CHAPTER XII
THE DRAMATIC MOMENT
Now is the appointed time to begin action, and we are the appointed people. The lesson of the last war is still fresh in mind; and unto us, by luck rather than our own foresight, has been given the dominating position in the world of the next quarter-century. The course which the United States chooses will largely be the course of the other nations.
It is the appointed time for still another reason, less obvious, no less compelling. All old, imperfect human institutions have their uses in their period; then that usefulness passes and we must rid ourselves of them. Monarchy in its absolute form served the development of humanity. The half-civilized man could not grasp conceptions so abstract as his relation and his duty toward other men in his group or clan or nation. He needed a visible, personal representation of power. So was built up loyalty; from loyalty grew the fine sentiment of patriotism; from patriotism the sense of team-work in society. Then monarchy was outworn. We sloughed it off, at first in its absolute form, then faster and faster in any form at all. Slavery may
137
