Modern political tendencies and the effect of the war thereon

MODERN POLITICAL
TENDENCIES

BY THEODORE E. BURTON

MODERN POLITICAL TENDENCIES

THE STAFFORD LITTLE LECTURES
FOB 1919

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Modern Political Tendencies
By THEODORE E. BURTON

THEODORE E. BURTON

MODERN POLITICAL
TENDENCIES

AND THE EFFECT OF
THE WAR THEREON

BY
THEODORE E. BURTON

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON

LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

1919

Copyright, 1919, by

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Princeton, N. J.

Published, 1919
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

PAGE

GENERAL FACTS 1

SPECIFIC POLITICAL TENDENCIES 14

The Growth of Popular Government 15

The Changing Relations of the State to the

Activities of the Individual £0

Humanitarian Tendencies 28

The Growth of the Spirit of Nationality. . 31

TENDENCIES TOWARD CENTRALIZATION AND A

LARGER NATIONAL LIFE 33

OBJECTIONABLE OR DANGEROUS TENDENCIES. . . 36

RELATION OF THE PRESIDENT TO CONGRESS .... 65

IMPORTANT POLITICAL TENDENCIES AFTER THE

WAR 69

NEW RELATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS TO THE AC-
TIVITIES OF THE PEOPLE 78

Humanitarian Tendencies r . . . 88

The National Spirit 90

Centralization 91

TENDENCIES TOWARD REMOVAL OF INEQUALITIES

IN CONDITIONS — SOCIALISM . 93

INCREASING TAXES AND THEIR UTILIZATION FOR

THE EQUALIZATION OF CONDITIONS 100

THE RESULT OF WAR UPON POLITICAL TENDEN-
CIES IN THE UNITED STATES 109

THE INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK 113

43541G

MODERN POLITICAL TENDENCIES

GENERAL FACTS

Dominant political tendencies centre around
four important questions of fundamental im-
portance.

1. The relation of governments to the gov-
erned. For illustration, is the system one of
autocratic or of popular rule?

2. The relation of the governed each to the
other. Are there privileged classes, or is the
aim to secure the greatest possible equality of
rights and opportunities?

3. The relation of the central government
to its constituent parts. Is there a loosely
joined confederation or a strongly centralized
organization? For seventy-five years this was
a principal source of controversy in the United
States.

2 Modern Political Tendencies

4. International relations. The dividing
line between the relations of the first and sec-
ond classes is often a shadowy one. In recent
years the question of the relation of the gov-
ernment to the governed has assumed greater
prominence in countries of virtually autocratic
rule, like Russia or Germany, while the second,
that of the governed each to the other, has been
more prominent in countries of liberal institu-
tions such as the United States, Great Brit-
ain, and France. Manifestly, the fourth
question, that of international relations, is now
attracting much mopre general consideration
than formerly. Shall the position of a coun-
try be one of isolation? Do its international
policies look to aggression and repulsion or to
goodwill and cooperation?

Political tendencies have certain well de-
fined characteristics and have to do with an
almost infinite variety of proposed changes or
reforms, the agitation for which may continue
for a decade, a generation, or even for a cen-
tury. During these periods certain issues are
constantly under discussion, such as the pow-

Modern Political Tendencies 3

ers and relations of the Executive, ministerial
responsibility, the functions of the legislative
and judicial branches, the right of suffrage for
men and women, the extent to which the State
shall exercise control over the activities and
conduct of its people. Of late certain social
questions which are inseparably interlaced
with political tendencies have attracted almost
preeminent attention. In the course of time
these tendencies attain their fulfilment, entire
or partial, or disappear. Demands for exten-
sion of the suffrage have secured perhaps more
uniform and general response than any other
political movement. This has been conspicu-
ously illustrated in England and in the United
States. The right to vote when once acquired
is seldom revoked or limited. The recent
movement for suffrage for women attained
success more rapidly than the earlier agitation
for the enlargement of the privilege for men.
In the midst of the longer movements which
pertain to problems which are strictly of a po-
litical character, other controversies frequently
arise which partially eclipse the main tenden-

4 Modern Political Tendencies

cies or displace them for a time. An illustra-
tion may be found in our own country in the
Prohibition movement. The constant agita-
tion for change is prompted not merely by an
earnest desire for the adoption of conceptions
of right and equality which are regarded as
universal in their nature, but by the neces-
sity for new or improved political relations
which shall square with constantly developing
changes in social and material conditions.

Reactions against political tendencies or
movements are almost sure to occur. Re-
formers and agitators reach the summit of
their hopes, and then failing in popular sup-
port fall back and rest midway between the
starting point and the goal which they sought
to reach. These reactions resemble the cycli-
cal movements so familiar in the alternate sea-
sons of activity and depression in the commer-
cial and financial world and in the course of
prices. The alternate control of opposing po-
litical parties affords the most familiar exam-
ple. In the later years of the nineteenth cen-
tury the Liberal and Conservative parties in

Modern Political Tendencies 5

England succeeded each other in the House of
Commons practically without exception. In
the election of 1868 the Liberals were success-
ful; in that of 1874, the Conservatives; in 1880
the Liberals, who were retained in power after
the election of 1885 as the result of a combin-
ation; in 1886 the Conservatives won; in 1892
the Liberals; and in 1895, the Conservatives
again returned to power. The history of the
United States is replete with illustrations. Be-
ginning more than ninety years ago with the
administration of John Quincy Adams, at a
time when party lines began to be more sharp-
ly defined, the strength of the national admin-
istration in the House of Representatives has
in every case been greater at the presidential
election than in the mid-presidential election
two years later. For example, Franklin
Pierce was elected President in 1852 with an
overwhelming majority in the House of Rep-
resentatives. In the Congress chosen two
years later his opponents elected the Speaker.
Other notable illustrations are found in the
second terms of Presidents Grant and Cleve-

6 Modem Political Tendencies

land, and in the administration of President
Harrison. There can be no more striking ex-
ample of this tendency to reaction than that
afforded by the Congressional election in No-
vember 1918. Notwithstanding the prestige
of President Wilson, the anticipation of an
early peace which was emphasized by the
announcement of an armistice with Austria-
Hungary on the day before the voters went
to the polls, a favorable majority in the
House of Representatives was changed to
an adverse one. Practically no tariff bill
has been passed for half a century without a
loss of political strength to the party adopt-
ing it. A President of the United States once
essayed to fix a definite period after which re-
actionary forces would become effective against
him. He mentioned eighteen months after his
inauguration. By that time the glamour of
the office would have in a measure fallen off.
Grievances would have accumulated; office
seekers who had expected much and gained
little, would be disappointed. False friends
would have deserted him; and all these factors

Modern Political Tendencies 7

would tend to turn the current against the
head of the government.

This tendency to reaction is accepted as a
phenomenon, but it has often been regarded
as mysterious and the explanation has been
sought by some in a study of psychology.
There is, in fact, no real mystery. There are
potent and ever-present causes which prevent
continuous control by a political organization
or the uninterrupted development of political
reforms.

First, there exists in every country having
popular institutions, radical and conservative
types. These two extremes with varying
shades of opinion, not only appear in the aggre-
gate citizenship, but among members of poli-
tical parties made up of those who are united
upon certain underlying principles. Between
these there is a clash of conflicting ideas caus-
ing an ebb and flow in the evolution of every
political tendency. Usually an intermediate
level is found to which a substantial majority
will give steady adherence. Another reason
for the cyclical movement is, broadly speaking,

8 Modern Political Tendencies

the difference between anticipation and real-
ity. There is always difficulty in putting ab-
stract conceptions into the form of concrete
propositions, or, to describe it otherwise, to
embody theories in practice. That which may
seem to hold out the hope of beneficient results,
when tried proves to be altogether disappoint-
ing. Again, responsibility and the framing
and operation of constructive measures impose
far more serious difficulties than mere criticism
or opposition. The promises of political plat-
forms are not subject to the same limitations
as the actions of those entrusted with authority.
After taking into account all these facts there
is the psychological effect of human fickleness
which oftentimes stands in the way of the or-
derly accomplishment of beneficient reforms.
Liberalizing political tendencies follow,
though more slowly, and sometimes quite tar-
dily, scientific development and the diffusion
of knowledge. We may instance such events
as the Italian Renaissance, the discovery of
America, the invention of printing, the in-
crease of productive power by the application

Modern Political Tendencies 9

of steam and by the harnessing of electricity.
The effect of these discoveries and inventions
in promoting a broader outlook for humanity
and more liberal institutions can hardly be ex-
aggerated. In every great epoch in which the
human race has made advance in its political
life, we can discover as an antecedent some for-
ward movement in science or in knowledge.
There have been numerous illustrations. If
we group together the three reigns of Queen
Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, the fact is
recognized that Queen Elizabeth was a most
popular sovereign, though arbitrary, while
King Charles I, who sought to rule with no
greater degree of personal prerogative, was
beheaded. To many this contrast in the at-
titude of the people toward the two sov-
ereigns mentioned, seems disconnected and
fortuitous, but it was really a logical se-
quence. The reign of Queen Elizabeth
witnessed a great intellectual awakening.
It was the golden age of Shakespeare and
Spenser and Ben Jonson, and of Burghley,
Sidney and Raleigh; the day when England

10 Modern Political Tendencies

took a new position among the nations because
of the triumph over the Spanish Armada. Her
reign was followed by that of James I, in
which an even greater contribution perhaps was
made to progress in the publication by Fran-
cis Bacon of the theory of Inductive Philo-
sophy. Science which theretofore had been
sporadic in its application, sometimes a sort
of plaything, became an agency for the utiliza-
tion of physical forces and materials for the
benefit of mankind. As a result, in the time of
King Charles I,, the people had a broader
vision and asked more for themselves, and that
their relations to the State be more clearly de-
fined. Thus the sovereign who tried to be as
arbitrary as had been the Tudor sovereign was
not only dethroned but beheaded as well.

We may find in the career of Mr. Webster
an illustration of this same dependency of po-
litical upon scientific progress. This state-
ment is not intended to detract one iota from
his deserved fame as a statesman or as a law-
yer, but he was a mighty protagonist swim-
ming with the tide. At the time when he de-

Modern Political Tendencies 11

livered his reply to Hayne in January 1830,
the country was in the midst of a remarkable
era of progress. The great period of railway
construction had already begun, canals had
been constructed and were in operation upon
an increasing scale, improvements in the print-
ing press made the dissemination of informa-
tion much wider and more general. Fourteen
years later the magnetic telegraph was intro-
duced and was destined to bring remote por-
tions of the country nearer to each other. The
result of this combination of progressive fac-
tors was that the States of the Union were
brought into relations as close as had been that
of the counties in the time when Jeff erson was
President. Improyed means of communica-
tion and for the diffusion of information are
a great stimulus to popular government. A
democracy without ready access from one por-
tion to another is hardly possible except over a
very limited area. All these influences which
were contemporaneous with Mr. Webster's
career promoted unity, and but for them that
splendid expression of his, "Liberty and Union

12 Modern Political Tendencies

now and forever, one and inseparable," might
have been the dream of an idealist.

There are manifest reasons why political
progress should be slower than social or eco-
nomic progress. In most of the physical sci-
ences exact results can be reached, but govern-
ment is a field in which a constantly present
feature is that of experiment and trial. The
power and prestige of rulers and favored
classes often afford obstacles in the path of the
reformer. Precedent and a natural reluctance
to change always stand in the way. This is
true in monarchies and republics alike. The
history of England from the year 1800 to the
passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, affords
an excellent illustration. It was a period of
unprecedented material progress in which that
industrial organization was developed which
established upon sure and permanent founda-
tions the future of manufacturing and trade in
England. It was, however, a period of politi-
cal stagnation, though attended at the close by
earnest, and, for a long time, unsuccessful agi-
tation for reforms. The steady advance of

Modern Political Tendencies 13

liberalism did not begin until the passage of the
Reform Act of 1832.

Lastly, among the influences which have to
do with political tendencies, war must be men-
tioned. Usually, wars, whether foreign or
civil, are but the outcome of pent up aspira-
tions which have been long suppressed. They
may arise from conflicting claims of country
or of race, and presumably are not a matter of
chance; they often cause a mighty convulsion
followed by political and social reorganization.
It is not merely the victory of any nation or
nations which creates new conditions, but the
development of new conceptions and ideas
which are aroused or quickened by the thrilling
events of the time. There are potent reasons
for such results. During the conflict every
nerve is strained for victory. There is a de-
mand for the highest possible standards of effi-
ciency in organization and cooperation. Pa-
triotism and a spirit of self-sacrifice are stimu-
lated in a manner quite impossible in time of
peace. In a considerable degree there is a
leveling of distinctions between different

14 Modern Political Tendencies

classes and ranks of society. All these factors
have their effect when the conflict is over.
There are new inspirations which stimulate ac-
tion and are the parent of great results. It is
inevitable that the more potent energies which
are developed in the contest for victory should
survive and show their effects in the succeed-
ing years. Thus, many times political changes
have been accomplished during and immedi-
ately after wars which would have required
scores of years in time of peace.

