XII 

evolution:  political  government 

OUR  nation  has  been  fairly  prosperous  and 
successful  thus  far,  in  spite  of  our  previous 
and  present  method  of  dealing  with  social,  in- 
dustrial, and  political  problems,  which  is  no 
method  at  all,  but  mere  muddling.  However, 
we  had  no  serious  foreign  competition  to  meet; 
we  had  at  our  disposition  the  vast  and  un- 
touched resources  of  a  virgin  continent,  the 
intellectual  stores  of  the  Old  World,  and  the 
continuous  supply  of  skilled  and  unskilled  labor, 
in  the  despised  immigrant,  who,  after  all,  has 
made  America  what  it  is  to-day.  The  most 
desirable  immigration  —  from  England,  Ger- 
many, Ireland,  Scandinavia — practic<ally  ended 
years  ago,  and  now,  as  the  result  of  the  war,  all 
immigration  threatens  to  stop,  except  perhaps 
that  from  the  least  desirable  nationalities.  In- 
tellectually, ovir  nation  has  now  advanced  so 
far  and  on  a  path  so  divergent  from  that  of 

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EVOLUTION:    POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 

Europe  that  we  cannot  expect  much  further 
help.  The  resources  of  our  continent,  wliich 
appeared  inexhaustible  to  the  early  settlers,  are 
practically  exhausted,  and  the  time  is  nearly 
here  when  we  will  have  to  stop  living  as  a  para- 
sitic nation,  consuming  what  we  have  not  pro- 
duced, but  we  will  have  to  live  on  our  income; 
putting  into  the  soil  as  fertilizer  what  we  take 
out  as  crops;  planting  and  raising  the  trees 
which  we  cut  down  for  lumber;  raising  the  food 
which  we  feed  to  our  sheep  and  cattle,  and  that 
with  a  reorganized,  highly  efficient  Europe  in 
competition. 

In  our  industrial  age  the  essential  require- 
ments of  an  efficient  national  organization  com- 
prise: Continuity,  competency,  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  administrative  organization. 

In  our  complex  civilization,  it  usually  takes 
years  before  any  work  undertaken  by  an  admin- 
istrator is  completed,  many  more  years  before 
its  results  are  seen.  Thus  when  the  adminis- 
tration changes  frequently,  as  in  our  political 
offices,  constructive  work  is  done  blindly, 
started  by  men  who  never  can  follow  the  work 
to  completion,  see  the  results  appearing  and 
direct  or  modify  the  plans  to  secure  the  desired 
results  most  effectively ;  or  men  are  called  upon 

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AMERICA  AND  THE   NEW  EPOCH 

to  continue  and  complete  work  which  they  have 
not  started,  which  they  possibly  only  incom- 
pletely understand,  or  with  which  they  are  out 
of  sympathy.  It  is  only  in  those  side  lines  of 
our  political  government  where  the  oflSce  is  held 
more  continuousl3^  under  civil-service  rules  or 
because  the  office  is  not  sufficiently  important 
to  warrant  its  inclusion  in  the  "distribution  of 
spoils,"  that  constructive  work  is  accomplished,, 
as  in  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal,  the 
reclamation  work  by  the  Federal  Government, 
some  of  the  supervisory  work  by  State  commis- 
sions, etc.,  and  even  in  these  there  is  the  con- 
tinuous danger  of  political  interference,  of  the 
work  of  many  years  being  undone,  or  per- 
verted to  vicious  purposes  by  some  temporary 
political  influence.  It  is  so  much  easier  to  de- 
stroy than  to  construct;  it  takes  so  long  a  time 
to  accomplish  constructive  work,  and  so  short  a 
time  to  destroy  the  work  of  many  years. 

Thus  there  can  be  no  efficiency  without  con- 
tinuity of  the  administration. 

That  competency  of  the  director  of  the  work 
is  necessary  for  the  success  of  any  work  is  so 
obvious  that  nobody  would  think  this  even  a 
subject  of  discussion,  but  as  a  matter  of  course, 
in   legal   matters   everybody   employs   a   com- 

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EVOLUTION:    rOIJTICAL  GOVERNMENT 

petent  lawyer,  in  matters  of  health  a  competent 
physician,  in  matters  of  administration  an  ad- 
ministrator. But,  strange  to  say,  as  soon  as  we 
come  to  the  consideration  of  political  ojffices  we 
disregard  all  these  obvious  and  self-evident 
truisms,  and  have  no  hesitation  to  place  a  man 
who  has  failed  in  every  business  he  undertook,  in 
charge  of  the  business  management  of  the  mu- 
nicipality ;  a  man  who  cannot  run  his  own  house- 
hold, in  administrative  charge  of  the  community. 
If,  then,  continuity  of  office,  held  by  compe- 
tent men,  is  necessary  for  the  efficiency  which 
is  the  fundamental  requirement  of  successful 
co-operation^  there  must  be  an  efl'ective  respon- 
sibility, at  le^st  until  such  time  when  all  men 
are  angels,  or  at  least  sufficiently  many  that 
all  offices  can  be  filled  with  men  who  are  and 
remain  unselfish,  industrious,  progressive,  and 
beyond  the  possibility  of  behig  perverted  by  the 
power  of  office. 

