Civics and citizenship

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Preface

The text-book in civil government that concerns itself exclusively with an analysis of the machinery and powers of government leaves in the pupils' minds a gap between the subject-matter studied and the conditions surrounding them that they seldom bridge. They see little connection between civil government and the problems that they hear discussed on every side. A knowledge of the fundamental principles of government is necessary, but it is necessary because it must serve as a basis for a knowledge of the workings of government.

The real purpose of the study of civics is that of training for citizenship. The pupils should be led to see the relation between government and the everyday affairs of life, and the relations of individuals to each other; the relation of health, education, and industry to the public welfare; the relation of honesty to civic duties; the importance of obedience to law and authority.

There is nothing more interesting to the boys and girls than the affairs of the world in which they are so soon to take part, and if it can be made clear to them that their welfare will depend largely upon government, there will be no question about their interest in this subject. This result can be brought about only by making the study of government as personal as possible, through a study of the home, the school, and the commimity. A text-book can at best be but a framework for such study; it should be amphfied by observing local conditions, and the functions and activities of local government. The facts learned in the various chapters concerning such

iii iv PREFACE matters as health, education, charity, labor, taxes, and elections should be appHed by the pupils to their own communities.

Studied in this way, civil government will bring the pupils into touch with the life about them; it will open their eyes to the problems that their parents are discussing, it will stimulate in them a desire to take an intelligent part in public affairs and to assist in the solution of the problems. The object should not be merely the acquisition of a number of facts, but the pupils should become imbued with the spirit of American government. It should be remembered that, ' ' The letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive."

Contents

LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT

Chapter Page

I. Necessity for Laws i

Chapter I Necessity For Laws

Laws are Necessary for All Organized Effort.— School work is carried on in accordance with a number of rules and regulations with which you have grown so familiar as scarcely to realize that they are rules. Work must begin at a certain hour, a given length of time is set aside for each recitation, there is a regular time for dismissal, certain requirements must be met in order to complete any subject, orderly conduct is demanded; these are only a few of the rules governing you each day. But suppose there were no rules, that .each pupil could come and go as he wished, recitations could be held or not, according to the pleasure of teacher and pupil, with no check on anyone's conduct, and no standard of work. It will readily be seen that such a school would be useless; no satisfactory work could be done, nothing accomplished. A successful school could not be carried on if every pupil could do as he pleased.

If you play a game, whether it is baseball, or tennis, or tag, or dare-base, — whatever it is, you must be guided by the rtdes of that game.

It is necessary both for work and for play to have a set of rules or laws in order to carry out your plans without interfering with others. But it is not the boys and girls only who must obey rules. People who manage farms, or stores, or banks, or any other kind of business, or who organize churches, or clubs, or baseball leagues, must all obey certain rules or laws just as you do at school. And so we see that laws are necessary to enable people to work together successfully. In other words, laws are necessary for all organized ejffort.

To Protect Property. — ^A boy who has bought a pocket knife and a man who has bought a farm each wishes to feel secure in his possession; each wishes to know that no one can take it from him. When people build houses and churches and schools they want to be sure that these buildings will be safeguarded in some way. Everyone must be secure in the possession of his property. The playmate who takes the boy's knife, and the man who bums another's building must each be punished. And so we find it necessary to have laws to protect property.

To Protect Persons. — One who purposely strikes or injures another is liable to punishment. The carrying of concealed weapons, or the use of firearms within a city, would, if permitted, endanger the lives of others. If there were no laws providing for such officers as policemen and sheriffs to protect us, we could never be safe from harm. There must be laws to protect persons.

To Settle Disputes. — Children may get into disputes over their toys, boys and girls over their games, and men may dispute each other's rights in business. Differences of opinion are constantly arising, and unless the persons themselves can settle their difficulty there must be some authority to whom it may be taken. This may be the parents, or the teacher, or the umpire, or the courts. But whatever the authority, it is clear that another necessity is that of laws for the settlement of disputes.

M^ny Laws. — In order to accomplish all these objects with their great scope and numerous subdivisions, many laws are necessary; so many that people sometimes think

NECESSITY FOR LAWS 3 they are oppressed by laws, that their rights are being taken from them, and they complain that they have no liberty.

