Some Essential Economic Activities
The way in which each factor in production obtains its share.
Exchange.—It has been shown that several factors in production are each entitled to their share. This share is reckoned in terms of money because every producer gets his own return in terms of money. In other words goods are exchanged for money, and money in turn is exchanged for other goods or service. This mechanism of exchange engages the energy of a great many individuals and institutions, such as wholesalers, retailers, brokers, and banks. Economic goods would have relatively little value if they could not be translated into money and thus distributed from hand to hand. No one, as a rule, can live and flourish by consuming exactly what he produces and nothing else. He must use his share in what he produces as purchasing-power to secure whatever best satisfies his own wants. Money is the lubricant which facilitates this; in a word, it is the medium of exchange.
Definition of value.
Value and Price.—Exchange takes place on a basis of relative values. He who sells goods or services receives something of assumed equal value in return. But what is value? The term value is employed in two different senses, value in use and value in exchange. By the former we mean the intrinsic utility of a thing. Air and sunlight, for example, have a high value in use; they are indispensable to life in fact; but they have no value in exchange. When the economist speaks of value he means value in exchange or market value, that is to say the ratio in which one commodity or service will exchange for other commodities. If a ton of coal can be exchanged for a large quantity of cloth, or food, or labor, its value is high; if it can be exchanged for only small amounts of these other commodities, its value is said to be low.
Definition of price.
But price is quite another thing. The price of a commodity is the ratio at which it will exchange, not for all other goods and services but for one specific thing, namely, money. Price is value expressed in terms of the medium of exchange. We habitually translate our economic goods into terms of money before we buy or sell them. A general rise or fall in prices is quite possible, for this is merely another way of saying that money will buy less or more of all other things. It is immaterial whether we say that prices have gone up or that money has gone down; we mean exactly the same thing.
What determines the level of prices?
Competition and Monopoly.—Exchange is conducted, for the most part, under free competition. Buyers give as little as they can in money for goods; sellers get as much as they can. When goods bring higher prices, more will be produced until prices are forced down again; if prices fall, production will decline until the reduction in supply serves to bring them up again. This is the theory of free competition. In practice, however, it does not always work so automatically. Some things, such as diamonds and platinum, cannot be produced in unlimited quantities no matter how much labor, capital, and organization we may apply. Other things are legal monopolies, or patented articles, which can be produced by only one concern and are not subject to the direct influence of competition. Still others are natural monopolies due to the fact that from the nature of things only one concern can produce the goods or render the service. A telephone company, for example, has a natural monopoly. Competition involves a complete duplication of the service. It means that many subscribers have to put two telephones in their stores or homes in order to get into full touch with other users of telephones. The net cost of telephone service to customers cannot be reduced in this way. Finally, some things are the subject of artificial monopoly, that is to say, they are produced or distributed under arrangements which restrict or eliminate competition (see pp. 386-388).
The effects of monopoly.
All these forms of monopoly interfere with free competition and they cover a great many of the things which are in common use by the people.[[15]] Recent investigations have shown that the number of commodities which are either wholly or in large part controlled by monopolistic combines is larger than people commonly realize. A certain amount of legal monopoly is essential in order to encourage research and invention.[[16]] Men will not strive to invent new machines and appliances if the invention at once becomes common property. Natural monopolies arise from the essential nature of things and it is difficult to see how most of them can ever be avoided. We cannot very well have two competing street railways on the same street, for example. There would then be little room in the street for anything else. Artificial monopolies are often objectionable because they enable a few persons or corporations to obtain excessive prices from the public; but even an artificial monopoly can in some cases be advantageous. Occasionally some corporation, by producing things on a very large scale, is able to do it so cheaply that small producers are driven out of business. The large concern then finds that it has become a monopoly, but so long as it does not arbitrarily raise prices the public is not injured by the mere fact that a monopoly exists.
The principle of freedom in economic relations
Freedom of Contract.—An outstanding characteristic of modern economic organization is the encouragement of private enterprise through freedom of contract. By the laws of the land the worker is not forced to take employment from anybody; he may contract with whomsoever he pleases. He may even join with other workers in a union and make a collective bargain, that is, a group of workers, large or small, may contract with one or more employees or with a group of employers. The employer, on his side, is not forced to hire anybody; he also has freedom of contract. It is true, of course, that this legal theory of individual freedom does not find complete exemplification in actual practice. The right of the wage-earner to bargain collectively is not everywhere conceded by employers; the right of the employer to hire non-union men is not everywhere conceded by the unions (see p. [406]). The landlord is not obliged to rent his house, nor the tenant to stay against his will. Both are bound by the terms of their contract and no more. Buying and selling are conducted with similar freedom. All this affords a great spur to private initiative. Everyone depends for his own prosperity and advancement upon the skill with which he can use his freedom. A well-known English writer, Sir Henry Maine, once declared that the progress of civilization has been a movement from status to contract. He meant that in primitive times all men had their careers virtually determined for them by the station in which they were born. The child of a noble became a nobleman; the child of a peasant remained a peasant through life. In modern economic society the individual’s own efforts, exerted through his freedom to contract with others for his own advantage, count far more heavily in determining his ultimate station in life.
Why the institution of private property is maintained.
Private Property.—Freedom of contract would prove a poor incentive to progress were it not accompanied by a provision whereby industrious men can enjoy the fruits of their labor and thrift. Hence we guarantee to every man not only the right to earn but the right to save, for future enjoyment, a portion of his earnings. These savings become his property and within certain limits he may use them as he pleases. He may utilize his savings during his own lifetime or leave them to his children when he dies. Savings may take the form of private property in land and buildings, or movable goods, or such investments as bonds, stocks, mortgages, and bank deposits. Property in land and buildings is commonly known as real property or real estate. All other forms of property are called personal property. Sometimes we distinguish between two kinds of personal property, tangible, which includes all goods and chattels, and intangible, which comprises stocks, bonds, mortgages, notes, deposits, and other obligations.
The institution of private property is the basis of our whole economic system. No nation has ever enjoyed industrial prosperity for any length of time without recognizing the right of private property. Destroy this right and you take away what now constitutes the chief incentive to labor, saving, and industrial efficiency. Under a socialistic system, which would either abolish or largely curtail this right of private property, it is argued that other incentives would take the place of the motive now furnished by private property and that men would keep on working and organizing even if private property were entirely abolished; but this is a large question and its discussion must be relegated to a later chapter.
The right of private property is subject to restrictions.
In any case most men are now agreed that the right of private property cannot be left unfettered; it must be guarded against abuse. Society cannot wisely permit it to stand as an obstacle to the general interest. Even the right of private property, therefore, must bend to the good of the community. Men are allowed to own property because their doing so promotes the well-being of the whole people; the right should not go further than that. It is for this reason that we place various restrictions upon the right of private property, restrictions in the interest of the public health, or for protection against fire, or for the preservation of public morals. No one has the right to own and maintain property that constitutes a public nuisance, such as an unsanitary tenement house, for example, or a building that forms a fire trap. The right of private property is entitled to respect only in so far as it is exercised in keeping with its prime purpose, which is to advance the interests of the whole people by giving each individual a sufficient incentive to work and to save.
