Our reliance must be, then, not upon might and power, but upon the kind of spiritual strength that can reside in those who are accounted weak. Let us consider, then, the function of minorities, and the more effective methods of performing this function. This subject is strangely neglected, and when not neglected, strangely misunderstood. It is a truism of history that the privileges that we enjoy simply because we are men were won for us from reluctant power first of all through the daring dreams, and then the daring struggle, of a few. We glory in these early minorities, or minor forces as the world measures force, yet for the most part our present citizens regard it as a misfortune to be in a minority, especially if it is small and its triumph seems far away. Pity or contempt towards those who are “different” is the conventional thing among us, but when have success and power, however unjust, been contemptible? Up to the present time we in America have almost entirely failed to develop and utilize the capacities of political minorities. The popular assumption is that the function of a minority party is to win the next election, and then to rule as the majority party. If the election goes against us, we think that the next thing to do is to expire or to make terms with the dominant majority, as Mr. Roosevelt did after a single defeat of the Progressive Party, and as Democratic leaders have done for many years when their party has been out of power. The assumed principle is, Win the election, or else give up, or compromise and divide the benefits. But this leaves out of account one of the chief services that a minority might perform, especially a minority that maintains a continuous existence through a long period of defeats. This service is nothing less than helping the majority party to use its power more wisely than it is capable of using it without outside help. To make the party in power think twice before acting; to make it aware that all that is hidden will be brought to light; to make it conscious that nothing is settled until it is settled right; and to keep alive the idea that the last and the least of our citizens must be taken into account--this is a service that the majority cannot perform for itself, and that neither a short-lived nor compromising minority can perform, but only a minority whose convictions are deep enough to sustain it indefinitely.