edy lies not in further experiment with dangerous departures, but in improving our application of the standard form through exercising greater vigilance, more discretion and better judgment in the selection of representatives who are to administer the affairs of the government. One of the very vital tests that should be applied to prospective candidates as to their fitness is whether or not they understand thoroughly what this form of government is and the stern importance of adhering strictly and literally to it in nation, State, county and city.
No one claims that republics are perfect—nothing human is perfect—but I do maintain that there is the same difference between a republic and either a democracy or an autocracy that there is between good and bad.
During a recent conversation with a gentleman who is an earnest student of government and who for years had been a teacher of constitutional history in one of our largest universities, he said: "I have always been of the opinion during my years of thought and study and teaching that one form of government worked well in one country and another form of government in another country." I replied: "Why don't you say that of the clock, of the compass, of the alphabet, of the Grolden Rule, of the ten digits, of the