General References
H. C. Adams, Description of Industry, pp. 3-117; F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, Vol. I, pp. 1-110; H. R. Seager, Introduction to Economics, 4th ed., pp. 1-121; R. T. Ely, Outlines of Economics, 3rd ed., pp. 1-98; C. J. Bullock, Introduction to the Study of Economics, pp. 115-179; 375-431; H. R. Burch, American Economic Life, pp. 1-37; 71-80; 315-335; T. N. Carver, Principles of National Economy, pp. 3-46.
Group Problems
1. The effects of division of labor and the ways in which we may retain its advantages while reducing its detrimental effects. How division of labor arose. The extent to which it is now carried in industry. Its physical effects. Social, political, and economic effects. Its value. How its defects can be overcome. The reduction of hours in certain industries. Vocational education for the worker. The restriction of child labor. The better organization of the labor market. Recreation for the workers after work-hours. The merits and practical difficulties of each plan. References: F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, Vol. I, pp. 30-48; Thirteenth annual report of the United States Commissioner of Labor on Hand and Machine Labor (for illustrative material); H. R. Seager, Introduction to Economics, pp. 153-158; R. T. Ely, The Evolution of Industrial Society, pp. 398-424. See also the references given at end of chapters XX-XXI in this book.
2. The justification of private property. References: L. C. Marshall, Readings in Industrial Society, pp. 144-223; 947-988; John M. Mecklin, Introduction to Social Ethics, pp. 302-322; F. A. Cleveland and Joseph Schafer, Democracy in Reconstruction, pp. 69-95; Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, pp. 62-65.
Short Studies
1. Our chief economic wants. L. C. Marshall, Readings in Industrial Society, pp. 9-15; 270-277; 828-833; C. J. Bullock, Introduction to the Study of Economics, pp. 79-87.
2. Economic ideals. H. R. Burch, American Economic Life, pp. 17-27.
3. Is labor a commodity? C. J. Bullock, Introduction to the Study of Economics, pp. 432-436.
4. The relation of wages to the standard of living. H. R. Burch, American Economic Life, pp. 47-56; J. H. Hammond and J. W. Jenks, Great American Issues, pp. 83-96.
5. How capital is accumulated. R. T. Ely, Outlines of Economics, pp. 116-130.
6. The place of capital in modern agriculture, industry, and commerce. L. C. Marshall, Readings in Industrial Society, pp. 154-212.
7. Natural monopolies. C. J. Bullock, Introduction to the Study of Economics, pp. 309-324.
8. Freedom of contract. L. C. Marshall, Readings in Industrial Society, pp. 570-574.
9. Thrift as a national asset. F. A. Cleveland and Joseph Schafer, Democracy in Reconstruction, pp. 244-262.
10. The place of luxury in economic life. T. N. Carver, Principles of National Economy, pp. 584-597.
Questions
1. Make a list of the chief human wants that existed a thousand years ago. Also a list of the principal human wants of the United States today. Name the ones that are freely satisfied by nature.
2. What is meant by “economic goods”? Which of the following things are economic goods, and which are not: a phonograph record; opium; the sunken Lusitania; a silver dollar; a Liberty bond; electricity; Mr. Bryan’s skill as an orator; desert land in the middle of Africa; weeds in a wheat field; a wide acquaintance among business men; a ten dollar bill; a public park; a band concert; keen eyesight; a cask of rum? Give your reasons in each case.
3. Give some examples of the production of economic goods (a) without the use of labor or capital; (b) with labor but without capital; (c) with capital but without labor.
4. Explain what one would mean by speaking of the “productive consumption of wealth”. Give some examples.
5. Is division of labor carried as far in agriculture as in industry? Are the evils of division of labor as great in country districts as in towns and cities? What remedies would you suggest to counterbalance the monotony of industrial labor?
6. Which of the various productive factors are most important in (a) sheep raising; (b) banking; (c) the coining of money; (d) training a brass band; (e) selling newspapers on the street?
7. How would you estimate the ground rent of a piece of land, situated on the main business street of a large city, with a store built upon it?
8. Would an increase in the price of wheat lead to a rise in the general rate of rental paid for farm land or would a rise in the general rate of rental cause the price of wheat to go up?
9. Why is there more capital in the United States than in China although the population of China is three times as large?
10. If all payment of interest were forbidden by law, would people continue to save? If not, why does saving sometimes increase when the rate of interest goes down?
11. Why are each of the following paid a high or a low rate of remuneration as the case may be: (a) a locomotive engineer; (b) a hod carrier; (c) a movie actor; (d) a member of the state legislature; (e) a steeple jack; (f) a corporation lawyer?
12. To what different things may a fall in wages be due? A fall in profits? If all large production could be eliminated, would we be worse or better off?
13. If all men were of equal business ability and had the same opportunities, would there be any business profits?
14. What are the advantages of a corporation as compared with a partnership?
15. In what ways is democracy likely to enhance production to a greater degree than despotism?
16. Can you think of something possessing value but not utility? Utility but not value? Both value and utility but having no price?
17. What is meant by the saying that “competition is the life of trade”?
18. Make a list of all the natural monopolies that you can remember. How may the evils of legal and artificial monopolies be lessened?
19. How is freedom of contract related to the institution of private property? Do you think you would look forward to greater or less happiness in life if all private property were now to be abolished?
20. Which of the following are proper limitations on the freedom of contract or the right of private property: (a) a rule that billboards must not be built of wood; (b) a provision that no one shall buy or sell explosives without a license; (c) a regulation that no owner of a city lot shall build on it any building costing less than ten thousand dollars; (d) a requirement that no one sell cigarettes to persons under sixteen years of age?
Topics for Debate
1. Labor contributes more than management to national prosperity.
2. High prices are an advantage (or a disadvantage) to the workers of the United States.
3. Every earner of income should be required to save a certain portion of his earnings each year, thus making all men capitalists as well as workers.
CHAPTER IV
THE NATURE AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
The purpose of this chapter is to explain what government is, how it originated, why people obey it, and what its functions are.
Various uses of the word “state”.
What is the State?—The word “state” is so short and simple that everybody is assumed to know just what it means. And in a general way everyone does know what it means. But it is used in more than one sense and with a good deal of latitude. When we speak, for example, of the “newly-created states of Europe” we mean Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, and Jugo-Slavia. The term “state”, so used, designates a country with an independent political existence. But we also speak of “the states of the Union”, by which we mean merely the political divisions of a single country. Then, again, one frequently encounters such expressions as “a statesman who served the state” or “state control of railroads”, or “the relations between Church and State”. To what does the term in such cases refer? Here the expression is used in a generic sense to include politically organized society, and those who so use it are thinking more particularly of the political agencies through which organized society acts.
A general definition.
