ill of this country, and ill of mankind. Long before this war began, Richard Harding Davis was striving for preparedness, and from the beginning of the war he realized that Germany had made herself the champion of all that was basest and most evil, and should be opposed by every lover of liberty, and believer in right, and that France, to a peculiar degree, symbolized in this contest the great cause, or group of causes to which, in the past, all of the Americans to whom our country owes most had dedicated their lives. (Introduction dated May 1917.) For France, edited by Charles Hanson Towne. (Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, 1917), p. x.

Death

Death is always and under all circumstances a tragedy, for if it is not, then it means that life itself has become one. But it is well to live bravely and joyously, and to face the inevitable end without flinching when we go to join the men and the tribes of immemorial eld. Death is the one thing certain for the nation as for the man, though from the loins of the one as from the loins of the other descendants may spring to carry on through the ages the work done by the dead. (To Spring Rice, March 12, 1900.) The Letters and Friendships of Sir Cecil Spring Rice. (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1929), 1, 317.

____________. Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. Both life and death are part of the same Great Adventure. Never yet was worthy adventure worthily carried through by the man who put his personal safety first. (Metropolitan, October 1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 263; Nat. Ed. XIX, 243.

____________. Well, friend, you and I are in the range of the rifle-pits; from now on until we ourselves fall- and that date cannot be so many years distant—we shall see others whom we love fall. It is idle to complain or to rail at the inevitable; serene and high of heart we must face our fate and go down into the darkness. (Letter written shortly before his death.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 557; Bishop II, 476.

Death Penalty

See Capital Punishment

Debate in Congress

Congress is the legislative body. To legislate means to make laws, not merely to talk about them. The laws should be made after debate, but the debate should be wholly subsidiary to the actual voting, and should be conducted in good faith with this object in view. Under the Reed rules there was ample opportunity for debate. In. fact the pages of The Congressional Record show that there was more debate in the Fifty-first than in any preceding Congress. When the debates of a legislative body oc cupy a series of volumes so large and so numerous as those of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,'' it is not worthwhile to answer the assertion that debate was strangled in that Congress. (Forum, December 1895.) Mem. Ed. XVI, 251; Nat. Ed. XIV, 177.

Debate

See also Congress; Filibustering; Reed, Thomas B.; Representative Government.

Debating Contests

I have not the slightest sympathy with debating contests in which each side is arbitrarily assigned a given proposition and told to maintain it without the least reference to whether those maintaining it believe in it or not. I know that under our system this is necessary for lawyers, but I emphatically disbelieve in it as regards general discussion of political, social, and industrial matters. What we need is to turn out of our colleges young men with ardent convictions on the side of the right; not young men who can make a good argument for either right or wrong as their interest bids them. The present method of carrying on debates on such subjects as "Our Colonial Policy," or “The Need of a Navy," or "The Proper Position of the Courts in Constitutional Questions," encourages precisely the wrong attitude among those who take part in them. There is no effort to instill sincerity and intensity of conviction. On the contrary, the net result is to make the contestants feel that their convictions have nothing to do with their arguments. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 28; Nat. Ed. XX, 25.

Debating

See also Oratory

Debtor in America

The debtor, in America at least, is amply able to take care of his own interests. Our experience shows conclusively that the creditors only prosper when the debtors prosper, and the danger lies less in the accumulation of debts, than in their repudiation. Among us the communities which repudiate their debts, which inveigh loudest against their creditors, and which offer the poorest field for the operations of the honest banker (whom they likewise always call "money-lender") are precisely those which are least prosperous and least self-respecting. There are, of course, individuals here and there who are unable to cope with the money-lender, and even sections of the country where this is true; but this only means that a weak or thriftless man can be robbed by a sharp money- lender just as he can be robbed by the sharp producer from whom he buys or to whom he sells. (Forum, January 1897.) Mem. Ed. XIV, 145; Nat. Ed. XIII, 256.

Debtor

See also Currency; National Honor.

Decadence

Most emphatically there is such a thing as "decadence" of a nation, a race, a type; and it is no less true that we cannot give any adequate explanation of the phenomenon. Of course there are many partial explanations, and in some cases, as with the decay of the Mongol or Turkish monarchies, the sum of these partial explanations may represent the whole. But there are other cases, notably, of course, that of Rome in the ancient world, and, as I believe, that of Spain in the modern world, on a much smaller scale, where the sum of all the explanations is that they do not wholly explain. Something seems to have gone out of the people or peoples affected, and what it is no one can say. (To A. J. Balfour, March 8, 1905.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 122; Bishop II, 105.

Decadence

See also Death; National Decay; Racial Decay; Roman Empire; Spain.

Decency and Efficiency

If I wished to accomplish anything for the country, my business was to combine decency and efficiency; to be a thoroughly practical man of high ideals who did his best to reduce those ideals to actual practice. This was my ideal, and to the best of my ability I strove to live up to it. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 107; Nat. Ed. XX, 91.

Decency and Strength

I desire to see in this country the decent men strong and the strong men decent, and until we get that combination in pretty good shape we are not going to be by any means as successful as we should be. (Before Holy Name Society, Oyster Bay, N. Y., August 16, 1903.) Mem. Ed. XV, 524; Nat. Ed. XIII, 590.

Decency as a Standard

Measure iniquity by the heart, whether a man's purse be full or empty, partly full or partly empty. If the man is a decent man, whether well off or not well off, stand by him; if he is not a decent man stand against him, whether he be rich or poor. Stand against him in no spirit of vengeance, but only with the resolute purpose to make him act as decent citizens must act if this Republic is to be, and to be kept, what it shall become. (Speech at Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 4, 1906.) Mem. Ed. XVIII, 10; Nat. Ed. XVI, 9.

Decency

See also Weakness

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence derived its peculiar importance, not on account of what America was, but because of what she was to become; she shared with other nations the present, and she yielded to them the past, but it was felt in return that to her, and to her especially, belonged the future. (At Dickinson, Dakota Territory, July 4, 1886.) Hermann Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Bad Lands. (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1921), p 408.

____________. I am afraid I have not got as much reverence for the Declaration of Independence as I should have because it has made certain untruths immortal. (Recorded by Butt in letter of July 24, 1908.) The Letters of Archie Butt, Personal Aide to President Roosevelt. (Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N. Y., 1924), p. 68.

____________. We Progressives hold that the words of the Declaration of Independence, as given effect to by Washington and as construed and applied by Abraham Lincoln, are to be accepted as real, and not as empty phrases. We believe that in very truth this is a government by the people themselves, that the Constitution is theirs, that the courts are theirs, that all the governmental agents and agencies are theirs. (At Madison Square Garden, N. Y. C., October 30, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 460; Nat. Ed. XVII, 337.

Decoration Day

See Memorial Day.

Deeds—Credit for

In this world, in the long run, the job must necessarily fall to the man who both can and will do it when it must be done, even though he does it roughly or imperfectly. It is well enough to deplore and to strive against the conditions which make it necessary to do the job; but when once face to face with it, the man who fails either in power or will, the man who is half-hearted, reluctant, or incompetent, must give way to the actual doer, and he must not complain because the doer gets the credit and reward. (1900.) Mem. Ed. XIII, 405; Nat. Ed. X, 288.

