And these are the two most extensive fields of the influence of German
Socialism.

The American citizen has before him in clear outline the sure result
from a continuation of governmental ownership or control as a permanent
policy in the United States after the war. As regards railroad
personnel, if the positions from top to bottom were filled with Mr.
Bryan's "deserving Democrats," as was the case with our diplomatic and
consular service in 1913, the results would be as striking, though
perhaps in a different and even more serious way.

Of course the Civil Service, which has been a solid measure of reform
and one from which we dare depart only at our peril, would probably be
called into use and be evaded in exactly the same way as it has been in
the past. And even if it were not evaded, we must remember that the
Civil Service examinations and rules are not a guarantee of efficiency
or excellence. The best that can be said for them is that they are a
protection against absolute incompetence and, to a certain extent,
against political spoiling. But in a positive sense, the Civil Service
is merely a guarantee of mediocrity. And mediocrity never yet made a
success of a great transportation or productive system such as our
railroads or industrial corporations. The political possibilities of a
"railroad vote" of several million employees of the government need only
be referred to, to be feared.

Perhaps no one would suffer more from a policy of government ownership
than the present force of railroad employees in the United States. They
have won their present positions for the most part by individual
achievement, but their future advancement would depend not upon the
continued successful handling of their work, but upon either the