A simple definition will cover all these uses of the term. A state is a body of people, possessing a definite territory, and politically organized. Territory is essential. The Jews for many centuries did not constitute a state because they had no territory of their own. Now they are once more in the way of obtaining a national homeland. Population is also essential. The territory around the South Pole does not form a state because it is uninhabited. And a political organization, a government, is the third essential. The territory which is now the United States did not form a state before the first European settlers reached it, for, although it was inhabited, the savages who roamed over its vast expanses were not politically organized. They had, for the most part, neither government nor laws. Persons, territory, and organization—these are the essential attributes of a state.
The Government and why we obey it.—By the government we mean the various officials and bodies by whom the people are ruled. By the government the will of the state is carried out. But why should people obey a government? We obey the rules of voluntary organizations because we are free to join them or not; but no individual is free to disobey the laws or to remain aloof from the control of his government. By what right does the government take money from us in taxes, call upon us for service in war, compel us to adjust all our controversies in its courts, and insist that we obey its laws?
The divine right doctrine.
Two theories have been offered to justify the government’s right to the obedience of the people. The first is known as the theory of divine right. According to this idea all governmental authority was originally bestowed upon the rulers by the Creator. And having received their authority from God, the rulers were not responsible to the people. This theory of governmental authority is very old, as old as the Ten Commandments and probably older. It was argued that kings ruled and princes governed by divine right because “the powers that be are ordained of God”. This doctrine of the divine right of rulers was maintained throughout the mediaeval period and was put forth by the Stuart kings of England as a justification of their despotic rule.[[17]]
The “consent of the governed”.
The other theory, which is that government has its foundation in the “consent of the governed”, appeared in the writings of the English philosopher, John Locke, during the seventeenth century and was incorporated into the Declaration of Independence about one hundred years later. When the Stuart dynasty was finally expelled from the throne of England, the new sovereigns were declared to be rulers “according to the desire and resolution of parliament”, in other words by the consent of the English people through their representatives. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century the theory that government rests on the consent of the governed has been accepted in all democratic countries.
What the consent of the governed implies.
Now if we hold this doctrine to be sound, as most men do today, it follows that when people establish a government by their own consent, they are under obligation to submit to its authority. Every right imposes a duty. The right to frame a constitution and to adopt it as the basis of a new government carries the duty of supporting the constitution and upholding the hands of those who exercise authority under it. The people who claim the right to make the laws must be ready to obey these laws when they are made. When men and women by their own consent establish a government they do this because they expect to obtain some advantages such as security, peace, and order. In return for these advantages they must expect to yield obedience, pay taxes, adjust their differences in the courts, and do whatever else a government reasonably requires.
The social contract theory.
How Government Began.—But admitting that government rests on the consent of the governed, how was this consent obtained, and how did the first government come into existence? Here, again, there are two theories as to what happened. The first is that the state and government originated in a “social contract”. Primitive men, living in a condition of political chaos, made a general covenant, by which they created a sovereign power to rule them. This idea is as old as the days of Plato, but it did not take strong hold on the minds of men until a few centuries ago. It was put forward by Thomas Hobbes in England to defend absolutism, his argument being that to dethrone a king was to break the contract upon which the state had been founded. On the other hand it was used by John Locke to prove that the people of England had a right to dethrone a monarch if the monarch failed to abide by the terms of the social contract, and those who compare certain passages in Locke’s book with the Declaration of Independence will see that the framers of that daring document were much influenced by his assertions. Even in America the contract theory took a strong hold. The Mayflower pilgrims, lying off the rock-bound shores of New England, drew up and signed a formal document wherein they solemnly covenanted and combined themselves into a “civil body politic”. The doctrine found frequent expression in the writings of Jefferson and Madison; but while it afforded an excellent basis for arguments in defence of revolutions against despotism the theory that the state had its origin in a social contract has long since been abandoned as unhistorical. It assumes that primitive men were free and equal individuals subject to no paternal authority, whereas, as a matter of history, freedom and equality among men arose only after states had been formed.
The theory of political evolution.
The true explanation of how government began is to be found by applying to the study of political science the methods of biology. We do not know exactly where or when the first government came into existence, but we do know that all political institutions are the result of a gradual evolution or development.
We have already seen that the earliest social unit is the family—a small group of individuals bound together by intimate ties. But the family was but one unit in a larger group, the clan, made up of families assumed to be descended from a common ancestor. The various clans united to form the tribe which, as an organization, rested upon a common race, language, and religion. These tribes, although at first roving bodies, wandering from place to place, at length acquired some definite territory and settled permanently there. The beginnings of a state were then at hand and with the state, or even before it, came government. In all probability that is the process through which the earliest governments came into being,—a process extending through many generations. The tribal chiefs became kings and passed on the kingship to their sons. As time went on the kings gathered greater power until despotism became the customary form of government in most countries of the world. It was not until near the end of the eighteenth century that the world began to shake off the despotic authority of kings and to establish governments based upon the consent of the people.
Aristotle’s classification.
The Classification of Governments.—During this long evolution from the early tribal organizations down to the complex governments of the present day many forms of rule have been tried in various countries. Even in ancient Greece the philosopher Aristotle was able to divide states into six classes, three of which he called normal types and three perverted. Where political power was lodged in the hands of a single individual, he called the state a monarchy; where it was lodged with a few men he called it an aristocracy; and where it was vested in many hands he called it a democracy. Each of these normal types had its corresponding perversion or travesty. A perverted monarchy he termed despotism; a perverted aristocracy he termed oligarchy; and a perverted democracy he called a demagogism or state ruled by mob methods. This method of classifying states is of little value today and would be in many ways misleading.
Monarchies and republics.
Modern states are more commonly classed as monarchies and republics. The former includes those in which the chief executive officer of the state—be he king, emperor, or other potentate—holds his position by hereditary right; the latter includes those in which he is selected in some other way. But even this classification is not very enlightening. It does not tell us anything definite about the degree of actual control which the people of a state exercise over their government. In some monarchies like Great Britain the power of the people, exercised through their representatives, is very great; in some republics, in China for example, this power is very slight. The term republic is nowadays far from being synonymous with democracy; nor is the term monarchy incompatible with it. Various so-termed republics of Central and South America have been in fact little more than military despotisms.
National and federal states.
Another classification, much more useful, is that which separates national from federal states. By the former term we mean a unified state with a single government which reaches down directly to the citizen. Great Britain is a national state with a monarchical form of government; France is also a national state with a republican form of government. A federal state, on the other hand, is an agglomeration of smaller states, each of which retains its own government but with a central government possessing certain powers over them all. The German empire, a few years ago, was an example of a federal state under a monarchical form of government, while the United States affords an illustration of federalism with republican institutions. This classification is worth while, for it tells us something tangible about the states so classified. When we say that a state is of the federal type we imply that it has two spheres of government within it; that is has a written constitution defining these spheres; that the upper house of its parliament or legislature in some way represents the component units of the federation and that it has, in all probability, some powerful arbiter such as a supreme court to decide conflicts of authority between the nation and its component parts. Practically all federal states, at any rate, have these political characteristics. One cannot imagine a successful federal state without a written constitution, without division of political powers, without some existing authority to decide between the respective claims of the whole and its parts.