Deeds Versus Words

One of our besetting sins as a nation has been to encourage in our public servants, in our speech-making leaders of all kinds, the preaching of impossible ideals; and then to treat this as offsetting the fact that in practice these representatives did not live up to any ideals whatever. The vital need is that we as a nation shall say what we mean and shall make our public servants say what they mean; say it to other nations and say it to us, ourselves. Let us demand that we and they preach realizable ideals and that we and they live up to the ideals thus preached. Let there be no impassable gulf between exuberance of impossible promise and pitiful insufficiency in quality of possible performance. (1916.) Mem. Ed. XX, 530; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 455.

Deeds

See also Action; Boasting; Criticism; Practicality.

Deer, Mule

The mule-deer is a striking and beautiful animal. As is the case with our other species, it varies greatly in size, but is on the average heavier than either the whitetail or the true blacktail. The horns also average longer and heavier, and in exceptional heads are really noteworthy trophies. Ordinarily a full- grown buck has a head of ten distinct and well- developed points, eight of which consist of the bifurcations of the two main prongs into which each antler divides, while in addition there are two shorter basal or frontal points. But the latter are very irregular, being sometimes missing; while sometimes there are two or three of them on each antler. When missing it usually means that the antlers are of young animals that have not attained their full growth. (1905.) Mem. Ed. III, 207; Nat. Ed. III, 36.

____________. The mule-deer differs widely from the whitetail in its habits, and especially in its gait and in the kind of country which it frequents. Although in many parts of its range it is found side by side with its whitetail cousin, the two do not actually associate together, and their propinquity is due simply to the fact that, the river-bottoms being a favorite haunt of the whitetail, long tongues of the distribution area of this species are thrust into the domain of its bolder, less stealthy, and less crafty kinsman. Throughout the plains country the whitetail is the deer of the river-bottoms, where the rank growth gives it secure hiding-places, as well as ample food. The mule-deer, on the contrary, never comes down into the dense growths of the river- bottoms. (1905.) Mem. Ed. III, 211; Nat. Ed. III, 39.

Deer, Mule—Hunting the

Ordinarily the mule-deer must be killed by long tramping among the hills, skilful stalking, and good shooting. The successful hunter should possess good eyes, good wind, and good muscles. He should know how to take cover and how to use. his rifle. The work is sufficiently rough to test any man s endurance, and yet there is no such severe and intense toil as in following true mountain game, like the bighorn or white goat. As the hunter’s one aim is to see the deer before it sees him, he can only use the horse to take him to the hunting-ground. Then he must go through the most likely ground and from every point of vantage scan with minute care the landscape round about, while himself unseen. If the country is wild and the deer have not been much molested, he will be apt to come across a band that is feeding. Under such circumstances it is easy to see them at once. But if lying down, it is astonishing how the gray of their winter coats fits in with the color of their surroundings. (1905.) Mem. Ed. III, 228; Nat. Ed. III, 53.

Deer, Whitetail

The whitetail deer is now, as it always has been, the most plentiful and most widely distributed of the American big game. It holds its own in the land better than any other species, because it is by choice a dweller in the thick forests and swamps, the places around which the tide of civilization flows, leaving them as islets of refuge for the wild creatures which formerly haunted all the country. The range of the whitetail is from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Canadian to the Mexican borders, and somewhat to the north and far to the south of these limits. The animal shows a wide variability, both individually and locally, within these confines. (1905.) Mem. Ed. III, 178; Nat. Ed. III, 12.

Deer, Whitetail—Hunting the

Whitetail are comparatively easily killed with hounds, and there are very many places where this is almost the only way they can be killed at all. Formerly in the Adirondacks this method of hunting was carried on under circumstances which rendered those who took part in it objects of deserved contempt. The sportsman stood in a boat while his guides put out one or two hounds in the chosen forest side. After a longer or shorter run the deer took to the water; for whitetail are excellent swimmers, and when pursued by hounds try to shake them off by wading up or down stream or by swimming across a pond, and, if tired, come to bay in some pool or rapid. Once the unfortunate deer was in the water, the guide rowed the boat after it. If it was yet early in the season, and the deer was still in the red summer coat, it would sink when shot, and therefore the guide would usually take hold of its tail before the would-be Nimrod butchered it. If the deer was in the blue, the carcass would float, so it was not necessary to do anything quite so palpably absurd. But such sport, so far as the man who did the shooting was concerned, had not one redeeming feature. The use of hounds has now been prohibited by law. (1905.) Mem. Ed. III. 196; Nat. Ed. III, 27.

Deer Hunting

A man who is hardy, resolute, and a good shot, has come nearer to realizing the ideal of a bold and free hunter than is the case with one who is merely stealthy and patient; and so, though to kill a white-tail is rather more difficult than to kill a black- tail, yet the chase of the latter is certainly the nobler form of sort, for it calls into play and either develops or implies the presence of much more manly qualities than does the other. Most hunters would find it nearly as difficult to watch in silence by a salt-lick throughout the night, and then to butcher with a shot-gun a white-tail, as it would be to walk on foot through rough ground from morning till evening, and to fairly approach and kill a black-tail; yet there is no comparison between the degree of credit to be attached to one feat and that to be attached to the other. Indeed, if difficulty in killing is to be taken as a criterion, a mink or even a weasel would have to stand as high up in the scale as a deer, were the animals equally plenty. (1885.) Mem. Ed. I, 129; Nat. Ed. I, 106.

Defense

The only defensive that is worth anything is the offensive. (Campaign speech, New York City, October 5, 1898.) Mem. Ed. XVI, 445; Nat. Ed. XIV, 293.

____________. Mere defensive by itself cannot permanently avail. The only permanently efficient defensive arm is one which can act offensively. (Everybody's, January 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 161; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 138.

Defense, Passive

Passive defense, giving the assailant complete choice of the time and place for attack, is always a most dangerous expedient. (Atlantic Monthly, October 1890.) Mem. Ed. XIV, 315; Nat. Ed. XII, 272.

Defense Measures — Insistence Upon

It is a fine alliance, that between the anglo-maniac mugwumps, the socialist working men, and corrupt politicians like Gorman, to prevent the increase of our Navy and coast defenses. The moneyed and semi- cultivated classes, especially of the Northeast, are doing their best to bring this country down to the Chinese level. If we ever come to nothing as a nation it will be because the teaching of Carl Schurz, President Eliot, the Evening Post and the futile sentimentalists of the international arbitration type, bears its legitimate fruit in producing a flabby, timid type of character, which eats away the great fighting features of our race. Hand in hand with the Chinese timidity and inefficiency of such a character would go the Chinese corruption. (To H. C. Lodge, April 29, 1896.) Lodge Letters I, 218.

Defense of a Democracy

We in America claim that a democracy can be as efficient for defense as an autocracy, as a despotism. It is idle to make this claim, it is idle to utter windy eloquence in Fourth of July speeches, and to prate in public documents about our greatness and our adherence to democratic principles and the mission we have to do good on the earth by spineless peacefulness, if we are not able, if we are not willing, to make our words count by means of our deeds. (Metropolitan, November 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 386; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 330.