SPECIFIC POLITICAL TENDENCIES

Having made these general suggestions, it
is desirable to take up those tendencies which
stand out most prominently, and for the ade-
quate treatment of the subject it is necessary
to consider separately those which were most
apparent up to the year 1914, the date of the
beginning of the world war. Among these
may be mentioned:

Modern Political Tendencies 15

THE GROWTH OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT

The demand for increasing participation of
the individual in public aff airs was in evidence
the world over. The prerogatives of kings and
emperors were declining and the private citizen
was asserting himself. Since the beginning of
this twentieth century there have been numer-
ous illustrations of these tendencies, and in
many respects the progress of liberalism was
as notable in the fourteen years immediately
preceding the commencement of the war as in
the whole of the one hundred years up to 1900,
notwithstanding the fact that the nineteenth
has been aptly styled the greatest of the cen-
turies. In Europe Portugal became a repub-
lic. The head of a prominent kingdom re-
marked to Ex-President Roosevelt, in earnest
rather than in jest, that he intended to train
his son, the Crown Prince, so that he might be
fitted to become president of a republic, as he
thought that form of government was sure to
be adopted. In every country of Europe there

16 Modern Political Tendencies

were insistent demands for ministerial respon-
sibility where it had not existed. The Young
Turks disappointed Europe and the world, but
they gained power by the promise of responsi-
ble ministers and a more liberal government.
The three Scandinavian countries, together
with Holland and Belgium (of them all,
Denmark is, perhaps, the most advanced de-
mocracy) , were constantly increasing the meas-
ure of popular control and limiting the pow-
ers of their sovereigns to a mere position of
formal headship. In England propositions of
an almost revolutionary bent were adopted or
were pending. The House of Lords was vir-
tually shorn of its power. Demands for uni-
versal suffrage for both men and women were
vigorously asserted. Measures for taxation
were devised which looked to an equalization
of social conditions. There was a recognition
of the rights and opportunities of workingmen
far in advance of previous years. In Russia
the legislative body known as the Duma, was
established in the year 1906, crude at first, but
although granted reluctantly by the sovereign

Modern Political Tendencies 17

with the apparent expectation that its powers
would be nullified or minimized, it gave prom-
ise of representative institutions. Another
important change was made in Russia in the
same year under which the Imperial Council,
formerly appointed exclusively by the sov-
ereign, was divided into two classes of equal
number, one of which was to be chosen directly
or indirectly by the people.

Passing on to Asia: in Persia in the year
1906, the Shah responded to the demand of the
people for popular institutions and gave his
consent for the establishment of a National
Council. This newly created body enjoyed
only a temporary existence, but the people suc-
ceeded in 1907 in obtaining rural and town
councils to be chosen by universal suffrage.
In India, the land of caste and of entire sub-
mission to British rule, the local councils which
formerly consisted of six members were en-
larged to sixty-six, twenty-five of whom are
to be elected by the people. Most notable of
all, China, the seat of conservatism since the
world began, became a republic. It is by no

18 Mo&ern Political Tendencies

means certain that the changes to popular rule
which have occurred before and during the war
will result in stable, representative goverti-
ment in every country. Very probably peo-
ples which have taken on democratic institu-
tions after gaining liberty from long standing
tyranny will go to extremes for a time. The
reign of radicalism which has spread widely
will, no doubt, be checked by the inevitable
reaction. The dangers incident to a sudden
transition from autocratic to popular rule have
at no time been more forcibly expressed than
by our honored President, Woodrow Wilson,
in his lectures on Constitutional Government,
in which he says:

"Self-government is not a mere form of in-
stitutions, to be had when desired, if only pro-
per pains be taken. It is a form of character. It
follows upon the long discipline which gives a
people self-possession, self-mastery, the habit
of order and peace and common counsel, and a
reverence for law which will not fail when they
themselves become the makers of law: the
steadiness and self-control of political matur-

Modern Political Tendencies 19

ity. And these things cannot be had without
long discipline."

Closely associated with the growth of popu-
lar government on familiar lines, is the demand
for larger individual participation by the peo-
ple in public affairs, as instanced by move-
ments for the direct primary, the referendum
and the initiative. These demands have been
especially prominent in Switzerland, in several
British Dominions and in numerous States in
this country. The strength of the movement
in national politics has been illustrated by the
adoption of a constitutional amendment for
the popular election of senators. It cannot
be said that these tendencies have yet reached
their final manifestation in this country, but
we may be confident they will not cause the
havoc which their conservative opponents fear,
nor will they accomplish the far-reaching ad-
vantages which their advocates have asserted.
If there is any one who believes it possible to
reform human nature or to change the charac-
ter of our citizenship and its standards by new
political methods or by legislation, he might as

20 Modern Political Tendencies

well dismiss his arguments for silly season dis-
cussion. The really determinative factors in
public affairs lie deeper than the initiative, the
referendum and the primary, and are to be
found in the despotism of popular opinion, the
ideals, the traditions of the people, the willing-
ness or unwillingness of the citizen to sacrifice
his personal interest and to devote a reasonable
share of his time and effort to the good of the
state. If there are high standards in these re-
gards we shall have good laws, whether they are
enacted by state legislatures at the state capi-
tals, or by a popular vote under the initiative.
Officials of competency and honesty will be
named whether at the primary or in the party
convention.

THE CHANGING RELATIONS OF THE STATE TO
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL

In the middle of the last century the doctrine
of laissez f aire prevailed in England, and was
strongly supported in the United States and
other countries. It was a widely accepted doc-

Modern Political Tendencies 21

trine that the best method for each government
was to restrict its authority over individuals to
the protection of their rights and the punish-
ment of wrongs, and to defence against for-
eign aggression. The most thorough discus-
sion of this subject occurred in England.
Jeremy Bentham, a reformer and a radical of
wide influence, was a pioneer in support of the
laissez f aire principle as an application of util-
itarian ideas of the greatest good to the great-
est number. He advocated the utmost free-
dom in trade. One of his sayings was, "All
that industry and commerce ask of the state is
that which Diogenes asked of Alexander,
'Keep out of my sunshine5." Freedom of con-
tract, absolute control by the individual of his
own actions, provided he did not commit wrong
which was worthy of punishment; these were
his cherished views and they were adopted and
developed by an imposing array of economists
and publicists who followed him. Mr. John
Stuart Mill said, that the only purpose for
which power can be rightly exerted over any
member of a civilized community against his

22 Modern Political Tendencies

will, was to prevent harm to others. His own
good, physical or moral, was not sufficient war-
rant for governmental interference. The only
part of his conduct for which he was respon-
sible to society was that which directly con-
cerned others. Mr. Macaulay said that gov-
ernment had best undertake little else than
strictly political duties. Mr. Buckle was much
more pronounced in his views, and said that the
proper aim of government was not to do some-
thing new, but to undo something old; it was
rather to untangle and remove the effect of
the mistakes which had been made by prior
governments. In our own country Thomas
Jefferson regarded individualism as one of the
cornerstones of political organization.

The changing relation of the individual to
the state cannot by any means be entirely as-
cribed to humanitarian considerations or to a
different opinion as to the proper scope of in-
dividual activities. It is in large measure
traceable to changing conditions; the remark-
able growth of cities, the increased complexity
of modern life, the factory system, the sanitary

Modern Political Tendencies 23

and other dangers which lurk in great aggre-
gations of population. It is a singular fact in
regard to laws for the alleviation of labor con-
ditions and for shorter hours, that the earlier
statutes in England were enacted by the Tor-
ies. Brougham, Cobden, Bright, and Glad-
stone, and other leading Liberals, were such
strenuous advocates of laissez faire that they
did not, at the time of the earlier discussions,
believe in exercising governmental control over
the relations of employer and employee. Such
questions, they maintained, should be left to
private contract. John Bright was the bitter-
est opponent of this class of legislation. Cob-
den was somewhat less strenuous in his opposi-
tion. But with the phenomenal increase of
manufacturing and a recognition of the piti-
able condition of many of the workers in fac-
tories and coal mines, it became manifest that
sanitary regulations and limitations of hours
were essential for the general good. In this
connection it may be said that laws for improv-
ing the status of toilers have their natural basis
in an evolution in industry. There was a time

24 Modern Political Tendencies

when the great majority of men and women
were compelled to work from early morning
until late at night for the mere means of sub-
sistence. With the progress of invention, with
machinery as a substitute for hand labor, the
furnishing of the necessaries of life is very
much easier than it was, and it is possible to
add to these necessaries a constantly increas-
ing supply of conveniences and luxuries. As
a result it is not required that manual labor
should be so constant or so strenuous. We
should not withhold due praise from those who
have been pioneers in advocating legislation
for the betterment of labor, but these laws are
for the most part the natural development of
progressive factors which are made possible by
the achievements of science and by superior
knowledge.

The doctrine of non-interference has grad-
ually given way to the idea that society is one
great whole, and it is strenuously maintained
by many that the growth and strength of gov-
ernments should not proceed from the individ-
ual to the centre, but should go out from the

Modern Political Tendencies 25

centre toward the circumference; that every
citizen is the ward of the state and that a de-
gree of parental control should be exercised
over him. Thus the activities, the conduct, the
contracts of all citizens, high or low, rich or
poor, are fit subjects for legislation by the
state, and the state will not perform its proper
functions or attain its most useful position
without legislation which shall define the rela-
tions of classes to each other, and exercise su-
pervision over the people for the purpose of
promoting the general welfare.

The doctrine of laissez f aire was discredited
by rulers and political leaders in Germany.
Bismarck said it meant that "he who couldn't
stand up should be knocked down." And again,
it meant "to him that hath shall be given, and
from him that hath not shall be taken away
even that which he hath." The recently de-
throned dynasty in Germany, and theretofore
in Prussia, manifested an earnest solicitude for
the welfare of the poorer classes. The Em-
peror William I said that the strength of the
State was allied with the well-being of the com-

26 Modern Political Tendencies

mon people. The Imperial Minister of the In-
terior once stated that the vast industrial ex-
pansion of the German Empire was chiefly due
to the efficiency of its workers, and that such
efficiency must have suffered had not the State
secured to the working classes by social legisla-
lation a tolerable standard of life, and, as far
as possible, guaranteed to them physical health.
Numerous statutes discrediting the princi-
ple of laissez f aire and most of them intended
for the benefit of the working classes, were
adopted in England after the accession of the
Liberals to power in 1906. The first statute of
prominence was the Trades Act of 1906, under
which neither masters nor employees organ-
ized in unions or associations can be held re-
sponsible for tortuous acts. Next was the Old
Age Pensions Act of 1908. An argument for
this statute based upon expediency, was that
many elderly people could not earn enough to
keep them out of the poorhouse, who, never-
theless, if granted a small pension could piece
out their earnings and prevent them from be-
coming a public charge. About the same time

Modern Political Tendencies 27

the Education Act was adopted which con-
tained a provision for the furnishing of a cer-
tain number of meals for the children of in-
digent parents. The Insurance Act of 1911
sought to secure two objects. First, insurance
against loss from ill-health and provision for
the attendance of doctors; second, insurance
against non-employment in certain trades by
a requirement that payments be made to those
out of employment. Employment bureaus
were organized under the control of the State.
The Trades Union Act of 1913 allowed the
funds of the trade unions to be used for the
furtherance of political objects under the di-
rection of officers of the union. Prior to the
passage of this statute, these officers had sought
to apply their funds to promote the chances
of friendly political candidates. A member
sought an injunction and obtained it. This
Act was then passed and greatly increased the
influence of these unions in politics. Further
wage acts have been passed providing minimum
rates of wages for those engaged in the cloth-
ing trades and in coal mines. The number of

28 Modern Political Tendencies

trades included will, no doubt, be increased,
and propositions have been offered and are
now pending for the adoption of general mini-
mum wage schedules.

HUMANITARIAN TENDENCIES

A third tendency very closely associated with
the last named is the spirit of humanitarianism
as developed in recent years. This has pro-
foundly affected the social and political life of
nations. As distinguished from the attention
just accorded to the changing relation of the
State to the individual, it may be regarded as
a changed relation of the governed each to the
other.

In every period of awakening or convulsion
there is a disposition to take stock of inequali-
ties in the conditions of existence enjoyed by
human beings, whether such conditions proceed
from differences in the enjoyment of political
power, or in the possession of wealth and the
means of subsistence. The more favored
classes yield to the less favored, either as the

Modern Political Tendencies 29

result of force, or more frequently of orderly
processes. Often the resistance to such move-
ments is characterized by lack of vigor or by a
conviction on the part of those in the enjoy-
ment of power and privilege that the times re-
quire a change. Mr. Benjamin Kidd in his
work on Social Evolution remarks how feeble
was the resistance at the time of the French
Revolution which the privileged classes inter-
posed against those who demanded what they
termed "their rights," and he makes this very
strong statement, "It was in the hearts of the
ruling classes rather than in the streets that the
battle was won."

