The new American citizen; the essentials of civics and economics

Preface

The purpose of this book includes more than merely to

give important facts about our Government. We want our

youth to know the ethics of good citizenship. We wish

them to see how splendid and costly good government is.

*. We wish them to get an idea, not only of the admirable

>v theory of our American RepubUc, but of the difficulties that

^N we meet in making the theory work. We cannot bear to

have our pupils leave school only to find, when they begin to

vote and to exercise their rights and duties as citizens, that

our theory is one thing and our practice different, and even

^ contradictory to the fine theory. We wish to send our

v' pupils into the actual work of citizenship prepared to work

out a better ordered, more successful, and more practical

government than the world has ever seen. If men have

ever expressed their doubts as to whether our government

^ was a success, we wish the generation of youth now in our

5 schools to disprove this pessimistic talk. We desire them to

jvj be not only inteUigent citizens, but enthusiastic, active, and

helpful members of our great Nation.

The book, therefore, takes rather a wide scope. It touches all sorts of neighborly relations and duties. We are coming to see as never before the unity of all human relations. The business of government is not an isolated thing, nor is it a fixed and finished scheme. It is constantly changing and growing, like a live thing. It has a beginning in the family and home; it touches every neighborly relation; it is concerned with the uses, the getting, spending, saving, and holding of money, and the rightful distribution of property. In a large and real sense of the word "pohtics," it reaches

ill iv PREFACE

out to a good part of a citizen's life. We talk of "social ethics," but what ethics are not social ? And what social interest is outside the domain of civics or poHtics ? In every civilized country vast questions of industrial democracy are discussed in the congresses of the world. These great questions of government are both economic and poHtical. We cannot afford to let our boys and girls grow up without some glimpse of these larger meanings of citizenship. They cannot be good citizens unless they learn to think inteUigently how to serve the cormnon welfare. Thus at all points the study of government and the study of ethics are one.

I have much sympathy with those who doubt how far it is possible to teach citizenship from a book. But no one doubts the immense service that high-minded and hve teachers may render. A book may help such teachers and their pupils too. The good teacher wiU never make the study dry task work. He will count on the natural appetite which young people of school age normally possess for the subjects comprised in the book. It may be so used as to be a lesson in EngUsh and in reading aloud. It should stimulate the habit of criticism and straight thinking, greatly needed in all schools. Let the class be encouraged freely to ask questions and to express their thought. This ought to tend toward the exercise of sound reason and justice. It is thus that a democratic government has to be carried on. The author will be glad to hear from any school where statements in the book seem to need correction or improvement in accuracy or clearness. Meanwhile let the teacher occasionally remind the class in his own way that no httle book, suitable perhaps to introduce young people to the most compUcated subjects, can do more than bring their minds to the threshold of the great temple. To recognize how great and beautiful the structure is may be in itself a lesson m modesty. Here old and young are learners together. New questions, or perhaps old questions in new forms, are

PREFACE V

likely to come to view any day to challenge the best equipped minds and to crush the pride of anyone who thinks he "knows it all."

I have tried to prepare this book in close sympathy with the fimdamental ideas which constitute the democratic faith of mankind. In touching upon poUtical and other subjects upon which men and parties differ, I have thought the only way is to state fairly both sides. The young people, soon to be voters, ought not to be either ignorant or prejudiced. They need, what all men need, to understand the facts, and especially to reahze the convictions and principles which are at the root of all sound political thinking. I have not hesitated, however, everywhere to insist upon the ideals of a just democracy as the only scheme of successful cooperation in government or industry suited to a civihzed life.

The book is published in war time. No one is likely to read it who will not sympathize with the aim "to make the world safe for democracy." This means that all democratic peoples are bound to make wars impossible for those who come after us. We cannot do this by mere outside force or compulsion, or without catching the mighty spirit of humanity which is drawing men's hearts together everywhere.

Charles F. Dole.

Jamaica Plain, Mass., 1918.

