Part 22 (1/2)

It was given power to make laws for the regulation of social conduct, and even of interstate commerce, to establish executive authority and administrative, judicial, and military systems, and to tax the property of the people for national revenue. To these basic functions others were added, as common interests demanded encouragement or protection.

318. =Tests of National Efficiency.=--Two tests came to the new nation in its first century. The first was the test of control. It was for a time a question whether the nation could extend its sovereignty over the interior. State claims were troublesome, and the selfish interests of individuals clashed with revenue officers, but the nation solved these difficulties. The second test was the test of unity, and was settled only after civil war. Out of the struggle the nation emerged stronger than it had ever been, because henceforth it was based on the principle of an indissoluble union. With its second century have come new tests--the test of absorbing millions of aliens in speech and habits, the test of wisely governing itself through an intelligent citizens.h.i.+p, the test of educating all of its people to their political and social responsibilities. Whether these tests will be met successfully is for the future to decide, but if the past is any criterion, the American republic will not fail. National structures have risen to a certain height and then fallen, because they were not built on the solid foundations of mutual confidence, co-operation, and loyalty. Building a self-governing nation that will stand the test of centuries is possible only for a people that is conscious of its community of interests, and is willing to sacrifice personal preferences and even personal profits for the common good.

READING REFERENCES

BRYCE: _The American Commonwealth_ (Abridged Edition), pages 3-21.

DEALEY: _Development of the State_, pages 26-48.

BLUNTSCHLI: _Theory of the State_, pages 82-102.

MULFORD: _The Nation_, pages 37-60.

BAGEHOT: _Physics and Politics_, pages 81-155.

USHER: _Rise of the American People_, pages 151-167, 182-195, 269-281.

CHAPTER XLI

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE PEOPLE AS A NATION

319. =The Reality of the Nation.=--Ordinarily the individual is not pressed upon heavily by his national relations.h.i.+ps. He is conscious of them as he reads the newspaper or goes to the post-office, but except at congressional or presidential elections they are not brought home to him vividly. He thinks and acts in terms of the community. The nation is an artificial structure and most of its operations are centralized at a few points. The President lives and Congress meets at the national capital. The departments of government are located there, and the Supreme Court holds its sessions in the same city. Here and there at the busy ports are the custom-houses, with their revenue officers, and at convenient distances are district courts and United States officers for the maintenance of national order and justice. The post-office is the one national inst.i.tution that is found everywhere, matched in ubiquity only by the flag, the symbol of national unity and strength. But though not noticeably exercised, the power of the nation is very real. There is no power to dispute its legislation and the decisions of its tribunals. No one dares refuse to contribute to its revenues, whether excise tax or import duties. No one is unaware that a very real nation exists.

320. =The Social Nature of the Nation.=--In thinking of the nation it is natural to consider its power as a state, but other functions belong to it as a social unit that are no less important. Its general function is not so much to govern as to promote the general welfare.

The social nature of national organization is well expressed in the preamble to the national Const.i.tution: ”We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Const.i.tution for the United States of America.” The general welfare is a somewhat vague term, but it includes all the interests of the people, and so indicates the scope of the national function.

321. =The Economic Function.=--The nation has an economic function. It is its business to encourage trade by means that seem most likely to help, whether by subsidies, tariffs, or expert advice; to protect all producers, distributers, and consumers by just laws and tribunals, so that unfair privileges shall not be enjoyed by the few at the expense of the many, and to provide in every legitimate way for the spread of information and for experimentation that agriculture, mining, and manufacturing may be improved. Evidences of the attempt of the United States to measure up to these responsibilities are the various tariffs that have been established for protection as well as revenue, the interstate and trade commissions that exist for the regulation of business, and the individuals and boards that are maintained for acquiring and disseminating information relating to all kinds of economic interests. The United States Patent Office encourages invention, and American inventors outnumber those of other nations.

The United States Department of Agriculture employs many experimenters and expert agents and even distributes seeds of a good quality, in order that one of the most important industries of the American people may flourish. At times some of the national machinery has been prost.i.tuted to private gain, and there is always danger that the individual will try to prosper at the expense of society, but the people more than ever before are conscious that it is the function of the nation to promote the _general_ welfare, and private interests, however powerful, must give heed to this.

