There
can be nothing final about the creed unless there be something final
about the action and purposes of which it is the expression. It must be
constantly modified in order to define new experiences and renewed in
order to meet unforeseen emergencies. But it should grow, just in so far
as the enterprise itself makes new conquests and unfolds new aspects of
truth. Democracy is an enterprise of this kind. It may prove to be the
most important moral and social enterprise as yet undertaken by mankind;
but it is still a very young enterprise, whose meaning and promise is by
no means clearly understood. It is continually meeting unforeseen
emergencies and gathering an increasing experience. The fundamental duty
of a critic in a democracy is to see that the results of these
experiences are not misinterpreted and that the best interpretation is
embodied in popular doctrinal form. The critic consequently is not so
much the guide as the lantern which illuminates the path. He may not
pretend to know the only way or all the ways; but he should know as much
as can be known about the traveled road.
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