Part 7 (1/2)

What is true of our local boards of education, road supervisors, fire and street-cleaning departments, and other departments of our local governments, is also true of state and national governments.

We shall not stop for ill.u.s.trations of this now, because they will be numerous in later chapters. (See, for example, Chapter XII.)

Is there a government in your home? If so, prove whether or not it is a means by which the members of the family cooperate.

Describe the government of your school and show how it secures cooperation.

If you can get a copy of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, find in it further instances in which he improved the cooperation of his community, as for fire protection and street lighting.

Show how street lights in town represent community cooperation.

For what purpose is this form of cooperation?

Give additional ill.u.s.trations to prove that government in your community is a means of cooperation.

In what ways can you cooperate with the school board or trustees of your community, and thus with the community itself, for better schools?

GOVERNMENT TO HELP AND NOT TO REPRESS

A number of boys whose lives were spent mostly in the city streets were once asked what the word ”government” suggested to them. Some of them at once answered, ”The policeman!” And when they were asked ”Why?” they replied, ”He arrests people,” ”He makes us keep off the gra.s.s in the parks,” ”He drives us off when we play ball in vacant lots.” These answers represent a common idea about government, that it is something over us to restrict our freedom.

Government does restrict the freedom of individuals at times; but one of the best ill.u.s.trations of its real purpose is the traffic policeman in cities. He stands at the crossing of busy streets, regulating the movement of people and vehicles in such a way as to insure the safety of all and to keep the intersecting streams of traffic moving smoothly and with as little interruption as possible. Now and then he leaves his post to help a child or an aged person or a cripple across the street; or answers the inquiries of a stranger. If now and then he arrests a driver, it is because the latter disregards the rights or welfare of others.

LAWS AS SIGNALS OF COOPERATION

In small or thinly settled communities there may be no traffic policeman; but there may be signs at the intersection of highways to guide travelers, or warnings such as ”Dangerous Curve!” or ”School: Drive Slowly!” Such signs are usually posted by state or local authorities in accordance with LAW. And even where there are no signs, the laws themselves are supposed to regulate traffic.

Some one has compared the laws in our country to the signals given to a football team by the quarterback. These signals are agreed upon in advance by the team, and tell each player not only what he himself, but also what every other player, is to do, and thus team work is secured. And so our laws are said to be ”signals of cooperation,” just as much as the sign ”Drive Slowly,” or as when the traffic policeman holds up his hand or blows his whistle.

LAWS AS RULES OF THE GAME

Laws, however, are more than ”signals” of cooperation; they are also RULES by which cooperation is secured--”rules of the game.”

Wherever people are dependent upon one another and work together there must be rules of conduct. One kind of rules consists of what we call ”etiquette” or ”good manners.” We have doubtless all observed how much better an athletic contest moves along, or even the ordinary sports of the playground, where good manners prevail.

”Good manners” include more than the ”party manners” that we put on and take off on special occasions, like ”party clothes.” They consist of the accepted rules of behavior toward those with whom we a.s.sociate. In the home, in school, in business, in public places, there are ”good manners” that are recognized by custom and that make the wheels move smoothly and without jar. We do not need a law or a policeman to require a man to give way to a woman, or even to another man, in pa.s.sing through a doorway; good manners provide for this. Even on the public street much confusion is avoided by an observance of good manners, or CUSTOM. Thoughtful people instinctively turn to the right in pa.s.sing others (in England and Canada the custom is to turn to the left) without thinking whether there is a law on the subject or not.

LAW GIVES FREEDOM

Now most of our laws that regulate the conduct of individuals are simply rules that experience has proved to be of the greatest advantage to the greatest number, and that are necessary because SOME people have not ”good manners.” Most people observe them, not because they are laws, but because they are reasonable and helpful in avoiding friction and in securing cooperation. If they are good laws, it is only the ”ill-mannered” who are really conscious of their existence. Just laws restrict the freedom only of the ”ill- mannered,” while they GIVE freedom to those who have ”good manners.”

What street or highway signs are there in your community? Who placed them? Are they faithfully observed? If not, why?

What signals are there in your school? Discuss their usefulness.

What are some of the ”rules” of your school? Are they good rules?

Why? Are they an advantage or a disadvantage to yourself? If they did not exist, would your own conduct be different? Why?

What are some of the rules of good manners that are supposed to control conduct in your school? in your home? in the street?

Discuss their reasonableness. Do they enlarge or restrict freedom?

Do the rules of football, or other games, increase or decrease the freedom of play?

What are some of the laws that control conduct in your community?