Defense

See also Army; Military Forces; Military Training; National Defense; Navy; Pacifism; Preparedness.

Demagogue

The demagogue, in all his forms, is as characteristic an evil of a free society as the courtier is of a despotism. (Forum, February 1895.) Mem. Ed. XV, 8; Nat. Ed. XIII, 7.

____________. To play the demagogue for purposes of self-interest is a cardinal sin against the people in a democracy, exactly as to play the courtier for such purposes is a cardinal sin against the people under other forms of government. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, III; Nat. Ed. XX, 95.

____________. When there is a great unrest, partly reasoning and partly utterly unreasoning and unreasonable, it becomes extremely difficult to beat a loud-mouthed demagogue, especially if he is a demagogue of great wealth. (To H. C. Lodge, November 9, 1911.) Lodge Letters II, 415.

Demagogues and Corruptionists

In the end the honest man, whether rich or poor, who earns his own living and tries to deal justly by his fellows, has as much to fear from the insincere and unworthy demagogue, promising much and performing nothing or else performing nothing but evil, who would set on the mob to plunder the rich, as from the crafty corruptionist, who, for his own ends, would permit the common people to be exploited by the very wealthy. If we ever let this government fall into the hands of men
of either these two classes, we shall show ourselves false to America's past. Moreover, the demagogue and the corruptionist often work hand in hand. (Sixth Annual Message, Washington, December 3, 1906.) Mem. Ed. XVII, 420; Nat. Ed. XV, 358.

Democracy

The most genuine republican, if he has any common sense, does not believe in a democratic government for every race and in every age. (1888.) Mem. Ed. VIII, 418; Nat. Ed. VII, 360.

____________. The principle of the sovereignty of the people is vital to all democracy. If the people fail to exercise that sovereignty with justice, self-control and practical good sense, then they show they are not fit for democracy. But if they are fit for democracy, then the sovereignty is and must be theirs, and theirs in fact and not merely in name. A free democracy fit for self- government must insist on governing itself and not being governed by others. Such a democracy can no more recognize the divine right of judges than the divine right of kings. It must itself declare what the laws and the constitution shall be. Outlook, November 15, 1913, p. 596.

Democracy—Belief in

I had always been instinctively and by nature a democrat, but if I had needed conversion to the democratic ideal here in America the stimulus would have been supplied by what I saw of the attitude, not merely of the bulk of the men of greatest wealth, but of the bulk of the men who most prided themselves upon their education and culture, when we began in good faith to grapple with the wrong and injustice of our social and industrial system, and to hit at the men responsible for the wrong, no matter how high they stood in business or in politics, at the bar or on the bench. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 324; Nat. Ed. XX, 277.

____________. The more I see of the Czar, the Kaiser, and the Mikado, the better I am content with democracy, even if we have to include the American newspaper as one of its assets—liability would be a better term. (To H. C. Lodge, June 16, 1905.) Mem. Ed. XXIII, 453; Bishop I, 394.

Democracy—Despotism in a

England, in the present century, has shown how complete may be the freedom of the individual under a nominal monarchy; and the Dreyfus incident in France would be proof enough, were any needed, that despotism of a peculiarly revolting type may grow rankly, even in a republic, if there is not in its citizens a firm and lofty purpose to do justice to all men and guard the rights of the weak as well as of the strong. (1900.) Mem. Ed. XIII, 302; Nat. Ed. X, 199.

Democracy—Foes of

Every professional pacifist in America, every representative of commercialized greed, every apostle of timidity, every sinister creature who betrays his country by pandering to the anti-American feeling which masquerades under some species of hyphenated Americanism—all these men and women and their representatives in public life are at this moment working against democracy. If the democratic ideal fails, if democracy goes down, they will be primarily to blame. For democracy will assuredly go down if it once be shown that it is incompatible with national security. (Metropolitan, November 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 387; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 331.

Democracy—Object of

The true object of democracy should be to guarantee each man his rights, with the purpose that each shall thereby be enabled better to do his duty. . . . Democracy means failure if it merely substitutes a big privileged for a small privileged class, and if this big privileged class in its turn desires nothing more than selfish material enjoyment. The man who receives what he has not earned and does not earn, the man who does not render service in full for all that he has, is out of place in a democratic community. (Outlook, March 25, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 141; Nat. Ed. XVII, 100.

Democracy—Participation in a

The humblest among us, no matter what his creed, his birthplace, or the color of his skin, so long as he behaves in straight and decent fashion, must have guaranteed to him under the law his right to life and liberty, to protection from injustice, to the enjoyment of the fruits of his own labor, and to do his share in the work of self-government on the same terms with others of like fitness. (Outlook, August 24, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 414; Nat. Ed. XVII, 302.

Democracy—Progress in a

In popular government results worth having can only be achieved by men who combine worthy ideals with practical good sense; who are resolute to accomplish good purposes, but who can accommodate themselves to the give and take necessary where work has to be done, as almost all important work has to be done, by combination. (At the Harvard Union, Cambridge, February 23, 1907.) Mem. Ed. XV, 489; Nat. Ed. XIII. 565.

Democracy—Service in a

Unless democracy is based on the principle of service by everybody who claims the enjoyment of any right, it is not true democracy at all. The man who refuses to render, or is ashamed to render, the necessary service is not fit to live in a democracy. And the man who demands from another a service which he himself would esteem it dishonorable or unbecoming to render is to that extent not a true Democrat. No man has a right to demand a service which he does not regard as honorable to render; nor has he a right to demand it unless he pays for it in some way, the payment to include respect for the man who renders it. Democracy must mean mutuality of service rendered, and of respect for the service rendered. (Metropolitan, March 1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 372; Nat. Ed. XIX, 338.

Democracy—Success in a

From the days when civilized man first began to strive for self- government and democracy success in this effort has depended primarily upon the ability to steer clear of extremes. (1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 377; Nat. Ed. XIX, 342.

Democracy, American

We must make this nation a real democracy; an economic as well as political democracy free from every taint of either sectional or sectarian hatred; a democracy of true brotherhood which knows neither North nor South, East nor West, which recognizes the right of each man to worship his Creator as he chooses; a democracy which recognizes service and not pleasure as the ideal for every man, and woman, which stands for each individual’s performance of his own duty toward others even more than for his insistence upon his rights as against others. (At New York City, February 12, 1913.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 507; Nat. Ed. XVII, 377.

Democracy, American—Features of

The distinctive features of the American system are its guarantees of personal independence and individual freedom; that is, as far as possible, it guarantees to each man his right to live as he chooses and to regulate his own private affairs as he wishes, without being interfered with or tyrannized over by an individual, or by an oligarchic minority, or by a Democratic majority; while, when the interests of the whole community are at stake, it is found best in the long run to let them be managed in accordance with the wishes of the majority of those pre sumably concerned. (1887.) Mem. Ed. VIII, 180; Nat. Ed. VII, 157.

