The World Court (Vol. I, No. 2, Sept. 1915)

by Various

THE BUSINESS MAN IN POLITICS

BY

JOHN HAYS HAMMOND

In our last Congress, out of ninety-six members of the Senate and four hundred and thirty-five members of the House of Representatives, only about seventy legislators were classified as business men. This means that the Congress of the United States cannot be regarded as a genuinely representative body. To make it such, we should have a much larger representation than we have of the business class in the broadest sense of the term,—that is, not only manufacturers, merchants, and bankers, but also farmers, engineers, leaders of labor organizations, scientific men, journalists, physicians, educators, and men of other vocations influential in the life of the Nation.

This conception of the proper make-up of our legislative bodies is a comparatively new and unfamiliar one, partly because it has been felt that legal training and practice in applying the laws in courts made men particularly fitted to be law-makers and partly because until recently decidedly few business men have attracted public attention by reason of their knowledge and skill in handling questions of government. The old idea of the statesman was that he ought to be detached from the active every-day interests of the community and thus be in a position to give his attention to general matters of public and national policy. The present generation, however, has been coming to realize that most of these matters are directly or indirectly related to the business of the citizens of the country and that the wise determination of them involves taking into account the principles and the necessary practices of business. Hence the subject of the place of the business man in politics is becoming one of compelling interest, not only because of patriotic considerations, but also on account of the enlightened self-interest which should serve as a guide in legislation for the benefit of the country as a whole, as well as of the individuals who are its citizens.

For his comparatively small representation in legislative halls the business man himself is largely to blame. There has been a lamentable lack of interest on the part of American business men as a class in our country’s political affairs. By many of them politics has been regarded as having merely an academic interest, so far as they were concerned; by others politics has been held to be an unclean vocation. In a way, however, these allegations about the character of politics have been only convenient excuses for failure to take a proper part in public affairs. Generally speaking, the plain, unvarnished reason for the failure of business men to discharge their political duties has been their unwillingness to make the necessary sacrifices of social pleasures, of money or of present business opportunities. Business men who allow such motives to dominate their actions are simply shirking their civic responsibilities, are essentially disloyal to the community from which they derive their support, and should be so stigmatized by their fellow-citizens.

Still less justifiable than the indifference to politics which has just been described is the habit which too many business men, especially those controlling large corporations, have permitted themselves to fall into, of dealing with political and legislative matters at second hand and by indirection. This habit, fortunately for the country, has of late been greatly diminishing because of the strong condemnation of it by enlightened public opinion; but it cannot be denied that for many years in our political history the owners and managers of important corporations, with some notable exceptions, regarded it as justifiable, while keeping out of politics themselves, to make generous contributions to campaign funds and thus to assist in electing legislators who could be counted upon to attend to matters of legislation affecting their interests. Apart from its moral objections, this practice necessarily developed a class of mere professional politicians without any qualifications whatsoever to deal with the great business problems of our cities, our States and the Nation itself. Every thinking American must admit that a highly beneficial result of the agitation of the question of the relation of government to business in the past few years has been to bring about a vast change in this order of things. Corporations are no longer able to dictate legislation for their selfish ends through a conscienceless and morally stultified class of political representatives. It is well that this rank undergrowth, which impeded all proper participation in politics on the part of self-respecting business men, has been to a great extent cleared away.

There is a growing realization on the part of the public that our business prosperity and our political soundness are mutually interdependent,—that we cannot have business prosperity without the aid of just, adequate and far-sighted government, and that we cannot have permanently satisfactory public policies without the aid of the experienced and enlightened business class. Especially is this truth being impressed upon the minds of citizens of the country as they reflect upon the conditions that will have to be met as a result of the European War. We have already had a chance to see how few men in American public life are able to cope with far-reaching international problems, while at the same time it is rapidly dawning upon us that our chief political and economic problems of the future will be of the world, and not of the “parish pump,” type. This is bringing home to our minds the interdependence of all our industries and business activities, and of all classes in the community, in whatever vocations they may be engaged. There can be but little doubt that as public thinking follows these lines more and more fully and resolutely there will be a tendency in our future legislation, which the demagogic politicians will be unable to withstand, to subordinate considerations of petty political advantage, and of partisan aims and ends, to the right solution of the great economic problems which are at last seen to be vital to the welfare of the Nation, at home and abroad.

The assistance which business men can give in the work of arriving at correct solutions of these great economic problems is apparent. It is also apparent that without this assistance Congress and the administrative departments of our Government cannot be expected to reach correct and adequate conclusions in regard to them. The truth is that our Government as a whole is at this very moment suffering severely in efficiency and economy from the lack of the continuous participation of able business men in the conduct of its affairs. The administration of our governmental departments, for instance, is confessedly obsolete and uneconomical, if judged by the best business standards. Thus, both an increase in our national revenues and a decrease in our national expenditures could undoubtedly be effected through the coöperation of expert business men in Congress with the heads of these departments in the introduction of the most approved business methods. In the management of the ordinary affairs of the country our Government had been well likened to a great corporation in which all the people of the country are stockholders. This conception has not yet become universal, but when it does—and it undoubtedly will—there will result a general demand for successful business men in the administration of the People’s Corporation.

This, however, will be only a part of the demand that will arise when it is more fully appreciated how impossible it is to arrive at sound public policies and practices with respect to any matter, domestic or foreign, affecting the country, without having due regard for the business principles which control the means by which almost all the material and ideal benefits of society are procured. The larger demand will be that the politicians cease to look upon politics as a field reserved for their own often purely selfish activities and that business men as a class no longer treat politics as having only a remote and academic interest for them and hence as deserving to be relegated to irresponsible theorists or to casually selected and mainly incompetent legislators.

A new conception of the qualifications of those who conduct our Government is beginning to take shape in this country. Time was when the prevalent popular notion was that the chief qualification required for a political career was to be an adept in the Machiavellian arts; and the currency of this notion has undoubtedly deterred many a conscientious man of tender susceptibilities from taking the part in politics for which he was well fitted by his business experience and in which he could have been of great benefit to the community. But this conception is rapidly passing, no doubt to the intense irritation of some of the surviving politicians of the old school, who are having it impressed upon them that indispensable prerequisites to real and abiding success in politics, as well as in business, are integrity of purpose, straight-forwardness in dealing with the public and an honest intent to serve, not their own selfish interests, but the permanent good of the community. The old-time equivocations, lack of candor and nefarious machinations of the resourceful party boss have now so little chance of success that it is clear, even to those who are reluctant to give them up, that they must now be consigned to the scrap-heap of discredited politics. And it is this very fact that removes the most disagreeable obstacles from the way of the able yet scrupulous business man who feels impelled to do his share towards making politics subserve the best interests of the country.

The consequences of the tendencies just described are already observable in our public life. While unfortunately it is still true that the average character and qualifications of our political leaders, legislators and officeholders are by no means of the high standard required by the great economic and political interests of the country, yet I do not like the muckrakers’ sweeping denunciations of our public men as a class. I have had some opportunity in recent years to observe these public men, and what I have seen of them has given me the opinion that the majority of them are of unimpeachable integrity and that not a few of them possess uncommon ability. Certainly the vast interests of the United States demand that those intrusted with the duties of government should have political wisdom and business capacity of the highest kind,—undoubtedly much higher than we have yet attained on the average; but nothing whatever is gained by dishonest or even by undeserved criticism of men in public station. Disingenuous and purely political abuse of our legislators and public officers serves but to belittle the critics, to diminish the legitimate influence of the press which prints and circulates their diatribes, and, worse still, to deter many desirable men from entering the public service. Nothing could be more harmful to the Nation.

All this but emphasizes the fact that the ideal we should steadily pursue is to fill our Government, both on the legislative and on the administrative side, with men of the broadest practical experience and with the highest conceptions of the disinterested service and the honorable fulfilment of their duties required of them for the public good. The community derives little advantage from the mere gratification of the personal political ambitions of its public men. Politics, rightly conceived, cannot be regarded as primarily intended to afford a field for those whose motives, even if not illegitimate, are characterized more by a desire for self-advancement than by a sense of obligation to handle the Nation’s affairs in the soundest and most efficient way. What is needed first of all, is that the American people should be able to say with absolute assurance that its Congress and its National administrative departments (not to mention its State and municipal governmental agencies) are composed of such men that the principles of sound, efficient, economical and honorable business can be counted upon to prevail in the handling of all matters, notwithstanding all the extravagant proposals of loose thinking or self-seeking politicians of the lower type.