322. =Manufacturing in Corporations and a.s.sociations.=--Back of all organization and legislation lies a real national unity, through which the nation exercises indirectly an economic function. In spite of a popular jealousy of big business in the last decade, there is a pride in the ability of American business men to create a profitable world commerce, and middle-cla.s.s people in well-to-do circ.u.mstances subscribe to the purchase of stocks and bonds in trusted corporations.

Without this general interest and partic.i.p.ation such a rapid extension of industrial enterprise could not have taken place. Without the lines of communication that radiate from great commercial and financial centres, without the banking connections that make it possible for the fiscal centres to support any particular inst.i.tution that is in temporary distress, without the consciousness of national solidarity in the great departments of business life, economic achievement in America would have come on halting feet. This unity is fostered but not created by government, and no hostile government can destroy it altogether.

To further economic interests throughout the nation all sorts of a.s.sociations exist and hold conventions, from American poultry fanciers to national banking societies. Occasionally these a.s.sociations pool their interests and advertise their concerns through a national exposition. In this way they find it possible to make an impression upon thousands of people whom they are educating indirectly through the printing-press. It would be an interesting study and one that would throw light on the complexity and ubiquity of national relations, if it could be ascertained locally how many individuals are connected with such national organizations, and what particular a.s.sociations are most popular. If this examination were extended from purely economic organizations to a.s.sociations of every kind, we should be able to gauge more accurately the strength of national influence upon social life.

323. =Health Interests.=--If this national unity exists in the economic field it is natural to expect to find it in the less material interests of society. The sense of common interests is all-pervasive.

National health conditions bring the physicians together to discuss the causes and the therapeutics. How to keep well and to get strong, how to dress the baby and to bring up children are perennial topics for magazines with a national circulation. Insurance companies with a national const.i.tuency prescribe physical tests for all cla.s.ses.

Government takes cognizance of the physical interest of all its citizens, and pa.s.ses through Congress pure-food and pure-drug acts.

National societies of a voluntary nature also cater to health and happiness. Long-named organizations exist for moral prophylaxis and for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals. Vigilance a.s.sociations of all sorts stand guard to keep children and their elders from contamination. Society protects itself over wide areas through such a.s.sociated recognition of the mutual interests of all its members.

324. =National Sport.=--Recreation and sport also present national features. Every new phase of recreation from playgrounds to philately presently has its countrywide a.s.sociation. There is a conscious reaching out for wide fellows.h.i.+p with those who are interested in the same pursuits. The attraction of like-mindedness is a potent force in every department of life. Certain forms of relaxation or spirited rivalry have attained to the dignity of national sports. England has its football, Scotland its golf, Canada its lacrosse, the United States its baseball. The enthusiasm and excitement that hold whole cities in thrall as a national league season draws to its close, is a more striking phenomenon than Roman gladiatorial shows or Spanish bull-fights. Persons who seldom if ever attend a game, who do not know one player from another, wax eloquent over the merits of a team that represents their own city, while individuals who attain to the t.i.tle of ”fans” handle familiarly the details of the teams throughout the league circuit. Why should Olympic contests held in recent years between representatives of different nations, or international tennis champions.h.i.+ps, arouse universal interest? It is inexplicable except as evidence of collective consciousness and a national pride and loyalty.

The same spirit has entered into university athletics. The great universities have their ”rooters” scattered all over the land, and the whole nation is interested in the Thames or Henley races and the Poughkeepsie regattas. There are intercollegiate tennis champions.h.i.+ps and chess tournaments, football contests between the leaders East and West, all-America teams, and even international rivalries.

325. =The Function of Education.=--Nation-wide ties and loyalties in sport do not call for the official action of the nation, though national officials as individuals are often devoted to certain sports, but the nation has other functions that may be cla.s.sed as social. No duty is more pressing, not even that of efficient government, than the task of education. The National Bureau of Education supplemented by State boards, officially takes cognizance of society's educational interests. In education local independence plays a large part, but it is the function of government to make inquiry into the best theories and methods anywhere in vogue, to extend information to all who are interested, and to use its large influence toward the adoption of improvements. Government in certain States of the American Union even goes so far as to co-operate with local communities in maintaining joint school superintendents of towns or counties. It is appropriate that a democratic nation should give much attention to the education of the people because the success of democracy depends on popular intelligence.

The efforts of the government are seconded by voluntary organization.