PART I Chapter Page

I. Where We Begin: "What For?" i

II. In Training for Citizenship: The Home. . 6

III. The Schoolroom and Its Government 13

IV. The Playground: A Training School for

Citizenship 17

V. The Club or Debating Society 26

VI. Personal Habits: Conditions of Good Citizenship 36

VII. The Principles that Bind Men Together 45

VIII. Various Rights and Duties 52

Part II

THE CITIZEN AND THE COMMONWEALTH; OR, THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS

IX. What Government is for 57

X. Various Forms of Government 64

XI. Local Government, or Home Rule 71

XII. Local Government: The City 77

XIII. The States and Legislative Government. . 84

XIV. The People Acting in Congress 94

XV. The People and the Machinery of Government 104

XVI. The Judicial Branch of the Government,

or the Courts and the Laws 112

XVII. The Treasury and the Taxes 125

XVIII. The School System 137

XIX. The Civil Service and tee Offices 144

vii vm CONTENTS

Chapter Page

XX. Voting 152

XXI. Political Parties 162

XXII. Government by Committees, by Politicians,

AND BY Public Ophstion 168

XXIII. The Citizen's Duties to His Government. 175

XXIV. The Abuses and Perils of Government. . . 183

XXV. Facts wthch Every One should Know.

Open Questions 193

XXVI. Improvements in Government. Radicals

AND Conservatives 201

Part III Industrial Democracy; Or, The Rights And Duties Of Business And Labor

XXVII. What Wealth is 211

XXVIII. The Conditions of Wealth 217

XXIX. To \\^hom Wealth Belongs, and How it is

Divided 225

XXX. The Institution of Property 235

XXXI. Honest IMoney 244

XXXII. Capital, Credit, and Interest 251

XXXIII. Labor and Competition 260

XXXIV. The Grievances of the Poor 269

XXXV. The Abuses and the Duties of Wealth. . . 275

XXX\T. Buyers and Sellers; or. The Mutual

Benefit 284

XXXVn. Employers and the Employed: Their Interest IN Each Other 293

Part IV Special Socl^ Rights And Duties

XXX\TII. The Rights and Duties of Neighbors 304

XXXIX. The Treatment of Crime 311

XL. How TO Help the Poor 321

XLI. The Great Social Subjects 330

XLH. The Problems of Temperance 336

CONTENTS

IX

Part V International Democracy; Or, The Rights And Duties Of Nations

Chapter Page

XLIII. International Law and How it Grows. . . 345

XLIV. The Rights of Nations 353

XLV. The Duties of Nations 358

XLVI. War and Peace; Patriotism 364

Bibliography 372

Index. 373

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THE NEW AMERICAN CITIZEN

Chapter I Where We Begin: "what For?"

We often ask and we ought to ask: "What for?" or '' Why?" Why, for instance, do we come to school? Why are parents willing to spend so much money that children may get an education? It costs our nation hundreds of milHons of dollars a year to support the schools. In many places it costs as much as a hundred dollars a year for every scholar in the high school. Often the pubKc schools have the biggest and finest buildings in town. To take care of them is costly. Where does all this money come from? Why are people willing to pay it ?

The schools help young people to earn their living and to enjoy life ; the more they go to school, the brighter their minds grow and the more capable they become. A boy or girl who goes through the public schools can earn perhaps four or five times as much money as he could if he had left school in the middle of the grammar course. If he learns to read intelligently, everything that man knows is open to him. Is not this reason enough why we have costly schools?

2 THE BEGIN]^^NGS OF CITIZENSfflP

No. There is a greater reason why we go to school. What if the young people learned all sorts of good things and yet grew up mean, selfish, and quarrelsome, or idle and dishonest ? What if they learned to make money and used it to gain advantage over those who have no money ? What if they despised their fellow citizens or the people over the sea ? W^hat if they got the offices and honors and then used their power to oppress others and to be " grafters " ? In a word, what if after they had got their education they were had citizens?

You see, we want good and useful citizens more than anything else. In other words, we need patriots — not patriots for a little while only, or to fight for the country, but good patriots all the time. There is no subject, therefore, in all the school course so great and so interesting as true American citizenship.