True and false democracies.
But the most important thing that a student of government ought to know about any state is whether it merely possesses the forms of democracy or whether the people in fact control the government. Nearly all present-day states have the external forms of democracy, that is to say, they have representative legislatures or parliaments which bulk large in the general scheme of government. But as to the actualities of democracy, the extent to which these representative bodies really direct and control the affairs of state, there is a considerable difference among the nations. A classification of states from this point of view can be made only after a careful study of their actual governments. It is not the form of government which makes a democracy, but the way in which popular control of public affairs is actually secured and sustained.
The spread of democracy.
Is Democracy the Best Form of Government?—During the past few years democracy has been rapidly gaining ground. The governments of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and other countries have been reconstructed in such way as to give them, outwardly at any rate, the rank of democratic states. But in spite of this phenomenal progress, which came on the heels of the World War, it remains a fact that more than half the population of the world is still living under systems of government which the people do not control. The world has not yet been made safe for democracy, nor half of it.
This suggests the question whether democracy is the best form of government for all races and under all circumstances. Is it best for backward races, for races only partly civilized? Is it the best system for people who have had very little political experience, such as the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Filipinos? Are we quite certain, in fact, that it is the best form of government for fully civilized mankind? Most people have always felt sure that democracy is the nearest approach to an ideal form of government, but if you ask their reasons for this belief, you will frequently find that they have never thought of any reasons. Democracy has been and is being severely criticized by various writers who declare that it merely places political power in the hands of the ignorant and unthinking masses, that it leads to wastefulness, extravagance, and corruption, that it fosters incompetence in public office, and that it results in woeful misgovernment.[[18]]
Now it is quite true that democracy does all this in some cases, but however grave the indictment may be, the friends of democracy can always answer: “What better alternative do you offer?” The great Italian statesman, Cavour, once remarked that, whatever faults it might have, a legislative chamber was better than a king’s antechamber. The justification of democracy is that it ensures, not necessarily the best government, or even good government; but the sort of government the people earn for themselves. A stream does not rise higher than its source. Nor can a representative government reach any higher level than that on which the people maintain it. It will reflect the intelligence, honesty, and patriotism of the governed. That is one reason why we should not apply to backward races the same principles of government which we apply to more civilized people. Democracy is the best form of government for those who are able to govern themselves, but this does not include all the people of the earth by any means.
How a government fulfils its purpose.
The Purpose of Government.—Having seen how governments originated, what forms they have assumed, and why they ought to be obeyed, it may be well to ask ourselves: What is the purpose of government? What ends does it serve?
The purpose of government is to promote the interests of each by promoting the interests of all. This end it seeks to attain in various ways. It protects the whole body of its people against external aggression, against foreign invasion. It also in this connection maintains the rights and liberties of its citizens against wrongful interference on the part of foreign states or citizens. It is for this purpose that armies and navies are maintained. The government safeguards its own citizens from injustice at the hands of one another. This it does by laws which define the relations of individuals to one another, and of one group of individuals to other groups. These laws prescribe the relations of husband and wife, of parent and child, of landlord and tenant, of employer and employee, of office-holder and citizen—they define and regulate every person’s rights and duties towards others. In order that we may exercise our rights and perform our duties we must first know what they are. The state, through its laws, tells us. Through its courts, moreover, it applies such pressure upon reluctant individuals as may be necessary to make these rights and duties real. In a word, government exists to enforce rights and to secure liberty.
Relation of government to individual rights.
Were every individual immune from the jurisdiction of any superior authority, and free to do as he pleased, he would have to accord every other individual the same immunity and the same freedom. He would then have no rights that anyone else would be bound to respect. He would have no liberty that others could not, by force, take away from him. He would have no security against violence to his person or property. The strength of his own strong arm would be his only protection. What a condition of chaos, injustice, bloodshed, and anarchy that would be!
The constructive work of government.
Not all the government’s work, however, takes the form of protection and regulation. Its functions are constructive as well. Through its various departments it actively promotes the general interest and thereby the interests of each citizen. It not only protects the public health by regulations and restrictions; it fosters and promotes things that help to raise the general standards of health among the people. It does not merely make rules to prevent ships from colliding with one another; it sets out buoys and beacons, builds lighthouses, and maintains life-saving stations. It does not merely protect agriculture[agriculture] by regulations to prevent the spread of noxious weeds and pests; it actively assists the improvement of agriculture by means of experiment stations and the distribution of educational literature. The government, indeed, is the greatest of all the agencies through which society undertakes its tasks of using the resources of nature to the best advantage, eliminating friction and waste, adjusting the conflicting claims of individuals, and giving to each and all an equal opportunity.
The citizen’s obligations to his government.
From all this it ought to be apparent that the state and its government are the agencies through which the individual obtains rights, protection, assistance, and liberty. But neither rights nor liberty can be achieved without incurring an obligation in return. To the state, which secures us rights and liberties, we owe the duty of patriotism. Patriotism is not a mere sentiment. It is a concrete expression, by thought, word, and act, of the citizen’s respect for the state to which he belongs. It should be based upon recognition of the fact that without the security, the justice, and the freedom which the state provides, life would not be worth living. Patriotism is a mixture of pride, gratitude, and faith,—pride in the great community to which a man belongs, gratitude for what it is doing, and faith in what it may do for posterity.
The limits of governmental action.
How Far should Governments Go?—One of the live questions of the present day concerns the extent to which the government ought to go in trying to fulfil these various purposes. Should it merely make laws, coin money, establish post offices, maintain an army, or should it actively engage in such activities as operating the railroads, the coal mines, and even the factories of the country? On the one hand there are those who take an individualistic or laissez-faire attitude towards governmental policy and maintain that the government should interfere as little as possible with the daily life of the people. It should confine itself, the individualist claims, to political matters purely, leaving economic affairs entirely alone. At the other extreme are the socialists, who believe that the government ought to step in and directly control all important agencies of production. It should own all the land, the public utilities such as railroads and telegraph lines, the mines, and all the agencies of production (pp. 481-488).
Both individualism and socialism represent extremes; most men take a midway stand as regards the proper functions of government. The greatest good of the greatest number among the people cannot be secured unless the government interferes to some extent with the free play of economic forces. It must prevent gross injustice wherever gross injustice appears. No government fulfils its highest aim unless it becomes an ever-active force in making our common life more human and more fruitful in the good will of class toward class and of man toward man. On the other hand it must take care not to invade the field of private enterprise so far as to take upon itself greater burdens than can be properly carried.
Too much government is as bad as too little. In a democracy, where public officials are chosen by popular vote, often with little reference to their personal ability, there are obvious limits to what a government can do and do well. The individualist starts with the assumption that governments are always inefficient when they meddle in affairs of everyday life. The socialist, on the other hand, assumes that governments can always secure better results than private enterprise in any field of economic activity. The truth, as usual, lies between the extremes. To fix a rigid line between the two sets of functions, as one would draw the boundary of two countries on a map, is impossible. To attempt this would be to forget that civilization is ever moving on, bringing new social needs in its train. Every proposal to extend the functions of government must be determined on its own merits and not upon the basis of its conformance to any rule.
Government as a science.
The World a Great Laboratory for Experiments in Government.—Everywhere throughout the world the process of experiment in forms of government is going on, twenty-four hours a day, in ceaseless round. And it has been going on for more than two thousand years. Every experiment in political organization that the human mind can suggest has had, or is having, its trial somewhere. During the past few years we have seen earth’s proud empires pass away and new republics rise in their stead, just as two thousand years ago the great Roman republic collapsed and an empire took its place. The astronomer who scans the heavens with his telescope commands no such laboratory of endless experiment and sees no such continuous panorama of change as the student who watches with naked eye the political activities of his fellow-men. That is what makes the study of government, when carefully pursued, the most interesting and most instructive of all studies. “On earth”, as the poet Pope has said, “there is nothing great but man”. And it is in his organized activities that man shows himself at his best.
General References
James Bryce, Modern Democracies, especially Vol. I, pp. 24-50; II, pp. 335-610;
Woodrow Wilson, The State, pp. 1-68;
J. Q. Dealy, The State and Government, pp. 119-181;
J. W. Garner, Introduction to Political Science, pp. 86-204;
Stephen Leacock, Elements of Political Science, pp. 3-51; 141-153;
Cyclopedia of American Government. (See under State Government, Social Compact Theory, Separation of Powers, etc.).
Group Problems
1. To what extent should the government engage in business? The original functions of government. Growth of governmental activities. Extent of governmental enterprises in European countries. Government enterprises in America. Effects of government enterprises on private initiative. Effects on the government itself. Relation of government activities to the maintenance of democracy. Conclusions. References: J. W. Garner, Introduction to Political Science, pp. 273-310; Woodrow Wilson, The State, pp. 41-57; Stephen Leacock, Elements of Political Science, pp. 386-409; J. G. Brooks, The Social Unrest, pp. 46-67.
2. The faults of democratic government. References E. L. Godkin, The Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy, pp. 96-144; Emile Faguet, The Cult of Incompetence, pp. 12-36; A. M. Kales, Unpopular Government in the United States, pp. 21-90; Alleyne Ireland, Democracy and the Human Equation, pp. 80-118; A. B. Cruikshank, Popular Misgovernment in the United States, pp. 1-27.
3. The merits of democratic government. References: C. W. Eliot, American Contributions to Civilization, pp. 1-102; James Bryce, Modern Democracies, especially, Vol. II, pp. 527-610; J. Q. Dealey, The State and Government, pp. 338-353.
Short Studies
1. What end does the state serve? Woodrow Wilson, The State, pp. 58-68.
2. The stages in the development of government. J. Q. Dealey, The State and Government, pp. 24-45.
3. The divine right of kings. R. G. Gettell, Readings in Political Science, pp. 118-120; Cyclopedia of American Government, Vol. I, p. 605.
4. The Mayflower compact. William MacDonald, Documentary Source Book of American History, p. 19; Edward Channing, History of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 308-310.
5. Does federalism mean weak government? A. V. Dicey, The Law of the Constitution, pp. 162-172; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, Vol. I, pp. 334-341.
6. The system of checks and balances. W. B. Munro, The Government of the United States, pp. 47-52; The Federalist, No. 47.
7. The meaning of self-government. P. L. Kaye, Readings in Civil Government, pp. 15-21.
8. The relation of government to economic life. S. P. Orth, Readings in the Relation of Government to Property and Industry, pp. 25-38.
9. The first principles of democracy. F. A. Cleveland and Joseph Schafer, Democracy in Reconstruction, pp. 48-66.
10. Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy. A. C. McLaughlin, Steps in the Development of American Democracy, pp. 78-116.
11. The outlook for democracy in America. F. A. Cleveland, Organized Democracy, pp. 438-448.
12. The economic functions of government. C. J. Bullock, Introduction to the Study of Economics, pp. 478-492.
Questions
1. What is the difference between a state and society? Is India a state? Are the Esquimos a state? Are pirates citizens or subjects of a state? Did the Mayflower Pilgrims constitute a state before they touched land?
2. Has the doctrine of evolution affected our ideas concerning the origin of government? Are there any primitive types of government in the world today?
3. Give some examples of the “constructive work of government” besides those mentioned in the text.
4. Why are ancient classifications of government practically useless today? When you say that the United States is a federal democratic republic what ideas do you intend to convey in each of the three italicized words?
5. Do you believe that the plan of government now existing in the United States would be suitable for (a) the British Empire; (b) China; (c) Switzerland; (d) Canada? Tell why or why not in each case.
6. Make up lists of the functions which properly belong to national, state, and local governments respectively. Give your reasons for placing such things as “education”, “fire-protection”, “public health”, “criminal law”, “conservation of natural resources”, and “regulation of commerce” in one or the other list.
7. James Madison once said that the concentration of legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the same hands would be “the very definition of tyranny”. What did he mean? Was he right? Does the same danger exist today?
8. Arrange the mandatory functions of government in what you believe to be their order of importance and give reasons for your arrangement.
9. Can you name any characteristics of American government other than those given in the text? Do the following things distinguish American government from other governments: woman suffrage, an elective president, the absence of an hereditary nobility, two-chambered legislatures, a supreme court?
10. In what ways may direct government be better than representative government and in what respects not so good? (Consider such general problems as ensuring responsiveness to the will of the people, deliberation, the absence of corruption, educational value, and expense.)
11. What did President Wilson mean when he said that the world must be made “safe for democracy”? Can the world be safe for democracy while great and powerful monarchies remain? What changes in addition to the dethronement of the Kaiser did Americans consider essential in order to make Germany a democracy?
12. Argue against the proposition that the study of government is the study of a science.
Topics for Debate
1. Written constitutions have been a hindrance rather than a help to the development of American democracy.
2. Andrew Jackson was more of a democrat than Thomas Jefferson.
3. It is not right under any circumstances to subject a people to government without their own consent. #/
CHAPTER V
THE CITIZEN, HIS RIGHTS AND DUTIES
The purpose of this chapter is to explain who are citizens, what their rights and duties are, and how training for citizenship is obtained.
The old systems of oppression.
What Civil Liberty Means.—One of the best ways to get an appreciation or what civil liberty means is to read any book which describes the life of the French people before the Revolution. In those days men could be arrested without any reason, thrown into jail for months or years without trial, and their property confiscated. No one could travel from one part of the country to another without permission. There was no freedom of religion, no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press. Nothing could be printed without a license from the authorities. The farmer who brought his produce into town had to pay a toll on it. The workman, in order to follow his trade, was required to join a guild and pay a fee. The amount of taxes which every farmer or workman had to pay depended upon the will of the tax-collectors, who made a profit out of the taxes. Soldiers were billeted or boarded in the homes of the people and the king paid nothing for it. The masses of the people toiled hard in order that princes and noblemen might live in luxury. That was the Bourbon despotism of old France.