The Meaning of Liberty. — Every human being desires liberty, and history is very largely an account of the struggles of people to obtain it. But liberty does not mean absolute freedom of action, for if everyone were free to do as he wished, we would be at the mercy of those who have no regard for the rights of others; the strong would oppress the weak, and the cunning and evil-minded would take advantage of those who wanted to be honest and fair.

Real liberty means freedom to act in any way we may desire, only so far as we do not interfere with the rights of anyone else. A man living alone on an island, might have absolute freedom, for there would be no one whom his actions would affect, but people do not live on lonely islands; they live in groups or communities where they must do a great many things they would prefer not to do, and refrain from doing a great many things that they wish to do, because the good of the other members of the community demands it.

1. Give four reasons why laws are necessary. What is meant by organized effort? What is the purpose of such an organization as a school? A church? A ball team? Give a law or rule governing each. Name other organizations of your community. Give some laws intended to protect property. To protect persons. To settle disputes. Explain why each is necessary.

2. What is liberty? Why can people not have absolute liberty? Give laws obeyed in the home, and in the school, to prevent you from interfering with the rights of others. Show that the same laws protect your own liberty. What is the meaning of the quotation from Lincoln?

For Supplementary Study.

Hoxie, How the People Rule, 10-24.

Smith, Training for Citizenship, 15-32.

Forman, Essentials in Civil Government, 1-20, 24-32.

Let reverence of the law he breathed by every mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, seminaries and colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling-hooks and almanacs; let it he preached from pulpits, and proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice; in short, let it become the political religion of the nation. — Abraham Lincoln.

Chapter II The Home And The Community

The Family. — The smallest group in which people live is the family, and it is here that they learn their first lessons concerning the making and enforcing of laws, the meaning of liberty, and the necessity of obedience.

Obedience. — It is in the home that the child discovers that he cannot do altogether as he pleases, but that the rights of others must be regarded. Any young person who refuses to render obedience in the home, or who fails to assume a just share of its duties, is developing habits that can bring only trouble and sorrow later; for nothing is more certain than the fact that everyone will be subject to authority of various kinds and will be compelled to do a share of the world's work so long as he lives. The disobedient child in the family is the disobedient pupil at school, and later the disobedient citizen. The disobedient citizen is the law-breaker. Obedience to authority is one of the fundamental principles of life, and the earlier the lesson is learned the better for the individual.

ResponsibiUty.— In a well ordered home each child has all the freedom that the good of the family will permit, and is given more and more liberty as he grows older and shows that he deserves it. But increased freedom brings responsibility, for if the members of the family are to enjoy its privileges they must also share its burdens and perform a just portion of its duties. These lessons in the home train the child in habits of obedience, and m, an understanding of the necessity of work and responsibility that are indispensable to a successful and happy lite.

The result of the lack of this training is evident in the evil habits that develop in homeless children adrift in the large cities.

Importance of the Home. — The homes of a community'- are of the greatest importance, because on them depends so largely the training of its citizens. It has been said that, ''The strength of a nation, especially of a republican nation, is in the well-ordered homes of the people." No outside influence, however bad, can entirely overcome the effects of a good home, and no community can provide means sufficient to produce good citizens if the government in the homes is wrong.

The Community. — A group of people, usually a number of families, living in one locality, is a community. The group may be composed of many or few people, and the area covered may be large or small. It may be a farming community or a city. Whatever its form, a community is bound together by the common interests of its people.

If it is a city it is interested in its streets, sidewalks, schools, waterworks, lighting system, and many other things that have to do with only that particular group. If it is a farming community, it is interested in its roads, bridges and school. But the word community may be applied to a larger group than a neighborhood or a city, for several groups of people may have the same interests, thus forming a community which may consist of a county, or a state, or even a whole nation.

The Community and the Family. — No matter how large a community may become, the importance of its homes never grows less. The family must care for the health of its members, it must educate them, provide for their social welfare, and punish them for wrong-doing. But these things are not done by the family alone, the community must render the same services on a larger

THE HOME AND THE COMMUNITY scale and the less there is done by the family, the more must be done by the community. Much of the work of government is made necessary by the failure of the home to perform its full duty.