Certain important words. — We hear almost every day the words government, authority, democracy, civilization, liberty, the nation, and others like them. What do they mean? They are so big that it takes a long time to understand them. Thus, government reminds us of law and order, and of some one who governs a state, or steers a ship, or arranges a room, or straightens out a tangle or a quarrel. There is government of a country, and there is self-government, when a man learns how to control himself. Authority also reminds us of a king, a president, a mayor, the master of a school. You can think of many whose business it is to manage or govern or direct others. What, then, is liberty or freedom? Can you have liberty, if some one else has authority to direct you? Certainly, provided you see the reason why some one — for example, a father, or a

WHERE WE BEGIN: "WHAT FOR?" 3

teacher — must have authority, and you choose to obey it. It is as if an engine could choose to stay on the track instead of jumpuig the rails and being wrecked. Thus we have authority, or a will over ourselves, to control what we do; and we agree to follow our captain, or to do whatever the law of the land bids, if we think it is a good law. We can always be free if it is our own choice to obey a good authority.

Democracy and civilization. — Democracy means a whole and almost new and very beautiful view of life in every direction. It is a grand scheme of cooperation, in which every one is a sharer and helper. Every one is needed; every one has a place and a use for whatever he knows how to do. Government thus becomes " team work " on a grand scale. The laws of our government are our laws. It is a part of our liberty to like to obey them. ThJs will be plainer as we go on.

Civilization is the chief work or the business of all mankind. The idea is to make this world a fit and happy place for men to live in, to arrange a better world than ever was in the past, and to leave the world happier than we found it. We want to accomplish something for the sake of the children who will come after us. We are ashamed to think of doing nothing except to get a selfish living for ourselves. We propose to give and to do more than barely to pay back what has been spent on us. This is the enterprise of civilization; democracy is the cooperative or " team " method by which we expect to succeed. A few people here and there have already tried to see how they could make the world better off; the time has now corne when all the people must take hold of the enterprise together.

4 THE BEGINNINGS OF CITIZENSfflP

The Nation, or our country. — Perhaps the best word to help describe what we mean by the Nation is the Commonwealth. This is the democratic name of the State. It means the common property and therefore the business of us all — of the children no less than the grown-up people. Our country is that part of the world which we are specially set to civilize and to make happier, richer, and better. The United States has the first claim on us, not Canada or Russia. As soon, however, as we discover how great the work of American civilization is, we begin to have sympathy with the other peoples of the world who have each in their several commonwealths the same kind of enterprise. We want to succeed and we want them to succeed; for wherever there is any poor, or oppressed, or starving nation or people, this concerns us and makes our load heavier in the United States. We cannot do our part well imless all the other nations are working on the same lines. Thus, we have in our minds a splendid Commonwealth of the nations of the world some time in the future, which we who live now plan and hope that those who come after us will see.

Citizenship. — There is a great word which needs to come in right here. What is it to be a citizen? It is not enough to be born in the country, or to take out citizen's papers, and to have your name on the voting lists. To be a citizen means to be a member, a partner, a sharer, a fellow-worker in the business of the Commonwealth or Nation. To be a citizen means that you have the purpose of a citizen " to make good." American citizens are not here to get what they can for themselves, or their relatives, or their party, but they are

WHERE WE BEGIN: "WHAT FOR?" S

here to help in the effort of civilization — that is, to make better and kinder the part of the world where they

live.

We have begun by using great and difficult words, because we have to go on and apply them over and over, and to learn them better. We shall have occasion to repeat them in various ways. We in the United States have a great history and a great opportunity. The time has come to give a new and larger meaning to our democracy and to our American Citizenship.

Chapter II In Training For Citizenship: The Home

We come under government as soon as we are born. It is the government of the family. One of our first lessons is to obey the authority of parents or guardians. We find at once that we cannot do as we please, but that others besides ourselves must be regarded. So with the property of the home, which must not be injured or wasted. If we disobey, if we hurt other people; if we injure the house and its furniture and try to do as we please, we immediately get into trouble.

Obedience. — We have to obey this family government whether we understand the reasons for it or not. Even if it were not always just, the children would still have to obey. But there must be some deep reasons for this. One of these reasons is the welfare of the child. We all see this for young children; since they do not know what is good for themselves, there must be some authority to protect them from themselves. For the child's own good, he must not be suffered to do harm to himself. It is hard to tell precisely when the child knows so well what is good for himself that he does not need to obey the parents' authority any longer; but it has been found in the experience of many generations that, on the whole, while the child is still growing, that is, to the age of twenty-one years, it is best that the authority of the parents should continue. The laws of the state provide for this. The parent, if not

IN TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP: THE HOME 7

always wise, is likely to know much better than the child what is good for him. There might be an exceptional child wiser than his parents; but we have to make rules in view of the good of all children.

The common welfare. — Another reason for the family government is for the sake of justice to others. Suppose a boy hurts his brother, or disturbs the household with noise; would it be right to allow him to continue to annoy others? Indeed, every intelligent child has a good and reasonable side; when you appeal to his sense of fairness, he would not thank you for letting him do harm to others. His true self would vote that he ought to be stopped, by force if necessary. A parent might even lay down an unwise rule, and an older child might think that he knew better than the parent; nevertheless, the harm that disobedience does to the family is so great that the older child ought, for the good of all, still to obey.

A third reason why we obey parents is that they have to bear the responsibility of the family, to provide a home and the means of support, and to take the blame and loss that might arise from an unruly household. There is another and better reason why we honor and obey our parents as long as we live — this is because they love us ; but we do not like to be told that we ought to give them this kind of regard, since at our best we give it freely.

Discipline or punishment. — What can we do if a child will not obey? Suppose it is a little child, too young to know why he ought to obey; or suppose an older child is in a rage, or in a selfish mood, or sullen, or obstinate. We cannot let him hurt himself, or do violence to others, or keep the whole family waiting until he recovers his good temper. The fact is, that he is not now his best or true self; he is like a horse that has lost his head and is running away; so the angry or sullen child has lost his good temper, which is the best part of him. He needs help, as if he were ill; or restraint, as when we send a sick person to bed. The treatment which we give for disobedience is called punishment. We give it for the sake of the wrong-doer, in order to keep him from doing more harm and to cure his disobedience, and for the sake of the common welfare. As soon as he is *' all there " again and has recovered his good temper, he will very likely agree that we did right to punish him.

We have to be careful how we use this word punish. What if the older or stronger person who has the authority is vexed and impatient and angry, and loses his temper, and then punishes or strikes the child? Punishment then takes on a bad meaning; two people are now out of sorts — the child and the older one too. What is necessary so that punishment will do good and not harm? S>Tnpathy and consideration. The object of discipline is to help the backward or unruly ones to be effective members of the Httle commonwealth of the home.

One kind of discipline comes from outside of us. Thus, a child may be shut up in his room, or, if he cannot remember to come home promptly from school, his liberty to go out of the yard may be taken away, until he can be trusted again. But the best kind of discipUne is the kind which changes our will, so that it becomes a good will instead of a disobedient one. This happens when we see for ourselves what disobedience does, how

IN TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP: THE HOME 9

it costs money to pay for broken windows, how it pains our parents and brings unhappiness to every one, and in fact makes us worse than useless as members of the family.

We do not wish to inflict punishment when once the child has sense enough to see what it is for and to " take his own medicine." DiscipUne from the outside is not very good even for animals. A child soon ought not to need punishment, any more than his parents do. It will be a pain to him to do ugly or harmful things, and he will wish nothing so much as to make his teamplay in the family life as excellent as possible. We are proceeding to learn what democracy in government is. There are no just punishments allowable in a democracy which do not help unfortunate men to be good citizens, not because they are compelled from outside, but because this becomes their own will. We pull together in a good home; we pull together in a good State.

The home a primary school for the State. — The home is the first school in which we learn to be citizens. As the home and its teachings are, so will the citizens of the State be later. Indeed, there are perhaps as many kinds of government in the home as there are in nations. We hear of homes where the father behaves like a tyrant. There are other homes in which the government is a firm and benevolent monarchy. There are homes like a httle repubHc, in which everything is discussed in family council, and where nothing is done without common consent; and there are unfortunately homes without order, discipline, or authority, but where each member does as he likes. If we first learn what the best kind of home is, we can see, better how we should Hve together in the State.

