THE CASE IS URGENT; THERE SHOULD BE NO DELAY WHATEVER IN ESTABLISHING THIS GOVERNMENT UPON A PROPERTY BASIS.
THE CASE IS URGENT; THERE SHOULD BE NO DELAY WHATEVER IN ESTABLISHING THIS GOVERNMENT UPON A PROPERTY BASIS.
Anydemand for a qualified suffrage is certain to be met by a plea for delay. The temptation to postpone action is natural and springs at once to the heart of almost every man whose judgment counsels him to undertake anything new and troublesome. There is, too, an immense party interested in maintaining the present corrupt régime; including the politicians, office holders, political heelers and featherhead agitators, and a considerable predatory band who live off the pickings and stealings of politics. In opposing any effort to establish a voters’ property qualification these will be supported by some honest believers in the present system, as there are honest believers in all established systems; including in this case multitudes of visionaries and the inexperienced, especially the young. Even some of those most willing to admit the mischiefs attendant upon universal suffrage will make the plea of delay for delay’s sake; the plea of the indolent, the inert, the timid, the weak, the hesitating. The first answer to this plea is that the importance of the matter will not admit of delay. The health of the nation is involved, and with a nation as with a man the question of health is one of life itself. When the body is ill and suffering a deadly and poisonous infection not an hour’s delay should be tolerated in applying the necessary corrective. Who can say how soon the man or the nation may have to meet an attack that will strain his or its strength to the very utmost? Next, it is to be realized that there is no proposal of an alternative remedy; and no delay thereforeis needed for the purpose of choice. No writer or publicist so much as suggests any other different medicine or treatment, nor is it possible to do so. The cause of the mischief is unlimited suffrage, and nothing but the removal of the cause will avail. There remains to be considered the appeal of those who say “leave it to time” to improve the situation. If there be those who really expect relief in this matter from the passage of time and from the changes that time unaided may bring, they are much mistaken. The same causes which have heretofore produced the mischiefs complained of are still operative and will continue to operate; they include the power of organization, human cupidity, and the existence of a controllable class of voters. The first two of these are permanent and continuous forces; the latter is what we propose to abolish. The political oligarchies never were as strong as they are to-day; the dearth of great and good men in political life was never so great as now; all the mischiefs referred to in this volume are in full blast, if not in one place then in another. One looks in vain into newspapers, books or magazines, one listens in vain to political speeches or private talks for any definite promise or even suggestion of relief from any quarter. The general attitude seems to be that nothing can be done to improve the situation. Each reader of this book is therefore warned that it is for him or some one like him to make the start. This book is an offering to the cause; who will follow it up by action?
The professional reformers dare not attack universal suffrage; they are nearly all office-seekers, open or conceded. The writers on American politics and government are generally careful to ignore the evils of the system, so they cannot possibly urge its removal. In fact, the reader needs to be warned against most of them as blind guides; the more apparently respectable are the more timid and time serving; unable to entirely overlook the grievous condition of affairs, they carefully avoid criticism offensive to popular vanity and to the powers that be; they flatter us by pretending to ascribethe actual and notorious failure of our democracy to the careless generosity of our national character. They prattle of American good nature, national optimism, easy-going tolerance; of our engrossment in business, and of American “fatalism,” all of which nonsense is supposed to account in a manner rather to our credit for our submission to plunder and misrule. There are other explanations equally amusing. We are told with an air of profundity that these rascalities have been permitted because of peculiar circumstances; from 1860 to 1870 it was because of slavery agitation and the Civil War; that people were too busy agitating and fighting to watch the thieves. In the very next breath we are told that in the Civil War the “moral forces” were in possession of the nation. For the next decade the excuse is that we were immersed in great speculations and so on. But these explanations really explain nothing; they fail to explain why our official guardians and rulers systematically rob us whenever we are too busy to watch them, nor why they are not replaced by people who can be trusted. These expounders proclaim that the people need only to “arise in their might” and the corruption of three generations will become incorruption. When at any election one political ring goes out and another comes in they utter childish blasts of triumph. One wonders, inexperienced as some of these so called publicists are, whether they really can themselves believe such rubbish. After the explosion of some superlative political scandal they can often be heard telling the public that all will come right by and by; which means that we have only to continue to sit patiently and let ourselves be fleeced until the kind fairies bring good times. We are supposed to be very easily soothed and perhaps we are. Bryce, for instance, who as a political radical has been trained to give ear to the bellowing of thevox populi, speaking of our rascal legislators, tells us reassuringly that “if before a mischievous bill passes, its opponents can get the attention of the people fixed upon it, its chances are slight.” (Vol. II, p. 369.) As though one should say to a merchant, “Don’t worry aboutyour clerk robbing you, any time you actually catch him stealing he’ll stop; he won’t persist in that particular theft anyhow; he’ll just be compelled to drop that and wait for a chance at something else.” From all which it appears as a result of all these discussions that no one pretends to see any definite prospect of substantial improvement or alleviation. In all the ten thousand pages on American government written by a score of authors, domestic and foreign, not one is able to say that we have an honest, decent or efficient governmental system, and not one offers any definite scheme for practical relief. On all sides we are told that there is little to do but to believe and hope.