Democracy, American—Opportunity for

Here in America we the people have a continent on which to work out our destiny, and our faith is great that our men and women are fit to face the mighty days. Nowhere else in all the world is there such a chance for the triumph on a gigantic scale of the great cause of Democratic and popular government. If we fail, the failure will be lamentable, and our heads will be bowed with shame; for not only shall we fail for ourselves, but our failure will wreck the fond desires of all throughout the world who look toward us with the fond hope that here in this great Republic it shall be proved from ocean to ocean that the people can rule themselves, and thus ruling can gain liberty for and do justice both to themselves and to others. We who stand for the cause of the uplift of humanity and the betterment of mankind are pledged to eternal war against wrong whether by the few or by the many, by a plutocracy or by a mob. We believe that this country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in. The sons of all of us will pay in the future if we of the present do not do justice to all in the present. Our cause is the cause of justice for all in the interest of all. (At Chicago, June 17, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 316; Nat. Ed. XVII, 230.

Democracy, American—Principles of

We stand against all tyranny, by the few or by the many. We stand for the rule of the many in the interest of all of us, for the rule of the many in a spirit of courage, of common sense, of high purpose, above all in a spirit of kindly justice toward every man and every woman. We not merely admit, but insist, that there must be self-control on the part of the people, that they must keenly perceive their own duties as well as the rights of others; but we also insist that the people can do nothing unless they not merely have, but exercise to the full, their own rights. The worth of our great experiment depends upon its being in good faith an experiment— the first that has ever been tried—in true democracy on the scale of a continent, on a scale as vast as that of the mightiest empires of the Old World. Surely this is a noble ideal, an ideal for which it is worthwhile to strive, an ideal for which at need it is worthwhile to sacrifice much, for our ideal is the rule of all the people in a spirit of friendliest brotherhood toward each and every one of the people. (At Carnegie Hall, N. Y. C., March 20, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 223; Nat. Ed. XVII, 171.

____________. Our nation was founded to perpetuate democratic principles. These principles are that each man is to be treated on his worth as a man without regard to the land from which his forefathers came and without regard to the creed which he professes. If the United States proves false to these principles of civil and religious liberty, it will have inflicted the greatest blow on the system of free popular government that has ever been inflicted. (Before Knights of Columbus, New York City, October 12, 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 453; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 389.

Democracy, American—Responsibility of

Our country—this great Republic—means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy, the triumph of popular government, and, in the long run, of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him. That is why the history of America is now the central feature of the history of the world; for the world has set its face hopefully toward our democracy; and, O my fellow citizens, each one of you carries on your shoulders not only the burden of doing well for the sake of your own country, but the burden of doing well and of seeing that this nation does well for the sake of mankind. (At Osawatomie, Kan., August 31, 1910.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 10; Nat. Ed. XVII, 5.

____________. Our country offers the most wonderful example of democratic government on a giant scale that the world has ever seen; and the peoples of the world are watching to see whether we succeed or fail. We believe with all our hearts in democracy; in the capacity of the people to govern themselves; and we are bound to succeed, for our success means not only our own triumph, but the triumph of the cause of the rights of the people throughout the world, and the uplifting of' the banner of hope for all the nations of mankind. (Before New York Republican State Convention, Saratoga, September 27, 1910.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 37; Nat. Ed. XVII, 28.

____________. The existence of this nation has no real significance, from the standpoint of humanity at large, unless it means the rule of the people, and the achievement of a greater measure of widely diffused popular well-being than has ever before obtained on a like scale. Unless this is in very truth a government of, by, and for the people, then both historically and in world interest our national existence loses most of its point. Nominal republics with a high aggregate of industrial prosperity, and governed normally by rich traders and manufacturers in their own real or fancied interest, but occasionally by violent and foolish mobs, have existed in many previous ages. There is little to be gained by repeating on a bigger scale in the western hemisphere the careers of Tyre and Carthage on the shores of the Mediterranean. (Outlook, January 21, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 86; Nat. Ed. XVII, 53.

____________. I hold that we of this nation are false to our professions, false to the traditions handed down to us by the founders and the preservers of the Republic, if we do not make it in very truth a real republic, a democracy in fact as well as in name, a democracy where each man stands on his worth as a man and is judged as such; a democracy in which the people really rule themselves, where their representatives do not rule them but honestly and efficiently manage the government for them. (At St. Louis, Mo., March 28, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 239; Nat. Ed. XVII, 176.

Democracy, American—Test of

Our democracy is now put to a vital test; for the conflict is between human rights on the one side and on the other special privilege asserted as a property right. The parting of the ways has come. The Republican party must definitely stand on one side or the other. It must stand, by deeds, and not merely by empty phrases, for the rights of humanity, or else it must stand for special privilege. Our opponents are fond of calling themselves regular Republicans. In reality they have no title to membership in any party that is true to the principles of Abraham Lincoln. They are fighting for the cause of special privilege and their chief strength is drawn from the beneficiaries of intrenched economic and social injustice. (At Chicago, June 17, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 306; Nat. Ed. XVII, 221. 

Democracy, Economic

Our whole experiment is meaningless unless we are to make this a democracy in the fullest sense of the word, in the broadest as well as the highest and deepest significance of the word. It must be made a democracy economically as well as politically. Outlook, September 3, 1910, p. 21. 

____________. There can be no real political democracy unless there is something approaching an economic democracy. A democracy must consist of men who are intellectually, morally, and materially fit to be their own masters. There can be neither political nor industrial democracy unless people are reasonably well-to-do, and also reasonably able to achieve the difficult task of self-mastery. (Outlook, November 18, 1914. ) Mem. Ed. XIV, 220; Nat. Ed. XII, 237.

Democracy and Privilege

I advocate genuine popular rule in nation, in State, in city, in county, as offering the best possible means for eliminating special privilege alike in politics and in' business, and for getting a genuine equality of opportunity for every man to show the stuff there is in him. I do not demand equality of reward. There is wide inequality of service, and where this is the case it is but just that there should be inequality of reward, for it would be the rankest kind of injustice to reward the man who renders worthless service as well as we strive, however inadequately, to reward him who renders service that is literally priceless. But I do ask that we endeavor so to shape our governmental policy as to bring about a measurable equality of opportunity for all men and all women so as to do justice to man and to woman, to big and to little, to rich and to poor. (At St. Louis, Mo., March 28, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 238; Nat. Ed. XVII, 175.

Democracy and the World War

It is at least possible that the conflict will result in a growth of democracy in Europe, in at least a partial substitution of the rule of the people for the rule of those who esteem it their God-given right to govern the people. This, in its turn, would render it probably a little more unlikely that there would be a repetition of such disastrous warfare. I do not think that at present it would prevent the possibility of warfare. . . . The growth of the power of the people, while it would not prevent war, would at least render it more possible than at present to make appeals which might result in some cases in coming to an accommodation based upon justice; for justice is what popular rule must be permanently based upon and must permanently seek to obtain or it will not itself be permanent. (Outlook, September 23, 1914.) Mem. Ed. XX, 32; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 27.

____________. When we went to war there was neither talk nor thought of "making the world safe for democracy"—if war for that purpose was necessary, then it had been necessary for the preceding two years and a half. We went to war because for two years the Germans had been murdering our unarmed men, women, and children, and had definitely announced their intention to continue the practice. After we had been at war a few weeks the President announced that our purpose was to make the world safe for democracy. This phrase, uttered by the President when we were already at war, solemnly pledged us to exert our whole strength, and suffer any losses, in a terrible crusade, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of mankind as a whole. To make such a pledge lightly, or to abandon it when once made, would be infamous. Therefore we must keep it. (1917.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 10; Nat. Ed. XIX, 9.

