Fortunately every sign of the times points against the development of oligarchy, and such a struggle between it and strong class organisations as has been suggested. The great mass of our people, fully two-thirds of the entire voting population according to Professor Commons’ estimate,[12] stands outside the sphere of such a conflict. This powerful neutral influence may be depended upon to establish a rude sort of fair play and to suppress any overweening attempt to make the machinery of the state subservient to narrow interests. Moreover public sentiment as expressed by both the great political parties is setting strongly against special privilege. It was once an easy matter for politicians to approve such a sentiment outwardly, while continuing to deal with it practically merely as a glittering generality quite devoid of any real significance. That decidedly equivocal manner of meeting the situation will no longer serve, however. Regulation of railroads, trusts, and insurance companies, tariff reform, reforms of our governmental organisations, particularly state and municipal, primary and ballot reforms, all these have passed into the arena of practical politics and are dealt with as living issues by both political parties. Mistakes will be made in all these lines, the process of reform will be slow, but that we are on the right road, and that in the end the grosser forms of corruption that disgrace and disgust the present era will be eliminated there can be no doubt. A very significant evolutionary argument on the subject of corruption has been advanced by Professor Henry J. Ford,[13] and may finally be taken up at this point, although it might also have been considered in connection with the third apology. In Professor Ford’s opinion: “Just as mediæval feudalism was a powerful agency in binding together the masses of the people into the organic union from which the modern state was evolved, so, too, our party feudalism performs a valuable office by the way it establishes connections of interest among the masses of the people. To view the case as a whole, we should contrast the marked European tendency toward disintegration of government through strife of classes and nationalities with the strong tendency shown in this country toward national integration of all elements of the population. Our despised politicians are probably to be credited with what we call the wonderful assimilating capacity of American institutions.”