As far as this hope can be said to refer to anything specific or to be more than mere sighing wishfulness which profiteth nothing, it is founded on belief in the educational work of the schools and the vague notion that thereby all the people will some time become so good and so well informed that manhood suffrage will be pure, safe and efficient. This hope is all moonshine. The mentally deficient and the ignorant will always be with us. There will always be upper, middle and lower classes as long as private property endures and free play is given to human activities; that is to say as long as our American civilization prevails. In the march of life some will always be in the front and some hopelessly in the rear. Faster than the increase of the information of the common man and the development of his mentality will proceed the growth of the great body of human knowledge; and the greater therefore will be the comparative ignorance of the ordinary citizen. The wealth, education, refinement, mental power, efficiency and achievement of the gifted will always far exceed those of the common people; and the distance between the efficient and the inefficient, the dullards and the intellectuals will probably become even greater and greater as time goes on. Though ordinary information will become more widespread, the science of government as well as other sciences will continue year by year in the future as in thepast to become more complicated; and more and more as the years pass it will be found essential that the hands which operate the machinery of state shall be skilled to the very utmost. Meantime envy, prejudice, cupidity, neglect, intolerance and imprudence will continue to be human qualities, pushing men downward physically and morally; disease and misfortune will continue to do their work in the world, and a century from now it will be more dangerous even than today to trust men of the least developed or more unfortunate classes to select competent and trustworthy managers of the business of government. The future as far as can now be seen will not of itself give us relief from our present misgovernment; the action of our own hands and brains must be invoked for that purpose. Of that action there should be neither delay nor postponement. Our plight needs a remedy and needs it now.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Here, in the last chapter, seems to be an appropriate place to anticipate and reply to a few prospective objections.
Objection that the project is undemocratic.This assumes that universal suffrage is a democratic institution; but in practise it operates to the contrary as has already been shown. The prospect practically offered by the property qualification project, is the democratic one of the door of political opportunity opened to that honest ability which is now by the machines and rings excluded from a public career. So much for the practical test. Looking at the project in the abstract, it is satisfying to the democratic mind, whether viewed in the light of high principle, of idealism, of nature’s law, or of democratic policy. It recognizes and rewards merit, it puts a premium on industry and capacity, and thus satisfies a principle. Its ideal is noble; it is that of the creation of a high grade of citizenship, the establishment of a democracy of virtue and talent. It conforms to nature’s law by preferring the fittest; by creating order in the ranks of citizenship; by putting government into the hands of those whom nature herself has selected as competent. It accords with democratic policy because it will give democracy more strength and more wisdom; because it is progressive, and calculated to encourage progress; because it glorifies citizenship by making it a token of distinction; because it at once makes its active citizenship select by excluding the unworthy, and at the same time, open and free to all, by inviting all to qualify to exercise it. It will create a true majority rule; for the new electorate will undoubtedly constitute a great majority in numbers of the men of the country; and will represent practically all its civilization, education, talent, energy and ability. It will give the humble his due which is opportunity to rise; he is entitled to no more. To the poor man of capacity the door to the voting booth will be as wide open as the free high school door is to his son; the entrance in either case is for those who can qualify and the terms are the same for all. To admit the unqualified would not benefit them, while it would harm those who are properly inside. Only the shiftless and worthless poor are permanently excluded. The industrious thrifty poor man is only postponed; and he will know that when he does enter by virtue of achievement, he will possess something worth while, something of value; he will be an active citizen, and his suffrage will not be offset and nullified by the purchased vote of a worthless loafer.
Objection that the proposal is oppressive.It would be oppressive if it were arbitrary, or unreasonable, or personal; but it is none of these. It is a greater hardship to be discharged from a job than to be prevented from voting at a public election; and if a man can properly be discharged for incompetency, he can certainly be deprived of his vote for incapacity, under a rule which applies to all under similar circumstances.
The objection that the project will be barren of resultsis sure to be made. But good results will surely issue from it unless the whole conception of this volume is a mistake. It was within the purpose of some of the master-minds of the republic’s early days to direct the nation in the paths of true and scientific Federal achievement. The far-reaching plans of Washington and John Quincy Adams for the development of mutually interacting national systems of industrial, transportational and educational development were finally defeated by the ignorant and tiger-like rapacity of the Jacksonian manhood suffrage bands. (Degradation of the Democratic Dogma; Brooks Adams, p. 13-62.) But those noble though aborted schemes at least serve to indicate the great possibilities belonging to pure and scientific government. In Federal affairs we may confidently expect a return to the pureand noble traditions of the old Federal government of the second Adams and his predecessors, when the democratic principle was infused with the aristocratic passion for excellence; and our representatives will then be qualified to consider and deal with national questions with ability and intelligence, and a patriotism such as has not been in political operation in this country for ninety years. Some of the direct benefits of the reform may be expected to appear in the most striking and satisfactory possible manner, in the complete reconstruction of our state legislatures, and our municipal governments. The change will seem almost magical. The creation of the new and purified electorate will at one stroke smash the machines, and dislodge the political oligarchies; the standard of public conscience will be immediately elevated, and bribery at elections will almost disappear. We will then be justified in expecting to elect legislators who can be trusted to legislate, and worthy and competent municipal officials. We will be relieved from the burden of maintaining watch dog societies and they will disappear together with the daily political scandals which brought them into being. In a word, we will be able to do for the body politic that which is done in every decent business corporation in the land; find and employ men, honest and competent, for the work assigned to them. The prospect is alluring; one is tempted to dwell on the fine possibilities were each of our forty-eight state legislatures composed of the first men in each state in probity, experience and political intelligence. There has not in our day been much really good government in the world. One would like to see our first-rate American men, of the type and class who have developed our industrial and transportation systems, get a fair opportunity to show the world what can be done, not only in progressive and enlightened domestic legislation, but also in pure and efficient administration of public affairs. Dignified and purified elections; advanced and just legislation; improved and honest administration; a justified and scientific democracy; such ifnot fully within the promise of the proposed reform are within the possibilities for which by appeal to the new electorate we will be encouraged to work with a fair hope of success.
