# Back to the Republic

BACK to the REPUBLIC
THE GOLDEN MEAN: THE STANDARD FORM OF GOVERNMENT
By HARRY F. ATWOOD
Back to the Republic
A Study in Forms of Government
Demonstrating the truth of the following
proposition:
| Failures: | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Autocracy—One extreme. |
| Failures: | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Democracy—The other extreme. |
| Success: | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ Republic— | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | The golden mean. |
| Success: | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ Republic— | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | The standard form. |
Back to the Republic
The Golden Mean: the Standard Form
of Government
By HARRY F. ATWOOD
Can the world be made "safe for democracy"?
CHICAGO.
LAIRD & LEE, Inc.
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1918 By HARRY F. ATWOOD
First Edition Printed March, 1918
Second Edition Printed April, 1918
Third Edition Printed January, 1919
Fourth Edition Printed April, 1919
Fifth Edition Printed September, 1919
Sixth Edition Printed October, 1919
Seventh Edition, Printed June, 1920
Eighth Edition Printed December, 1921
FOREWORD TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
As publishers of "Back to the Republic," now entering its eighth edition, we express our gratitude for the many earnest expressions of approval and appreciation from thoughtful readers. These opinions together with prevailing general conditions have strengthened our conviction as to the importance and soundness of the interpretations made in "Back to the Republic."
For three years the author has been traveling about the country addressing audiences of every description on "The Federal Constitution" and talking with thoughtful men and women in all walks of life on governmental problems. Observation and discussion have led to the conclusion that Chapter VII on The Short Ballot should be modified in this edition. Certain changes in that chapter have therefore been made.
Laird & Lee.
PREFACE
THE three words uppermost in the minds of the people throughout all the world to-day are "autocracy," "democracy" and "republic"
What do you mean when you use the word "autocracy"?
What do you mean when you use the word "democracy"?
What do you mean when you use the word "republic"?
Write down your own definitions of those three words, stop the first hundred people you meet and ask each of them the above three questions. Compile their replies, and you will have a compilation that would win a prize in a museum of curiosities.
If you should journey to the national capital and, beginning with the President, ask the hundred men who are most prominently identified with the national government those same three questions, you would have material for a scrapbook the reading of which would be confusing to the mind.
​If you should visit the State capitals, and, beginning with the Governor, ask the hundred men most prominently identified with the State government in each commonwealth these same three questions, and have their replies compiled, you would have a volume of interesting contradictions.
If you should go still farther and visit the capitals of all the Allied countries, of the Central Powers and of the so-called neutral countries, and ask the hundred men most prominently identified with the government of each country those same three questions, and have their replies compiled, you would have several volumes of exceedingly interesting contradictions.
If you were disposed to gratify your curiosity still further and should turn to the various dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, and countless volumes on political science and government, and make a collection in book form of the various definitions that have been given and the uses that have been made of the words "autocracy," "democracy" and "republic" you would have compiled the greatest curio of them all.
The purpose of this book is:
(1) To make clear the meaning of the words "autocracy," "democracy" and "republic;"
​(2) To encourage a more accurate use of governmental terms, and
(3) To urge the importance of avoiding the dangers of the extremes of both autocracy and democracy, and the vital need of adhering strictly and literally to the fundamentals of the republic, which is the golden mean between autocracy and democracy.
CONTENTS
APPENDIX