The tendency toward humanitarianism finds
expression not merely in the policies of politi-
cal parties and the promises of candidates for
office, but in the general spirit which pervades
communities and nations. It has been main-
tained that in countries such as Germany the
movement has been due to a desire to promote
efficiency, while in the United States and Eng-
land it is the result of popular rule. The move-
ment is traceable rather to an almost universal

30 MocLern Political Tendencies

enhancement in the regard which social classes
have for each other, especially the more for-
tunate for the less fortunate. This has per-
vaded every portion of the earth where there
is a careful consideration of the interests of
all. It is a larger appreciation of what hu-
manity and human welfare mean, a disposition
which appears independently of forms of gov-
ernment, though more vigorously promoted in
countries of popular institutions. The condi-
tion of the less favored classes has come to be
considered not so much as an appeal to a spirit
of benevolence as the basis of a right. While
private activity for charity and betterment has
reached proportions never known before, the
State has been called upon to render assistance
in far greater measure than ever. Illustrations
may be found in enlarged provision at the cost
of the taxpayer for public hospitals, municipal
parks and playgrounds, for the better care of
the insane and submerged classes, for the more
considerate treatment of criminals. It cannot
be denied that many well intentioned efforts
for the unfortunate lead to excesses and even to

Modern Political Tendencies 31

absurdity. The natural result of the activities
of many philanthropists and aid societies —
and this is true of statutory regulations as well
— is to make permanent derelicts of those to
whom aid is proffered. It is needless to say
that the one aim in aiding the weaker should
be to enable them, if possible, to look upward
and become more independent and useful mem-
bers of society.

THE GROWTH OF THE SPIRIT OF NATIONALITY

This fourth tendency has been widely mani-
fest, whether we interpret the term "national-
ity" as referring to existing nations or to peo-
ples of kindred race and language having na-
tional aspirations. The growing influence of
this tendency has been denied by some who ar-
gue that the spirit of cosmopolitanism has been
increasing, that the world is becoming one
great commercial republic, that international
steamships, railways, cables and wireless have
broken down barriers. Nevertheless, the fu-

32 Modern Political Tendencies

tility of international associations made up of
those of common views or interests was em-
phatically proven at the beginning of the late
war. Their efforts for peace were ruthlessly
swept aside by the stronger ties of nationality
and their own members abandoned their cher-
ished opinions of universal brotherhood in re-
sponse to the call to arms. In the modern
world every man realizes that for the enjoy-
ment of the most helpful opportunities he must
depend very largely upon the protection and
assistance afforded him by his country, and that
in turn his country needs his support and con-
stant loyalty. Every nation desires to increase
its commerce and trade, many seek to enlarge
their borders, and all have that growing desire
for power and influence which was so consider-
able a factor in precipitationg the late war.
Pride of nationality is stimulated as interna-
tional relations become more prominent. Along
with these influences there has also been a cer-
tain growth of race-repulsion which increases
rather than diminishes with closer contact.
The attractive traits of other peoples and the

Modern Political Tendencies 33

desirability of engaging in commerce and main-
taining friendly relations with them are all
recognized, but repellant qualities are recog-
nized as well. It is not easy for those of dif-
ferent race and of different ideals to live to-
gether in the most perfect harmony.

TENDENCIES TOWARD CENTRALIZATION AND A
LARGER NATIONAL LIFE

As an effect of increasing facilities for trans-
portation and the extension of trade over far
wider areas, together with the enlarged partici-
pation of governments in many essential enter-
prises and operations, there has been a pro-
nounced tendency toward centralization. This
has been powerfully reinforced by the national
spirit above referred to. In some cases the
dominant reason for unity or centralization has
been political in its nature and actuated by the
desire of a people of the same race and lan-
guage to create a stronger nationality. This
may be said of the consolidation of separate

34 Modern Political Tendencies

states, formerly loosely associated, into the
German Empire, and the creation of a United
Italy. In other instances the most prominent
reason has been a recognition of economic in-
terdependence and a conviction that in a larger
federation the different activities and agencies
of government will be more effective. This
may be illustrated by the consolidation under
one federal government of the six Australian
colonies, accomplished at the beginning of this
century; also by the Union of South Africa,
established about 1906, combining communities
which had been loyal to the British Crown with
those which had been at war with England.

As a result of peaceful development the ten-
dency toward centralization has been very
marked in the United States. In many re-
spects boundary lines between different com-
monwealths have become mere vanishing traces
on the map. The larger operations of trade
and transportation are recognized as national
rather than local. Many undertakings of na-
tional aspect receive different and sometimes
conflicting treatment in the various States and

Modern Political Tendencies 35

uniform regulations are demanded. It is still
desirable, however, that each State retain its
own political consciousness and separate re-
sponsibilities. It may well be questioned
whether the tendency to abdicate the functions
of State governments had not at the beginning
of the war attained a development quite out of
line with the fundamental ideas of the Federal
Constitution. The dividing line between fed-
eral and state activities will be very largely
determined by the comparative competency
and efficiency of the respective governments of
each in obtaining results. The question of
raising revenue had much to do with this prob-
lem. Prior to the war it was altogether easier
for the federal government to obtain by taxa-
tion the requisite means for necessary public
improvements for which the states could not
readily provide. The tendency of this was
toward the adoption of enterprises by the Con-
gress at Washington which might more natur-
ally have been left to individual states or to
their subdivisions.

36 Modern Political Tendencies

OBJECTIONABLE OR DANGEROUS TENDENCIES

No treatment of this subject is complete
without reference to certain dangerous or de-
moralizing tendencies which could be recog-
nized prior to the war and which manifest
themselves in all forms of government. The
desire for special privileges or undue individ-
ual advantage is not confined to autocratic
governments. It is plainly manifest in those
of popular rule, though displayed in an en-
tirely different manner. An ever present dan-
ger in any country in which universal suffrage
is the rule, is the assertion by groups or classes
of voters of claims which do not square with
the general welfare. Mr. Gladstone used to
refer to contests in Great Britain as a strug-
gle between "the masses and the classes." The
situation may be more correctly described as
the result of an inevitable tendency toward the
organization of classes from the masses, whe-
ther made up of the more favored or the less
favored elements of the population. Intelli-

Modern Political Tendencies 37

gent and well organized selfish interests are
able to accomplish results for their own bene-
fit which afford them special privileges entirely
inconsistent with that equal opportunity which
should exist in all governments. In our own
country the principal basis of the undue influ-
ence of aggressive elements in the electorate
may be found in the lack of interest and atten-
tion to public affairs which characterizes the
great body of our citizenship. The absence
of adequate civic responsibility has a ready ex-
planation. The extraordinary expansion of
commerce and industry, and the more assured
rewards which accrue to those engaged in busi-
ness or the professions, have caused a turning
aside from political activity and a diminished
regard for the important matters pertaining
to the city, the state and the nation. Excep-
tional possibilities for individual advancement
have given a stimulus to material development
which affords a constant attraction to the most
competent and energetic. There is no stratifi-
cation in our society. Repeated examples of
the achievements of those beginning in un-

38 Modern Political Tendencies

promising surroundings who gained leading
positions in finance or industry, give a constant
spur to engage in a business or professional ca-
reer and to become absorbed in it to the ex-
clusion of civic responsibilities. There are, no
doubt, glaring contrasts in the material condi-
tions of the people, but opportunities are open
to everyone much more generally than else-
where. While these opportunities afford en-
couragement to all, they give a direction to the
pursuits and aspirations of our citizenship
which is not altogether desirable.

There is a constant disposition on the part
of political leaders and parties to follow the
most assertive demands of popular opinion and
to seek the support of groups which include
large numbers of voters. This has been very
marked in recent years. Candidates for of-
fice are inevitably subject to certain potent
influences. Their desire is for the support of
the voters and for their continued favor in the
recurring elections. They often find that the
loyal assistance of the few is of much greater
advantage in their campaigns than the passive

Modern Political Tendencies 39

approval of the much larger body of citizens
who are not actively interested. A personal
favor, the passage of a private or pension act,
or the obtaining of .an appropriation for a com-
munity, creates a friendly and aggressive sup-
port. The securing of legislation for local im-
provements, sometimes altogether objection-
able, is often given as the main reason for re-
election to office.

The influence of classes imbued with a de-
sire for the promotion of their separate inter-
ests threatens the quality of legislation. A
powerful coterie demanding favorable action
are often able to obtain what they wish by the
threat that they will turn en masse from one
political party to another if their demands are
not complied with. This is very manifest in the
work of many associations established upon sec-
tional or class lines.

In this connection it may be said that in re-
cent years there has been a marked decline in
the prestige of members of legislative bodies,
both state and national. For this there is a
variety of reasons.

40 Modern Political Tendencies

(A) In comparison with executive officers
the representatives elected are thought to rep-
resent in far greater degree private or section-
al interests. With the increased extent of
governmental activity and the much larger
number of enterprises undertaken by the state,
local concerns assume greater magnitude and
this fact tends to divert the activities of mem-
bers of legislative bodies from considerations
of general importance to those of lesser mo-
ment. The representative or senator in the
National or State Legislature is prone to re-
gard himself as the agent of his locality. No
doubt this spirit of provincialism often pos-
sesses legislators when they could more wisely
appeal to the people for support on the basis
of devotion to the interests of the whole state
or nation.

In contrast with the special responsibility of
members of legislative bodies to a part of a
state or of the country, the President and gov-
ernors of States are regarded as having a direct
responsibility to all the people of the nation or
of a state. Mr. Cleveland once wrote that the

Modern Political Tendencies 41

President of the United States was the one
person who should be accessible to every citi-
zen for the presentation of his grievances.
Again, the acts of executive officers are usually
given wider publicity and they have a readier
hearing from the public and often more general
credit for measures recommended or promoted
by them.

It is superfluous to say that there should be
unremitting warfare against class conscious-
ness and the domination of individual or sel-
fish interests. One main object of the recent
war was to destroy privileged classes, and it
seems altogether impossible that in a country
in which there is universal suffrage and a strong
underlying spirit of patriotism there should be
submission to the control of groups or organi-
zations whose horizon is bounded by provincial
or selfish aims.

(B) There is a prevalent impression — not
altogether based upon facts — that there have
been more numerous instances of the use of
corrupt methods in the case of legislators, also
that they are more likely to become subject to

42 Modern Political Tendencies

the dictation of political bosses or of powerful
business or financial cliques. Accusations of
the use of bribery in legislative bodies have been
frequently made, and in some cases the proof
has not been lacking.

The demoralizing effect of the use of money
in election campaigns has been a fruitful source
of evil in its influence upon public officials and
has affected the standing of legislators and ex-
ecutive officers alike. But, as in the case of
many other objectionable features in our po-
litical life, the chief responsibility for extrava-
gance in the use of money rests with the people.
Indifference is prevalent. Elaborate organi-
zations and costly campaigns have been found
necessary to bring voters who have convictions
to the polls, and with those of no settled con-
victions money has been utilized to influence
their votes.