Objection that the new system will not accomplish this or that desirable thing.Of course, no one will claim that it will bring about everything humanly possible in the way of political improvement. No one can doubt that even after a purification of the electorate there will remain many evils in politics and much still to be done to improve our governmental system. There will remain, for instance, the problem of furnishing the electorate with the facts concerning public measures, or the means of getting them; a problem heretofore generally ignored. Walter Lippman in a very able article in a recent number of theAtlantic Monthlyhas pointed out the great importance of providing the public with real political information, to take the place of the mess of misinformation now daily served up to us by the daily press. There is an entirely new field to be covered lying in that direction. Then there is the question of how, in great cities especially, the voter is to be made acquainted with the personality and qualifications of the respective candidates. But why attempt to specify, when the fact is that the whole region of scientific domestic legislation remains almost unexplored and uncultivated. Under our machine system of politics, the science of legislation has been absolutely neglected for generations, and the whole administrative and judicial system in every state in the Union needs revision. But the primary, the essential reform is that of the electorate. We must begin there, because by so doing we cleanse and put in good working order the machinery which will itself undertake what else remains to be done. We cannot expect wise measures to be furthered or even understood by an ignorant and corrupt electorate; nor can we expect a sordid political oligarchy to enforce them, even though enacted. The electorate is the Alpha and Omega; the key to everything in politics and government.
For example, the proposed elevation of the franchise wouldhave the effect of making practicable municipal home rule. We are all familiar with the evils of state control of our large cities; and yet the mischiefs of civic home rule under manhood suffrage are even greater. At present, the voters of the great cities are necessarily deprived of all share in many departments of municipal management; which are put in the hands of state boards and commissions because the voters cannot be trusted. The establishment of a competent and conservative electorate in cities, would at once prepare the way for the granting to cities of local self-government; thus advancing the cause of practical democracy, and effecting a result for which civic reformers have labored ineffectually for years.
Another good effect will be the elevation of the political tone of the country. This can never be done while the electorate remains degraded. It is inspiring to think of the healthful stimulus which the politics of the nation will receive when our men come to realize more and more the honor and responsibility attached to the office of active citizen of the republic. To be enrolled on the list of voters will be a distinction which will be valued by those who possess it, and coveted by those who do not; by the youth just entering his career; by the man born poor who is saving to establish a home; by the reformed spendthrift; by every American who turns from a career of folly to the path of wisdom and prudence. Men of substance, education and judgment, who have not visited the polls for years will find it worth their while to vote. And every voter will attend with a feeling that his vote is intended to be effective for good; and will act with a sense of responsibility entirely inappropriate now, when the only real responsibility for an election rests with the boss and the machine.
And yet, beneficial as the above specified effects of the proposed measure seem likely to be, still in the mind of the writer its greatest, its transcendent value lies not in any of them nor in their totality so much as in the expectation that it will be a decided step towards the solution of the world’s problemof the creation of a wise, politic and progressive democracy. The elevation of the electorate; the purification of elections; the destruction of the machines and the rings; the abolition of the political oligarchies; the better government of cities; the heightening of the political tone; an increased efficiency in public affairs; all these are of immense consequence; but beyond and over all is the importance to America and to the world of putting the democratic movement firm on its feet; on the right road; facing the better day and prepared to do its part in carrying on the world’s politics. This it is at present quite unable to do because it has failed to widen its conceptions with the enlargement of its power and opportunities. The ultimate, the supreme power in the state, should possess capacity and understanding. Democracy has undertaken to make of the electorate that supreme power. To do this successfully it had to see to it that the electorate is suffused with intelligence, and it has failed so to do. Its duty in that regard was partially admitted and attempted by means of school education of the young, but the recognition of the principle has not been full or satisfying; nor have the means adopted been adequate. The world is unable to give its full confidence to the democracy of to-day, because of its failure to fulfil its implied undertaking to produce a competent electorate. The great objection to democracy in the minds of modern thinkers is, that originally created and idealized as the champion of individual rights, it has gone no further; it has failed to provide for capacity and efficiency, or to recognize its duty in that direction. On the contrary, its declared policy for the last century has been in the direction of degrading the quality of the voting mass by the process of increasing its volume from below. If democracy is to be the future governing force, it must absolutely and unreservedly commit itself to the principle of a thoroughly competent electorate; to be established not merely by preparation of the fit, but by rigorous exclusion of the unfit. The chief value therefore of the proposed electoral reform consists in its inaugurating a complete changeof policy in this vital matter; and in the fact that it will signify that the American democracy has awakened to the understanding of this necessity, and has in good faith undertaken the duty of carrying out the task of making its foundation sure and eternal.
Politics is a progressive science and it may be that the doctrine of a qualified, that is to say, a competent electorate once accepted for general purposes, will receive hereafter extended application. We cannot put a limit to the possibilities of democratic efficiency to be attained through the further selection and elevation of the voters. While the plan of property qualification is apparently the only one at present practicable and efficacious, it would be foolish to suppose that our successors may not extend the application of the principle in directions now unthought of. For instance, in addition to the establishment of means for furnishing the electorate with reliable information as Mr. Lippman has so sagaciously suggested, measures may in time be adopted for recourse to an instructed opinion on proposals for official action, by submitting them to that part of the electorate whose tastes and occupations have given them special light on the subject to be passed upon. Just as there is an instructed minority in musical matters, so there are always minorities with special knowledge of educational affairs, charities, sanitation, public schools, transportation, finances, etc. In the great cities these groups may each amount to tens of thousands of individuals, each group constituting a true and enlightened democracy of opinion on the special subjects in which its members have interested themselves. In a great city like New York, for instance: one can imagine a set of voters qualified on banking and currency; another on constitutional questions; another on public health, and so on; each of them containing perhaps ten thousand highly qualified persons, experts on the subject referred to; whose opinions or decisions might be given as called for, and each carry with it a certain weight, or have a certain political or merely informative effect, as might be provided; and so as new circumstances or situations arise, as changes occur, as experiences accumulate, the principle of qualified voting, of an appeal to a competent and responsible array of selected public opinion may be applied in many new ways, to the advantage of the community.
