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The people rule, guaranteeing liberty unto themselves.
DEMOCRACY is a form of government, says the Encyclopedia Britannica, based upon self -rule of the people. It is a way of life based upon the fundamental assumption of the equality of all individuals and of their equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
But the wonderful word conveys meanings which vary according to the experience of the individual.
Recently, the American Institute of Public Opinion and Gallup Associates put this question to many citizens of nine different countries, ''What does the term 'democracy' mean to you?"
The largest number of interviewees responded, "Government by the people."
"Freedom," said the next largest group, and they particularly emphasi2;ed freedom of speech and assembly.
And the third ranking definition was "equality" — the absence of dis' crimination between classes, groups and individuals.
James Bryce, well-known authority on democracy and the American form of government, has stated that "democracy" is difficult to define, but he uses the word in its sense of "denoting a government in which the will of the majority of qualified citizens rules, taking the qualified citizens to
constitute the great bulk of the inhabi' tants, say, roughly, at least threefourths, so that the physical force of the citizens coincides (broadly speak' ing) with their voting power."
Democracy is not determined by the name of a government, nor by who reigns; but, essentially, by who rules. By such a test, monarchies may be even more democratic than presidential republics. The government of England might be cited as a case in point.
Neither the theory nor the practice of democracy is new. It was tried in ancient Greece, where all citizens were entitled to vote on matters of government. Rule was direct; the peO' pie had no representatives. The leg' islative and executive branches were one, and there were no poHtical parties.
Early democracy presupposed slav ery, among other things, but through the centuries the democratic idea has tended to abolish the differences and privileges of birth, class, race and sex — broadening its basis so as to become all-inclusive.
In America, the Revolutionary War, Civil War and first World War were great democratic influences.
World War I has been called a "democratic world revolution," in which the conservative monarchies of