Chapter I: Preface

There is an increasing demand for a textbook which will bring the student into direct contact with the great current issues of American life, and which will afford practical training to those who soon must grapple with the economic, social, and political problems of our own time. It is with the hope of meeting such a demand that this text has been prepared.

The plan of the book calls for a word of explanation. It is poor pedagogy to expect the student to attack the defects of American life, and at the same time to place in his hands a book which deals predominantly with the mechanism of government. As well send a boy to a hardware store to buy tools before he is told whether he is to make a mouse-trap or a boat. Furthermore, to spend much more time on the mechanism of government than on the actual problems of democracy is a mistake in emphasis. Government is a means, not an end. It is a tool by means of which we attack and solve our problems.

Therefore the student of this text begins, not with the mechanism of government, but with the historical background of American democracy, its origin, development, and promise for the future. Following this is a brief survey of the economic life of the nation, because that economic life constitutes the fundamental basis of our problems. Considerable space has been devoted to a problem growing directly out of economic conditions, _i.e._ the question of social justice or industrial reform. This is the most pressing question before any modern people, but strangely enough one which heretofore has been neglected by our schools.

Because they tend to arise primarily from a bad economic situation, such social problems as industrial relations, health in industry, and immigration are next considered. From social problems the text passes to the economic and social functions of government, and thence to the question of making government effective. The mechanism of government has been placed last, and for the reason already given, _i.e._ because a knowledge of the framework of government is valuable only after the citizen knows something of the needs which that mechanism must be made to fill.

It has not been easy to compress into a single volume the most important of our national problems. Obviously, a rigid selection has been necessary. In this selection the aim has been to discuss the more important issues of American life, whether economic, social, or purely political. In dealing with these issues, the attempt has been made to keep in mind the student's previous preparation; on the other hand, the civic demands which the future will make upon him have not been ignored. Some of the problems are difficult, but they are also of vital importance. Very shortly the student will be confronted, in his everyday activities, with such puzzling matters as socialism, the control of immigration, and taxation reform. If the school does not prepare him to grapple with these questions intelligently, he can only partially fulfill the obligations of citizenship.

Throughout the text the aim has been to go directly to the heart of the problem under consideration. The student is not burdened with a mass of data which would prove confusing, and which would be out of date before he is out of school. Instead, an effort has been made to outline, first the essential nature of the problem, and second the fundamental principles which affect its solution. Care has been taken to cultivate the problem attitude, and to encourage the spirit of independent investigation and open-minded judgment on the part of the student.

It goes without saying that the success of this book will depend largely upon the use which the teacher makes of it. The text aims to supply the basic facts and the fundamental principles involved in specific problems, but the teacher must interpret many of those facts and principles, and ought, in addition, to furnish illustrative material. The book is not intended to be an encyclopedia, but rather a suggestive guide.

The text covers the fundamentals of three distinct fields: economics, sociology, and government. Sufficient reference and topic work is offered to enable teachers to expand the text along particular lines. Thus Part II might serve as a nucleus around which to build up a special course in economics, while Part III would serve as a basis for a similar course in applied sociology, if for some reason it were not feasible to take up other parts of the book.

Though the text is the result of the co÷perative efforts of a considerable number of specialists, its treatment of the problems of American life is neither dogmatic nor arbitrary. The effort has been to treat all of our problems sanely and hopefully, but at the same time to make it clear that many of these questions are still unsettled and the best method of disposing of them is yet hotly debated. This fact has strongly influenced the manner in which the problems have been treated.

TOPICS AND READINGS

Following each chapter are suggestions for work to supplement the text. These suggestions are of six kinds, and are intended to meet a variety of needs.

A number of easy questions on the text is first supplied.

Following these is a number of required readings to supplement each chapter of the text. The student may be asked to read a single chapter from Williamson's _Readings in American Democracy_, collected and arranged so as to furnish in compact form and in a single volume supplementary material which otherwise the teacher would have to find in a number of separate books. In case the use of the _Readings_ is not feasible, some or all of the alternative required readings may be available.

The required readings are followed by a number of questions thereon. Questions on the material contained in Williamson's _Readings in American Democracy_ will be found at the end of each chapter in that volume; questions on the required readings cited as alternative to this volume will be found at the end of each chapter in the text.

