The conflict between extra-legal government and the popular demand for a true democracy is as irresistible as was the conflict between the South and the North over the institution of slavery. Extra-legal government, like the South, represents a vast property interest which, while at first seeking protection, soon became aggressive in its desire to extend its power and its institutions. As the North sought to live with the institution of slavery in the South, to compromise with it and to check it here and there, so we have been trying to live with extra-legal government, to compromise with it and to check it when we saw it in an especially obnoxious form. But as the fight for and against slavery was never settled till slavery was abolished, so the war on politocracy will never cease till some great national crisis has given birth to a new political philosophy and a sound practice under it, which will sweep extra-legal government from the field. That philosophy is summed up in three prosaic words: The Short Ballot. They are the emancipation proclamation for our government. The faithful and complete application of the principles underlying the short ballot in our local and state governments will be as important and perhaps as difficult a step for us to achieve as was the emancipation of the slaves. Transcriber’s Notes Errors in punctuation have been fixed. Page 142: “proprietory interest” changed to “proprietary interest” to match the original source.