lo THE BEGINNINGS OF CITIZENSHIP

A true family government. — Let us ask what kind of home we should like best to grow up in. There would certainly have to be authority in it, or there would be disorder and discomfort. The authority would be such that every one could have the largest freedom of action consistent vdth his own good and the comfort of all. When the freedom of one was annoying to others, or when freedom was abused, it would have to be curtailed. As] fast as children grew to deserve more freedom, it would be given them, but only on condition that they proved worthy of trust. We should Hke also to be gradually taken into our parents' confidence and to be consulted upon matters affecting ourselves or the home life; and so fast as our opinions came to be worth considering, they should have weight accordingly. On certain subjects, as we grew older, the decisions of the family should be taken by vote, and a majority should determine what was best; but we should always trust our parents as wiser and more experienced. They would have to bear the responsibiHty for the conduct of the family; they should therefore always hold the " veto power " to overrule the opinions or wishes of their children. Moreover, the father and mother, while each having his or her own office in which each should be supreme, should work together for the cormnon happiness of the home. There would be some subjects, as, for example, in the care of the younger children, in which the mother alone would be responsible, just as the father is responsible for the conduct of his business. The older children, also, might be assigned certain duties, as, for example, the care of the garden or of their own rooms, for which they should be responsible, subject only to the over-sight of the parents.

IN TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP: THE HOME II

Thus we have established a Httle state, with different departments in it, in which every one has a voice as soon as he deserves and as long as he is trustworthy, in which each has hberty as far as he uses it fairly, in which each also has duties and tasks for the good of all. In this government the parents are naturally the supreme authority, though influenced in many ways by the opinions of their children. This little state would change its character according to the members who made it up. If the children were very intelligent and good, there would be at the same time order and great Hberty; if, however, the children were perverse and stupid, much authority would have to be exercised and many rules would have to be made, spoihng the hberty of all. If the mother were wise, but the father were foohsh and incapable, some of his responsibiHty would have to be taken by the mother, and there might be conflicts of authority between the heads of the house. If, again, the father were tyrannical, he might take more power than would be good for the home. Yet even a bad govermnent on the part of the parents may be better than to allow children to grow up to do as they please.

An exception. ■ — There is a law even higher than the command of a parent. It is the law of right. The parent must not require of the child what is not just or true or pure or friendly. In such a case it would not be doing real honor to the parent to obey. Indeed, the parent at his best would not wish the child to obey a command that violated right, or that injured others. To obey a wrongful command — for example, to steal, or cheat — would be an injury not only to one's own conscience, but also to the person who, perhaps in a hasty mood, had given the command. To disobey, however, is to risk punishment. Whoever, then, for the sake of his conscience feels obhged to disobey a wrongful command must be wilHng to take the consequences. But it is better to be punished undeservedly than to do wrong. Fortunately, it is a very unnatural parent or guardian who requires a child to do wrong, and the laws of the State can be invoked to protect or to take away children who are thus abused by bad or intemperate parents.

The happy life. — When are you happiest? Not when you are fed or even when you receive gifts and rewards. You are happy when you are all ahve and doing something useful. You cannot enjoy gifts and rewards unless you deserve them. Every one wants to be of some use, or to count for something. Is it not more fun to play with other fellows than to play alone ? So we enjoy our chance to help in the home life, even when it is hard work. This law goes up into the life of the city or the Nation. Suppose you were given the chance to be exceedingly useful to the government of the United States. Would you not be happy to undertake it? Suppose you could get nothing out of it: would you not still be glad to do it, as you are glad to help your mother without thinking of any reward ? Every citizen, old or young, can be happy in this way. Try to think of the ways in which this may be, while you are still gomg to school.

Chapter III The Schoolroom And Its Government

The teacher's government. — We will suppose that one of the children from our good home is now sent to school. Here is another Kttle state, with the teacher at the head of it. What is the teacher's government for? It is, as in the home, to secure the good of each and the greatest comfort of all. The school must therefore have certain simple rules or laws. Perhaps every rule has a reason behind it. It is well to know what the reason is; for if there were no reason, the teacher would be glad to set the rule aside. Thus, there must be regularity in attendance, punctuality, order, quiet, and prompt obedience. Why? Because without these conditions the teacher cannot do his work well, and the pupils are robbed of their opportunity to learn. If the pupils are late, the whole school suffers. If every one can talk or whisper, lessons are interrupted. Whoever disobeys delays the school and robs the others of their time. A certain measure of firmness is needed. Even strictness, if it is good tempered, prevents friction and discomfort. Should we not prefer to go to an orderly school rather than to a slovenly one?

So, when the teacher insists upon the right way of doing anything — getting a lesson or pronouncing a word — it is because the right way is usually the best and the easiest. The pupil who comes from a good home will see this; he knows that the government of the school is not for the sake of the teacher, but for the pupils. He