^-ANh'dt,  then,  are  the  structural  ejements  in 
our  American  nation  from  which  a  continuous, 
competent,  and  responsible  government  coidd 
develop  by  evolution — a  government  such  as  is 
required  for  the  efficient  industrial  co-operation 
of  all  citizens  in  the  interest  of  all,  under  demo- 
cratic principles? 

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AMERICA  AND  THE  NEW  EPOCH 

In  sucli  organization  there  can  be  no  indus- 
trial competition,  but  by  the  co-operation  of  all 
producers  duplication  of  work  and  all  waste 
effort  is  eliminated.  The  production  is  con- 
trolled to  correspond  with  the  legitimate  de- 
mands for  the  product,  and  all  production  for 
mere  profit,  without  regard  to  the  demand  for 
the  product,  ceases,  and  with  it  all  organization 
for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  demand  where  it 
does  not  exist.  As  a  matter  of  course,  this 
eliminates  the  periodic  fluctuations  of  produc- 
tion, which  give  rise  to  the  successive  periods  of 
business  depression  and  business  prosperity,  and 
which  are  the  bane  of  our  present  chaotic  in- 
dustrial system.  In  engineering,  architecture, 
design,  etc.,  instead  of  a  number  of  men  doing 
the  same  work  independently,  necessarily  in- 
ferior, due  to  the  limitation  of  each  individual, 
and  then  having  somebody  select  one  of  the 
propositions — often  somebody  who  himself  has 
not  the  professional  qualifications  to  judge 
which  is  the  best — one  proposition  would  be 
made  by  the  co-ojierative  effort  of  all  the  men 
competent  professionally,  and  so  embodying 
the  collective  experience  and  knowledge  of  all. 
Instead  of  having  a  number  of  separate  and 
competitive   sales   organizations,  each  describ- 

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EVOLUTION:    POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 

ing  and  representing — or  misrepresenting — 
their  product,  with  the  result  that  the  prospec- 
tive user  gets  httle  rehable  information,  one 
organization  will  supply  complete  and  correct 
information,  as  there  is  no  further  reason  to 
misrepresent,  no  reason  to  dwell  extensively  on 
the  favorable  features,  and  omit  altogether,  or 
skip  lightly  over  the  unfavorable  features,  but 
every  interest  is  toward  correct  representation 
of  all  features. 

Competition  between  industries  would  cease; 
thus,  in  transportation,  the  country's  water- 
ways would  be  used  to  the  fullest  extent,  in 
combination  with  the  railroads,  and  no  interest 
would  tend  to  deflect  to  the  railroads  what 
could  more  economically  be  carried  by  water, 
or  inversely,  and  both  forms  of  transportation 
would  become  much  more  economical  by  co- 
operation. 

There  would  be  no  desire  to  graze  cattle  on 
lands  adapted  for  wheat-raising,  nor  attempts 
to  raise  wheat  on  farms  unsuited  thereto,  nor 
would  forest  growth  be  destroyed  by  sheep- 
raising,  or  the  value  of  the  river  valleys,  of  the 
country's  water-powers,  be  destroyed  by  reck- 
less deforestation  of  the  headwaters.  With  the 
same  interests  controlling  all  these  activities  it 

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AMERICA  AND  THE  NEW  EPOCH 

is  obvious  that  no  activity  would  be  permitted 
which  does  more  harm  in  one  respect  than  it 
profits  in  another,  and  no  interference  would 
be  allowed  between  the  different  industrial 
activities,  beyond  that  incident  to  human  im- 
perfection, and  thus  unavoidable. 

All  this  is  not  a  mere  impracticable  dream,  but 
it  has  long  been  an  established  fact,  has  been 
the  operating  principle  within  all  the  more  pro- 
gressive large  industrial  corporations,  and  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  extend  methods  of  eco- 
nomic eflScicncy  from  the  individual  industrial 
corporation  to  the  national  organism  as  a  whole. 

Thus  there  will  be  competition  between  water 
transportation  and  railway  transportation,  to 
decide  which  in  each  individual  instance  is  more 
economical,  considering  quality  of  the  trans- 
ported material,  distance,  time,  etc.,  while  now 
the  waterways  may  stand  idle  for  lack  of  a 
railway  connecting  with  them,  or  for  lack  of 
transfer  facilities,  or  hundreds  of  millions  are 
wasted  in  the  construction  of  waterways  which 
can  never  economically  pay  for  their  cost,  but 
the  only  legitimate  purpose  of  which  is  to  keep 
the  railroad  freight  rates  down  by  their  compe- 
tition. 

