Quite apart from the question of the rights of capital on one hand and labor on the other, what must be the effect of this policy of force and violence when reaching over long periods of time? A nation is really great and possessed of the lasting elements of strength in proportion as her people are strong, intelligent, and free. The rulers of a nation should owe their subjects some duty in return for the homage and taxes they receive. The ruler who deliberately governs his subjects by violence and force, and through tyranny and fear, must find in time that this policy of hatred and outrage is destroying and sapping the foundations of the state; the more strength and vitality that he draws from the poor and the more soldiers required to support arbitrary power, the greater the chasm that yawns beneath his feet. The loyalty that is kept through fear is lost with opportunity. The rulers of Rome before her destruction, and of France before the Revolution, had drawn all the soldiers from the people that the fields and shops could spare, and used these to support their tottering power. Kings can gain nothing by governing soldiers alone. They must have farmers, artisans, all sorts of producers, or their conquest is not worth the price. The policy of hatred and violence must in the end destroy the state. It can breed only hatred in the hearts of the outcast and the poor. If their subjection is incomplete, the throne is resting upon the shifting sands. If perfect and complete, their subjects are lifeless machines and their empires crumbling to decay. It is really idle to speculate as to whether love and brotherhood could accomplish more; it is certain they could not do less. To disband the armies and destroy the forts, to diffuse love and brotherhood, and peace and justice in the place of war and strife, could tend only to the building up of character, the elevation of the soul, and the strength and well-being of the state. True, the class lines would disappear. Brotherhood would have neither ruler nor ruled, would have no authority of man over man, would treat all as brothers and co-equals, and from it would grow a stronger state and a higher manhood than the world has known. Peaceful industry relieved from the burdens of soldiers and arms would inevitably increase, and life, rendered less burdensome by the exactions of authority, would lengthen and sweeten through the beneficent influence of love. No nation can be really great that is held together by gatling guns, and no true loyalty can be induced and kept through fear. CHAPTER IV CIVIL GOVERNMENT