(C) A serious danger in political tenden-
cies is the inertia which has been characteristic
of legislative bodies, both state and national,
and the lack of ready response to the people's
will. In general, it may be said that there has

Modern Political Tendencies 43

been failure to adopt those progressive poli-
cies and methods of procedure which are re-
quired by present day conditions. For years
it has been recognized by all careful students
of the subject that there are fundamental de-
fects in the making of appropriations by the
Congress at Washington, and that there is a
lack of proper coordination between the execu-
tive and legislative branches, as well as between
the committees or agencies having to do with
the raising of revenue and its expenditure. For
a long time the necessity for a more rational pol-
icy for the conservation of national resources
and rendering them available for the people's
use, free from monopolistic control, has been
regarded as a crying need. Water power hav-
ing a value of many millions per year has been
going to waste because of a failure to agree
upon regulations for the granting of rights by
the federal authorities. This has been true
though numerous bills have been introduced
and the subject has been almost constantly un-
der consideration for the last ten years.
It is not intended to say that there should be

44 Modern Political Tendencies

an immediate response to every wave of popu-
lar agitation. There are two fundamental
ideas embodied in the Federal Constitution,
both alike to be reckoned with. First, that the
will of the people should prevail. Second, that
the popular will should be deliberately ex-
pressed and after mature consideration. It
has been pertinently said that the framers of
the Constitution were equally afraid of the
despot and of the mob. Thus the Constitution
contains a formidable array of provisions which
make for deliberation and prevent hasty ac-
tion, such as the existence of two legislative
bodies, the veto power of the Executive, to be
overcome only by a two-thirds vote of both
houses, and the revisory power of the Supreme
Court which has the right to declare statutes
invalid. The rule in vogue in many countries
that Cabinet ministers should resign after an
adverse vote in the legislative body is not ac-
cepted here. The requirement for a two-thirds
vote of both Houses of Congress and subse-
quent ratification by three-fourths of the
States in the adoption of Constitutional amend-

Modern Political Tendencies 45

ments, is in the same line with other regula-
tions which require deliberate action. But
giving full scope to these salutary provisions
there has often occurred a wholly unnecessary
delay in the enactment of wholesome laws.
Oftentimes there has been an almost universal
opinion in favor of very essential legislation to
which Congress or State legislatures have
failed to respond. A frequent explanation for
this is that ultra-conservative elements have an
undue influence in controlling the action of
legislative bodies and that bills are suppressed
by committees, but there are other reasons,
partly traditionary, partly based upon meth-
ods of parliamentary procedure, and more than
all upon the very wide range of subjects which
call for legislative determination. The num-
ber of bills annually introduced in the British
House of Commons can be numbered by hun-
dreds, while those in the two Houses of Con-
gress at Washington must be counted by tens
of thousands. It is not because of a mere pref-
erence of legislators that the committee system
has been adopted. Such a system is absolutely

46 Modern Political Tendencies

essential. The great mass of legislative pro-
posals presented for consideration jnakes it
imperatively necessary to refer bills which are
introduced to scores of committees, otherwise
the necessary care in drafting and perfecting
measures could not be attained. There is im-
posed upon the Congress of the United States
the duty of considering a multitude of private
claims, some of which survive even from gen-
eration to generation. It must give attention
to the varied requirements of the municipal
government of the District of Columbia.
Thousands of private pension bills are intro-
duced every year. The record of a member of
the House of Representatives who was for a
long time continued in office, discloses that in a
single session he introduced twelve hundred
pension bills and not a single measure having
to do with matters of national scope. This
illustration could be duplicated by the record
of other members. Bridges across navigable
streams must be authorized by Act of Con-
gress, although in practically every instance
the granting or refusal of the right is deter-

Modern Political Tendencies 47

mined by recommendations of the War De-
partment. Bills making appropriations for
rivers and harbors and for public buildings, in-
clude hundreds of items, the consideration of
any one of which may lead to extended discus-
sion before committees or in the two Houses
of Congress. The evil resulting from this
enormous mass of subjects to be considered by
the National Legislature is that time required
for questions of national policy is consumed
upon questions of detail or of trivial impor-
tance. The effects of the system upon indi-
vidual legislators in diverting their attention
from the larger and more important subjects
which should occupy their time are passed on
to the electorate as well, in that their judgment
of the standing and qualifications of their rep-
resentatives in the National Legislature,
House or Senate, is obscured by the promi-
nence of questions which are not national in
their scope. A very large share of the business
which now consumes the time of Congress
could be more efficiently and fairly performed
by non-partisan expert commissions. This was

48 Modern Political Tendencies

a favorite plan of the late President Roosevelt.
For example, a government building is much
to be desired in the growing cities of the coun-
try. Such a structure impresses upon the com-
munity in which it is located the ever present
activities of the Federal government, and pro-
vides a permanent centre for the transaction of
official business. It is dangerous, however, to
vest the selection and the amount to be ex-
pended in bodies in which personal claims or
prestige are so likely to result in favoritism or
waste.

Thus, the present methods of transacting
legislative business in the national legislature
have become obsolete and are entirely unfitted
to meet the requirements of one hundred and
ten millions of people. In the early days of
the Republic the difficulty of meeting such
staggering demands for legislative action did
not exist. In the first few Congresses the total
of appropriations reached only a few millions,
and the statutes relating to tWem could be
written upon a very few pages. The first Act
passed by Congress making appropriations for

Modern Political Tendencies 49

federal expenses became a law September 29,
1789. The amounts provided were included
under four general heads, aggregating less
than one million dollars, and were set forth
on a single page in eleven lines of print. There
soon developed a disposition to make specific
mention of every object appropriated for.
The statute of 1795 contained less than three
pages, and, as an illustration of the tendency
toward greater minuteness, included the sum
of twelve hundred dollars "for wood and can-
dles in the several offices of the treasury depart-
ment (except the Treasurer's office)." Not
until the year 1800, did the total of appropria-
tions reach the sum of ten millions of dollars,
and this amount was not again reached until
1809. Under these circumstances it was pos-
sible to give attention to every item. Now
there is not only an increase in population of
thirty-fold, but a far greater increase in the
functions of government, and in the objects
for which appropriations are made. The
average of annual expenditures exceeds one
billion. In the last copy of the Annual Sta-

50 Modern Political Tendencies

tutes of the United States appropriation bills
occupied a very large share of the pages of the
general statutes, while the disbursements spe-
cifically or generally authorized approximated
fourteen billions. True, this immense amount
was due to the exigencies of war, but every
kind of legislation has so increased that the
methods of legislation at first devised are clear-
ly inapplicable to present conditions. The
most wholesome reform would be accom-
plished if in all these questions Congress should
restrict its action, as far as possible, to the de-
termination of questions of general policy.

A substantial obstacle to the ready enact-
ment of federal legislation is the unlimited de-
bate which has been allowed in the Senate, un-
til a slight modification in the rules of that
body, recently adopted, which, however, makes
no substantial difference. For this preroga-
tive of the Senate there are both affirmative
and negative arguments. The arguments
against the present method of procedure are the
postponement or defeat of measures having
the support of a majority of Senators. Of this

Modern Political Tendencies 51

there have been notable examples in filibus-
ters, especially at the close of a session when
there is a great mass of proposed legislation
awaiting disposition. On the other side, it
must be said that this right of unlimited de-
bate is the bulwark of the minority, that it en-
sures more careful and intelligent considera-
tion, time is afforded for an expression of pop-
ular opinion throughout the country, and up-
on many important propositions the action of
those who have conducted a so-called filibuster
has been ultimately approved by the people.

A glaring defect in the methods of transact-
ing business in both Houses of Congress is the
tendency to hold back until the very last day
or days of the session, the final passage of im-
portant appropriation bills and other measures.
This causes a crush in legislative work, and
often leads to hasty action and sometimes to
serious errors in the form of bills. One un-
favorable result is that much legislation is prac-
tically determined by Conference Committees
rather than by the two houses in the exercise
of their proper functions.

52 Modern Political Tendencies

Specific reforms intended to afford relief
from the tendencies which make for inefficiency
or inertia now existing, are at present under
earnest consideration in Congress and else-
where. In nothing is there greater need than
in the system of making appropriations. Pres-
ent methods cannot be said to be conducive
either to economy or to the most orderly and
careful prosecution of governmental activities.
The laws require the members of the Cabinet to
prepare in the autumn of each year estimates
of the amounts to be appropriated for the re-
spective departments or branches of the gov-
ernment. These estimates are collected by the
Secretary of the Treasury and by him are sub-
mitted to the House of Representatives at the
opening of the following session. In perform-
ing this duty he has no power of revision, al-
though he might make suggestions to his fellow
Cabinet officers. During the administration
of President Hayes, Mr. Sherman, Secretary
of the Treasury, sought to obtain authority to
review the estimates of his colleagues, but this
was strenuously opposed. Each member of

Modern Political Tendencies 53

the Cabinet, and even his subordinates, may ap-
pear before committees of Congress to advo-
cate provision for their departments or bu-
reaus. In addition to the departments or bu-
reaus there is a very considerable number of
commissions and other bodies outside of the
jurisdiction of any Cabinet officer, all the mem-
bers of which are seeking generous provision
for their work. In commenting upon the
claims made under such a system, a committee
of the Constitutional Convention of the State
of New York in 1915, said: "In size they are
limited only by the enthusiasm of each bureau
chief for the activities of his own bureau." The
President may enjoin upon his subordinates
the necessity for limiting expenses or empha-
size the relative importance of different branch-
es of the federal service, but it is out of the
question that with his manifold duties he
should be able to exercise such a degree of su-
pervision as to secure a symmetrical budget
characterized by a proper degree of economy.
The argument has frequently been made
against executive control of expenditures that

54 Modern Political Tendencies

in the history of appropriations it appears
Congress has cut down the amounts recom-
mended by the executive department in almost
every case. It is rather an exposition of the
imperfection of the system. Another objec-
tion to existing methods arises from the rela-
tion between the two Houses of Congress. Al-
though the House of Representatives has the
first consideration of money bills, the Senate
has unlimited power of amendment. It may
be conceded that either body would be entire-
ly competent to determine questions of this
nature, but there are manifest advantages in
giving final authority to one or to the other.
When appropriation bills have passed both
houses, the separate preferences of the two,
and of many individual members of each, in
fact, is readily traced, and this method makes
for extravagance. One house may lay special
stress upon certain classes of appropriation,
and the other upon others. For example, the
House of Representatives may consider that
in provisions in the agricultural appropria-
tion bill for the destruction of pests, the boll

Modern Political Tendencies 55

weevil requires the more serious attention,
while in the Senate the gipsy moth may be re-
garded as the more serious danger. For a
long time there was a variance between the
House and the Senate as to the comparative
value of battleships and cruisers in the upbuild-
ing of the Navy. As an outcome, after the
question has been in conference between the
two houses, the almost invariable result is to
include generous provision for both, and this
applies to the whole aggregate of appropria-
tions.

Again, the method of granting to various
committees in the two houses the right to frame
appropriation bills creates a lack of harmony
and tends to increase the aggregate amount.
Still further, there is no concert of action be-
tween committees having to do with provi-
sion for revenue and those having charge of
bills for appropriations. Until the year 1865
the same committee of the House of Represen-
tatives reported revenue bills and alL appro-
priation measures as well, when there was a

56 Modern Political Tendencies

division into two great committees, that on
Ways and Means, upon which was laid the
duty of framing bills for revenue, and that
upon Appropriations, which recommended
amounts for expenditure. At a later time the
argument prevailed that the concentration of
all appropriations in one committee gave to it
undue power, and that the different branches
of the government required more extended
consideration than could be given by a single
body. Various bills were assigned to other
committees. One immediate reason for the
division was of a personal nature. It was the
desire of the controlling element in the House
to limit the authority and prestige of the then
Chairman of the Committee on Appropria-
tions, Mr. Samuel J. Randall, who was not in
accord with the majority of his party on the
question of tariff. However conclusive the ar-
guments for a division may have been, the re-
sult must be a failure to recognize the compara-
tive needs of the different departments of the
government such as is manifestly necessary in
any well organized plan. The different com-

Modern Political Tendencies 57

mittees all lay special stress upon the subjects
included in their jurisdiction.

There has been a recent agitation for a budg-
et system, the movement for which was given
special impetus by the recommendations of
President Taft during his administration.
Resolutions are now pending in Congress for
the creation of a commission to investigate and
report upon this subject. The term "budget"
has been used somewhat loosely, and in many
instances without any adequate definition of
its scope and meaning. There may be said to
be two classes of budgets or plans for the mak-
ing of appropriations ; one depends upon par-
liamentary scrutiny and discussion under which
the budget is essentially the result of legisla-
tive action. The other rests primarily and
principally upon the executive department,
and the authority of the legislature over the ob-
jects for which expenditures are to be made and
the amounts therefor are prescribed by execu-
tive authority. The United States presents
the best example of the former, and England
or the United Kingdom of the latter. In fact,

58 Modern Political Tendencies

these two countries may be said to illustrate
the two extremes, and in most other countries
the method adopted is that of a middle course
between the two. The latter plan with various
modifications has been long in use wherever the
responsible ministers are members of the legis-
lature.

There are several essential requirements in
any well devised budgetary system. Proposi-
tions for the raising of revenue and for ex-
penditures should be inseparably connected so
that the two may be as nearly equal as possi-
ble. For some years prior to 1890, amounts
raised by taxation in the United States were
far in excess of governmental requirements. It
is obvious that such a condition is a constant
incentive to extravagant expenditure, and a
worse situation arises when appropriations ex-
ceed revenues. Every report should contain
the recapitulation of comparative receipts and
expenditures for some years preceding the date
at which the annual budget is presented, and
the probable surplus or deficit at the beginning
of the year for which provision is to be made.

Modern Political Tendencies 59

Another requisite is that the responsibility for
estimates, both of receipts and expenditures,
should be centralized. Any change in the
methods of the Federal government would
naturally impose additional duties upon the
Secretary of the Treasury. In the same con-
nection it is desirable that disbursements be
subjected to close scrutiny by skilled account-
ants, acting under the direction either of the
executive department or of Congress, who
shall make sure that expenditures are devoted
to the objects and restrained within the limits
intended. The Committee of Accounts of
the House of Commons is one of the most
useful agencies for securing the proper dispo-
sition of amounts appropriated.

It must be conceded that the English system
is superior to our own in the most essential fea-
tures pertaining to fiscal management. There
is vested in the Chancellor of the Exchequer
the duty of preparing the Budget. Appeals
must be made to his office for all appropria-
tions, and he has before him reports from every
branch of the government. When his report

60 Modern Political Tendencies

is completed it is embodied in the bill presented
to the Commons, whose authority is restricted
to the adoption of the budget within the limits
recommended. New items cannot be intro-
duced by amendment, nor can items already
included be increased in amount. As the rule
was laid down by Mr. Gladstone in 1866, the
duty of the Commons is not to augment, but to
decrease expenditure. The same budget in-
creases or diminishes existing taxes so as to
provide the amounts required. Such a plan,
however, is not readily adapted to a country in
which there is a separation of the legislative
from the executive in the manner provided by
the federal Constitution.

Very considerable progress has been made in
divers states of the Union in the adoption of a
budgetary plan. In nearly all of these there is
a pronounced disposition to vest much larger
powers in the executive branch of the govern-
ment and to do away with much of the author-
ity formerly exercised by the legislature. The
States of Maryland, Utah and New Mexico
have adopted the budget system in & very com-

Modern Political Tendencies 61

plete form. In Maryland a constitutional
amendment making provision for the new
methods was adopted and statutes were passed
enforcing it. In Utah and New Mexico pro-
vision is made by statutes under their existing
constitutions. In each of these states the Gov-
ernor must prepare and submit to the legisla-
ture a budget containing a complete plan or
list of proposed expenditures and estimated
revenues, and with it a bill for the adoption of
the recommendations contained in it. There
is a strict prohibition against the increase of
amounts recommended by the Governor and
against the making of supplemental appro-
priations save in cases such as constitutional
obligations or others of exceptional nature. No
other appropriation bill can receive attention
until the budget has been passed upon, and
supplementary appropriations which are re-
quired by conditions arising after its presenta-
tion must be separately considered, and none
can be made unless there is either a balance in
the State Treasury to meet the amounts re-
quired, or additional taxes are imposed for that

62 Modern Political Tendencies

purpose. In New Mexico the Governor and
members of departments and institutions have
the right to appear before the Legislature and
be heard in respect to their estimates. Less
radical provision for a budget has been made
in a number of other states.

In any proposition for adoption by the fed-
eral government of plans similar to those in
vogue in the states mentioned, it is impossible
to ignore substantial obstacles based upon con-
stitutional provisions and the preferences of
the people. In the first place if, according to
plans which have been proposed, the executive
has control of expenditures without responsi-
bility for providing revenue, there will be con-
stant friction. If he is to exercise control over
both expenditures and the raising of revenues,
his power becomes despotic. In any event so
great a change would involve the transfer to
the executive of powers and duties which have
belonged to the legislative branch from the very
beginning of the government. It should be
noted that the so-called power of the purse, the
right of the representatives of the people to

Modern Political Tendencies 63

determine appropriations, and to frame rev-
enue bills, has been regarded for centuries as
the very citadel of popular government. The
controversy over the right of the king to levy
taxes and to determine the apportionment of
public funds without the authority of the
House of Commons, was the main source of
the quarrel between King Charles I and the
Parliament. The prerogatives of the legisla-
tive branch of the government in this regard
have been so firmly fixed, that it is doubtful
whether any Congress would ever consent to
changes abdicating their control over revenue
measures and appropriations.

Another method which has much merit has
been suggested, namely, the formation of a
general committee in the House of Represen-
tatives, to be made up of, say, two members
from each of the various committees having to
do with the making of appropriations, the com-
mittees on Naval and Military Affairs, For-
eign Affairs, Agriculture, Post Offices and
Post Roads, Rivers and Harbors and Indian
Affairs, including, of course, the general com-

64 Modern Political Tendencies

mittee on appropriations which still reports
six supply bills. There would have to be added
representatives from the Committee on Ways
and Means, so that propositions relating to
revenue may be brought into unison with those
relating to expenditures. It would be the duty
of this committee to consider the probable de-
mands of the government for all its operations
and recommend specific amounts for each
branch of the public service, together with pro-
vision for the necessary revenue. The recom-
mendations of the committee would be pre-
sented to the House for discussion and amend-
ment. If the House upon full consideration
concluded to increase or diminish the amounts
recommended by the committee, the vote of the
majority of the whole body would be required.
After the totals of these respective appropria-
tions were determined there would be an op-
portunity for the Senate to increase or de-
crease. When the limits of expenditure
should be thus fixed, the duty would be re-
mitted to the respective appropriation com-
mittees of Congress to apportion expenses

Modern Political Tendencies 65

for the various objects included in their jur-
isdiction, not exceeding the specific amounts
determined upon for each. Such a plan would
secure a most salutary reform. The Congress,
rather than scattered committees, would assume
the responsibility for fiscal legislation. One
advantage would be a clearer presentation to
the country, and a more thorough understand-
ing by the Congress itself, of the respective
needs of the different activities of the govern-
ment. Greater publicity would be assured, and
more general interest aroused. Each commit-
tee would be under limitations which do not
now exist, and the tendency would be toward
economy and the more beneficial utilization of
public funds.

RELATION OF THE PRESIDENT TO CONGRESS

For a considerable number of years there
has been an intelligent agitation for closer
touch between the executive and Congress,
though no definite popular opinion seems to

66 Modern Political Tendencies

have been formed upon this subject. Those who
favor an innovation in this regard, also advo-
cate a larger degree of participation by the ex-
ecutive in the framing of legislation. The ob-
stacles in the way of such changes, as in the
case of a budget, are largely traditionary and
based upon widely accepted conceptions of the
proper functions of the two branches of the
government. When the federal constitution was
adopted there were vivid recollections of the
arbitrary conduct of royal governors, and an
idea was prevalent that the rule of the people
was best assured by vesting in their represen-
tatives the largest possible degree of power. It
was thought best to adopt as a fundamental
principle the division of governmental func-
tions into three departments, executive, legis-
lative and judiciary, and to insist upon a clear
line of division in the powers and duties of the
three. There have been striking contrasts in
the attitude of the various Presidents toward
the national legislature. President McKinley
may be said to represent one extreme. This
was due to his conciliatory spirit and to his long

Modern Political Tendencies 67

experience as a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives, which had given him an intimate
acquaintance with many members of both
houses. Other Presidents of a more indepen-
dent or dominating disposition have main-
tained an entirely different attitude, some-
times cherishing a depreciating opinion of the
legislators, or of the "men upon the hill," as
one executive expressed himself. This has
caused distrust of the motives and qualities
each of the other, especially when the Presi-
dent has been of a different political party
from that of a majority in one or both houses.

The defects of the present system are mani-
fest in the lack of helpful cooperation, also in
the long delay of Congress in acting upon ex-
ecutive recommendations and the disposition
to follow different paths. It has been main-
tained that this could be remedied by the pres-
ence of Cabinet officers on the floor of one or
both Houses of Congress. It is obvious that
this would create a vital difference in the rela-
tions between the heads of departments and
Congress. The present duties of Cabinet of-

68 Modern Political Tendencies

ficers are distinctively executive. Should they
have place in either House of Congress differ-
ent qualifications and duties would be brought
into play. It would be necessary that they be
ready in debate and that a very considerable
share of their time be given to attendance upon
sessions of Congress. One result might be the
installation of deputies of permanent tenure
and enlarged authority, whose time would be
exclusively given to the routine work of the
respective departments. Nevertheless, such a
change would tend to secure a better under-
standing of the recommendations made by the
President and his Cabinet, and to promote co-
operation between the executive and the legis-
lative. Whether it would tend to enlarge the
power of the executive may be doubted. Many
propositions presented by him or his subordin-
ates would be subjected to the fiercest criticism
and accepted, as now, only after elaborate dis-
cussion. Under the present system it has been
the custom of presidents and governors to "go
before the people," as it is expressed. In this
manner it is hoped to bring an unwilling legis-

Modern Political Tendencies 69

lative body to accept recommendations which
have been rejected or unfavorably considered.
This method is indirect, involves much delay,
and tends to create antagonisms.

IMPORTANT POLITICAL TENDENCIES AFTER
THE WAR

Never have so many extremely important
problems demanded immediate solution as at
the present time. The questions to be decided
are not only very numerous and of supreme
importance, but the viewpoint of the peoples
is altogether different from that which pre-
vailed formerly. The thoughts of men have
been quickened as never before and newly de-
veloped aspirations are everywhere demanding
attention. The war has aroused a spirit of
heroism and self-sacrifice, also a degree of al-
truism, all of which promise human betterment.
It has been well said that unsettled questions
are fatal to the repose of nations. The close

70 Modern Political Tendencies

of the war has created an urgent demand that
not only questions growing out of the war, but
others that have been demanding solution for
centuries, be settled now and permanently.
The convulsion which has held the world in its
grip promises radical changes in the relations
of governments to the governed, and of the
governed each to the other. Tendencies which
were plainly manifest in some countries will be
effective there with increased force, and much
more in others where similar movements were
latent or suppressed. We shall behold not
merely the further and enlarged development
of tendencies already existing, but others will
unfold as the result of the awakening incident
to the frightful contest through which the
world has passed.

As regards the effect of the war on relations
between governments and the governed, it is
clear that the demands for popular institutions
will be very much accentuated. The war was
won by nations of liberal type. One potent
reason for this demand will be the earnest de-
sire for an era of peace, and the almost uni-

Modern Political Tendencies 71"

versal feeling that wars in the past have been
the result of dynastic ambitions. It is very
generally believed that but for the ambition of
one sovereign the terrible conflict would not
have occurred, and there is assurance that
countries which have popular rule will not has-
tily engage in war. In forecasting the future
of democracy, we must take into account its
difficulties in areas inhabited by peoples who
have for a long time been under arbitrary re-
straint. With many of them all forms of re-
straint, however salutary, will evoke strenuous
opposition, because any form of government
is associated in their thought with injustice and
oppression. The difficulties are particularly
marked in those countries of Europe in which
there is a mingling of race, religion and lan-
guage, which tends to prevent unity and order-
ly government. Under whatever form, this
has been one of the main causes of discord and
war in Europe and elsewhere. In many of
them the political map does not correspond
with the ethnical map. It is a condition of
popular government that the majority must

72 Modern Political Tendencies

rule. Political power must find lodgment
somewhere, and a necessary theory wherever
popular institutions exist is that there is so far
a common interest which pertains to all, that
control can be entrusted to the mandate of a
majority without injustice to any part.
Though the advocates of popular rule must
recognize the necessity of restrictions upon
majorities and the exclusion from the domain
of government of certain rights which no indi-
vidual can surrender, they nevertheless, can-
not accept the saying of Ibsen, "Minorities
may sometimes be right, but majorities never."
In some of the countries which have been lib-
erated from autocracy it will not be easy to es-
tablish a rule of majorities because the popula-
tion is of such distinct and sometimes antagon-
istic types. The bond which has united these
countries has been military force, the prestige
of a dynasty, or common economic interests.
The aim of despotic rulers has been to bind
together discordant elements, and in accom-
plishing this object efforts have been made to
promote the adoption of a single language and

Modern Political Tendencies 73

often to establish one religious creed. A coun-
try is fortunate whose people divide on poli-
tical questions independently of racial or re-
ligious divisions and unitedly seek to promote
national interests and the welfare of the whole
body of citizenship. Political divisions have
been aptly described as horizontal or vertical.
The horizontal cleavage is due to age-long
sources of difference, such as those already
mentioned, of language, race or religion. In
these countries it may be said that the differ-
ent elements in the body politic are like geo-
logical strata. On the other hand, vertical
divisions separate by a less perceptible line all
the inhabitants of a country. The citizens di-
vide upon simple questions of national policy
of general concern, and such a degree of indi-
vidual independence is afforded that the con-
stant struggles for freedom of conscience and
inalienable rights are absent. Our own coun-
try is fortunate in this regard. While the so-
called "melting pot" has not created an entire-
ly homogeneous people, the spirit of equality
aided by the public school system, by frequent

74 Modern Political Tendencies

changes of residence, and the ready mingling of
those of different descent or traditions, all tend
toward harmony. One rule that should be in-
sisted upon at the Peace Table is that in the
countries in which such bitter antagonisms have
existed there should be respect for the liberty
of the individual, and no oppression because of
creed or race.

The tendency to a survival of many objec-
tionable features of a political or social system
which has been superseded or overthrown af-
fords an interesting study. Certain customs
are deeply imbedded in the habits of a people
and are not easily abandoned. The outstand-
ing fact is that progressive tendencies which are
successful are aimed against particular evils
or assume particular forms and are rarely com-
prehensive in their nature. A revolutionary
movement may be directed against autocratic
power or ecclesiastical domination and succeed
in its main purpose, but many minor character-
istics of the former order remain for a long
time as excrescences upon the body politic. Of
such survivals there have been many examples,

Modern Political Tendencies 75

such as the retention of property rights in
lands, exhibiting traces of the feudal regime;
stringent regulations in favor of the landowner
against his tenants, like those remaining in
France since the establishment of a republic.
Forms of government may change, but graft
and corruption still prevail in official circles.
One of the most striking, and at the same time,
most commendable, endeavors of the patriotic
citizens of the Latin American Republics has
been the effort to rid their country of the dis-
honest practices which have come down to them
as an inheritance from the days of the Gover-
nor-General and his subordinates. The admin-
istration of the ordinary governmental activi-
ties may still retain a complicated and incompe-
tent bureaucracy. Injudicious laws and regu-
lations may still be adopted, the only difference
being that the source of power has been shifted
from those wearing the insignia of nobility to
the demagogue. It is probable, but by no
means certain, that, in view of the unusual
awakening incident to the recent upheaval,
changes will be more sweeping than in the past

76 Modern Political Tendencies

and there will be a prompter acceptance of re-
forms which are universal in their scope.

In spite of all the dangers which arise from
the revolutionary changes in recently liberated
countries, it is to be hoped that the aspirations
for liberty which have dwelt in the breasts of
these people for centuries will prevent them
from abusing the privileges of freedom, and
that intelligence and self-restraint will cause
them to recognize that a reign of law and due
consideration for the rights of others must go
hand in hand with the privileges of indepen-
dence.

The constant presence of forces of reaction,
the tendency to go from one extreme to an-
other, has already become apparent, especially
in Russia and in efforts which have been mani-
fest among the Central Powers. It may be
confidently expected that no regime of assas-
sination or of class domination can permanent-
ly endure. A sentiment favoring liberty, based
upon law and justice, which abhors cruelty and
class supremacy, is strong everywhere. It is
a mighty force to overturn any government

Modern Political Tendencies 77

similar to that now in control of a considerable
part of Russia. Not only does this sentiment
have great force in the country involved, but
there is a reflected influence from other coun-
tries which is sure to have its effect. Also,
there is among all peoples a widespread dispo-
sition to place order on the same level with
liberty, and often the desire for the former out-
weighs aspirations for the latter. This fact ex-
plains the despotic authority sometimes exer-
cised by rulers over peoples who naturally
would desire free institutions. Of this there
have been numerous illustrations from the time
of Pisistratus of Athens to Porfirio Diaz in
Mexico. The French Revolution affords an
example in which a Reign of Terror was over-
thrown because more tranquil conditions were
desired. Liberty founded upon crime and
maintained by bloodshed and a denial of equal-
ity cannot be regarded as genuine.

78 Modern Political Tendencies

NEW RELATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS TO THE
ACTIVITIES OF THE PEOPLE

Our own country though less seriously in-
volved in the late struggle, may be regarded as
typical of all in many respects, though some
tendencies will be especially prominent here.
One inevitable result of the war will be the
greater care and supervision of the state with a
view to improve the condition of the individual
citizen. Nothing more vividly reveals the ma-
terial as well as the moral and spiritual
strength or weakness of a nation than to be en-
gaged in a contest in which its very existence
is at stake. Defects in physique to an extent
not at all realized were brought to light by the
medical examinations of our soldiers. It is not
merely for victory in war, but for national up-
building in peace that an efficient citizenship is
required, and thus the public health is now rec-
ognized as a matter of the most urgent con-
cern. In another particular a serious situa-
tion was disclosed in the United States. It ap-

Modern Political Tendencies 79

peared that great numbers of those living here
were lacking in loyalty to this country and still
retained a stronger attachment to the countries
from which they came. Of these some of the
most intelligent engaged in plots against our
vital interests and sought to promote disorder
and anarchy, while others, less intelligent, were
entirely unfamiliar with the nature and spirit
of American institutions, and thus became the
ready tools of disloyal leaders. Others have
shown themselves to be the foes of all govern-
ments and advocates of the destruction of ex-
isting social organizations. This condition has
caused a rude awakening which should result
in no revival of Know-nothingism or crusade
against immigrants, but a stern insistence that
disturbers and disloyalists shall be rigorously
excluded, whether those seeking to come here-
after or already here. A more general educa-
tion in the language of the country and the du-
ties of citizenship is urgently required. The
demand for an assurance of undivided loyalty
cannot stop with those of foreign birth or de-
scent, and there is every indication that there

80 Modern Political Tendencies

will be restraints upon unlimited freedom of
speech and of action quite out of keeping with
the easy tolerance of the past. The same con-
siderations which demanded that a loosely
joined confederation of states should give way
to a united nation, now demand that there
should be no loosely joined association of citi-
zens, but a united people.

The question of the release of the state to
industry is assuming almost paramount impor-
tance. Propositions pending look to an exten-
sion either of public regulation or of public
ownership. Since the commencement of the
war, in August, 1914, governments have taken
over railroads, also industries suitable for fur-
nishing military supplies, both of which for-
merly were under exclusively private owner-
ship. They have also exercised control over
practically the whole field of production and
distribution. These steps were regarded as es-
sential for the successful prosecution of the war.
It became evident that it was necessary for the
various governments to secure that concentra-
tion of effort and unity of control which in pri-

Modern Political Tendencies 81

vate hands had come to be regarded as odious
under objectionable forms of monopoly. It is
too early to determine the precise effect of such
enlarged participation upon the course to be
followed in the future, but many instructive
lessons may be derived from the events of the
last few years. Increasing attention is now
given to the question whether drastic statutes
and regulations against combination in indus-
try are not harmful in a time when large scale
operations are so essential for efficiency. In the
matter of public regulation, a natural dividing
line has been maintained between so-called pub-
lic utilities and the ordinary operations of in-
dustry and commerce. A distinction has also
been observed between enterprises conducted
by private corporations and those under the
management of individuals and partnerships.
The right to exercise exceptional control over
corporations has been based upon the fact that
their existence depends upon a grant from the
state and that government supervision is re-
quired because of the privileges which they en-
joy. There is a growing disposition, however,

82 Modern Political Tendencies

to the effect that these rules do not sufficiently
safeguard the interests of the public, and that
the more comprehensive principle should be
observed that all the activities of business, whe-
ther corporate or private, should be so con-
ducted as to promote the general good. This
opinion has in a measure received the sanction
of judicial decisions in the Supreme Court of
the United States.

There are numerous factors which promise
an increase of public regulation. The con-
stantly widening ramifications of business, its
greater magnitude and the ever increasing ex-
tent of social demands, all promote this ten-
dency. With this increasing magnitude of the
operations of business and the more pressing
needs of social life, opportunities are multiplied
for practices altogether inconsistent with pub-
lic welfare. To prevent these public interfer-
ence is demanded. The problem of the em-
ployment of labor has become a national one,
and private employment bureaus have not
proven sufficient to adjust supply to demand.
The relations of employer and employee in

Modern Political Tendencies 83

numerous occupations present difficulties the
solution of which is of far-reaching importance
and affect every interest of the country. Dis-
agreements upon labor conditions and wages
have threatened the maintenance of supplies
of food and the ordinary necessaries of life.
Essential means of communication have been
endangered. To all these problems the state
must give most careful attention. But with
equal insistence the highest standards must be
required of all those who have to do with pub-
lic regulation. They must keep pace with the
progress which is so manifest in the new situa-
tions which have called them into action. There
is an obvious danger that the disposition of
officials will be colored by partiality, or by a
desire for the advantage of political parties or
candidates for office. No adequate or perfect
adjustment of the relations of government to
industry can foe secured until decisions are
solely based upon a full appreciation of the
necessity for a just and intelligent solution of
the important questions involved.

At the very forefront among questions to be

84 Modern Political Tendencies

settled is that of the railroads of the country
and of other agencies which provide transpor-
tation. There can be no better illustration of
tendencies toward reactions in popular opinion
than in the attitude of the public toward the
railways. In earlier years the disposition of
the people was one of marked partiality to
them. This was illustrated by numerous land
grants and subventions to railways, and the
granting of various substantial concessions.
At times these powerful aggregations of capi-
tal threatened to overshadow the state itself.
This attitude of the public gave way to one of
equally partial regard for shippers and later to
especial consideration for the interests of rail-
way employees. Serious omissions in the poli-
cies which have been pursued are now very gen-
erally recognized. Under a system by which
the predominant influence in determining the
rates to be charged by railroads has been exer-
cised by those who patronize them and are in-
terested in the lowest possible cost to them-
selves, the development of transportation fa-
cilities has been seriously hampered. Nothing

Modern Political Tendencies 85

short of a great emergency could have given
adequate proof of this fact, and that emergency
was furnished by the demands of war. The
war has also shown the benefit of unified con-
trol, and an idea which still has a great hold
upon the public thought, that sharp competi-
tion between parallel lines is helpful, will surely
give way to new ideas of cooperation. There
can be little doubt but that a more liberal pol-
icy will be extended to these corporations in
the way of authority to increase charges for
freight and passenger traffic. This will not be
associated with any relaxation, but rather with
added strictness in public regulation.

As regards public ownership of railroads, it
must be conceded that recent experiments in
government management have not proven to
be satisfactory in this country, though it would
be venturesome to attempt to forecast how this
problem will ultimately be settled. There are
now manifest obstacles in the way, such as the
lack of a trained force of government experts
suitable for this task, and, under present con-
ditions, the confessedly greater efficiency of

86 Modern Political Tendencies

private management. The experience of Ger-
many and other nations affords us no reliable
example in this regard. In many of the coun-
tries in which there is government ownership
and control of railways, military necessities
were a primary consideration. The employees
have been for a long time subjected to a sever-
ity of discipline which would be impossible in
the United States. Again, the disposition of
employees is altogether different from that
which prevails here. We have not the large
class of persons who are willing to give a life-
time to mere routine or to subordinate posi-
tions. The conviction is still deeply seated
in the minds of the people that it is not by the
bureaucracy of a paternal government, but by
the free play of individual initiative that the
country has attained its splendid development,
and that no change has occurred to justify any
radical departure from that policy. The poli-
tical argument against government ownership
requires attention. If two millions or more of
men were given status as government employ-
ees their appeal for more favorable conditions

Modern Political Tendencies 87

for themselves would be constantly addressed
to Congress and those holding political posi-
tions. Their votes would be earnestly sought
by political parties and officials entrusted with
the framing of laws and regulations relating to
railway management. The great body of these
employees would naturally be willing to break
away from the usual political ties and support
those parties or candidates who favored their
interests. This is a probable result of govern-
ment ownership which under present conditions
in this country assumes very considerable im-
portance. On the other hand, it is strenuously
argued, and that too by many who do not favor
public ownership as an independent proposi-
tion, that the central government is the only or-
ganization which has the power and prestige
to stand in the way of possible demands for in-
creased wages which are excessive, or against
discriminating regulations and taxes imposed
by the states. It is maintained that under pri-
vate ownership the sympathies of the vast ma-
jority of the people will be unfriendly to the
railway corporations, and thus they will be un-

88 Modern Political Tendencies

able to perform their duties or secure an ade-
quate return upon capital invested, because the
public will not submit to the higher charges
necessary to meet increasing costs of operation
and necessary improvements unless the added
amounts are paid into the national treasury.

Humanitarian Tendencies. There is every
reason to believe that there will be a notable in-
crease in humanitarian movements after the
war. The fearful crisis has called into helpful
activity vigorous and self-denying efforts every-
where, arousing persons who formerly were
living lives of personal indulgence. We have
witnessed the patriotic services of millions of
soldiers, enrolled to battle for the republic,
whose achievements have been characterized by
a spirit of sacrifice and devotion and attended
by sorrowful loss of life and of health. The
part played by the armies in the field has been
reinforced by similar manifestation of devotion
from equal numbers outside of the ranks. These
services have created a burning impression not
only of the immeasurable debt which the coun-

Modern Political Tendencies 89

try owes to its citizens, but also of the obligation
which citizens owe to each other. The state must
pay its debt, but there remains an equal respon-
sibility for the individual. This responsibility
will surely create a new recognition of the de-
mands of humanity. Such a disposition will
be greatly promoted by the events of the war
which have brought together under a common
cause multitudes of persons between whom for-
merly there existed a spirit of indifference
amounting almost to repulsion. War destroys
many existing standards of social value. Old
distinctions give way to sentiments of equality
and a realization of the rewards which are due
for services rendered. The frightful suffering
of multitudes in the wake of the war in Eu-
rope has caused an awakening which has been
universal in its appeal. Public provision by
appropriations from the national treasury and
private subscriptions, as for the Red Cross and
similar societies, have assumed a volume utter-
ly unprecedented.

The proposed League of Nations clearly
manifests a far greater regard for humanitar-

90 Modern Political Tendencies

ian ideas than have ever before been included
in a treaty or agreement among nations. It
contains provisions looking to the ameliora-
tion of the condition of men, women and chil-
dren engaged in labor. It adds to the recog-
nition of the Red Cross in prior treaties, an
article under which all the member nations
"agree to encourage and promote the estab-
lishment and cooperation of duly authorized
voluntary national Red Cross organizations,
having as purposes the improvement of health,
the prevention of disease and the mitigation of
suffering throughout the world." The cove-
nant also contains an elaborate article impos-
ing upon the more advanced countries duties
toward backward races and nations. All these
signs point to progress in regard for humanity
quite as helpful as any of the tendencies of the
times.

The National Spirit. Pride in military
achievements and the recollection of fright-
ful sufferings must stimulate the national
spirit in every country which had part in

Modern Political Tendencies 91

the victory won. To this will be added
the gratification of a desire for the indepen-
dence of peoples who have for a long time been
under alien domination. This disposition,
however, will be profoundly modified by the
results of the war. There will no longer exist
that admiration which was so common, for
military autocracies such as that of Germany.
Disturbers of peace will be sternly repressed.
Preparation for possible war will not be aban-
doned, but the standing of nations will depend
in far greater measure upon their peaceful
relations with the rest of the world, their
growth in trade and industry and the means
employed to improve the domestic conditions
of the people. It is earnestly to be hoped that
the spirit of repulsion will disappear and that
of cooperation will increase.

Centralization. As regards centralization
there will be two opposing tendencies, one to
secure the advantages which belong to larger
units under one government, in which those
made up of the same race, as contemplated in

92 Modern Political Tendencies

the case of Serbia and adjoining countries, will
seek to combine. A reorganized Poland, made
up of portions of Russia, Germany and Aus-
tria, will furnish another example. An oppos-
ing tendency will be promoted by the desire for
relief from alien domination and for indepen-
dent national life. This will be illustrated by
a dismembered Austria-Hungary and Turkey,
and probably by divers sections of Russia, as
in the case of the Ukraine and other West-
ern provinces. There is every probability that
in the earlier reorganization of Europe the ten-
dency toward smaller units will be more pro-
nounced, but at a later time the tendency to-
ward centralization and larger units will be
more prominent, because of the manifest ad-
vantages and greater prestige possessed by
larger countries. Another potent force for
centralization in the future will be the added
emphasis placed upon the economic interdepen-
dence of various wide areas, as in Russia.
Trade and social relations will both promote
combinations of smaller countries. Whichever
tendency may prevail, a quickened political

Modern Political Tendencies 93

consciousness and the greater complexity in the
operations of local governments are likely to
result in an increased degree of local auton-
omy in the communities and subdivisions of
newly created nations and some established
nations as well.

TENDENCIES TOWARD REMOVAL or INEQUALI-
TIES IN CONDITIONS — SOCIALISM

An adequate treatment of existing tenden-
cies requires consideration of powerful move-
ments based upon prevalent ideas that glar-
ing inequalities exist, not merely as the result
of privileges or rank in more autocratic coun-
tries, but also because of the unequal posses-
sion of wealth and the means of subsistence in
all. Agitations in this regard are promoted
under all forms of government and in divers
ways; by extreme violence, as under the pres-
ent regime in Russia, which has as its essence
class domination, to be secured, if necessary,
by unremitting warfare; by slow and orderly

94 Modern Political Tendencies

processes in the exercise of the law-making
power, as in governments having liberal insti-
tutions; by negotiations between groups, as
between labor unions or bodies of workmen and
their employers, or by strikes; by socialistic
revolutions that would abolish private property
and vest in the state control of the means of
production. Last of all, anarchy must be men-
tioned, with its fearful excesses — a revolt
against settled conditions which seeks to de-
stroy all prospects for an assured or just ad-
vancement in social conditions by its fright-
fulness. The principles of anarchy as promul-
gated by its early advocates were strikingly
mild in comparison with the furious and de-
structive spirit of those who are now counted
as believers in its maxims. A revolution was
to be accomplished by peaceful methods. Its
adherents proposed groups instead of govern-
ments, societies free from the restraint of law
or obedience to any political authority, and
maintained that social relations should rest up-
on voluntary agreements concluded between in-
dividuals. They argued that freedom from

Modern Political Tendencies 95

submission to authority and the absence of fear
of punishment would stimulate private initia-
tive and give free play to individual develop-
ment. Regarding government as an evil which
imposes unnecessary restraint and tends by its
regulations to create privilege and inequality,
it has become the very antithesis of socialism.
It abhors at the same time state capitalism un-
der the form of socialism, and individual cap-
italism, as at present. The present regime in
Russia cannot be classed as anarchistic because
those in control demand government of the se-
verest sort under the supremacy of the prole-
tariat.

Legislation has already been detailed which
shows the socialistic trend of more liberal gov-
ernments like Great Britain, and these move-
ments have been illustrated by governmental
control during the war. It is impossible to
ignore a body of opinion which is so widespread
to the effect that opportunities in life are so
unequal as to create injustice. We have be-
come, it is said, a people like unto a long pro-
cession in which the strong or the fortunate are

96 Modern Political Tendencies

jostling the weak and pushing them to the
wall. The question arises, what will be the re-
sult of these experiments and of the prevalent
agitation? Will the more or less moderate in-
cursions into socialism which have been made
be limited to efforts to equalize the opportuni-
ties of the people and to secure greater efficien-
cy and harmony, or will they mean an uphea-
val and a leveling? Will more generous poli-
cies be adopted in response to the demands of a
growing spirit of humanitarianism which shall
merely emphasize the care and supervision
which the state may exercise for the benefit of
its citizens, or will there be revolutions? There
is an almost infinite variety of views as to what
socialism really means, and it numbers among
its advocates those whose position in life is
strikingly in contrast, from dwellers in poverty
who have little hope of better conditions, to the
so-called millionaire parlor socialists, to whom
it is a pleasing cult, though sometimes superfi-
cially considered, and is not inconsistent with
the very persistent retention of what posses-
sions they themselves have. Mr. Bernard

Modern Political Tendencies 97

Shaw has defined socialism as a state of society
in which the income of the country shall be di-
vided equally among the inhabitants without
regard to their character, their industry, or any
other consideration except the fact that they
are human beings. This is probably the strong-
est definition that is given by any one, except,
perhaps, those who favor a condition of abso-
lute destruction. Such a rule of society would
enshrine the lazy man, it would mean that the
convict who has just been released from the
penitentiary should be placed on the same foot-
ing with one who has sought to perform his
duties to society. It is not probable that a
time will come when earnestness of purpose
and a natural ambition for personal adance-
ment will not have their fair reward, because
any political community would face disaster in
which the majority of its citizens were not
actuated by the conviction that industry and
thrift are necessary qualities. No nation can
fulfill its destiny except its citizens are disposed
to make such utilization of their energies as to
add to the material resources and the strength

98 Modern Political Tendencies

of the state. The ability to devise methods for
enlarged operations of the state, which serve
humanity and promote equality without repres-
sion of wholesome efforts for increased effi-
ciency, will be one of the tests of democra-
cy in the future. The people of this coun-
try should all alike be willing to bear the bur-
den of any rational means for the improvement
of our citizenship, and for raising the general
standard of manhood and womanhood, how-
ever much this may mean additional payments
to the tax gatherer. Mention has already been
made of taxation for a recent class of expendi-
ture which has been adopted in many commun-
ities with effects which are certainly helpful,
namely, the establishment of parks and play-
grounds for larger opportunities for amuse-
ment and recreation by all classes, with a spe-
cial view to aiding those in humble circum-
stances. The scope of such enterprises will, no
doubt, include more considerate attention to
methods already partially adopted, such as
supervision of the health of children in schools,
occasional furnishing of meals for pupils who

Modern Political Tendencies 99

are indigent, public employment agencies, en-
larged educational facilities, more efficient
training in manual and trade schools, and pen-
sions for widows, perhaps old age pensions as
well. Other provisions will, no doubt, suggest
themselves. Any burden of taxation or any
sacrifice which the individual is called upon to
make for his country's sake or for the advance-
ment of humanity in a sane and rational man-
ner, is not likely to arouse any vigorous oppo-
sition from the great mass of the American
people, and it is probable that these questions
will be settled more wisely and more humanely
here than in some other countries. On the other
hand, any policy which penalizes the commen-
dable ambition for achievement or imposes un-
necessary taxes with crushing weight upon
those who toil with hand or brain and are suc-
cessful, will surely be rejected with prompt-
ness and vigor by the American people. The
injudicious methods of benevolence which
tend to make permanent dependents of the un-
fortunate are especially to be shunned.

100 Modern Political Tendencies

INCREASING TAXES AND THEIR UTILIZATION
FOR THE EQUALIZATION OF CONDITIONS

Will the greater burden of taxation made
necessary by the larger scope of national, state
and municipal activities promote the desire for
the equalization of social conditions? Progres-
sively expanding taxes which were very much
in evidence prior to the war will be immensely
increased by the colossal burden of public debts
incurred during the recent struggle. These
debts must have far-reaching effects not mere-
ly upon the economic situation but upon politi-
cal and social conditions as well. National in-
debtedness incurred in some countries engaged
in the contest has equalled, and in one or two
instances possibly surpassed, one-half of the
estimated total of all their wealth. The enor-
mous expenses of war have imposed very ser-
ious handicaps upon the life of nations in the
past. As an illustration of their cost it may
be said that in our own country the expenses
of the four years of Civil War from 1861 to

Modern Political Tendencies 101

1865 were nearly twice as great as the total ex-
penses of the Federal Government for the
seventy-two years from Washington's inagu-
ration to the year 1861. It is also likely that
the cost of our participation in this struggle,
including loans to our allies, will equal the to-
tal cost of federal expenditures from 1789 to
1917. These enormous debts will require not
only an increase of existing levies, but new
methods of taxation.

It has been the frankly avowed object of
those who have framed revenue bills, not mere-
ly to raise money, but to diminish great accu-
mulations of private wealth. It is possible that
in some countries there will be levies, not mere-
ly of ordinary taxes unprecedented in amount,
but upon accumulated capital as well. Not
very long ago the Chancellor of the Exchequer
virtually made the concession that part of the
national debt of Great Britain might be paid
by impositions upon the holdings of private
property. Such a course has been demanded
in conventions of the so-called Labor Party.
Some time before this statement was made,

102 Modern Political Tendencies

Premier Lloyd George declared his desire to
break up the great landed estates in England.
One of the most notable tendencies in recent
years has been the adoption of taxation provid-
ing progressive or increasing rates upon larger
incomes and larger profits — so-called graded
taxation. This method, strange as it may ap-
pear, is of comparatively recent origin. It was
adopted in Italy in 1864, and in Austria in
1898. In the case of incomes the former meth-
od in English speaking countries was to im-
pose a uniform or flat rate, irrespective of the
amount. The most notable innovations on the
rule of uniformity were made in several of the
English colonies. The first income tax law en-
acted in the United States during the Civil
War imposed uniform rates upon all incomes.
A later Act in 1864, provided a rate of 3 per
cent on amounts below $10,000, and 5 per cent
above that sum. The proposed income tax of
1894, which was declared invalid by the Su-
preme Court, made no distinction according to
amount. The Act of 1913, the beginning or
basis of the present income tax law, adopted

Modern Political Tendencies 103

after ratification of a constitutional amend-
ment authorizing income taxes, as passed by
the House of Representatives and as presented
in the Senate by the Finance Committee of that
body, made no distinction, but in the considera-
tion on the floor of the Senate an amendment
was adopted providing for gradation, and
this was accepted in the bill as it became a law.
The Revenue Act imposing taxes upon incomes
accruing during the year 1918, fixed a so-called
normal rate of 6 per cent on the first four thou-
sand of incomes after allowing for exemptions
and deductions, and one of 12 per cent on the
amount of incomes in excess of that amount.
To this was added a surtax rising from 1 per
cent on amounts between $5,000 and $6,000, to
65 per cent on incomes exceeding one million,
showing a variation in the aggregate of nor-
mal and surtaxes from 6 per cent on smaller
incomes to 77 per cent on the largest. Until
1909 income tax rates in England were equal-
ly proportioned, with no difference between
large and small incomes. At that time graded
taxes were established and there was discrimin-

104 Modern Political Tendencies

ation between incomes earned by personal ser-
vice and those derived from investments.

