Yes, that spirit of democracy is not only strong but militant.

Militant! I never could make up my mind which made the fightingest
reading in the San Francisco papers, the account of Friday's boxing
contest or of Monday's meeting of the Board of Supervisors. They do say
that a visiting Easterner was taken to the Board of Supervisors one
afternoon. In the evening he was regaled with a battle royal. And, and -
they do say - he fell asleep at the battle royal because it seemed so
tame in comparison with the Board of Supervisors.

The athletic instinct in the Native Son accounts for the star athletes,
boxers, tennis players, ball players; that art instinct for the
painters, illustrators, sculptors, playwrights, fiction writers, poets,
actors, photographers, producers; that spirit of democracy for the labor
leaders and politicians with whom California has inundated the rest of
the country.

I started to make a list of the famous Californians in all these
classes. But, when I had filled one sheet with names, realizing that no
matter how hard I cudgelled my memory, I would inevitably forget
somebody of importance, I tore it. up. Take a copy of "Who's Who" and
cut out the lives of all those who don't come from California and see
what a respectable-sized volume you have left.

If any woman tourist should ask me what was the greatest menace to the
peace of mind of a woman travelling alone in California, I should answer
instantly - the Native Son. I wish I could draw a picture of him.
Perhaps he's too good looking. Myself, I think the enfranchised women of
California should bring injunctions - or whatever is the proper legal
weapon - against so dangerous a degree of male pulchritude. Of course