Things are very different in France today under a republican form of government; they are different everywhere throughout Europe and America. Despotic rule has given way to government by the people, and government by the people has brought civil liberty.
LIBERTY, FRATERNITY, EQUALITY. By Edward Simmons
Copyright by Edward Simmons. From a Copley Print, copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Boston. Reproduced by permission.
LIBERTY, FRATERNITY, EQUALITY
By Edward Simmons
In the New York Criminal Court House.
This mural decoration is placed above the pen in which the prisoners are kept. Equality, holding a globe and compasses, displays a sternness and rigor which Fraternity, with a kindly grip of the arm, is seeking to soften. Liberty, to the right, has broken the chain which held him down, in spirit as well as in body. These three words, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, formed the motto of the French Revolution, and they have been the slogan of militant democracy ever since.
This civil liberty, as it exists in the United States, includes the following rights:
The general rights of citizens.
1. To travel freely from place to place on any lawful errand, and everywhere to be accorded the equal protection of the laws. The citizen of New York who goes to California is not an alien there. He is entitled to all the privileges which belong to an American citizen.
2. To own property, make contracts, and engage in any lawful trade or labor.
3. To enjoy freedom of worship, freedom of speech, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
4. To have a fair trial when accused of any crime; to be protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and not to be deprived of them without due process of law.
Civil Rights were Won by Hard Struggles.—Now these rights did not descend upon mankind like manna from the skies. They were gained for the people by prolonged struggles extending over many centuries. Thousands of men, at various times in history, gave their lives in order that these rights might be established. If you were writing a history of civil liberty among English-speaking people, you would have to go back at least seven hundred years to the days of Magna Carta, when King John of England was forced to surrender in that famous document many of the arbitrary powers which he had claimed the right to exercise. There, on the historic field of Runnymede, the sullen king promised among other things that no free man should be imprisoned or fined or outlawed or otherwise penalized “save by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land”. The winning of the Great Charter was merely the first encounter in a long series of conflicts between the kings and the people of England. Step by step the people wrested from the Crown the right to control taxation, to punish royal officials for wrong-doing, to be supreme in the making of laws, and even to change their entire form of government should they so desire. It was[was] a long and grim struggle, hard-fought all the way.
“Lance and torch and tumult, steel and grey-goose wing
Wrenched it, inch and ell and all, slowly from the King”.
The beginnings of civil liberty in America.
The men who founded the American colonies brought these rights across the Atlantic with them. In the new soil civic liberty grew and nourished even better than in the old, so much so that Englishmen at home soon became concerned over the strong emphasis which the colonies were placing upon the civil rights of the individual. The gap between the colonies and Great Britain steadily widened in this respect,—leading in the end to the Declaration of Independence, which asserted the civil rights of men to be natural and inalienable. When independence had been established, after a long and difficult struggle, it is not surprising that the people of the thirteen states should decide to write the principles of civil liberty into their new state constitutions. They took this means of demonstrating their conviction that the fundamental rights of the citizen ought to be inscribed in a solemn document beyond the power of legislatures to change. It would be absurd to think, however, that civil liberty exists in the United States merely because a list of civil rights is written into the constitutions of the states and the nation. In the last analysis civil rights depend for their maintenance and enforcement upon a realization of their value by the whole people and the willingness of every citizen to grant to others the rights which he claims for himself.
Citizenship and allegiance.
Who are Citizens?—The proudest boast of the Roman, in the days when Rome dominated the world was Civis Romanus sum: “I am a Roman citizen”. By this saying he meant that he was entitled to the protection of the most powerful country on earth. Cicero, in one of his orations, declared that these three words would protect any Roman citizen no matter where he went, even among savage tribes. A Roman citizen was one who owed allegiance to Rome. An American citizen is one who owes allegiance to the United States.[[19]] Every man, woman, and child in every part of the world bears a relation to some government, and this relation we call allegiance. There is no such thing, in the eyes of the law, as “a man without a country”. |Citizenship by birth.| This allegiance, or citizenship, is acquired in the great majority of cases by birth. The constitution of the United States declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside”. This means that every child born in this country and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen, no matter who his parents happen to be.[[20]]
Citizenship by naturalization.
The other method of acquiring citizenship is by naturalization. Naturalization is the process by which an alien renounces his original allegiance and swears allegiance to another country. All white aliens, and those of African blood, are entitled to become citizens of the United States by naturalization if they fulfil the legal requirements. The chief requirement is that the alien who seeks to be naturalized must have been continuously a resident of the United States for at least five years. He must also be able to read and write, must have some knowledge of American institutions, must be of good character, and must not be a disbeliever in organized government. |The process in naturalization.| The process of individual naturalization involves two steps, first a formal declaration of intent to become a citizen, and, second, the taking of final letters of citizenship. At least two years, and not more than seven years, must elapse between these two steps. The work of granting citizenship by naturalization is in the hands of such regular courts as are designated by law for this purpose. Applications must be on prescribed forms; evidence as to residence has to be presented; and the oath of allegiance to the United States must be taken. Many thousands of aliens are admitted to citizenship in this way every year.[[21]] The naturalization of a husband also naturalizes his wife without any action on her part. The naturalization of a father makes all his minor children citizens.
Can a Man have Double Citizenship?—Is it possible for anyone to be a citizen of two countries at once? Until recent years it was the practice of some European countries to claim that when their citizens emigrated and became naturalized elsewhere they still retained their original allegiance. Germany, for example, maintained that German emigrants to the United States did not lose their German citizenship by becoming naturalized here. If they subsequently returned to Germany, even for a short time, they were treated as German citizens, required to serve in the army and to perform the other obligations of German citizenship. This situation created a great deal of friction because the naturalized citizens were in the habit of calling upon the United States to protect them against their own original governments. All this has now been straightened out by treaties between the United States and foreign governments in which the latter have conceded the right of emigrants to become naturalized in the United States and by so doing to renounce their original citizenship. The United States, for its part, also concedes the right of any American citizen to become naturalized in a foreign country, thereby renouncing his allegiance as an American citizen. These treaties sometimes provide, however, that if an individual who has been naturalized in the United States goes back to his native country and remains there a certain length of time, he shall be deemed to have given up his American citizenship.
The specific duties of citizens.
The Obligations of Citizenship.—Many people seem to think that citizenship involves only rights. They rarely place much emphasis upon the duties which citizenship involves. A government protects its citizens both at home and abroad; it secures them all the benefits of civil liberty. In return it lays on them the duty of obedience and the obligation of service. It is the duty of every good citizen to know his country’s history, to honor its flag, and to be true to its ideals. This does not mean that he should despise or dislike people who are not of his own race or allegiance. All men are brothers. Above all nations is humanity. Yet no one can be a friend of mankind unless he is, first of all, a friend of his own land.