In the Revenue Act of the United States
last referred to, there is also a provision for
gradation in inheritance taxes. After certain
exemptions a levy is made of 1 per cent on net
amounts transmitted not in excess of fifty
thousand dollars, and this is gradually in-
creased to 25 per cent on the amount by which
the net estate exceeds ten millions. Gradu-
ated taxes upon the earnings of corporations
in the form of so-called war profits and excess
profits taxes have also been imposed. In the
discussions of questions of federal taxation,
levies upon the amounts of ordinary sales have
been proposed, but have not been favorably
considered. These would lack the element of
gradation contained in income and excess
profits taxes and would rest upon all with equal
weight according to consumption. A so-called
semi-luxury tax imposed on the sale of certain
articles of luxury or of larger cost, has been
vigorously opposed, and propositions have been
made for its repeal. Such a tax in its general

Modern Political Tendencies 105

principles is of a class similar to the graded
taxes referred to.

Similar tendencies appear, though less prom-
inently, in discriminating taxes upon land
values. In Great Britain a valuation of landed
property was made in the year 1910, accom-
panied by a provision that on the death of the
owner or sale by him at a later time, twenty
per cent of the increased value should go to
the state. This gives to the state a part of the
so-called "unearned increment." An Act in
New Zealand provides that all owners of agri-
cultural land worth more than forty thousand
pounds must pay a supertax of twenty-five
per cent. There is also a provision in the latter
country for increased taxation upon an owner
who continues to be absent beyond a certain
limited time. The agitation for the so-called
single tax imposing all the public burdens upon
land values, also has a very considerable num-
ber of advocates.

In this connection it may be stated that there
is much confusion created by cumulative taxes
on incomes and inheritances levied at the same

106 Modern Political Tendencies

time by states as well as by the federal govern-
ment. There are strong arguments for a di-
viding line between state and national taxation
which would leave income and excess profits
taxes to the federal government and give to
the state the exclusive right to impose taxes
upon inheritances. To this division, however,
there is one practical obstacle in that the states
have adopted an infinite variety of inheritance
taxes.

The effect upon industry as well as upon so-
cial conditions, of the methods of taxation
adopted to provide greatly increased revenues,
is sure to arouse extended discussion in the fu-*
ture. It has been vigorously maintained that
the present income taxes, joined with war and
excess profit taxes, create a serious handicap
upon industry. It is argued that for the most
satisfactory development of the country it is
requisite that there be an expectation of large
rewards in business ventures and that new
enterprises which would be useful to the peo-
ple are discouraged by existing laws. It is
said that, if in any investment large profits are

Modern Political Tendencies 107

promised there is naturally a commensurately
greater risk, and should the government in the
exercise of the taxing power take an unusual
share of the earnings obtained in the most
profitable undertakings, the initiative and
energy which promote prosperity will be dis-
couraged. This question of affording encour-
agement for large profits raises an issue which
is fundamental in its nature, that is, whether
it is altogether wholesome for a people to en-
gage in so many enterprises of a speculative
nature, or foster the absorbing desire for un-
limited accumulations which is quickened rath-
er than repressed by every success in money
making. Would not the spirit of sharp compe-
tition which is sometimes so hurtful, be dimin-
ished with diminishing chances for profit and
other qualities be developed quite as valuable
to the people as the unsurpassed material de-
velopment which has been so prominent in the
past?

It should be distinctly understood that the
large taxes imposed upon incomes and profits
which reach high figures are not exclusively

108 Modern Political Tendencies

borne in the last analysis by those who pay
them. The principle of the diffusion of the
burden of taxation among all consumers was
accepted by some economists of prominence
as an axiom. As a statement of a general
fact, this is only partly correct, but clearly if
the returns upon investments of the creditor
or the landowner are heavily taxed, rates of
interest to the creditor and of rent to the ten-
ant are naturally raised and the burden im-
posed upon industry is passed on to the con-
sumer. It is needless to say that these greatly
increased taxes are and will continue to be a
prominent factor in the high cost of living.

There is no prospect of the abandonment of
heavy rates of taxation or of the principle of
gradation. The demands for a larger national
life and for enlarged facilities and conveniences,
as in the development of cities and the making
of so-called good roads, will necessitate a con-
tinuance of burdensome levies after the
amounts required for the payment of the inter-
est and principal of government debts shall
have been substantially diminished.

Modern Political Tendencies 109

THE RESULT OF WAR UPON POLITICAL TEN-
DENCIES IN THE UNITED STATES

It is perfectly evident that the late contest
will exert an exceptional influence upon poli-
tical and social movements in the United
States. This will apply to affairs both inter-
national and domestic.

The peculiar isolation which has been a dis-
tinctive feature of our national life from the
beginning, has disappeared. It is indeed true,
that the period of exclusiveness is past, and
this applies not merely to trade relations but
to political relations also. Whatever happens in
the remotest part of the globe is now of the
most substantial interest to us. Prior to the
war the absence of any threat of invasion and
our detachment from the rivalries of nations
of the old world has kept us out of their al-
liances and controversies. It is to be hoped
that this situation will not be entirely changed,
but a new condition was created by our parti-
cipation in the war, and a realization that op-

110 Modern Political Tendencies

posing ideas of autocracy and democracy must
have a vital effect upon our own policies and
that we must share in their settlement. There
will be a constant appreciation of the larger
part which America must take in the affairs
of the world.

In domestic affairs it is impossible to over-
look the awakening of the whole population,
the effects of which cannot be swallowed up by
the force of established ideas and methods ex-
isting prior to 1914. Certain essentials not to
be shaken must remain, but we shall abandon
many cherished ideas of the past. There will
be a far wider outlook and greater readiness
to grapple with new problems and settle them
according to the changed conditions which
have arisen. The duties of classes to each
other, and the claims of humanity have a new
meaning. The influence of the returning sol-
diers and sailors will have a marked effect upon
political conditions. The number mustered
into service, about half of whom went over
seas, exceeds four millions. Already organi-
zations are forming to perpetuate their influ-

Modern Political Tendencies 111

ence. The general effect of these organiza-
tions will be in the direction of equality and a
more democratic spirit, at least if we can judge
from manifestations already in evidence. The}
ever perplexing problem of the relations be-
tween capital and labor, between employer and
employee, has assumed increased importance.
Those on the two sides have often seemed to
be gathered in antagonistic camps. While
numerous civic organizations have been formed
and meetings have been held in which there
have been loud protestations of a common in-
terest and of a desire to act in cooperation,
nevertheless, the essential difficulties of the
problem have been very generally overlooked.
These difficulties are intense individualism
manifested by both and a desire for personal
advancement in which the rights of each have
been only partially recognized by the other.
No altruistic spirit can be expected to
be the controlling factor, but there is first a
necessity for a more intelligent understanding
of facts. What are the increases in wages
which are justified by the added cost of living?

112 Modern Political Tendencies

What larger share of the product should be-
long to labor? How can provision be made
for seasons in which enterprises are conducted
unprofitably or at a loss? To this should be
added a greater degree of fairness and regard
for each other in which it is necessary that a
common interest should have paramount con-
sideration. Fundamental economic facts must
obtain recognition. It must be understood
that the chief factor in the wages of labor is
the volume and quality of production, that any
movement or plan for limiting product must
be injurious rather than helpful, and that spe-
cial privileges or wages on an exceptional scale
for any particular group of laborers must in
the long run diminish the opportunities of the
rest. On the other hand, there is necessity for
an awakening among employers to the fact
that those in their employ have aspirations as
well as rights, quite as important as their own,
that their very living depends upon the prose-
cution of the enterprises in which they are em-
ployed, and that an exclusion of workmen from
the tasks in which they are engaged means

Modern Political Tendencies 113

much more to them than it does to the em-
ployer. There is every indication that the fa-
vored position of labor which has been made
an established policy in this country can be
more readily continued in the future. The
more pressing burden of taxation in many
other countries, the diminished number of
workers available in Europe, the destruction
of plant and equipment over wide areas, will
all tend to increase labor costs there, and thus
render substantially easier the maintenance of
high wages in the United States.

THE INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK

In international relations, a question which
presents itself at the very outset is whether im-
perialistic ambitions for expansion of terri-
tory will cease. It is hardly probable that they
will, but the opportunity for their gratification
will, no doubt, be very much diminished. Four
imperialistic governments of autocratic form
have been overthrown, those of Russia, Ger-

114 Modern Political Tendencies

many, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. It
would seem to be impossible that even the re-
action which manifests itself after extremes
of popular control and the excesses which some-
times attend them, could be sufficient to restore
dynasties similar to those which existed in these
countries prior to the war. There is an effort
for a League of Nations, the aim of which is
to secure the peace of the world and coopera-
tion among nations. It is to be hoped that this
may succeed, however imperfect it may be in
its original form. It is most desirable that
steps be taken now to secure such results when
the recollections of suffering and destruction
are so vivid. It will be necessary for every
country to abate in some degree its claims for
sovereignty and independence, as common
good and friendly relations are objects more
valuable than the assertion of ambitious na-
tional aims. Every step which looks in this
direction should awaken special interest in the
people of the United States, because this coun-
try has by presidents and Acts of Congress re-
peatedly asserted our desire for a peaceful set-

Modern Political Tendencies 115

tlement of controversies betwen nations, and
we must occupy in the future a position of in-
fluence in securing such aims far surpassing
that of the past.

There is one result which would seem to be
definitely assured by the war, and that is the
denial of the supremacy of might in the rela-
tions between nations and a new respect for
smaller countries. So long ago as the year
1825, Chief Justice Marshall said in a deci-
sion, "No principle of general law is more uni-
versally acknowledged than the perfect equal-
ity of nations. Russia and Geneva have equal
rights." This may be regarded as a principle
in our diplomacy maintained from the begin-
ning. Not only is there an almost universal
demand for a rule of justice and order, but the
recollection of the frightful suffering of small-
£r countries like Belgium, Serbia and Poland,
has left a lasting impression. No one will
hereafter assert, as did Treitschke, perhaps the
fliost influential leader of thought in Germany,
that the country which relies upon justice
places itself in a ridiculous position.

116 Modern Political Tendencies

One of the most radical phases of ameliora-
tion which the future promises is a revolution-
ary change in the position of the less civilized
or backward peoples. From time immemorial
these have been the prey of the stronger, and
contemporaneously with wars which have arisen
because of disagreements due to close contact
there have been almost constant quarrels be-
tween the more advanced nations over the ac-
quisition of colonies in the outlying portions of
the earth. The desire to avoid the recurrence
of friction arising from these controversies led
to a partial rapprochement among the leading
powers of Europe within the last century, un-
der which they sought to divide regions in Afri-
ca and Asia by amicable adjustment by which
each country was to receive its share of the spoil.
At one time Russia seemed likely to subject to
its dominion a large share of Asia, in the acqui-
sition of which that country had a marked ad-
vantage because of contiguity. These colonies
originally were exploited exclusively for the
benefit of their owners with very slight regard
for the welfare of their inhabitants. A change

Modern Political Tendencies 117

in the policy was first initiated by England un-
der which special attention was given to the
local interests and rights of her subject posses-
sions, and beginning with Canada local auton-
omy was granted to several countries extend-
ing even to the matter of tariffs.

Now the old order is passing. The term do-
minions is beginning to be substituted for that
of colonies in the British Empire, and some of
them are to be separately represented in the
proposed League of Nations. Further ex-
ploitation has been checked. Under the terms
of the Treaty of Paris oppressed and neg-
lected peoples are to receive the fostering care
of the more civilized nations. The influence
of this change upon their development can
hardly be exaggerated. It means a new order
which promises the gradual disappearance of
the striking inequalities between the different
divisions of the human race. The effects of
changed relations are sure to extend as well to
countries occupying an intermediate position
between those of the highest and lowest civili-
zations.

118 Modern Political Tendencies

For assured results the development of In-
ternational Law and its universal application
are essential, also its enforcement by a Court
established to decide such controversies as may
arise. It will be necessary that the opinions
of jurists and the provisions of various treaties
be codified and such additions made as re-
quired to meet the demands of a new era. This
is no chimerical fancy, but is responsive to the
aspirations which have been created by the war.

In conclusion it must be said that it is not
easy to forecast the comparative development
of numerous tendencies which will assume
especial prominence in the future. Much will
depend on the terms of peace agreed upon at
Paris, and the adoption or rejection of the pro-
posed plan for a League of Nations. It is,
however, certain that radical changes will be
accomplished which would have been impos-
sible before.

There are no reasons for pessimism. There
are transcendent possibilities in the newly
aroused conceptions of an awakened and suf-
fering world. It is especially a time when no

Modern Political Tendencies 119

restricted outlook or narrow vision will answer.
It will be necessary to grasp world problems.
The word future has a greater significance
than ever. Political tendencies may seem to
move in wrong directions, and experiments will
be tried which experience will show must be
abandoned. Nevertheless, there is ground for
the strongest assurance that though peoples
may sometimes go astray they will ultimately
be right. Thus, notwithstanding the clash of
ideas and interests which seem to threaten the
stability of states and the maintenance of or-
der and peace, we may yet have added faith
in the years to come, and an inspiring confi-
dence in human destiny.

YB 08C

CM

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY