Two uses of the word "government." Benefits of of pure drinking water at the lowest possible charges. These and many other things our governments are doing for our protection and benefit, not at intervals, but every day in the year. Two distinct uses of the word " government" " should be noted carefully. In a narrow sense, government may mean simply the ORGANIZATION composed of sets of officials who care for the public interests of the citizens. When the word is used in that way, we speak of the national government, the state government, the local governments, town, county, or city, since there are as many distinct organizations as there are territorial divisions to be governed. In a broader sense, the word is employed, as in the first part of the preceding paragraph, to indicate the AUTHORITY to which the task of ruling is assigned. 2. Government and the Citizens. By our forefathers who government. declared their independence of Great Britain, government Obligations of citizens. was looked upon somewhat as a necessary evil. They emphasized the dangers of government and minimized its benefits. So many of the prejudices of that day have been removed by a century and a third of self-government that we often go to the other extreme. To-day the benefits and advantages are extolled, because we have government "for the people" as well as "by the people." We often fail to appreciate the real needs of our governments and the necessary support we should give them. We fail to discriminate between the governmental work that is wise and that which is unwise, between governmental tasks well performed and duties ill-performed or neglected. Instead of protesting against extravagance on the one hand, and on the other paying cheerfully the taxes for necessary work or improvements, we either grumble at the financial burdens placed upon us by our governments, or indifferently submit to waste and bad government. When popular interest is lacking and the public offices become filled with selfish or corrupt men who use their power for their own advancement, or sacrifice the public good for favored interests, we close our eyes to facts and assert that our government is the best in the world. If the benefits which we should derive from government are often lost, and the disadvantages alone are apparent, it is because we fail to draw the line between the duties which our government can perform and the work it cannot do, because we neglect political duties for those of business or society, or because we consider misgovernment normal and unavoidable. THE NEED OF GOVERNMENT property. 3. The Essential Functions of Government. Some people Protection have asked the questions," Why do we need governments?" of life and "Cannot most or all of the duties enumerated above (§ 1) be performed as well or better without the aid of government?" Even those extremists who believe that government should do as little as possible, freely admit that life and property must be fully protected by it, for, if every man may take the law into his own hands, we should soon return to that condition of barbarism where might makes right. In business relations. Government is also necessary to enact laws which define Legal and our legal relations to one another, or which allow us to make with other parties contracts or agreements, which the governments will compel both them and ourselves to perform. so complex a civilization as ours, the laws relating to these subjects must not only be fixed and clearly understood, but the rights of every individual under them must be guarded zealously, and these duties government alone can fulfill. In his admirable book on The State,1 Woodrow Wilson An enumerates eight "constituent" or essential functions of government. (1) The keeping of order, and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and robbery. (2) The fixing of the legal relations between man and wife and between parents and children. enumeration of essential functions. 1 § 1478. The extent of governmental activity. An enumeration of some optional functions. (3) The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange of property, and the determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime. (4) The determination of contract rights between individuals. (5) The definition and punishment of crime. (6) The administration of justice in civil causes. (7) The determination of the political duties, privileges, and relations of citizens. (8) Dealings of the State with foreign powers: the preservation of the State from external danger or encroachment, and the advancement of its international interests. 4. The Optional Functions of Government. - Very few people object when government performs these duties; but some persons doubt whether government should attempt to look after such things as the construction of roads, the maintenance of schools, the care of the poor, and many others which in times past have been done by each individual for himself, or by voluntary organizations. If we consider the difficulties encountered by individuals or associations in deciding upon necessary improvements, and in securing funds for the work, we shall see why it has been found advisable to leave matters of common interest to our governments, which are fitted for this work both because of their organization and by virtue of the authority which they possess. As a partial list of these optional or "ministrant” functions, Woodrow Wilson gives the following: 1. (1) The regulation of trade and industry. Under this head I would include the coinage of money and the establishment of standard weights and measures, laws against forestalling and engrossing, the licensing of trades, etc., as well as the great matters of tariffs, navigation laws, and the like. (2) The regulation of labor. (3) The maintenance of thoroughfares, including state manage ment of railways, and that great group of undertakings which we embrace within the comprehensive term "Internal improvements." 1 The State, § 1479. (4) The maintenance of postal and telegraph systems, which is very similar in principle to (3). (5) The manufacture and distribution of gas, the maintenance of waterworks, etc. (6) Sanitation, including the regulation of trades for sanitary purposes. (7) Education. (8) Care of the poor and incapable. (9) Care and cultivation of forests and like matters, such as the stocking of rivers with fish. (10) Sumptuary laws, such as "prohibition" laws, for example. govern 5. The Proper Scope of Governmental Duties. The ex- Conditions tent to which any country shall permit its governments to affecting undertake any or all of the functions just mentioned depends mental upon its history, its needs, and the wishes of its people.1 activities. In colonial times, when villages were few and small, when there was no manufacturing and little commerce, when a Willoughby, simple farm life was the rule, very little governmental su- Citizenship, pervision was necessary. Large cities, great trusts, railways 53-66. of continental magnitude, and entirely different standards American of living have changed all this. At present our govern- Wilson, ments must control and regulate many more actions of the The State, §§ 1514citizens than formerly, in order not only to promote their 1536. welfare, but to give them protection. For example, no one doubts the right of the government to pass and enforce all proper measures for the health of the community. This may lead in crowded cities to regulations for individual householders that are very obnoxious. Dealers may be obliged to submit to inspection of goods which might injure members of the community, and factories are continually under supervision to see that the health of the operatives is in no wise endangered. Too little regulation is, like too much, a mark of poor government. We must see that there 1 The extreme individualist believes that our governments should perform a minimum of functions; the socialist that the State should do everything for the individual or society. Most people occupy an intermediate position. Three sets of govern ments necessary. The constitutions embody the wishes of the people, is just enough, and that it is never applied arbitrarily History shows that it will be better for a community to leave something undone than at one stroke to alter its policy radically and undertake important duties for which it has had no proper training. In no case should a people undertake lightly duties which may seem necessary that can only be performed at a loss to individual freedom. 6. The Need of National, State, and Local Governments. No one government can do all the things needed by the people, for some subjects, like the making of treaties with foreign nations, must be intrusted to a single government for the whole United States, in order that the people of New York may not have one treaty with France, those of Illinois another, and those of California a third. Other duties, such as the making of roads and care of schools, can be properly performed only by governments of small districts, like towns, cities, or counties. We have, therefore, local governments to look after purely local affairs; state governments to make laws on all subjects that ought not to vary greatly from county to county, and yet need not be the same throughout the United States; and a national government which represents us in our dealings with other nations, cares for trade relations between the States, coins money, and makes the laws that should be the same in Maine as in Texas. THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 7. Our National and State Constitutions. - All of the governments in the United States are popular governmentsthat is, the people, acting through the qualified voters or legal representatives, decide what the form of each government shall be, what power it shall possess, and in what way the government and its powers shall be changed at any time. In order, however, that the form and the powers of the governments shall remain the same until the people |