There  will  be  competition,  whether  gas-engine 

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EVOLUTION:    POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 

or  electric  motor  is  to  be  used,  whether  a  local 
steam-turbine  plant  is  to  be  installed,  or  power 
bought  from  a  long-distance  transmission  sys- 
tem. But  the  decision  will  be  made  on  the 
basis  of  the  relative  economy  of  the  various 
propositions,  uninfluenced  by  commercial  or 
financial  considerations  alien  to  economy. 

Financial  manipulation  for  the  mere  acquisi- 
tion of  more  money,  without  regards  to  con- 
structive economical  organization,  necessarily 
must  be  impossible. 

There  must  be  an  active  co-operation  be- 
tween all  producers,  from  the  unskilled  laborer 
to  the  master  mind  which  directs  a  huge  indus- 
trial organization.  Such  active  co-operation 
presupposes  that  everybody  feels  personally  in- 
terested in  the  industrial  economy.  This  pre- 
supposes that  the  fear  of  unemployment,  of 
sickness,  and  old  age  has  been  relegated  into  the 
relics  of  barbarism,  and  everybody  is  assured  an 
appropriate  living,  is  assured  employment  when 
capable  to  work,  and  protected  against  want, 
maintained  in  his  or  her  standard  of  living,  when 
not  able  to  work,  not  as  a  matter  of  charity,  but 
as  an  obvious  and  self-evident  duty  of  society 
toward  the  individual. 

This  can  be  done  by  effective  social  legisla- 

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AMERICA  AND  THE  NEW   EPOCH 

tion,  as  it  has  been  done  in  other  countries;  it 
is  being  actively  considered  within  our  indus- 
trial corporations  as  well  as  by  the  public  at 
large;  some  work  in  this  direction  has  been 
done  by  legislation,  more  still  within  many  in- 
dustrial corporations,  and  the  development  of 
this  social  activity  would  probably  have  pro- 
gressed still  further  in  our  corporations  if  the 
disorganization  by  legislative  interference  had 
not  hindered  here,  as  in  most  other  directions, 
the  progress  of  industrial  organization. 

It  is  obvious  that  "industry"  here  means  not 
merely  the  manufacturing  industries,  but  equal- 
ly includes  transportation  and  communication, 
agriculture,  the  animal  industries,  dairying,  etc. 
— in  short,  all  the  human  activities  which  deal 
directly  or  indirectly  with  the  necessities  of  life. 

The  economic  development  of  the  world,  ac- 
celerated by  the  world's  war,  has  made  such  a 
co-operative  industrial  organization  of  our  na- 
tion a  necessity  of  self-preservation. 

As  structural  foundation,  on  which  to  build 
such  structure  by  evolution,  in  correspondence 
with  our  democratic  national  temperament,  we 
have  our  political  governments  —  Federal, 
State,  and  municipal — our  large  national  so- 
cieties, and  our  indusli-ial  corporations. 

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EVOLUTION:    POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 

Of  these,  the  poHLical  government  is  the  only 
one  which  is  all-embracing,  is  controlled  by  and 
responsible  to  all  citizens,  at  least  nominally. 
Therefore,  while  iLs  constructive  power  may  be 
practically  ?iil,  due  to  its  form  of  organization,  it 
has  a  vast  inhibitory  power,  far  greater  than 
any  other  power  in  our  country.  We  have  seen 
this,  and  continuously  see  it  in  the  action  toward 
corporations,  in  the  national  conservation  move- 
ment, even  in  the  power  exerted  by  subordinate 
governmental  bureaus. 

Thus,  no  organization  which  does  not  include 
the  political  government  as  an  essential  part  of 
the  structure  can  hope  to  succeed. 

JThe  natural  suggestion,  then,  would  be  to 
have  the  Federal  Government,  with  its  sub- 
ordinate State  and  municipal  governments,  or- 
ganize, control,  and  administrate  the  country's 
economic-industrial  system. 

Thus  the  political  government  would  acquire 
and  operate  all  means  of  transportation  and 
communication — railroads,  canals,  pipe  lines, 
mail  and  express,  telegraph  and  telephone.  It 
would  supervise  and  control  all  corporations 
and  their  relations  with  each  other  and  toward 
the  public.  It  would  control  the  relation  of  em- 
ployees witliin  the  corporations,  by  mandatory 

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AMERICA  AND  THE   NEW  EPOCH 

arbitration,  by  unemployment,  sickness,  and 
old-age  insurance;  control  the  hours  of  work, 
and  working  conditions,  etc.  There  is  a  consid- 
erable sentiment  in  favor  of  this  organization, 
and  this  sentiment  is  growing  in  strength. 