Democracy

See also Citizenship ; Civic Duty; Education; Equality; Frontier Democracy; Government; Industrial Democracy; Initiative; Leadership; Liberty; Power; Privilege; Republican Government; Self-Government; Suffrage; Voting.

Democratic Ideal, the

Let us be true to our democratic ideal, not by the utterance of cheap platitudes, not by windy oratory, but by living our lives in such manner as to show that democracy can be efficient in promoting the public welfare during periods of peace and efficient in securing national freedom in time of war. . . . The democratic ideal must be that of subordinating chaos to order, of subordinating the individual to the community, of subordinating individual selfishness to collective self-sacrifice for a lofty ideal, of training every man to realize that no one is entitled to citizenship in a great free commonwealth unless he does his full duty to his neighbor, his full duty in his family life, and his full duty to the nation; and unless he is prepared to do this duty not only in time of peace but also in time of war. It is by no means necessary that a great nation should always stand at the heroic level. But no nation has the root of greatness in it unless in time of need it can rise to the heroic mood. (1916.) Mem. Ed. XX, 532-533; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 456-457.

____________. Mutuality of respect and consideration, service and a reward corresponding as nearly as may be to the service—these make up the ideal of democracy. Such an ideal is as far from the stupid bourbonism of reaction as it is from the vicious lunacy of the Bolsheviki or I. W. W. type. (Metropolitan, March 1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 375; Nat. Ed. XIX, 340. DEMOCRATIC PARTY. The Democratic party is now what it was twenty years ago; as long as the history of our State has been, as long as the history of our nation has lasted, the Democrats have been one and the same; from Jefferson, miscalled the Great, to Buchanan, the Little, it has been one and the same thing all the way through. (At Republican mass-meeting, 21st Assembly Dist., New York City, October 28, 1882.) Mem. Ed. XVI, 15; Nat. Ed. XIV, 13.

____________. There are a few of the members of the Democracy who do at times, at any rate, pay attention to reason and justice, but with the rank and file of that party as it is constituted I do not think much can ever be hoped for. (In New York Assembly, March 9, 1883.) Mem. Ed. XVI, 26; Nat. Ed. XIV, 19.

Democratic Party and Progressive Party

From the Democratic party as at present constituted we are radically divided both because of the utter incoherence within that party itself, and because the doctrines to which it is at present committed are either fundamentally false or else set forth with a rhetorical vagueness which makes it utterly futile to attempt to reduce them to practice. The Democratic party can accomplish nothing of good unless it deliberately repudiates its campaign pledges—unless it deliberately breaks the promises it solemnly made in order to acquire power. Such repudiation necessarily means an intellectual dishonesty so great that no skill in rhetorical dialectics can cover or atone for it. To win power by definite promises, and then seek to retain it by the repudiation of those promises, would show a moral unfitness such as not to warrant further trust of any kind. Therefore we must proceed upon the assumption that the leaders of the democracy meant what they said when they were seeking to obtain office. Their only performance so far, at the time that this article is written, is in connection with the tariff and with a discreditable impotence in foreign affairs. As a means of helping to solve great industrial and social problems, the tariff is merely a red herring dragged across the trail to divert our people from the real issues. (Century, October 1913.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 539; Nat. Ed. XVII, 397.

Democratic Party

See also Copperheads; Jefferson, Thomas; Madison, James; New Freedom; Political Parties; Tammany Hall; Tariff; Wilson, Wood-Row.

Denmark—Social Legislation In

I was interested in the Old Age homes, and in the co-operative farming, although I could only get a glimpse of both; but I was rather puzzled to find that the very great growth of what I should call the wise and democratic use of the powers of the State toward helping raise the individual standard of social and economic well-being had not made the people more contented. It seems to me that the way Denmark has handled the problem of agricultural well-being, and the problem of dealing with the wage-workers who do manual labor, and of securing them against want in their old age, represents a higher and more intelligent social and governmental action than we have begun to have in America; yet I encountered much bitterness toward the national government among the large and growing Socialistic party. (To Sir George Otto Trevelyan, October 1, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 277; Bishop II, 237.

Denominational Schools

See Public Schools; Schools. Depression. See Hard Times; Panic.

Desertion

There can be no graver crime than the crime of desertion from the army and navy, especially during war; it is then high treason to the Nation, and justly punishable by death. No man should be relieved from such a crime. (Message to Senate, March 11, 1902.) Mem. Ed. XXIII, 217; Bishop I, 189.

Despotism

See Anarchists; Democracy; Revolution; Self-Government; Washington, George.

Dewey, Admiral George

Admiral Dewey has done more than add a glorious page to our history; more even than do a deed the memory of which will always be an inspiration to his countrymen, and especially his countrymen of his own profession. He has also taught us a lesson which should have profound practical effects, if only we are willing to learn it aright.

In the first place, he partly grasped and partly made his opportunity. Of course, in a certain sense, no man can absolutely make an opportunity. . . .Nevertheless when the chance does come, only the great man can see it instantly and use it aright. In the second place, it must always be remembered that the power of using the chance aright comes only to the man who has faithfully and for long years made ready himself and his weapons for the possible need. (McClure's Magazine, October 1899.) Mem. Ed. XII, 506; Nat. Ed. XIII, 420.

____________. Admiral Dewey performed one of the great feats of all time. At the very outset of the Spanish war he struck one of the two decisive blows which brought the war to a conclusion, and as his was the first fight, his success exercised an incalculable effect upon the whole conflict. He set the note of the war. He had carefully prepared for action during the months he was on the Asiatic coast. He had his plans thoroughly matured, and he struck the instant that war was declared. There was no delay, no hesitation. As soon as news came that he was to move, his war-steamers turned their bows toward Manila Bay. There was nothing to show whether or not Spanish mines and forts would be efficient; but Dewey, cautious as he was at the right time, had not a particle of fear of taking risks when the need arose. . . . The work, however, was by no means done, and Dewey's diplomacy and firmness were given full scope for the year he remained in Manila waters, not only in dealing with Spaniards and insurgents, but in making it evident that we would tolerate no interference from any hostile European power. (McClure's Magazine, October 1899.) Mem. Ed. XII, 515; Nat. Ed. XIII, 428, 429.

Dickens, Charles

Dickens was an ill-natured, selfish cad and boor, who had no understanding of what the word gentleman meant, and no appreciation of hospitality or good treatment. He was utterly incapable of seeing the high purpose and the real greatness which (in spite of the presence also of much that was bad or vile) could have been visible all around him here in America to any man whose vision was both keen and lofty. He could not see the qualities of the young men growing up here, though it was these qualities that enabled these men to conquer the West and to fight to a finish the great Civil War, and though they were to produce leadership like that of Lincoln, Lee, and Grant. Naturally he would think there was no gentleman in New York, because by no possibility could he have recognized a gentleman if he had met one. Naturally he would condemn all America because he had not the soul to see what America was really doing. (To Kermit Roosevelt, February 29, 1908.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 601; Nat. Ed. XIX, 540.