Objection that the requirement of a qualification may be evaded.One of the criticisms of the property qualification rule when it was the law of the land, was that it was frequently evaded by sham property transfers. Every statute or regulation is likely to be the subject of schemes of evasion which have to be encountered as they develop. It is hardly worth while at this point to discuss imaginary difficulties which may occur in exceptional cases in carrying out the reform. It will certainly never be adopted until it has conquered public opinion; in which case means will readily be found to enforce it. Sham transfers are not unknown in the business world; but though sometimes troublesome, they do not practically interfere with the volume of business transactions.
Objections founded on certain standards of qualification.The writer has omitted to discuss the exact amount, character or measure of property to be named in the qualification standard. It is said that the enforcement of a rate-paying qualification in the City of London, by excluding from the polls paupers, dependents on others, idle and inefficient working men, and the semi-criminal and criminal classes, effects a reduction of about twenty-five per cent from a full manhood suffrage poll list. An equivalent purging here, would completely purify our voting system. But here in this country, the standard would have to vary according to local conditions, and to the judgment of the different legislative bodies having jurisdiction.
As to the possibility of the success of a movement to obtain the enactment of a proper qualification for voters, there can be no doubt. The proposition is new and it will have to be carefully explained and earnestly advocated; but it will be adoptedand put in force just as soon as the people become convinced of its justice and expediency; and not before. This means a lot of preparatory and educational work, and therein lies perhaps a chief value of the project. Before it can be adopted, it will have to be thoroughly understood and believed in; the electorate will have to be made to know its own present weakness and corruption, and its own great possibilities, in future power and purity. In short, the proper consideration of a proposal for an elevation of the electorate, will of itself involve such self-examination and bracing up of standards, as will purify the political atmosphere even before its acceptance by the legislatures and the people.
There is no legal difficulty to be overcome, no Federal constitutional provision in the way; and the reform can go into effect in any state, upon a vote of its people changing its constitution. This vote can be obtained. The majority of the voters in every state are property holders; it is in their power to assume control at their pleasure. If this project is right, it will be possible to convince them of that fact. There is no reason why the working classes should oppose it; it is in their interest; most of them are family men, property owners and intelligent. It is they who have suffered most by the depredations of politicians. They would be dull and stupid beyond all that has ever been supposed, to fail to see that misgovernment and want of efficiency are their greatest enemies; that excessive taxation eats up year by year a large part of their surplus product; and when convinced of the justice and expediency of the measure, these serious workers will find means to silence the senseless clamor for the vote, should there be such on the part of the inferior and worthless in the ranks of labor. Among the politicians themselves, no doubt there are men who will break away from machine tyranny and favor the reform; men of real ability, who realize that working in a purer atmosphere they would achieve more real distinction than they now obtain; men who inwardly despise the things they are compelled to countenance and perform. Much formless prejudice there will be also to be overcome no doubt; but that will yield to explanation and to reason.
Thoughtful men everywhere are beginning to realize the humbug and menace of manhood suffrage. Writing in theNorth American Review for March, 1920, Hanford Henderson says of universal suffrage that “it harms even those whom it is supposed to benefit. To give every man and woman a vote and to declare these votes equally important and significant is both unsound and mischievous.... Universal suffrage is a characteristic example of the democratic failure in discrimination.... An electorate not properly qualified is an ever present public danger.” There is such a prevalent disgust for present political methods that any well-planned scheme of relief will be welcomed. We need only consider whether the measure is right; that once made clear it can be carried. To doubt that is to doubt the possibility of a reasonable democracy.
Just how far the American public is mentally prepared to seriously consider the dominant theories of this work; just how soon, if ever, these theories will become familiar and popular among us, it is impossible to judge. It may be that some proofs of their acceptance will speedily follow the publication of this volume; it may be that years or even generations will pass before the principles herein advocated will get a hearing. But to those of his readers be they ever so few, who believe that the things here written down are true, the author would say in the words with which this volume is begun, written by Washington on the eve of a great and doubtful enterprise: “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God.”