The Community and the Individual.— If the welfare of each citizen depended upon himself alone, life would be a simple matter. But such is not the case ; each individual is a part of a community, and his life is interwoven with the lives of his fellowmen. People desire many different things and in order to satisfy their wants the members of a community must work together. To satisfy their desire for knowledge they establish schools. To satisfy their religious desire they build churches and worship together. The love of beauty implanted in all human beings leads to the erection of beautiful homes and public buildings and to the care of streets and lawns. To enable them to satisfy their other desires people need wealth, and in order to secure it they engage in business of various kinds.

In all of these activities of any community, each person contributes a part and abides by the result. If the people are intelligent and industrious, if they set a high standard for the satisfaction of their desires, the result will be apparent in their community. Every individual tends to make his community like himself. If he has high ideals of education he will work to improve the schools; if he keeps his premises in repair, plants trees and flowers, and makes his home attractive, he adds to the pleasure of the community and influences others to follow his example; if he is a successfid farmer he adds to the prosperity of his conmiunity. Everyone who makes his community better for his having Hved in it, is a good citizen. This relation of any person to his community is called citizenship.

1. What is the smallest unit of government? Is it a kindness to a child always to permit him to do as he pleases? Why? What are some of the privileges of the child in the home? Some of his responsibilities? Name the privileges and responsibilities of the pupil in school. Why is the home of importance?

2. What is a community? What are some of the common interests of the people in your community? What are some of the common interests of a city community and the nearby farmers? Discuss the size of a community. Discuss your school as a community.

3. What are some of the things that a community does for its people? What is the relation between the community and its homes? Explain how the home can add to the work of government by failing in its duty. Show how good home life decreases the work of government. Name some of the things desired by all people. How are any of them satisfied in the home? In the school? Show how an individual may be benefited or injured by the community. What is citizenship? What does Mr. Reid say of the relation of the individual to his community?

For Supplementary Study.

Smith, Training for Citizenship, 15-47.

Porman, Essentials in Civil Government, 19—24.

Next to the relations of man with his Maker, there is nothing so deserving his best attention as his relation to his fellowmen. The welfare of the community is always more important than the welfare of an individual or number of individuals; and the welfare of the community is the highest object of the study of politics. — Whitelaw Reid.

Chapter III Government

The Necessity of Government. — When we consider the great number of human needs and desires, and see how each person in a community is dependent upon other persons and how each community is dependent upon other communities for the satisfaction of these needs, we begin to reaHze how necessary it is that there be a power to attend to the matters that cannot be attended to by each individual for himself. This power is called government.

The Nature of Government. — Government consists of a set of laws and an authority to enforce them. Every group of people, whether it be a family, a community, a state, or a nation, must have a government; and every person within a group is subject to its government from the beginning to the end of life. If the government is wise, and just, and efficient, it promotes the happiness of those who are governed; but if it is inefficient or tyrannical, it is a source of misery. Every individual is therefore directly and deeply interested in securing good government.

Forms of Government. — There has never been a time in the history of the world when there were no governments, though in early times they were very simple in form. The governments of the world today are the result of thousands of years of growth and change. They are not all alike; countries have different forms of government, that of each nation reflecting the nature of its people.

There are nearly fifty nations in the world today, and their governments may be classified as follows :

Absolute Monarchy. — In this type of government all power rests in one ruler who is called by such title as king, emperor, czar, or shah. There were formerly many such governments, but as nations have grown more enlightened they have taken more power from their rulers. Today there are probably no absolute monarchies among civilized nations, Russia being the nearest to this form of government.

Limited Monarchy. — In a limited monarchy the power of the ruler is checked by a legislative body and a constitution. There are many nations with this form of government. England, which is ruled by a King and Parliament, is the best example of a limited monarchy.

Democracy. — In a pure democracy all of the people meet to make their laws and elect their officers. Such a plan could be followed only in a very small country, so there are but few pure democracies. The New England township and the Kansas school district are examples of this form of government.