Topic work is provided in two groups. Topics in the first group form a link between the text and the everyday experience of the student on the one hand, and between the activities of the student's local community and national problems on the other. The student is called upon, for example, to investigate the attitude of the local press toward controversial questions, or to examine the administration of local charitable relief. Topic work of this sort not only quickens the interest of the student, but it encourages original investigation and independent thought. It lets the student know what is going on in his community, and it informs individuals and institutions beyond the school that this agency is beginning to connect with the problems of the municipality, state, and nation. This sort of topic work also allows the student to test the accuracy of the text, and to interpret local conditions in the light of broad, national tendencies.

The second group of topics contains material for report work. In the case of practically all of these topics, the student is referred specifically to books and other publications.

Beginning with Chapter XVIII of the text, the topics are followed by a series of questions for classroom discussion. Some of these may be turned into classroom debates. Others allow the student to challenge statements in the text. A few of these questions have never been satisfactorily answered by anyone, yet the student must face them in the world outside the school, and it cannot be time wasted to understand their content now.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the preparation of this text the author has received valuable assistance from a number of sources. Though such assistance in no way diminishes his responsibility for the shortcomings of the book, the author desires here to acknowledge the aid extended him.

The entire manuscript has been carefully worked over and criticized by Clarence D. Kingsley, Chairman of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. Payson Smith, Commissioner of Education for the State of Massachusetts offered valuable suggestions in connection with certain parts of the manuscript. The thanks of the author are also due to L. L. Jackson Assistant Commissioner of Education for the State of New Jersey.

Invaluable aid has been received from numerous members of the faculty of Harvard University. Parts of the text were read and criticized by A. Lawrence Lowell, President; Roscoe Pound, Dean of the Law School; and Paul H. Hanus, Dean of the Graduate School of Education. Professors Edward Channing and F. J. Turner, and Dr. Marcus L. Hanson offered valuable suggestions in connection with the historical chapters.

In the Department of Economics, helpful criticisms were contributed by Professors F. W. Taussig, T. N. Carver, O. M. W. Sprague, C. J. Bullock, W. Z. Ripley, and E. E. Lincoln; and by Dr. E. A. Monroe and Dr. Mixter.

Various chapters dealing with social problems were read and criticized by Professors Richard Cabot, James Ford, R. F. Foerster, and Dr. Niles Carpenter of the Department of Socials Ethics, as well as by Dr. John M. Brewer of the Department of Education. Substantial aid was received from Professors W. B. Munro, A. B. Hart, and A. N. Holcombe; and from Dr. A. C. Hanford, in the preparation of the chapters on political problems.

Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman of the Department of Economics, and Professor Lindsay Rogers of the Department of Government, in Columbia University, contributed helpful suggestions.

Professor Irving Fisher of Yale College read and criticized some of the material on economic subjects. Professor John L. Silberling at Dartmouth College went over the chapters dealing with the economic problems and pointed out numerous opportunities for their improvement.

Professor Frederick A. Cleveland of Boston University read the chapters on political problems. Professor Abbott P. Usher of the Department of Economic History helped with several of the chapters, while Professor Ernest R. Groves of the same institution kindly criticized the chapter on Rural Life.

Henry Lefavour, President of Simmons College, and Sara H. Stites, Dean of the same institution, read various of the chapters on economic and social problems.

Stuart Queen, Director of the Boston School for Social Workers, read the chapters on social problems, and strengthened especially the chapter on Dependency.

At Smith College, the author is indebted to several of his colleagues, especially, perhaps, to Professors J. S. Basset and Sidney B. Fay of the Department of History, and to Professors Esther Lowenthal, Julius Drachsler, Harriette M. Dilla, and to Miss McMasters, of the Department of Economics and Sociology.

At Amherst College the author is under great obligations to Professor J. W. Crook of the Department of Economics, and to Dr. John M. Gaus of the Department of Government.

At the Massachusetts Agricultural College the author is indebted to Kenyon L. Butterfield, President, and to Professor Newell L. Sims, for help on the chapters dealing with social problems.

A number of teachers in the West kindly helped with various portions of the book. At the University of Wisconsin the author is under obligations to Professors John R. Commons and Donald D. Lescohier of the Department of Economics.