Dickens' Characters

Dickens' characters are really to a great extent personified attributes rather than individuals. In consequence, while there are not nearly as many who are actually like people one meets, as for instance in Thackeray, there are a great many more who possess characteristics which we encounter continually, though rarely as strongly developed as in the fictional originals. So Dickens' characters last almost as Bunyan's do. For instance, Jefferson Brick and Elijah Pogram and Hannibal Chollop are all real personifications of certain bad tendencies in American life, and I am continually thinking of or alluding to some newspaper editor or Senator or homicidal rowdy by one of these three names. I never met anyone exactly like Uriah Heep, but now and then we see individuals show traits which make it easy to describe them, with reference to those traits, as Uriah Heep. It is just the same with Micawber. Mrs. Nickleby is not quite a real person, but she typifies, in accentuated form, traits which a great many real persons possess, and I am continually thinking of her when I meet them. There are half a dozen books of Dickens which have, I think, furnished more characters which are the constant companions of the ordinary educated man around us, than is true of any other half- dozen volumes published within the same period. (To Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., May 20, 1906.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 565; Nat. Ed. XIX, 507.

____________. I quite agree with you about Tom Pinch. He is a despicable kind of character; just the kind of character Dickens liked, because he had himself a thick streak of maudlin sentimentality of the kind that, as somebody phrased it, "made him wallow naked in the pathetic." It always interests me about Dickens to think how much first-class work he did and how almost all of it was mixed up with every kind of cheap, second- rate matter. I am very fond of him. There are innumerable characters that he has created which symbolize vices, virtues, follies, and the like almost as well as the characters in Bunyan; and therefore I think the wise thing to do is simply to skip the bosh and twaddle and vulgarity and untruth, and get the benefit out of the rest. Of course one fundamental difference between Thackeray and Dickens is that Thackeray was a gentleman and Dickens was not. But a man might do some mighty good work and not be a gentleman in any sense. (To Kermit Roosevelt, February 23, 1908.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 600; Nat. Ed. XIX, 539.

Dictatorship

See Liberty.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is utterly useless where there is no force behind it; the diplomat is the servant, not the master, of the soldier. The prosperity of peace, commercial and material prosperity, gives no weight whatever when the clash of arms comes. (Address as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Naval War College, June 1897.) Mem. Ed. XV, 255; Nat. Ed. XIII, 195.

Diplomacy

See also Alliances; Arbitration; Foreign Policy; Jusserand, J. J.

Diplomatic Service

As a matter of fact, I am anxious to have it understood that it is not necessary to be a multimillionaire in order to reach the highest positions in the American diplomatic service. (To Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, April 11, 1908.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 128; Bishop II, 110.

____________. The American public rarely appreciate the high quality of the work done by some of our diplomats—work, usually entirely unnoticed and unrewarded, which redounds to the interest and the honor of al of us. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 404; Nat. Ed. XX, 347.

Diplomatic Service

See also Ambassadors; Consular Service; Relations; White, Henry.

Direct Action

See Anarchists; Bolshevists; Industrial Workers of the World.

Direct Primary

See Primaries.

Disarmament

Harm and not good would result if the most advanced nations, those in which most freedom for the individual is combined with most efficiency in securing orderly justice as between individuals, should by agreement disarm and place themselves at the mercy of other peoples less advanced, of other peoples still in the stage of military barbarism or military despotism. Anything in the nature of general disarmament would do harm and not good if it left the civilized and peace-loving peoples, those with the highest standards of municipal and international obligation and duty, unable to check the other peoples who have no such standards, who acknowledge no such obligations. (To Andrew Carnegie, April 5, 1907.) Presidential Addresses and State Papers VI, 1191- 1192.

____________. Disarmament of the free and liberty- loving nations would merely mean insuring the triumph of some barbarism or despotism, and if logically applied would mean the extinction of liberty and of all that makes civilization worth having throughout the world. (Outlook , September 23, 1914.) Mem. Ed. XX, 35; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 29.

____________. There is utter inconsistency between the ideal of making this nation the foremost commercial power in the world and of disarmament in the face of an armed world. There is utter inconsistency between the ideal of making this nation a power for international righteousness and at the same time refusing to make us a power efficient in anything save empty treaties and emptier promises. (New York Times, November 15, 1914.) Mem. Ed. XX, 107; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 92.

Disarmament—Dangers of

Nothing would more promote iniquity, nothing would further defer the reign upon earth of peace and righteousness, than for the free and enlightened peoples which, though with much stumbling and many shortcomings, nevertheless strive toward justice, deliberately to render themselves powerless while leaving every despotism and barbarism armed and able to work their wicked will. The chance for the settlement of disputes peacefully, by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession by the nations that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make their purpose effective. (Sixth Annual Message, Washington, December 3, 1906.) Mem. Ed. XVII, 473; Nat. Ed. XV, 403.

____________. Unjust war is dreadful; a just war may be the highest duty. To have the best nations, the free and civilized nations, disarm and leave the despotisms and barbarisms with great military force, would be a calamity compared to which the calamities caused by all the wars of the nineteenth century would be trivial. Yet it is not easy to see how we can by international agreement state exactly which power ceases to be free and civilized and which comes near the line of barbarism or despotism. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 621; Nat. Ed. XX, 534.

Disarmament—Desirability of

If armaments were reduced while causes of trouble were in no way removed, wars would probably become somewhat more frequent just because they would be less expensive and less decisive. It is greatly to be desired that the growth of armaments should be arrested, but they cannot be arrested while present conditions continue. Mere treaties, mere bits of papers, with names signed to them and with no force back of them, have proved utterly worthless for the protection of nations, and where they are the only alternatives it is not only right but necessary that each nation should arm itself so as to be able to cope with any possible foe. (New York Times, October 18, 1914.) Mem. Ed. XX, 64; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 54.

Disarmament

See also Arbitration; Armaments; Defense; National Defense; Naval Armaments; Pacifism; Peace; Preparedness; Unpreparedness.

Discrimination

See Know Nothing Movement; Religious Discrimination.

Dishonesty In Public Service

We can as little afford to tolerate a dishonest man in the public service as a coward in the army. The murderer takes a single life; the corruptionist in public life, whether he be bribe-giver or bribe-taker, strikes at the heart of the commonwealth. (At unveiling of statue of General W. T. Sherman, Washington, October 15, 1903.) Mem. Ed. XXIII, 296; Bishop I, 257.

Dishonesty

See also Bribery; Corruption; Honesty.

Disloyalty and Prejudice

The disloyal man, whether his disloyalty is open or disguised, is our worst foe; but close behind him comes the man who, whether from wickedness or foolishness, assails his loyal fellow citizens because of the blood that flows in their veins. (1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 341; Nat. Ed. XIX, 312.

Disloyalty

See also Loyalty; Prejudice.

Distribution

See Efficiency, National.

Divided Allegiance

See Allegiance.

Dividends

The public must not be expected to sacrifice its own interests and the interests of wage- workers in order to pay dividends on watered stock, or to secure promoters and managers against the consequences of their own folly. Outlook, July 5, 1913, p. 501.