Republic. — In a republic the representatives of the people make and enforce the laws. A republic might be called a representative democracy. The people are the source of all power and they can increase or decrease the power of government as they choose. The United States is the greatest republic in the world. There are a number of others, among them France, Mexico, most of the South American countries, and China which has very recently become a republic.

A Written Constitution. — A written constitution is a document giving the fundamental principles of government.

When the colonies declared their independence and it became necessary for them to establish governments for themselves, they adopted constitutions in which the people

GOVERNMENT n were named as the source of power. The new states naturally modeled their constitutions, to some extent, after their colonial charters. Connecticut and Rhode Island simply kept their charters with necessary modifications, the former not adopting a new constitution until 1818, nor the latter until 1842.

The states soon found it necessary to establish a central government, the powers of which were given in a document called the Constitution of the United States. Each state that has been admitted into the Union since that time has framed a constitution, and thus, with both national and state constitutions, our government may properly be called a constitutional government.

The Divisions of Government. — The Nation as a whole must have a government to look after those matters that concern all of the people. Such matters would be the relations between our nation and foreign nations and those between the states. Since the different parts of the country have varying interests, it is also necessary to have state governments. But even a state is too large to give close attention to the needs of its different communities, and so there must be local governments; these are of various kinds, district, township, city and county. The divisions of government, then, are national, state and local, and each of us is under the authority of all three.

The Functions of Government. — The people do not exist for the government, but the government for the people. It is intended to serve and to protect them, and to promote their welfare. Naturally the question arises as to what the government does in carrying out this purpose. How does it serve, how does it protect, and how does it promote the people's welfare?

The services rendered by government vary, not only in different countries, and in different parts of our own country, but they change from time to time as the people become more or less wise and enlightened. For this reason it is not easy to say exactly what its functions are, but there are many services that are performed b}^ any progressive government. They may be divided into three general classes.

In regard to the personal welfare of the people, government

Protects health,

Provides for education,

Punishes crime,

Assists the poor and incapable.

Protects persons and property.

Concerning their business and commercial interests it regulates

Business transactions,

Business organizations,

Public lands.

Labor,

Transportation.

" The political interests of the people are provided for by such measures as are necessary for conducting the affairs of government. Such measures are

Election of officers.

Levying of taxes.

Regulation of foreign relations.

The administering of justice,

The making of new laws.

The following chapters will discuss the relations of the people to their government in the performance of some of the most important of its functions.

GOVERNMENT 13

1. What is government? Why is it necessary? Name different groups requiring a government. Why should everyone be interested in his government?

2. Is government one of the world's new inventions? Explain why the government of a tribe of early American Indians was more simple than that of our nation today. Name the different forms of government. Explain each. What is the difference between a democracy and a republic?

3. What is a constitution? What were the colonial charters? How did the states come to have constitutions? Why is our government constitutional?

4. What are the divisions of government? Why is this necessary? What is local government? Under how many governments do you live?

5. What is the purpose of government? What is meant by the "functions" of government? Do all governments serve their people in the same way? Do you know how any of them differ? Give some of the functions of government. Quote the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence.

For Supplementary Study.

Channing, Students' History of the United States. Forman, Advanced Civics.

McMaster, History of United States.

Ashley, American Government.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these ^ are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. — Declaration OF Independence.

Chapter IV Public Health

The Value of Health. — Health is necessary to the enjoyment of any of the world's benefits. It means the possession of a strong, well body, and brings with it the ability to work, to learn, to accomplish things, to be happy. It is as important to preserve health in order to live rightly, as it is to prevent death. It is the person who rises each morning able to accomplish a day's work and do it with enjoyment, on whom the world depends for its progress.

Health not only brings us the joy of living, but it enables us to take our places in the world as independent citizens; it is the foundation of all of the pleasure and usefulness of life, and consequently, it is a condition to be treasured carefully if we possess it, and diligently sought for if we have lost it.