Adams, Brooks, American lawyer and publicist; author of “The Law of Civilization and Decay,” and other works.Adams, Henry, historian; author of “History of the United States”; “Life of Albert Gallatin,” and other works.Allen, William H., is a prominent social worker and author, and is director of the Bureau of Municipal Research and National Training School for the study and Administration of Public Business, Author of “Woman’s Part in Government,” referred to in this volume.Alger, Russell A., Major General of Volunteers in the American Civil War; Governor of Michigan and Secretary of War under President McKinley.Bagehot, Walter, distinguished English publicist and economist; member of the English Bar; banker; editor of theEconomist, and active for many years in business and politics. Author of “The English Constitution,” “Lombard Street,” “Physics and Politics,” “Literary Studies,” and “Economic Studies,” in the two former of which he describes the practical workings of the British governmental machine and the London money market respectively. The extracts herein given are from magazine articles written by him.Benton, Thomas H., U. S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1820 to 1850; afterwards Member of the House of Representatives. Author of “History of American Government for Thirty Years.”Bluntschli, Johann K., (1808-1881), Swiss jurist and politician; professor of constitutional law in Munich; author of a number of standard works on Constitutional and International Law.Breen, Matthew, was a New York lawyer, state senator and municipal justice. Author of “Thirty Years of New York Politics,” referred to in this volume.Bryce, James, Viscount, English historian and diplomat, was elected member of Parliament in 1880. Afterwards Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and President of the Board of Trade. He was one of the British members of the InternationalTribunal at the Hague; Chief Secretary for Ireland and Ambassador to the United States. His book, the “American Commonwealth,” is the result of a long and careful study of American politics made on the spot, is much used as a source and text-book, and is referred to and freely quoted in this volume.Burke, Edmund, illustrious British statesman, orator, parliamentarian and writer.Clark, Charles P., American author of “The Machine Abolished,” referred to in this volume.Commons, John R., whose work entitled “Proportional Representation” is quoted herein, is Director of the American Bureau of Industrial Research and Professor of Political Economy at the University of Wisconsin. He was a member of the Federal Commission on Industrial Relations in 1913-1915. He is the author of a number of books dealing with the industrial problems of the United States.Carter, James C., New York lawyer; counsel for the U. S. Government in the Alaska arbitration at Paris; author of “Law, Its Origin, Growth and Function.”Calhoun, John C., American lawyer and statesman; Secretary of War; Vice President United States; Secretary of State; United States Senator 1832-1843 and 1845-1850; author of two posthumous works, “Disquisition on Government” and “Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States.”Curtis, George William, New York editor, public speaker, civil service reformer and man of letters.Dana, Charles L., noted New York physician, lecturer and author.Dawson, Edgar, is Professor of History and Political Science at Hunter College. He is a joint editor of “The Practical History of the World.”Eaton, Dorman B., New York lawyer and Civil Service Reformer; Chairman of the Civil Service Commission 1873-1875, and member 1883-1885.Estabrook, Henry D., noted American lawyer.Field, David Dudley, New York lawyer; prominent legal reformer; principal author of New York Code of Civil Procedure of 1848, and of other proposed Codes of Law.Fuller, Robert H., American newspaper writer.Farrand, Max, Professor of History at Yale, is a frequent contributor to American Historical Reviews. He is the author of“Development of the United States” quoted from in this volume; and also “Legislation of Congress for the Government of the Organized Territories of the United States (1789-1895)”; “Framing of the Constitution”; and “Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.”Faguet, M., member of the French Academy; author of “La Culte d’Incompetence,” referred to in this volume and other works.Garner, James W., is Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois. He is American collaborator for the “French Revue Politique et Parlementaire” and contributor of more than two hundred articles on political and legal subjects to the New International Encyclopedia, and various articles in the Encyclopedia of American Government and the Encyclopedie Americaine. He is a frequent contributor to various magazines.Gilman, Charlotte P., author, lecturer, magazine writer. Author of “Women and Economics,” herein referred to.Godkin, Edwin L., was one of the most prominent journalists of the United States. He established theNationin 1865 and was editor of the New YorkEvening Postup to the year of his death in 1902. He was the author of a “History of Hungary,” “Reflections and Comments,” “Problems of Democracy,” and “Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy.” The latter work, quoted herein, is a keen analysis and study of the forces in the American political system.Hart, Albert B., may be said to be the dean of living American historians. He is Professor of Government at Harvard University. He has written many books and his contribution to the study and interpretation of American History assumes almost monumental proportions. He was president of the American Historical Association in 1909, and was appointed Exchange Professor, Harvard to Berlin, in 1915.Hyslop, Prof. James H., has been connected with Columbia University as an instructor and professor of logic, philosophy, ethics and psychology. He organized the American Institute for Scientific Research and became editor of the Proceedings and Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. His book on “Democracy,” published in 1899, is extensively quoted in this volume. He there favors a qualification for voters based upon the payment of an income tax.Hunt, Henry T., is a prominent lawyer and public man. He wasa member of the Ohio Legislature from 1906-1907 and Mayor of Cincinnati from 1912-1914. He is a trustee of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad which is owned by the city of Cincinnati.Ireland, Alleyne, British and American traveler, editor and essayist; American university lecturer.Ivins, William M., prominent New York lawyer and politician.Kahn, Otto H., banker and publicist, is a member of the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb and Company, a director of the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Morristown Trust Company. He is a profound student of and writer upon financial affairs.Lecky, William E. H., an Irish historian and publicist who died in 1903, became famous at the age of twenty-seven with the publication of his “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism.” He was a member of Parliament for Dublin in 1895 and re-elected in 1900. He declined the offer of Regius professorship of History at Oxford in order to devote himself to public life. “Democracy and Liberty,” published in 1896, and here quoted from, is used as a reference book in all the large universities in the United States.Lewis, Sir George Cornwall, British lawyer, editor and statesman; Chancellor of the Exchecquer; celebrated author; wrote (1849) “Influence of Authority on Matters of Opinion” here quoted, and other learned works.Lewis, Lawrence, American newspaper and magazine writer.Lippman, Walter, American author and publicist; associate editor ofNew Republic, and frequent contributor to magazines.Low, A. Maurice, British and American author and journalist.Moss, Frank, New York lawyer; former president Board of Police, New York City; author.Morse, John T., lawyer, editor and author of several biographies, including “Life of John Quincy Adams,” quoted in this volume.Mill, John Stuart, was