A. S. Roberts of the University of Illinois read various of the historical chapters.

At the University of Iowa, the author is especially grateful for the help of Professor F. E. Horack of the Department of Government.

Professor Charles Ellwood of the University of Missouri read and criticized the Chapter on the Family.

Especially valuable were the suggestions which Professor James E. Le Rossignol of the University of Nebraska offered with respect to the Chapters on Socialism.

At Leland Stanford University the author acknowledges his obligations to Professor Eliot Jones of the Department of Economics.

In the United States Department of State, the author is indebted to Arthur N. Young for a critical reading of the Chapter on Single Tax.

In the United States Department of Labor, the author is under obligations to John B. Andrews for many suggestions on the Chapter on Industrial Relations.

Gifford Pinchot, President of the National Conservation Association, kindly read and criticized the Chapter on Conservation.

Edward R. Johnstone, Superintendent of the Training School at Vineland, N. J., kindly read and criticized several of the chapters on social problems.

Edward T. Devine of New York City offered valuable suggestions with regard to the Chapter on Dependency.

Owen R. Lovejoy, Secretary of the National Child Labor Committee, strengthened the Chapter on Health in Industry.

The Chapter on Crime and Correction was notably improved by the suggestions of Reginald Heber Smith, member of the Massachusetts Bar, and author of the admirable _Justice and the Poor._

J. P. Warbasse, President of the Co÷perative League of America, went over the Chapter on Profit Sharing and Co÷peration painstakingly.

The Chapter on the Negro was criticized helpfully by Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, Editor of the _Crisis._

W. M. Steuart, Director of the United States Census, kindly supplied advance figures on the 1920 Census.

The author is also indebted to Houghton Mifflin Company, Ginn and Company, and the Macmillan Company, either for advance information on certain of their new books, or for permission slightly to adapt some of the material appearing in books copyrighted by them.

Lastly, the author is grateful to his wife for valuable assistance in correcting the proof.

THAMES ROSS WILLIAMSON.

_Cambridge, Mass._

February 7, 1922.

CONTENTS

PART I--FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

CHAPTER

I. The Background of American Democracy

II. The Origin of American Democracy

III. The Development of American Democracy

IV. Essentials of American Constitutional Government

V. The Problems of American Democracy

PART II--AMERICAN ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

A. ECONOMICS OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY

VI. The Nature of American Industry

VII. What is Meant by Production

VIII. Exchanging the Products of Industry

IX. Distributing the Income of Industry

X. Bases of the Capitalistic System

B. PROGRAMS OF INDUSTRIAL REFORM

XI. Single Tax

XII. Profit Sharing and Co÷peration

XIII. The General Nature of Socialism

XIV. Militant Socialism: The I. W. W.

XV. Militant Socialism: The Bolshevists

XVI. The Case Against Socialism

XVII. A Democratic Program of Industrial Reform

PART III--AMERICAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS

XVIII. Industrial Relations

XIX. Health in Industry

XX. Immigration and Assimilation

XXI. Crime and Correction

XXII. The Negro

XXIII. The Family

XXIV. Dependency: Its Relief and Prevention

XXV. Rural Life

XXVI. Education

PART IV--AMERICAN POLITICAL PROBLEMS

A. SOME ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT

XXVII. Public Interest in Business: Regulation

XXVIII. Public Interest in Business Ownership

XXIX. The Tariff

XXX. Conservation

XXXI. Credit and Banking

XXXII. Taxation

B. MAKING GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVE

XXXIII. Who Shall Share in Government

XXXIV. The Political Party

XXXV. Choosing the Agents of Government

XXXVI. Honesty and Efficiency in Office

XXXVII. The Extension of Popular Control

XXXVIII. Public Opinion

PART V--THE MECHANISM OF GOVERNMENT

A. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

XXXIX. The Federal System of Government

XL. The President of the United States

XLI. The National Administration

XLIL. Nature and Powers of Congress

XLIII. Congress in Action

XLIV. The Federal Courts

B. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

XLV. Constitutional Basis of State Government

XLVI. The State Executive

XLVII. The State Legislature

XLVIII. The State Courts

XLIX. Municipal Government

L. Rural Local Government

Bibliography

Appendix

The Constitution of the United States

Index

PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY