CHAPTER XLV.
WORLD PROBLEMS.
Each locality has its questions of interest; each state has subjects which arouse discussion; each nation has its issues of paramount importance, and the world has its problems. There are transient questions which come and go and questions which, like Tennyson's brook, "go on forever." Each generation, in each country, meets the issues presented by conditions, but all the nations of the earth are constantly grappling with problems universal in their scope and everlasting in duration. In his famous oration at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln spoke of an "unfinished work" which those buried there had promoted and to which the living should dedicate themselves. Every generation finds an unfinished work when it enters upon life's stage and leaves the work unfinished when it departs. The work of civilization is ever an unfinished one for the reason that new problems present themselves as soon as present ones have been solved. In our trip around the world we have had an opportunity to note some of the problems which most concern all peoples at all times. The first concerns the legitimate sphere of government—what should the government, acting for all the people, do, and what should be left to the individual? This problem is under consideration in every civilized nation, and no two nations have reached the same solution. At the two extremes stand the individualist and the socialist—the former jealously guarding the individual and opposing any encroachments upon his sphere of action, the latter emphasizing the work of the state and seeking to convert the work of production and the work of distribution into state functions. Between these extremes stand the mass of the people, governed more by the exigencies of each individual case than by the theories put forward by individualist and socialist. In some directions the governments of Europe and Asia have extended the sphere of the state beyond anything known in the United States; in some respects our government has enlarged the sphere of the state beyond anything attempted in the old world, but everywhere the tendency is to extend rather than to diminish the sphere of the state's activities.
In the United States the public school is probably the best illustration of extensive co-operation on the part of the public. We regard the education of the people as a matter of public importance—so vital a matter, in fact, that we no longer depend upon the private school. The private school has its place, and its establishment is encouraged by localities and regarded with favor by the government, but the people, acting as a whole, insist that the school door shall be open to every child born into the country. In the last quarter of a century much advance has been made in the establishment by the public of technical schools, such as law schools, medical colleges, dentistry schools, industrial schools and agricultural colleges. Probably the greatest comparative advance has been made in the matter of agricultural colleges and experiment stations. In Europe the public school system is spreading, more rapidly in northern than in southern Europe, but not less surely in southern Europe. In Asia the people are just beginning to recognize education as a public function—a part of the state's work. In Japan public instruction has for some years been modeled after the systems employed in the United States and Europe. In Asia the public school is more of a modern origin, but some idea of the rapidity with which the public school is spreading in China may be known from the fact that four thousand public schools have been established within five years in the district of one of the viceroys.
Municipal ownership presents another phase of this subject; a century ago comparatively few cities in this country or Europe owned their own waterworks; now it is the exception that any city of any size relies upon a private corporation for its water supply. City lighting is having the same history, although municipalization began later with lighting plants than with waterworks. Now comes the question of street car lines, and, as the same principles apply, the same inevitable trend toward municipal ownership is noticeable. The experience of all the cities has been practically the same; first, liberal franchises to induce the establishment of water, light or street car plants; second, efforts at regulation and restriction, made futile by the corrupt influence of the franchise companies; third, municipal ownership as a protection to the people and as a means of purifying politics. In the extent to which municipal ownership has been carried Great Britain leads the world, although in other countries some cities like Vienna have rivaled the cities of Great Britain.
In nearly all of the countries of Europe and Asia the telegraph lines are now owned by the government, and in most of the cities the telephone system is also owned by the public. It is hardly necessary to say that in all countries of any standing the mail service is now in the hands of the government. There is very noticeable growth in the government ownership of railroads. Many years ago the government ownership of railroads was tested in various European nations and the tendency toward the extension of government mileage and the diminution of the mileage of privately owned roads has been constant. In some countries there is still competition between the government lines and the lines owned by private corporations, but experience leaves no doubt that the lines owned by the government will ultimately supplant the roads in private hands. Switzerland has within four years purchased the main railroad system within her territory; Japan has within a year extended the government railroads by purchasing some of the roads formerly in private hands, and the Indian government is planning to absorb more of the privately owned lines. In France a number of the railroads hold fifty-year charters, which have now more than half expired, and which provide for the surrender of the lines to the government at the end of that period—the government in the meantime guaranteeing a fixed interest and an annual contribution to the sinking fund. It is not fair to compare the government railroads of Europe with the private railroads of America. The conditions are quite different. The comparison should be made between the government and private in the same country. Experience has shown that in the United States municipal plants furnish better and cheaper service than private plants.
While local considerations and local conditions have much to do in the determination of each case, there is one general principle which is becoming more and more clearly outlined as the question of government ownership is discussed, namely, that when a monopoly becomes necessary it must be a government monopoly and not a monopoly in private hands. In other words, the principle now most familiarly applied is, "competition where competition is possible; government monopoly where competition is impossible." I have not space for the discussion of details; many different methods have been employed in different countries for the acquiring of private plants by the city or state, and different methods have been employed in different countries for the elimination of the political element from public service. Those who have faith in the intelligence and capacity of the people have confidence that they will be able to reduce to a minimum any dangers attendant upon a course which they believe to be necessary to their own welfare. The fact that after more than a quarter of a century of experience no retrograde movement is to be observed furnishes some proof that the dangers anticipated have not been shown to be insurmountable.