It  can  be  done,  because  it  has  been  success- 
fully accomplished  abroad,  in  Germany,  and 
has  united  all  classes  of  people,  and  given  the 
economic  efficiency  expected  from  it. 

However,  in  our  nation  it  would  require  not 
merely  that  the  polilical  government  take  over 
the  industrial  control,  as  was  the  case  in  Ger- 
many, but  a  government  would  first  have  to  be 
created,  capable  to  do  this,  a  problem  which  is 
far  more  difficult  than  that  which  Germany 
solved,  and  appears  impossible  with  the  demo- 
cratic temperament  of  our  nation.  It  pre- 
supi)Oses  a  powerful,  centralized  government  of 
competent  men,  remaining  continuously  in 
office,  and  no  political  government  of  this  kind 
can  exist  in  the  America  of  to-day — nor  in  the 
America  of  to-morrow. 

It  is  true  that  our  political  governments — 
Federal,  State,  and  nuuiicipal — are  steadily  be- 
coming stronger,  undertake  more  activities,  and 
successfully  accomplish  what  they  could  never 
have   undertaken   twenty   years   ago;    that  a 

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EVOLUTION:    POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 

liiglier  class  of  men  enter  governmental  service 
than  foi-merly;  that  the  quality  of  governmental 
work  improves — graft,  corruption,  and  mis- 
management for  selfish  purposes  steadily  de- 
crease. On  the  surface  the  latter  may  not 
appear  so,  and  we  hear  as  much  to-day  of  po- 
litical mismanagement  and  graft  as  we  did 
twenty  years  ago.  But  if  we  look  deeper  into 
it  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  reason  of  this 
is  that  many  things  are  now  resented  by  the 
voters  as  improper,  and  lead  to  political  death 
of  the  office-holder,  which  twenty  years  ago 
were  not  noticed  at  all,  but  passed  as  natural 
and  general  characteristics  of  political  office. 

Thus  our  political  governments  are  becoming 
better,  stronger,  and  more  capable  of  construc- 
tive work,  and  apparently  are  gradually  pro- 
gressing from  the  weak  and  inefficient  govern- 
ment of  the  democratic  nation,  toward  the 
strong  and  efficient  government  of  the  mon- 
archical nations. 

But  is  this  really  so,  and  are  we  really  chang- 
ing from  the  democratic  concentral  attitude 
toward  the  monarchical  decentral  attitude  of 
governmental  activity.'^  Looking  deeper  into 
it,  there  appears  nothing  to  warrant  such 
assumption,  but  the  increasing  strength  and  ef- 

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AMERICA  AND  THE  NEW  EPOCH 

ficiency  of  the  political  government  is  shown 
almost  exclusively  in  concentral  direction.  That 
is,  with  the  continuing  development  and  prog- 
ress of  our  nation,  more  and  more  problems, 
starting  from  individual  effort  and  passing 
through  group,  municipal.  State  action,  finallj' 
reach  the  Federal  Government  and  require  codi- 
fication, on  true  democratic  or  concentral  prin- 
ciples, and  therefore  of  necessity  created  the 
more  eflBcient  governmental  machinery  re- 
quired to  deal  with  them.  But  where  our 
Government  has  attempted  to  deal  decentrally 
with  problems,  whether  national,  State,  or 
municipal — 'that  is,  attempted  to  solve  prob- 
lems which  had  not  been  solved  and  com- 
pletely worked  out  before  on  smaller  scale  by 
smaller  organization — it  has  failed  and  is  fail- 
ing to-day.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  case  in 
the  dealing  with  corporations,  with  the  national 
conservation  movement,  etc. 

Thus  our  national  character  and  our  Govern- 
ment have  remained  the  same,  and  a  solution 
of  the  industrial  problem  by  the  initiative  of 
the  political  Government  remains  as  improbable 
as  ever. 

Our  national  societies  have  done  much  suc- 
cessful industrial  organizing  work.     Such,  for 

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EVOLUTION:    POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 

instance,  as  the  engineering  standardization, 
which  was  undertaken  and  accomplished  by 
American  national  engineering  societies,  and 
from  here  has  spread  to  other  countries  and  is 
now  concentrally  beginning  to  reach  our  Gov- 
ernment. The  movement  for  industrial  safety 
originated  and  developed  in  this  manner.  In 
the  field  of  morality  and  temperance,  national 
societies  have  been  active,  also,  though  perhaps 
not  always  wisely. 

However,  the  organization  of  even  the  largest 
national  societies  necessarily  is  so  limited  that 
with  the  exceptions  of  certain  definite  fields  of 
activity  they  cannot  be  counted  upon  for  more 
than  assistance  and  co-operation  in  the  indus- 
trial reorganization  of  the  nation.