It is also the duty of the citizen to know his country’s laws and to obey them. No one knows all the laws, or needs to know them all, for very few of them touch the daily life of any one individual. He should know the laws in so far as he comes into contact with them. The merchant must know the laws relating to business; there is no need for him to learn the legal rules relating to the practice of medicine, for example. The physician, on his part, must know the law in so far as it relates to his own profession, but does not need to inform himself concerning the laws which relate to the buying and selling of goods. Laws are made in the common interest and if ignorance of the law were permitted to be an excuse for disobedience, the whole system of government would soon break down.
Finally, it is the duty of the citizen to serve his government when called upon. This may take the form of military service in time of war, or service in public office, or service on a jury. All these various forms of service may involve great personal sacrifice; but a country worth having is a country worth serving, and it is only through service on the part of its citizens that a free government can be maintained.
Training for Citizenship in the Schools.—Training for citizenship begins in the home and in the schools. The purpose of the school is not merely to impart information. That is a small part of its work. Its main function is to afford the sort of mental and moral training that will enable every pupil to achieve the durable satisfactions of life,—to make a good living, to be of high service to others, and to leave the world a little better by reason of his having lived in it. Many of the best fruits of education are not found listed on the school program. Orderliness is one of them. Industry is another. Responsibility for doing daily tasks well is a third. There are no special courses in these things. They are part and parcel of the whole process of education. No one should make the mistake of supposing that the schools train for citizenship through instruction in American history, civics, and economics alone. The whole organization of the school, its entire program of studies, its assemblies, its discipline, its insistence on punctuality, its organized athletics and other activities,—all these things afford lessons in co-operation, responsibility, service, and government.
How the public schools teach democracy.
The public school is a miniature democracy. It is free and open to all. Its pupils have equal privileges and equal responsibilities. It makes no distinction of race, creed, or wealth. The children of rich and poor parents sit side by side and are given the same opportunities. Every pupil who enrolls in a public school gets the same start and his advancement depends upon his own efforts. In the course of time some will lead and others fall behind, just as men and women do in the outside world. Wherever individuals, young or old, are gathered together, some will forge ahead of the rest by virtue of their natural ability, their superior industry, or their qualities of leadership. School experience should impress this great fact of democratic life upon every pupil’s mind. The pupil who imagines that he can be regularly behind in his studies, neglectful of his opportunities, unable to command the respect of his teachers or his fellows in the school, and yet hope to become a leader in the outside world is making a grave mistake. It is not thus that the leaders of men are trained. The useful citizen does not become so in a day or a year. He begins to develop his qualities while he is young.[[22]]
Training for Citizenship on the Playground.—Recreation and play, when properly carried on, afford not only exercise and amusement, but education as well. Some useful lessons which cannot well be taught in the class-room are learned by participation in organized athletics. Everyone realizes, for example, that play in which there is no leadership, no observance of rules, and no system, is a very poor sort of play. It may give physical exercise in plenty, yet it satisfies nobody. Anarchy on the playground is no more satisfying than anarchy in any other branch of human activity. Hence, whenever a group of young men or young women go to the athletic field, their first step is to organize into teams or sides. Each team has its captain whose directions are to be obeyed, not because he is an autocrat, but because the team cannot hope to win unless it is provided with leadership. When play begins it is conducted according to rules which everyone is supposed to know and observe. If the contest is important, an umpire is selected to act as arbitrator on questions involving an infraction of the rules. Now all this is merely government on a small scale. The element of leadership, the team-play, the rules, the practice of obeying the umpire—these things should suggest to us that officials, laws, government, and courts also make for the best interests of the individual in the great interplay of life.
The spirit that rules the playground.
What is it that secures co-operation, obedience, and good temper on the playground? Is it the fear of punishment? No, it is the same force which in organized society secures obedience to law and respect for the rights of others, namely, the influence of public opinion. Public opinion, in other words an inherent sense of fair play among the players, is what really rules the playground. Bullying or meanness in any form results in unpopularity. The player who sulks, who shirks his part in the game, or who selfishly seeks his own way at all times is not preparing himself rightly to win the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens in later life. On the other hand the boy or girl who gains on the playground a reputation for fairness, good temper, and a readiness to act in harmony with others is developing those qualities of character which enable men and women to achieve success in any field of adult activity. The Duke of Wellington once declared that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton,—a famous boys’ school in England. What he meant was that this victory was won not by military skill alone, but by those qualities of discipline and bull-dog tenacity which the officers of his army had developed on the school athletic fields in their boyhood days. Peace hath her victories not less renowned than war. Good citizens as well as good soldiers can be trained on the playgrounds of every community.[[23]]
College education and citizenship.
Training for Citizenship in Later Life.—Civic education is not completed when one graduates from school. A man’s whole life is a process of education, a process that is never finished until he dies. So the work of self-improvement should not be interrupted at any stage. If the pupil goes to college, it will be found that there the same qualities of obedience, industry, and respect for the rights of others will determine whether he stands high or low in the estimation of his equals. In the college as in the school, everyone starts upon the same plane with equal opportunities. The college also is an organization with officials in authority, with rules, and with a vigilant public opinion among its students. Compared with the school it rises a step nearer to the ways of the world, giving its students greater latitude but also placing more responsibility upon them. Its organized athletics develop the same qualities as are encouraged upon the school playground; its various other student activities help to make young men and women more versatile and broader in their interests. Colleges try to make scholars; they also endeavor to develop habits of industry in their students and to impress upon them the duty of service to their fellow-men. On the whole the colleges have succeeded in these things. It is significant that the great majority of the nation’s leaders, in every branch of life, are men and women who have had a college education.
Not all high school graduates, however, go to college. The majority go directly out into the world as wage earners or home makers. They enter the ranks of our great economic society and seek to move onward to the top. For the most part all must begin at the bottom, or very near it. A high school or college education does not relieve anyone from the necessity of starting on a low rung of the ladder in his chosen trade or profession. Neither the school nor the college can teach the actual process of earning a living. This must be learned by direct contact with the affairs of the world. But the school and the college can so prepare young citizens that they will climb faster by virtue of the mental training they have obtained and the habits of industry they have acquired.
Public service is a duty of the citizen.
Citizenship and Service.—To make one’s own way successfully in the world is a laudable ambition, but no one can be and remain a good citizen if he devotes his entire time and thought to his own self-advancement. It is well to be diligent in business and faithful to the immediate duty in hand, but no inspiring career has ever been built upon foundations of selfishness. If everyone is engrossed in his own affairs, there will be none to serve and aid the state. On the other hand a very small amount of public service freely and cheerfully given by every citizen, results in great benefits to the community which receives this service, and to the individuals who give it as well. In this sense, as in all others, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
How this service may be rendered.
