ABSTRACT
Hereditary titles, sometimes imagined to be a counterpoise to the ascendency of wealth, are really, in people time at least, a support and sanction to it, giving it an official standing and permanence it cannot have in democracy. The more a real democracy prevails, the less is the spiritual ascendency of riches. If power, under democracy, goes with numbers, and the many are poor, it would seem at first glance that they would despoil the few. The power does not go with mere numbers, under a democracy more than under any other form of government; a democratic aristocracy, that is, one whose members maintain their position in an open struggle, being without doubt the strongest that can exist. The force of ambitious youth goes largely to support the ascendency of the money-getting class; directly, in that it accepts the ideals of this class and looks forward to sharing its power.