The Relation of the Community to Health. — Fresh air, pure food and water, and clean surroundings, are some of the things essential to good health. For a pioneer family, or for any person or family living apart from other people, these conditions depend largely on their own efforts, but in a community where many are closely associated, the health of all may be endangered by conditions for which they are in no way responsible, and the more closely the people are associated, the greater the danger. As a community grows into a town, and the town into a city, the greater the number of people affected by any unheal thful condition, the more of these conditions arise, and the greater the amount of care that must be taken by the community to protect the health of its people.

Conditions Necessary to Public Health.— Let us see

how some of the conditions essential to health may be violated in community life.

Pure Water Supply. — Many cities get their water from a river, and frequently city sewage is drained into this same stream, making the water foul and disease breeding. There is a current belief that running water purifies itself, and it does, finally, because most disease germs die in a few days, but if sewage from different towns is drained into a river at intervals, the water is kept poisonous and unfit for use. Many diseases, especially typhoid, are carried in this wa}^, and a number of cities have suffered epidemics that were directly traceable to lack of care in the water supply or in the disposal of sewage. " Cleanliness. — Cleanliness is one of the most important precautions against disease. It is a matter that must receive the attention of every individual and every home; but any person may be ever so careful and clean in his own life, and yet have disease brought to him through uncleanliness in his community. It may reach him in his drinking water, he may eat food that has been exposed to dust carrying the germs of disease, he may breathe air carrying disease from where someone has spit in a public place, it may be brought to him by flies coming from filth or disease. These are but a few of the many ways in which disease germs may become scattered, but they serve to show us that not only must we be clean ourselves, but we must insist upon others being clean also, if we would preserve our health.

Pure Food. — The purity of the food should receive very careful attention. Artificially preserved foods sometimes contain poison, and although it is in small quantities its continued use may do great harm. If foods are adulterated, that is, if they have other cheaper materials mixed into them or certain ingredients taken from them, they are usually either harmful or less nourishing. If foods are prepared from inferior, or impure, or unclean materials they are unfit for use. If they are prepared in unclean, or disease laden places, or by persons who are unclean, or carrying the germs of disease, they are extremely dangerous.

In the early history of our country, when most of the food for each family was prepared in the home, there was not so much question about its purity, but conditions today are very different; nearly everything we eat has passed through the hands of a number of people, and it is very necessary that it be carefully guarded along this journey to the consumer.

Fresh Air. — The necessity for fresh air is one of the vital needs of life. This is not a matter of much concern to those who live an out-door life; they breathe pure, invigorating air, and hardly realize that thousands of people die every year for lack of it in sufficient quantities to promote health.

In the cities it is often impossible to have pure air even under the best conditions, while the poorer people are huddled together in factories, workshops, and tenements, with the most meagre arrangements for ventilation. It is here that disease runs riot, and tuberculosis, or "The Great White Plague," finds its thousands of victims.

Cost of Disease. — -There is always the great danger that the sick will transmit their disease to those who are well ; this is reason enough to cause people to take steps for the protection of the public health, but there is another grave reason why they should do so.

It has been said that, ''It costs twenty years and thousands of dollars to transmit the center of gravity from the stomach to the brain." In other words, it costs much in time, and work, and money to rear and educate a child, and the death of a man or woman is the loss of all that he or she has cost. It is estimated that the number of preventable deaths that occur in the United States each year is nearly 700,000, a number equal to almost half the population of Kansas; that the total amount of sickness would average ten days a year for each person in the United States; and that 3,000,000 persons are constantly so sick as to be unable to care for themselves. There is to be considered not only the suffering, and the biu*den of caring for all these sick, but also the cost of their nursing, doctor bills and medicines, and their loss of wages amounting altogether, as nearly as can be ascertained, to two billions of dollars each year, or almost twice as much as Congress appropriates to run every department of the government.

Surely then, it is worth while, if looked at only from the money view-point, to use every effort possible to save this great waste of human life.

Who Protects Public Health? — The people attend to matters of public health through their government, which makes laws and chooses officers to carry them into effect. Health regulations must be a part of the government of every community, but as means of travel have developed, it is seen that communities affect each other in matters of health much as individuals do within the community. For instance, a traveler might carry a contagious disease to many towns and neighborhoods; or refuse thrown into a stream might carry disease to towns farther down through their water supply. For these reasons, state-wide authority on many health questions is necessary.