The ways of service are manifold. Every community has its civic and welfare organizations whose aim is the general good. They draw their members and their active workers from among those citizens who are public spirited. Boards of trade and chambers of commerce devote themselves to advancing the economic interests of the community. Municipal improvement leagues, citizens’ associations, men’s clubs, and women’s societies are to be found in every large town or city; they have various aims but all are guided by the same general aspiration, which is to better the environment in which the people live. The opportunities for women have been greatly increased by giving them the same responsibilities as men in all public activities. There are organizations for the care of the poor, for visiting the sick, and for the prevention of cruelty in all its forms. All depend for the effectiveness of their work, and even for their very existence, upon the degree of interest given to them by public-spirited citizens. There is no one so poor or so busy that he can give no money, no time, and no sympathy to any public cause. The citizen who centers all his interest upon his own personal affairs is not only missing one of the durable satisfactions of life but is giving himself a schooling in selfishness. He is not a good citizen in the proper sense of the term.
The value of experience in public office.
Service in public office is the best training for good citizenship, although not all men and women can have this form of civic education. Yet everyone has a right to aspire to it, and ought to welcome the opportunity of such service if it comes. It does not usually come unearned. Like most other opportunities, this one knocks at the doors of those who have earned their right to it. Men and women who have displayed no evidence of public spirit are rarely called upon to let their names go on the ballot. The first step to honorable public office is taken when one joins a civic or welfare organization and shows ability to work with and for others. Thus a man’s acquaintance, or a woman’s acquaintance, gradually broadens; the confidence of others is gained; and in time the hand of the public beckons to those who have demonstrated their spirit of service.
Public office is a public trust. The proffer of its opportunities to any man or woman is a high compliment. Election to public office is the highest honor a democratic community can bestow. As a means of becoming well versed in public affairs and in the practical problems of government there is no training which surpasses it.
General References
Everett Kimball, National Government of the United States, pp. 73-80;
W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, pp. 71-87;
J. A. Woodburn and T. F. Moran, The Citizen and the Republic, pp. 1-31;
S. W. McCall, The Liberty of Citizenship, pp. 1-31;
James Bryce, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, especially pp. 43-74;
F. A. Cleveland, Organized Democracy, pp. 80-129;
S. E. Baldwin, The Relations of Education to Citizenship, pp. 27-54;
W. H. Taft, Four Aspects of Civic Duty, pp. 3-34.
Group Problems
1. How aliens are naturalized. The requirements. Who are excluded? Steps in naturalization procedure, the papers, witnesses, oaths, fees, etc., required. The tests which applicants must take. How aliens can best be encouraged to become naturalized. What is being done to secure the naturalization of aliens in your own community? References: Cyclopedia of American Government, Vol. II, pp. 497-498; W. B. Munro, Government of American Cities, pp. 107-111; H. M. Beck, Aliens’ Text Book on Citizenship, especially pp. 9-26; Peter Roberts, The Problem of Americanization, pp. 109-129; U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Naturalization, Syllabus of the Naturalization Law (pamphlet).
2. Education in its relations to good citizenship. References: Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 90-176; James Bryce, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, pp. 33-42; S. E. Baldwin, The Relations of Education to Citizenship, pp. 1-26.
3. The civic organizations of your community. One or more organizations, such as Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, Citizens’ Associations, Men’s Clubs, Women’s Clubs, Civic Leagues, Local Improvement Associations, City Clubs, Reform Associations, Family Welfare Societies, etc., etc., may be found in every large community. Their aims and activities may be studied in their annual reports and by personal interviews with their officers.
Short Studies
1. First steps in civil liberty. James H. Tufts, Our Democracy, pp. 101-116.
2. What are the “privileges and immunities” of citizens? Arnold J. Lien, Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the United States, especially pp. 31-68.
3. Expatriation. G. B. Davis, Elements of International Law, pp. 143-151; W. E. Hale, International Law (4th ed.), pp. 239-255.
4. Freedom of speech and of the press. Cyclopedia of American Government, pp. 57-58; T. M. Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, pp. 596-638.
5. Freedom of worship. James Bryce, American Commonwealth, Vol. II, pp. 763-771; C. W. Eliot, American Contributions to Civilization, pp. 18-21.
6. The rights of the citizen against the government. F. A. Cleveland, Organized Democracy, pp. 80-96.
7. The right to fair judicial process. Emlin McClain, Constitutional Law of the United States, pp. 315-332.
8. How the hindrances to good citizenship may be removed. S. E. Baldwin, The Relation of Education to Citizenship, pp. 27-54.
9. The playground as a place of education for citizenship. Joseph Lee, Play in Education, pp. 360-391.
10. How the business man can help his community. Henry Bruère, The New City Government, pp. 384-400.
11. How women can serve their community. Mary R. Beard, Woman’s Work in Municipalities, especially pp. 319-337.
12. May the obstacles to good citizenship be overcome? James Bryce, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, pp. 105-134.
13. School government as a training for citizenship. U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 8 (1915), pp. 7-31; Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 158-176.
Questions
1. What is the difference between the following: citizens, subjects, nationals, residents, denizens, aliens?
2. What is meant by the expression to “swear allegiance”? To “forswear allegiance”? Repeat the oath of allegiance. When is the oath taken (a) by aliens; (b) by citizens?
3. Are the following American citizens by birth: (a) a boy born abroad, of alien parentage, whose parents came to the United States and were naturalized after he was over twenty-one years of age; (b) children of Chinese parents, born in the United States; (c) children of American parents, born in the Philippines; (d) children of Porto Rican parents, born in Europe since 1917?
4. Name four important civic rights. Arrange in each case a set of facts which would constitute a violation of a civic right.
5. The constitution provides that the people shall have the right to assemble peaceably. Would it be a violation of this right to require that a permit from the police must be had in order to hold any meeting in the streets or in the public parks?
6. Discuss the extent to which the public school is a “miniature democracy”. Is it organized like a democratic government? To what extent and under what circumstances can school pupils be entrusted with self-government or given a share in the maintenance of discipline?
7. To what extent can public opinion be relied upon to enforce the rules (a) in athletics; (b) in the class-rooms; (c) in business; (d) in government? Would laws be effective if there were no penalties but the censure of public opinion to enforce them? If not, why not?
8. What is the value of a high school or college education in training young men and women (a) to make a living; (b) to become leaders; (c) to help their fellow-citizens; (d) to hold public office? Towards which of these things does education contribute the most?
9. Can any one be a good citizen without knowing how government is carried on? Without knowing American history? Without belonging to any social or civic organization? Without voting at elections? Without being at all interested in social or political questions?
Topics for Debate
1. No one who is not a citizen should be permitted to become a voter.
2. The obligation of military service ought to be imposed upon aliens as well as upon citizens.
3. The teaching of civics should be made compulsory in all grammar and high schools.
CHAPTER VI
POPULAR CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT
The purpose of this chapter is to explain how the people, both directly and indirectly, control all branches of government in the United States.