____________. Dividends and wages should go up together; and the relation of rates to them should never be forgotten. This of course does not apply to dividends based on water; nor does it mean that if foolish people have built a road that renders no service, the public must nevertheless in some way guarantee a return on the investment; but it does mean that the interests of the honest investor are entitled to the same protection as the interests of the honest manager, the honest shipper, and the honest wage- earner. All these conflicting considerations should be carefully considered by legislatures before passing laws. One of the great objects in creating commissions should be the provision of disinterested, fair-minded experts who will really and wisely consider all these matters, and will shape their actions accordingly. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 570; Nat. Ed. XX, 490.

Dividends

See also Corporations; Profits; Property.

Divine Right

See Judges; Kings

Division of Powers

It is often said that ours is a government of checks and balances. But this should only mean that these checks and balances obtain as among the several different kinds of representatives of the people—judicial, executive, and legislative—to whom the people have delegated certain portions of their power. It does not mean that the people have parted with their power or cannot resume it. The "division of powers" is merely the division among the representatives of the powers delegated to them; the term must not be held to mean that the people have divided their power with their delegates. The power is the people's, and only the people's. It is right and proper that provision should be made rendering it necessary for the people to take ample time to make up their minds on any point; but there should also be complete provision to have their decision put into immediate and living effect when it has thus been deliberately and definitely reached. (Before Ohio Constitutional Convention, Columbus, February 21, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 166; Nat. Ed. XVII, 122.

____________. In most positions the "division of powers" theory works unmitigated mischief. The only way to get good service is to give somebody power to render it, facing the fact that power which will enable a man to do a job well will also necessarily enable him to do it ill if he is the wrong kind of man. What is normally needed is the concentration in the hands of one man, or of a very small body of men, of ample power to enable him or them to do the work that is necessary; and then the devising of means to hold these men fully responsible for the exercise of that power by the people. This of course means that, if the people are willing to see power misused, it will be misused. But it also means that if, as we hold, the people are fit for self- government—if, in other words, our talk and our institutions are not shams—we will get good government. I do not contend that my theory will automatically bring good government. I do contend that it will enable us to get as good government as we deserve, and that the other way will not. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 205; Nat. Ed. XX, 176.

Division of Powers

See also Executive; Government; President; Special Interests; Supreme Court.

Divorce

Multiplication of divorces means that there is something rotten in the community, that there is some principle of evil at work which must be counteracted and overcome or wide- spread disaster will follow. (At Pacific Theological Seminary, Spring 1911.) Mem. Ed. XV, 594; Nat. Ed. XIII, 631.

____________. I do unqualifiedly condemn easy divorce. I know that the effect on the "Four Hundred" of easy divorce has been very bad. It has been shocking to me to hear young girls about to get married calmly speculating on how long it will be before they get divorces. (To Robert Grant, March 14, 1905.) Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt. (Harcourt, Brace & Co., N. Y., 1931), p. 472.

____________. In my judgment the whole question of marriage and divorce should be relegated to the authority of the National Congress. At present the wide differences in the laws of the different States on this subject result in scandals and abuses; and surely there is nothing so vitally essential to the welfare of the nation, nothing around which the nation should so bend itself to throw every safeguard, as the home life of the average citizen. The change would be good from every standpoint. (Sixth Annual Message, Washington, December 3, 1906.) Mem. Ed. XVII, 442; Nat. Ed. XV, 377.

Divorce Colony

It is one colony of which you want to rid yourselves; I don t care what you do with those of your own State who seek divorces, but keep citizens of other States who want divorces out of Nevada. Don't allow yourselves to be deceived by the argument that such a colony brings money to your city, You can't afford to have that kind of money brought here. (At Reno, Nev., April 3, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 364; Bishop II, 310.

Divorce

See also Marriage.

Doctors

I think that all of us laymen, men and women, have a peculiar appreciation of what a doctor means; for I do not suppose there is one of us who does not feel that the family doctor stands in a position of close intimacy with each of us, in a position of obligation to him under which one is happy to rest to an extent hardly possible with anyone else; and those of us, I think most of us, who are fortunate enough to have a family doctor who is a beloved and intimate friend, realize that there can be few closer ties of intimacy and affection in the world. And while, of course, even the greatest and best doctors cannot assume that very intimate relation with more than a certain number of people (though it is to be said that more than any other man, the doctor does commonly assume such a relation to many people) . . . still with every patient with whom the doctor is thrown at all intimately he has this peculiar relation to a greater or less extent. The effect that the doctor has upon the body of the patient is in very many cases no greater than the effect that he has upon the patient's mind. (At United States Naval Medical School, Washington, D. C., March 25, 1905.) Presidential Addresses and State Papers III, 309.

____________. Of course it is almost needless to say that there is not and cannot be any other lay profession the members of which occupy such a dual position, each side of which is of such importance—for the doctor has on the one hand to be the most thoroughly educated man in applied science that there is in the country, and on the other hand, as every layman knows, and as doubtless many a layman in the circle of acquaintance of each of you would gladly testify, the doctor gradually becomes the closest friend to more people than would be possible in any other profession. . . . The doctor must, therefore, to the greatest degree develop his nature along the two sides of his duties, although in the case of any other man you would call him a mighty good citizen if he developed only on one side. The scientific man who is really a first-class scientific man has a claim upon the gratitude of all the country; and the man who is a first-class neighbor, and is always called in in time of trouble by his neighbors, has an equal claim upon society at large. But the doctor has both claims. (Before Long Island Medical Society, Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 12, 1905.) Presidential Addresses and State Papers IV, 429-430.

Dollar Worship

See Fortunes; Materialist; Millionaires; Money; Wealth.

Domestic Economy

See Home

Domestic Service

It is as entirely right to employ housemaids, cooks, and gardeners as to employ lawyers, bankers, and business men or cashiers, factory- hands, and stenographers. But only on condition that we show the same respect to the individuals in one case as in the other cases! Ultimately I hope that this respect will show itself in the forms of address, in the courtesy titles used, as well as the consideration shown, and the personal liberty expected and accorded. I am not demanding an instant change—I believe in evolution rather than revolution. But I am sure the change is possible and desirable; and even although it would be foolish and undesirable to set up the entirely new standard immediately, I hope we can work toward it. (Metropolitan, March 1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 374; Nat. Ed. XIX, 340.

Dooley, Mr.

Let me repeat that Dooley, especially when he writes about Teddy Rosenfelt, has no more interested and amused reader than said Rosenfelt himself. I have known that a few people have recently thought quite otherwise, as they have also told you that they thought; but this is not a feeling that I have shared in the least. On the contrary, I feel that what you have written about me, with exception too trivial to mention, has been written in just the nicest possible style—that what Dooley says shows the good-natured affection that the boys in the army felt for old Grant and the people in Illinois for Lincoln." I hate to compare myself with two great men, even when I am only quoting you, and I do it of course merely to show how thoroughly I understand and appreciate our friend Mr. Dooley's attitude. (To Finley Peter Dunne, January 9, 1907.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 40; Bishop II, 34.

Doughface

See Copperheads.