an English philosopher and economist and one of the greatest English prose writers of the nineteenth century. Author of works on Logic, Political Economy and Utilitarianism; wrote “Representative Government,” quoted in this volume; “Liberty,” “Subjection of Woman,” etc. He served in Parliament for several years. From 1835 to 1840 he was editor and part owner of the LondonWestminster Review.Miller, J. Bleecker, New York lawyer, political student and writer; author of “Trade Organizations in Politics.”Maccunn, John, is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the University of Liverpool, where he taught for many years. He is author of “The Making of Character,” “Six Radical Thinkers,” “Ethics of Social Work,” “The Political Philosophy of Burke,” and “Ethics of Citizenship.” The latter work is quoted in this volume.Myers, Gustavus, author of “History of Tammany Hall,” herein referred to and several other works on political subjects.Ostrogorski, Moisei Ikovolevitch, a Russian political scientist educated in France, has a profound knowledge and understanding of the British and American political systems. Ostrogorski was a member of the First Russian Duma or Parliament. Quotations in this volume are from his “Democracy and The Party System in the United States.”Reinsch, Paul S., whose well-known work on “American Legislatures and Legislative Methods,” is extensively quoted in this volume, is one of the most widely read of American political scientists and historians. He is the author of many books which have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and German, and a frequent contributor to reviews, historical and economic periodicals. He was Professor of Political Science in the University of Wisconsin for over twelve years. He was Roosevelt Professor at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig in 1911-1912. He is an honorary member of the Faculty of the University of Chile, and a member of the National Academy of Venezuela. He was United States delegate to the Third Pan-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro in 1904 and the Fourth Conference at Buenos Aires in 1910, and United States minister to China.Rhodes, James F., is a prominent historian and lecturer. He was president of the American Historical Association, and was awarded a gold medal by the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1910 for his contributions to historical literature. In 1913 he delivered lectures on the American Civil War at Oxford University. Is author of a “History of the United States,” herein quoted.Roosevelt, Theodore, twice President of the United States, publicist, politician, statesman and author of “Life of Benton,” from which this book quotes, and other works.Root, Elihu, distinguished New York lawyer, politician and publicist; has been United States Senator, United States Secretary of War, and United States Secretary of State.Ruskin, John, English author, art critic and reformer; made a great impression on the literature and thought of the latter part of the nineteenth century. His writings, devoted mainly to art, have a strong ethical tendency.Reemelin, Charles, writer and lawyer; former member of the Ohio Legislature; student of political subjects; newspaper editor and writer; author of several works on politics, including “American Politics” (1881), from which extracts are here taken.Stickney, Albert, prominent New York lawyer.Steffens, Lincoln, American editor, writer and lecturer. Author of the “Shame of the Cities,” and other works and frequent contributor to magazines.Sieyes, Emmanuel Joseph, French Abbé and statesman of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era; member of the States General and the Convention; member of the Directorate of 1799 and Senator of France.Schurz, Carl, distinguished German American; came to America in early youth and became an American writer, soldier, orator and statesman; was United States Minister to Spain; United States Senator from Missouri and Secretary of the Interior. Author of “Life of Henry Clay,” from which quotations are here made.Seawell, Molly E., American journalist and novelist; author of “The Ladies’ Battle,” a work written in opposition to female suffrage.Shaw, Albert, is editor of theAmerican Review of Reviews, and author of several widely read works on Municipal Government, for which he was awarded the John Marshall prize by Johns Hopkins University in 1895. He has also written many books dealing with different phases of American life and government, and has lectured at many universities and colleges. He was appointed professor of Political Institutions and International Law at Cornell University in 1890, but declined. He is a trustee of the General Education Board and a member of the Bureau of Municipal Research. Is the author of “Political Problems,” quoted from in this volume.Stimson, Henry L., American lawyer, was Secretary of War under President Taft for two years.Sumner, Helen L., Assistant Chief of the Children’s Bureau of the Department of Labor at Washington. Was special investigator of woman suffrage in Colorado for the New York Collegiate Equal Suffrage League in 1916-1917. She is the author of many books dealing with industrial problems, and is a frequent contributor to economic and other publications. She published a book “Equal Suffrage,” from which a quotation is made in this volume.Tocqueville, Alexis Henri Charles de, was a French statesman and political philosopher of the first half of the nineteenth century. Visited America in 1831 and wrote his monumental work “De la democratie in Amerique,” which is one of the world’s classics.Tarbell, Ida M., is a prominent sociologist and publicist, and an associate editor of theAmerican Magazine. She is author of “A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte,” a “Life of Lincoln,” a “History of the Standard Oil Company,” and “The Business of Being a Woman,” the latter quoted in this book.Von Treitschke, Heinrich(1834-1896), publicist, political essayist; German university lecturer; member of the German Reichstag; the most brilliant historian of the Prussian school.Webster, Daniel, orator and statesman; was member of United States Senate and Secretary of State of the United States.White, Andrew D., was an American educator, scholar and diplomat. He was president of Cornell University from 1868 to 1885, minister to Germany from 1879-1881 and to Russia in 1892-4. From 1897 to 1902 he was Ambassador to Germany. He was chairman of the American delegation to the Hague Peace Conference. He is the author of several books dealing with historical studies.Woodburn, James A., is Professor of American History at Indiana University. Has contributed articles to the American Year Book, the American History Review, Indiana Magazine of History, Encyclopedia Americanae, and the Encyclopedia of American Government, and is the author of several political works, including “Political Parties and Party Problems,” from which are the quotations made in this volume.
Adams, Brooks, American lawyer and publicist; author of “The Law of Civilization and Decay,” and other works.
Adams, Henry, historian; author of “History of the United States”; “Life of Albert Gallatin,” and other works.
Allen, William H., is a prominent social worker and author, and is director of the Bureau of Municipal Research and National Training School for the study and Administration of Public Business, Author of “Woman’s Part in Government,” referred to in this volume.
Alger, Russell A., Major General of Volunteers in the American Civil War; Governor of Michigan and Secretary of War under President McKinley.
Bagehot, Walter, distinguished English publicist and economist; member of the English Bar; banker; editor of theEconomist, and active for many years in business and politics. Author of “The English Constitution,” “Lombard Street,” “Physics and Politics,” “Literary Studies,” and “Economic Studies,” in the two former of which he describes the practical workings of the British governmental machine and the London money market respectively. The extracts herein given are from magazine articles written by him.
Benton, Thomas H., U. S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1820 to 1850; afterwards Member of the House of Representatives. Author of “History of American Government for Thirty Years.”
Bluntschli, Johann K., (1808-1881), Swiss jurist and politician; professor of constitutional law in Munich; author of a number of standard works on Constitutional and International Law.
Breen, Matthew, was a New York lawyer, state senator and municipal justice. Author of “Thirty Years of New York Politics,” referred to in this volume.
Bryce, James, Viscount, English historian and diplomat, was elected member of Parliament in 1880. Afterwards Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and President of the Board of Trade. He was one of the British members of the InternationalTribunal at the Hague; Chief Secretary for Ireland and Ambassador to the United States. His book, the “American Commonwealth,” is the result of a long and careful study of American politics made on the spot, is much used as a source and text-book, and is referred to and freely quoted in this volume.
Burke, Edmund, illustrious British statesman, orator, parliamentarian and writer.
Clark, Charles P., American author of “The Machine Abolished,” referred to in this volume.
Commons, John R., whose work entitled “Proportional Representation” is quoted herein, is Director of the American Bureau of Industrial Research and Professor of Political Economy at the University of Wisconsin. He was a member of the Federal Commission on Industrial Relations in 1913-1915. He is the author of a number of books dealing with the industrial problems of the United States.
Carter, James C., New York lawyer; counsel for the U. S. Government in the Alaska arbitration at Paris; author of “Law, Its Origin, Growth and Function.”
Calhoun, John C., American lawyer and statesman; Secretary of War; Vice President United States; Secretary of State; United States Senator 1832-1843 and 1845-1850; author of two posthumous works, “Disquisition on Government” and “Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States.”
Curtis, George William, New York editor, public speaker, civil service reformer and man of letters.
Dana, Charles L., noted New York physician, lecturer and author.
Dawson, Edgar, is Professor of History and Political Science at Hunter College. He is a joint editor of “The Practical History of the World.”
Eaton, Dorman B., New York lawyer and Civil Service Reformer; Chairman of the Civil Service Commission 1873-1875, and member 1883-1885.
Estabrook, Henry D., noted American lawyer.
Field, David Dudley, New York lawyer; prominent legal reformer; principal author of New York Code of Civil Procedure of 1848, and of other proposed Codes of Law.
Fuller, Robert H., American newspaper writer.
Farrand, Max, Professor of History at Yale, is a frequent contributor to American Historical Reviews. He is the author of“Development of the United States” quoted from in this volume; and also “Legislation of Congress for the Government of the Organized Territories of the United States (1789-1895)”; “Framing of the Constitution”; and “Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.”
Faguet, M., member of the French Academy; author of “La Culte d’Incompetence,” referred to in this volume and other works.
Garner, James W., is Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois. He is American collaborator for the “French Revue Politique et Parlementaire” and contributor of more than two hundred articles on political and legal subjects to the New International Encyclopedia, and various articles in the Encyclopedia of American Government and the Encyclopedie Americaine. He is a frequent contributor to various magazines.
Gilman, Charlotte P., author, lecturer, magazine writer. Author of “Women and Economics,” herein referred to.
Godkin, Edwin L., was one of the most prominent journalists of the United States. He established theNationin 1865 and was editor of the New YorkEvening Postup to the year of his death in 1902. He was the author of a “History of Hungary,” “Reflections and Comments,” “Problems of Democracy,” and “Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy.” The latter work, quoted herein, is a keen analysis and study of the forces in the American political system.
Hart, Albert B., may be said to be the dean of living American historians. He is Professor of Government at Harvard University. He has written many books and his contribution to the study and interpretation of American History assumes almost monumental proportions. He was president of the American Historical Association in 1909, and was appointed Exchange Professor, Harvard to Berlin, in 1915.
Hyslop, Prof. James H., has been connected with Columbia University as an instructor and professor of logic, philosophy, ethics and psychology. He organized the American Institute for Scientific Research and became editor of the Proceedings and Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. His book on “Democracy,” published in 1899, is extensively quoted in this volume. He there favors a qualification for voters based upon the payment of an income tax.
Hunt, Henry T., is a prominent lawyer and public man. He wasa member of the Ohio Legislature from 1906-1907 and Mayor of Cincinnati from 1912-1914. He is a trustee of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad which is owned by the city of Cincinnati.
Ireland, Alleyne, British and American traveler, editor and essayist; American university lecturer.
Ivins, William M., prominent New York lawyer and politician.
Kahn, Otto H., banker and publicist, is a member of the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb and Company, a director of the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Morristown Trust Company. He is a profound student of and writer upon financial affairs.
Lecky, William E. H., an Irish historian and publicist who died in 1903, became famous at the age of twenty-seven with the publication of his “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism.” He was a member of Parliament for Dublin in 1895 and re-elected in 1900. He declined the offer of Regius professorship of History at Oxford in order to devote himself to public life. “Democracy and Liberty,” published in 1896, and here quoted from, is used as a reference book in all the large universities in the United States.
Lewis, Sir George Cornwall, British lawyer, editor and statesman; Chancellor of the Exchecquer; celebrated author; wrote (1849) “Influence of Authority on Matters of Opinion” here quoted, and other learned works.
Lewis, Lawrence, American newspaper and magazine writer.
Lippman, Walter, American author and publicist; associate editor ofNew Republic, and frequent contributor to magazines.
Low, A. Maurice, British and American author and journalist.
Moss, Frank, New York lawyer; former president Board of Police, New York City; author.
