Again, what is this theory of benevolent guardianship for women, for the masses, for Negroes—­for “lesser breeds without the law”?  It is simply the old cry of privilege, the old assumption that there are those in the world who know better what is best for others than those others know themselves, and who can be trusted to do this best.

In fact no one knows himself but that self’s own soul.  The vast and wonderful knowledge of this marvelous universe is locked in the bosoms of its individual souls.  To tap this mighty reservoir of experience, knowledge, beauty, love, and deed we must appeal not to the few, not to some souls, but to all.  The narrower the appeal, the poorer the culture; the wider the appeal the more magnificent are the possibilities.  Infinite is human nature.  We make it finite by choking back the mass of men, by attempting to speak for others, to interpret and act for them, and we end by acting for ourselves and using the world as our private property.  If this were all, it were crime enough—­but it is not all:  by our ignorance we make the creation of the greater world impossible; we beat back a world built of the playing of dogs and laughter of children, the song of Black Folk and worship of Yellow, the love of women and strength of men, and try to express by a group of doddering ancients the Will of the World.

There are people who insist upon regarding the franchise, not as a necessity for the many, but as a privilege for the few.  They say of persons and classes:  “They do not need the ballot.”  This is often said of women.  It is argued that everything which women with the ballot might do for themselves can be done for them; that they have influence and friends “at court,” and that their enfranchisement would simply double the number of ballots.  So, too, we are told that American Negroes can have done for them by other voters all that they could possibly do for themselves with the ballot and much more because the white voters are more intelligent.

Further than this, it is argued that many of the disfranchised people recognize these facts.  “Women do not want the ballot” has been a very effective counter war-cry, so much so that many men have taken refuge in the declaration:  “When they want to vote, why, then—­” So, too, we are continually told that the “best” Negroes stay out of politics.

Such arguments show so curious a misapprehension of the foundation of the argument for democracy that the argument must be continually restated and emphasized.  We must remember that if the theory of democracy is correct, the right to vote is not merely a privilege, not simply a method of meeting the needs of a particular group, and least of all a matter of recognized want or desire.  Democracy is a method of realizing the broadest measure of justice to all human beings.  The world has, in the past, attempted various methods of attaining this end, most of which can be summed up in three categories: