N OT long ago Mr. Lowes Dickinson wrote, if
my memory serves me, "For myself, I am no democrat." Still
more recently he confessed to being one. It all depends on
what you mean by democracy. In America it means anything
you like, but when the word is mentioned you are expected to
salute the star-spangled banner. For instance, an American
divine exclaimed, "You cannot separate God and democracy.
For if we believe in God, we believe in God's purposes, God's
ideal, and that is believing in God." The logic seems to halt.
Or I may cull this gem from the New York Medical Journal,
in an article on gout: "Uric acid is tottering upon its throne.
Democracy is advancing in medical theory as well as in polit-
ical practice."

Well, it is bad manners to smile at our friends when they
are at their devotions. But, as a matter of fact, democracy
is neither an attribute of the Deity nor a method of thera-
peutics. It is the name of an experiment in government. Dur-
ing the war we said we were fighting to make the world safe
for democracy. That was a lump of sugar for the American
eagle, and, fortunately for us, he swallowed it. At present,

-307-