Yet this eugenic effect is not without a dysgenic after-effect. The very fact that recognition is attainable by all, means that democracy leads to social ambition; and social ambition leads to smaller families. This influence is manifested mainly in the women, whose desire to climb the social ladder is increased by the ease of ascent which is due to lack of rigid social barriers. But while ascent is possible for almost anyone, it is naturally favored by freedom from handicaps, such as a large family of children. In the "successful" business and professional classes, therefore, there is an inducement to the wife to limit the number of her offspring, in order that she may have more time to devote to social "duties." In a country like Germany, with more or less stratified social classes, this factor in the differential birth-rate is probably less operative. The solution in America is not to create an impermeable social stratification, but to create a public sentiment which will honor women more for motherhood than for eminence in the largely futile activities of polite society. In quite another way, too great democratization of a country is dangerous. The tendency is to ask, in regard to any measure, "What do the people want?" while the question should be "What ought the people to want?" The _vox populi_ may and often does want something that is in the long run quite detrimental to the welfare of the state. The ultimate test of a state is whether it is strong enough to survive, and a measure that all the people, or a voting majority of them (which is the significant thing in a democracy), want, may be such as to handicap the state severely. In general, experts are better able to decide what measures will be desirable in the long run, than are voters of the general population, most of whom know little about the real merits of many of the most important projects. Yet democracies have a tendency to scorn the advice of experts, most of the voters feeling that they are as good as any one else, and that their opinion is entitled to as much weight as that of the expert. This attitude naturally makes it difficult to secure the passage of measures which are eugenic or otherwise beneficial in character, since they often run counter to popular prejudices. The initiative by small petitions, and the referendum as a frequent resort, are dangerous. They are of great value if so qualified as to be used only in real emergencies, as where a clique has got control of the government and is running it for its self-interest, but as a regularly and frequently functioning institution they are unlikely to result in wise statesmanship.