Morse, John T., lawyer, editor and author of several biographies, including “Life of John Quincy Adams,” quoted in this volume.
Mill, John Stuart, was an English philosopher and economist and one of the greatest English prose writers of the nineteenth century. Author of works on Logic, Political Economy and Utilitarianism; wrote “Representative Government,” quoted in this volume; “Liberty,” “Subjection of Woman,” etc. He served in Parliament for several years. From 1835 to 1840 he was editor and part owner of the LondonWestminster Review.
Miller, J. Bleecker, New York lawyer, political student and writer; author of “Trade Organizations in Politics.”
Maccunn, John, is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the University of Liverpool, where he taught for many years. He is author of “The Making of Character,” “Six Radical Thinkers,” “Ethics of Social Work,” “The Political Philosophy of Burke,” and “Ethics of Citizenship.” The latter work is quoted in this volume.
Myers, Gustavus, author of “History of Tammany Hall,” herein referred to and several other works on political subjects.
Ostrogorski, Moisei Ikovolevitch, a Russian political scientist educated in France, has a profound knowledge and understanding of the British and American political systems. Ostrogorski was a member of the First Russian Duma or Parliament. Quotations in this volume are from his “Democracy and The Party System in the United States.”
Reinsch, Paul S., whose well-known work on “American Legislatures and Legislative Methods,” is extensively quoted in this volume, is one of the most widely read of American political scientists and historians. He is the author of many books which have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and German, and a frequent contributor to reviews, historical and economic periodicals. He was Professor of Political Science in the University of Wisconsin for over twelve years. He was Roosevelt Professor at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig in 1911-1912. He is an honorary member of the Faculty of the University of Chile, and a member of the National Academy of Venezuela. He was United States delegate to the Third Pan-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro in 1904 and the Fourth Conference at Buenos Aires in 1910, and United States minister to China.
Rhodes, James F., is a prominent historian and lecturer. He was president of the American Historical Association, and was awarded a gold medal by the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1910 for his contributions to historical literature. In 1913 he delivered lectures on the American Civil War at Oxford University. Is author of a “History of the United States,” herein quoted.
Roosevelt, Theodore, twice President of the United States, publicist, politician, statesman and author of “Life of Benton,” from which this book quotes, and other works.
Root, Elihu, distinguished New York lawyer, politician and publicist; has been United States Senator, United States Secretary of War, and United States Secretary of State.
Ruskin, John, English author, art critic and reformer; made a great impression on the literature and thought of the latter part of the nineteenth century. His writings, devoted mainly to art, have a strong ethical tendency.
Reemelin, Charles, writer and lawyer; former member of the Ohio Legislature; student of political subjects; newspaper editor and writer; author of several works on politics, including “American Politics” (1881), from which extracts are here taken.
Stickney, Albert, prominent New York lawyer.
Steffens, Lincoln, American editor, writer and lecturer. Author of the “Shame of the Cities,” and other works and frequent contributor to magazines.
Sieyes, Emmanuel Joseph, French Abbé and statesman of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era; member of the States General and the Convention; member of the Directorate of 1799 and Senator of France.
Schurz, Carl, distinguished German American; came to America in early youth and became an American writer, soldier, orator and statesman; was United States Minister to Spain; United States Senator from Missouri and Secretary of the Interior. Author of “Life of Henry Clay,” from which quotations are here made.
Seawell, Molly E., American journalist and novelist; author of “The Ladies’ Battle,” a work written in opposition to female suffrage.
Shaw, Albert, is editor of theAmerican Review of Reviews, and author of several widely read works on Municipal Government, for which he was awarded the John Marshall prize by Johns Hopkins University in 1895. He has also written many books dealing with different phases of American life and government, and has lectured at many universities and colleges. He was appointed professor of Political Institutions and International Law at Cornell University in 1890, but declined. He is a trustee of the General Education Board and a member of the Bureau of Municipal Research. Is the author of “Political Problems,” quoted from in this volume.
Stimson, Henry L., American lawyer, was Secretary of War under President Taft for two years.
Sumner, Helen L., Assistant Chief of the Children’s Bureau of the Department of Labor at Washington. Was special investigator of woman suffrage in Colorado for the New York Collegiate Equal Suffrage League in 1916-1917. She is the author of many books dealing with industrial problems, and is a frequent contributor to economic and other publications. She published a book “Equal Suffrage,” from which a quotation is made in this volume.
Tocqueville, Alexis Henri Charles de, was a French statesman and political philosopher of the first half of the nineteenth century. Visited America in 1831 and wrote his monumental work “De la democratie in Amerique,” which is one of the world’s classics.
Tarbell, Ida M., is a prominent sociologist and publicist, and an associate editor of theAmerican Magazine. She is author of “A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte,” a “Life of Lincoln,” a “History of the Standard Oil Company,” and “The Business of Being a Woman,” the latter quoted in this book.
Von Treitschke, Heinrich(1834-1896), publicist, political essayist; German university lecturer; member of the German Reichstag; the most brilliant historian of the Prussian school.
Webster, Daniel, orator and statesman; was member of United States Senate and Secretary of State of the United States.
White, Andrew D., was an American educator, scholar and diplomat. He was president of Cornell University from 1868 to 1885, minister to Germany from 1879-1881 and to Russia in 1892-4. From 1897 to 1902 he was Ambassador to Germany. He was chairman of the American delegation to the Hague Peace Conference. He is the author of several books dealing with historical studies.
Woodburn, James A., is Professor of American History at Indiana University. Has contributed articles to the American Year Book, the American History Review, Indiana Magazine of History, Encyclopedia Americanae, and the Encyclopedia of American Government, and is the author of several political works, including “Political Parties and Party Problems,” from which are the quotations made in this volume.