Chapter X: Individual Motive and Democracy

Exaggerated powers ascribed to democracy by inaccurate thinkers.

An example from an essay by a recent philosophic thinker, with
special reference to the rewards of exceptional ability.

This writer maintains that the money rewards of ability can be
determined by the opinion of the majority expressing itself
through votes and statutes.

The writer's typical error. A governing body might enact any
laws, but they would not be obeyed unless consonant with human
nature.

Laws are obliged to conform to the propensities of human nature
which it is their office to regulate.

Elaborate but unconscious admission of this fact by the writer
here quoted himself.

The power of democracy in the economic sphere, its magnitude and
its limits. The demands of the minority a counterpart of those
of the majority.

The demand of the great wealth-producer mainly a demand for
power.

Testimony of a well-known socialist to the impossibility of
altering the character of individual demand by outside
influence.