tutions, growths not foreseen or provided for by the fundamental law of the state.

Parties Not Permitted in Autocracies, but Naturally Developed by Democracies.-In autocratic countries, such as France under the old régime, the mass of the people had no share in the government, their opinion with regard to the public policy was neither asked nor desired, and the public union and organization of groups of citizens to express hostility to the king's ideas would have been considered rebellion and would have been prevented by force.

Democracy changed all this state of affairs. The control of public policy was intrusted to representatives of the people. Liberty of thought and speech was the accompaniment of the ballot. With such control of public policy and such liberty of thought and speech it was speedily apparent that sincere men differed widely in their judgments of how their nation should be governed. They differed on questions of foreign policy; they differed on questions of internal policy, on matters of education, taxation, religion, or the like. And as strong, sincere men were licensed to write and speak their thoughts, each gained for himself a certain following of voters who were influenced by his arguments and were willing that the nation should be guided according to his ideas. The next step was simple. Inasmuch as government is always a government by persons, the followers of a strong, sincere man of outspoken political convictions banded together, organized, to put their spokesman in a position in the government where he might force a trial of his principles.

Such, sketched very briefly, is the natural development of political parties. The necessary premises are democracy with its accompanying freedom of thought and speech. Given democracy, the development of political parties was inevitable.

Political Parties Formed in the Presence of Great Issues. -The differences between the convictions with regard to public policy are naturally greater and more persistently evident in the presence of great and fundamental issues; hence, it is in

the time when such issues are presented for decision that great political parties commonly have their origin. The various individuals who oppose a policy tend to subordinate their minor differences for the common strength in opposition, and on the other hand those who support the policy are liable to combine for the same purpose.

Just this process is to be noted in the origin of the great parties in the history of England and the United States. In England the great issue involved in Parliament's disregard for the principle of legitimacy in calling William of Orange to the throne of England in 1688 was responsible for clearly defined parties, the Tory party (those who favored legitimacy and the recall of the Stuart house to the throne) and the Whig party (those who favored the supremacy of Parliament). In the United States, during the administration of our first President, the great issue between those who favored a strong central national government and those who emphasized the rights of the individual and opposed granting strong powers to the central government developed respectively the Federal and the Anti-federal (Republican) parties. Again, at a later period, the great issue of slavery caused a new cleavage and resulted in the Republican and Democratic parties.

Importance of the Nature of the Issues.-The nature of the issue on which political parties divide, and the relations which political parties bear to each other, have a great effect on peace and security within the state. In the early days of democracy statesmen bewailed "factions" (i. e. political parties), not realizing their inevitability and believing them certain to arouse civil war. Although democracy is yet young, men have come to regard political parties formed on certain lines and operating under certain conditions as not only inevitable but valuable.

In general, the line of cleavage between political parties should never be on racial, religious, or social grounds. Each party, if such line be drawn, believes that the success of its opponents means its own oppression or extinction, and under

such belief will fight to the death. If such lines do not result in actual armed rebellion, yet a rancor is excited which inevitably impedes the government in the exercise of its functions. and is an ever present sore that may spread to the whole body politic. Again, the members of each political party must tacitly or avowedly recognize that their opponents are sincere in their beliefs, capable of conducting the government if successful, and as patriotically devoted to the true welfare of the state as themselves. Here, too, if the members of a political party do not have this tacit or acknowledged recognition of their opponents' good faith and patriotism, they may feel justified in secret intrigue or in open rebellion.

With the succeeding years in the development of democracy the conditions under which political parties strive for supremacy are becoming better and better. Elections are lost without bitterness, indeed with a philosophic acceptance of the will of the majority, and with a realization that the opposition has just as much at stake in attempting to further the prosperity of the country at large as any other party.

Issues on which Political Parties may Properly Divide.There are many issues which are suitable as a line of cleavage between parties, after barring out racial, religious, and social issues. Economic questions, as the treatment of great corporations; financial questions, as the raising of money for the expenses of government by certain kinds of taxes; policy toward outlying possessions, as colonies or territories; these are issues which allow honest differences of opinion and yet do not foster that bitterness which would surely be excited by racial, religious, or social questions. These are issues on which political parties may divide without prospect of destroying peace within the state.

Political Parties Continue to Exist after Great Issues Because of Value to State and to Individual.-Although political parties were unforeseen and unprovided for by the framers of modern democracies, were discountenanced and feared by democratic statesmen in the early days of democracy, they

are now commonly recognized as an essential element in the system of modern democratic government. Political parties, born of great national issues, have continued to exist after those issues have died away, because they have been found necessary for democratic government in modern states.

On the one hand, it is by means of party unity that the various separate departments of government are unified in their policy and operation. The party in power commonly controls the various branches of the government, so that men of the same political opinions, bound by allegiance to the same political group, are coöperating in the varied business of government. On the other hand, political party organization on a national scale, as in England and the United States, has accomplished more than any other agency to educate the voters and acquaint them with the questions of the time. In the United States the political parties have knit together the various sections of the vast extent of the country, doing a service no other agency could have done so efficiently. Further, the political parties have roused popular enthusiasm and inspired the people to register their votes at the polls, thus insuring an approximately accurate expression of the popular will. In these ways political parties have actually formed the machinery by which democracy has operated.

Not only has the political party system been valuable to the state, but it has also been valuable to the individual voter. Democracy assumes that government is to be conducted in accordance with the will of those governed: the political party system furnishes the means by which the will of the governed is made known and put into effect. The party system has furnished the individual voter with the means to make his opinions known and his vote count. The voters in a political party are as partners in a coöperative company. Each partner is expected to contribute his whole political ability to the company and to work in harmony with his colleagues. The political party is a combination of the political acumen and the voting strength of its members for the purpose of controlling the gov

ernment and putting its political theories into practice. A voter can accomplish nothing single-handed, but associated with a party he may gain the influence to sway the policies of government by the election of representatives who support his views.

Thus political parties have continued to exist for the advantages cited above, even after the great issues which gave them birth have disappeared in history. Political parties persist because they have become necessary both to the state and to the individual.

Political Party Conditions in England and the United States Different from Those in Continental Democracies. -In considering the present status of political parties in various nations, a sharp division may be drawn between conditions in England and the United States, on the one hand, and the states of continental Europe, on the other. The share which political parties have in the governmental system is important in all modern states, but political parties have developed in two radically different ways, with resulting differences upon their relations with the governmental system.

In the states of continental Europe the various degrees of political opinion tend to be reflected in a bewildering number of different political parties; in England and the United States the voters have tended to rank themselves ordinarily in one or the other of two great parties of national scope. In the states of continental Europe each election is contested by candidates of eight or ten or a dozen opposing parties; in elections in England and the United States the prominent candidates stand as the nominees of two great nation-wide parties.

Effect of Continental Conditions on the Government.— The results of this difference in the development of the political party system affect fundamentally the operation of government. In the states of continental Europe the parties are often not national in character, but sectional or local. Men are elected for their own merits rather than for any national policies they may favor. Local issues are liable to determine