Draft

The draft has been admirably administered by General Crowder and is excellent in so far as it recognizes the principle of obligatory service; it is inadequate and unjust in so far as it is treated only as a temporary device, and in so far as it makes such service "selective," that is, in so far as it requires the haphazard selection of one man to make sacrifices while other men, not entitled to exemption, are relieved of duty at his expense. It is not too late to remedy this. A law should at once be passed making military training universal for our young men, and providing for its immediate application to all the young men between nineteen and twenty-one. (Metropolitan, September 1917.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 27; Nat. Ed. XIX, 23.

____________. We ought to change the draft rules, so far as giving any special privileges to the young fellows between eighteen and twenty in the matter of college training, to fit them to be officers. To say that the nation will pay for all of them to go to college is a deception, and to believe it is a delusion. I do not believe in a selective draft for a favored class. I wish to see fair play for the workman's son who has not had the chance to learn so that he can go to college, but who has the natural ability to command and lead men. Only boys whose parents in the past have had the money to give them a special education can enter college at the present time, and it is unfair to the other boys to give these a special advantage. Let all go into the ranks together and after six months or a year of service let the best men be chosen out to enter the schools which will fit them to be officers. Of course, with the older men and at the beginning, we had to take those already available. But when we come to need the young fellows under twenty- one, let every man enter the ranks and stand on a fair footing with every one else, and be given promotion on his merits. Hitherto the men who came in under twenty- one, came in as volunteers, and they were entitled to try for any position they could get; but now we have at last done what we ought to have done in the beginning. Now let them all stand alike. (Metropolitan, November 1918.) Mem. Ed. XXI, 278; Nat. Ed. XIX, 257.

Draft

See also Conscientious Objectors; Military Service; Military Training; Pacifism; Volunteer System.

Drama

I know nothing of the drama except that I am ashamed to say I don't care to go to the theatre; and nevertheless I do very greatly care to read certain plays in my library. (To Joel E. Spingarn, August 28, 1917.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 422; Bishop II, 359.

Drama

See also Abbey Theatre; Literature; Reading.

Dreyfus, Alfred

Something recently happened which I want to speak about. I think it a rare thing for the whole nation to watch the trial of a single citizen of another nation. We have watched with indignation and regret the trial of Captain Dreyfus. It was less Dreyfus on trial than those who tried him. We should draw lessons from the trial. It was due in part to bitter religious prejudices of the French people. Those who have ever wavered from the doctrine of the separation of Church and State should ponder upon what has happened. Try to encourage every form of religious effort. Beware and do not ever oppose any man for any reason except worth or want of it. You cannot benefit one class by pulling another class down. (From speech at Walton, N. Y., September 13, 1899.) William Harding, Dreyfus: The Prisoner of Devil's Island. (Associated Publishing Company, 1899), p. 380.

Dreyfus, Alfred

See also Democracy— Despotism In a.

Drink

See Liquor; Prohibition; Roosevelt; Temperance.

Drugs

See Pure Food Law.

Due Process of Law

The object I have in view could probably be accomplished by an amendment of the State constitutions taking away from the courts the power to review the legislature's determination of a policy of social justice, by defining due process of law in accordance with the views expressed by Justice Holmes of the Supreme Court. But my proposal seems to me more democratic and, I may add, less radical. For under the method I suggest the people may sustain the court as against the legislature, whereas, if due process were defined in the Constitution, the decision of the legislature would be final. (At Carnegie Hall, N. Y. C., March 20, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 208; Nat. Ed. XVII, 157.

Due Process of Law

See also Courts; Judiciary; Law.

Dunne, F. P.

See Dooley, Mr.

Duty

Failure to perform duty to others is merely aggravated by failure to perform duty to ourselves. (Metropolitan, November 1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, 376; Nat. Ed. XVIII, 322.

____________. One of the prime needs is to remember that almost every duty is composed of two seemingly conflicting elements, and that over-insistence on one, to the exclusion of the other, may defeat its own end. (1913.) Mem. Ed. XXII, 194; Nat. Ed. XX, 166.

____________. Every good citizen, whatever his condition, owes his first service to those who are nearest to him, who are dependent upon him, to his wife and his children; next he owes his duty to his fellow citizens, and this duty he must perform both to his individual neighbor and to the State, which is simply a form of expression for all his neighbors combined. He must keep
his self-respect and exact the respect of others. It is eminently wise and proper to strive for such leisure in our lives as will give a chance for self-improvement; but woe to the man who seeks, or trains up his children to seek, idleness instead of the chance to do good work. (At Labor Day Picnic, Chicago, September 3, 1900.) Mem. Ed. XVI, 517; Nat. Ed. XIII, 487.

Duty—Performance of

What we as a people need more than aught else is the steady performance of the every-day duties of life, not with hope of reward, but because they are duties. (At Valley Forge, Pa., June 19, 1904.) Mem. Ed. XII, 618; Nat. Ed. XI, 333.

____________. We can make and keep this country worthy of the men who gave their lives to save it, only on condition that the average man among us on the whole does his duty bravely, loyally, and with common sense, in whatever position life allots to him. (At Gettysburg, Pa., May 30, 1904.) Mem. Ed. XII, 611; Nat. Ed. XI, 328.

____________. The prime requisite is to arouse among our people, individually and collectively, an understanding that the full performance of duty is not only right in itself but also the source of the profoundest satisfaction that can come in life. (Outlook, April 8, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XIV, 161; Nat. Ed. XII, 192.

Duty and Responsibility

You can make up your minds to lead your lives well and nobly, doing first of all your duty to yourself and to those immediately dependent upon you, the duty of father to son, of husband to wife, of wife to husband, of parents to children—to do those duties first, and then to do the duties that lie beyond them, the duty of joining with your fellows in common work toward a common end, in the effort to achieve in common something worth achieving for the sake of all. You can lead that kind of life—and it is the only kind of life worth leading, and the only kind of life worth living—you can lead it only on condition of making up your mind that you will not expect always to have an easy time, to escape care, to escape responsibility, to escape the burdens that inevitably must be carried by every man and every woman whose shoulders are broad enough to enable him or her to play a part in the world. (At Occidental College, Los Angeles, March 22, 1911.) Mem. Ed. XV, 514; Nat. Ed. XIII, 581.

Duty of the Nation

Keeping our own household straight is our first duty; but we have other duties. Just exactly as each man who is worth his salt must first of all be a good husband, a good father, a good bread-winner, a good man of business, and yet must in addition to that be a good citizen for the State at large—so a nation must first take care to do well its duties within its own borders, but must not make of that fact an excuse for failing to do those of its duties the performance of which lies without its own borders. (At Hartford, Conn., August 22, 1902.) Mem. Ed. XVIII, 355; Nat. Ed. XVI, 270.

____________. Our country should not shirk its duty to mankind. It can perform this duty only if it is true to itself. It can be true to itself only by definitely resolving to take the position of the just man armed; for a proud and self-respecting nation of freemen must scorn to do wrong to others, and must also scorn tamely to submit to wrong done by others. (1915.) Mem. Ed. XX, xxv; Nat. Ed. XVIII, xxiv.

Duty

See also Citizenship; Civic Duty; International Duty; Joy of Living; Pleasure; Rights; Service; Women.