The people must make up their minds that they will have the responsible positions in the Government, legislative or administrative, occupied by men who have demonstrated their ability and success as enlightened business men. Already in the selection of political leaders our voters are beginning to call for men about whose personal integrity there is no doubt—men above the influence of the selfish and unscrupulous corporations, on the one hand, or the dictation of the so-called labor vote, on the other; men who have the courage of their convictions and who can be relied upon to give their support to legislative measures which best serve the interest of the general public, irrespective of all other considerations. This is an enormous gain for the country. But much more is necessary. The entire Government and the politics that determines what it shall be must be infused with the spirit of sound knowledge and aggressive efficiency which characterizes American business of the best type. The place of our business men in politics is to bring this about.

PEACE BY COMPULSION
SOME PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE PATH OF THE OPERATION OF THE PROPOSED LEAGUE OF PEACE—IT WOULD NECESSITATE A RADICAL CHANGE OF POLICY ON THE PART OF THE UNITED STATES

BY

JAMES BROWN SCOTT

[DIRECTOR OF THE CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE]

In regard to the proposition to employ force to compel international peace, it seems to me that the use of force cannot be safely entrusted to any nation or group of nations; that the United States would not consent to grant such a right to a power or group of powers; and that, therefore, we should not ask that we ourselves be allowed to use force in certain cases.

One can easily think of cases in which we would not consent to arbitrate. For instance, if Denmark should sell St. Thomas to Germany, or if Mexico should make a cession of Magdalena Bay to Japan, we would undoubtedly insist that the cession in either case was void, as contravening our policy, and, if the cessionaire refused to cancel the cession, we would prevent the occupation of the territories in question by force. We would not submit the question to an international tribunal, because under international law Denmark and Mexico would have the right to make such cessions. We could not or would not submit the question to a Council of Conciliation, because its recommendation would be against a policy which the people of the United States insist upon. If the foreign country insisted upon the cession and took possession, as it would have the legal right to do, war might result. There are other illustrations. I merely mention two which have figured from time to time in the press.

It may be well, however, to give a further sample or two. Suppose that Russia and Japan should fall out over their rights in Manchuria, and Russia or Japan should use force against the other. Would the United States be willing to use its land and naval forces against either one or the other of these two great powers? Or suppose that the demands which Japan might feel justified in making upon China, either now or during the course of the war, or indeed after its termination, should be of a kind which China could not accept without sacrificing its independence, and Japan should thereupon use force, although China offered to submit the question to arbitration, would the United States, as a party to the League of Peace, use its land and naval forces against Japan? Or would the United States be willing to become a party to a League which might have pledged its good faith to do so?

And speaking of the proposed League of Peace, I notice that its partizans do not contemplate the use of force to compel the execution of a judgment. Force is to be used to get the parties into court or before the Council of Conciliation; that is to say, in case of a nation that refuses to submit its case to the court or to the council and invades the territory of the country with which it is in controversy, the members of the League bind themselves to unite their forces with the other party willing to arbitrate, and to use their forces thus combined against the nation going to war instead of arbitrating the dispute. If public opinion can be depended upon to execute the award, cannot public opinion be depended upon to force nations into court, if only the controversy be made public and public opinion be given a chance?

The suggestion of a League of Peace is very attractive in that it does not propose any particular kind of solution, but contents itself with the statement that the difference, whatever it is, shall be settled peaceably, leaving it to the parties in dispute to determine the form and nature of the adjustment. Some of the speakers at the Philadelphia gathering, in referring to the proposition of using force against a recalcitrant nation, admitted that the United States would need to change its policy in order to become a party to the League, but felt that the United States should be willing to do so. I gather the impression that such speakers had in mind the use of force by the United States against other countries, not the use of force by other parties to compel the United States to settle a dispute peaceably which our people might be unwilling to arbitrate or submit to a Council of conciliation. We might be willing for instance, to combine with other nations to use force against a weak power, but I doubt whether we would be willing to use force against a nation such as Germany over the Servian question, and I feel sure that we would be unwilling to allow foreign nations a right to use force against us.