Page:Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919).djvu/278

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DEMOCRATIC IDEALS AND REALITY

islands modern methods of communication are so levelling natural barriers that organisation by interests constitutes a real threat. In the Heartland, where physical contrasts are few, it is only with the aid of a conscious ideal, shaping political life in the direction of nationalities, that we shall be able to entrench true freedom. If only as a basis for 'penetrating' this dangerous Heartland, the Oceanic peoples must strive to root ever more firmly their own organisation by localities, each locality with as complete and balanced a life of its own as circumstances may permit of. The effort must go downward through the provinces to the cities. East-ends and West-ends divide our cities into castes ; at whatever sacrifice we must tone away such contrasts. The country-side, in which the successful leaders visibly serve the interests of their weaker brethren, must be our ideal.

There was a time when a man addressed his 'friends and neighbours.' We still have our friends, but too often they are scattered over the land and belong to our own caste in society. Or, if they happen to be near us, is it not because our caste has gathered apart into its own quarter of the town? So was it in the early Middle Ages, when we are told