,transcriber's ,note3 ,italic text is enclosed in underscores2 boldface text is enclosed in equals signs4 ,,riverside ,,essays ,,edited ,,by ,,ada ,l4 ,f4 ,,snell ,,associate ,,professor ,,of ,,english ,,mount ,,holyoke ,,college ,riverside ,essays ,edited by ,ada ,l4 ,f4 ,snell ,,the ,,american ,,mind ,,and ,,american ,,idealism4 ,by ,bliss ,perry4 #ce cents4 ,,university ,,subjects4 ,by ,john ,henry ,newman4 #ce cents4 ,,studies ,,in ,,nature ,,and ,,literature4 ,by ,john ,burroughs4 #ce cents4 ,,promoting ,,good ,,citizenship4 ,by ,james ,bryce4 #ce cents4 ,prices are net1 postpaid ,other titles in preparation ,,houghton ,,mifflin ,,company ,,boston ,,new ,,york ,,chicago ,the ,riverside ,literature ,series ,,promoting ,,good ,,citizenship ,,by ,,james ,,bryce ,illustration ,,boston ,,new ,,york ,,chicago ,,houghton ,,mifflin ,,company ,the ,riverside ,press ,cambridge ,,copyright1 #aiji1 ,,by ,,yale ,,university ,,press ,,copyright1 #aiac1 ,,by ,,ada ,l4 ,f4 ,,snell ,,all ,,rights ,,reserved ,r4 ,l4 ,s4 #bbg ,the ,riverside ,press ,,cambridge 4 ,,massachusetts ,u 4 ,s 4 ,a ,,contents ,,introduction vii ,,indolence #a ,,how ,,to ,,overcome ,,the ,,obstacles ,,to ,,good ,,citizenship #bf ,the two essays by ,mr4 ,james ,bryce included in this volume are reprinted by permission of ,yale ,university from ,mr4 ,bryce's lectures on the ,dodge ,foundation1 published in book form by the ,yale ,university ,press under the title of ,the ,hindrances to ,good ,citizenship4 ,,introduction ,mr4 ,bryce has for a long time been a man of international prominence4 ,his wide influence is undoubtedly due to many causes1 but it may1 in general1 be traced to two characteristics3 ,mr4 ,bryce is a humanist who sympathetically watches the progress of nations and the guiding of governments2 he is also a historian4 ,in his biographical study of ,john ,richard ,green he has skillfully analyzed the aptitudes of the historian1 and in so doing has pointedly1 if unwittingly1 described himself4 ,accuracy1 he says1--a desire for the exact truth1--keen observation1 sound judgment1 imagination1 and1 following inevitably from these1 command of literary exposition1 are the powers which a historian needs4 ,each of these qualities ,mr4 ,bryce himself possesses in large measure4 ,it is his historical power1 enabling him to observe and record the significant phases and events of human life1 plus his sympathetic interest in its present-day manifestations which explain1 in some degree1 his singularly eminent position as an authority on matters pertaining to human institutions in various countries4 ,mr4 ,bryce was born in northern ,ireland in #ahch1 of ,scotch-,irish parents2 and he combines in his nature the stalwart intellectual propensities of the ,scot and the artistic attributes of the ,celt4 ,he was educated at the ,university of ,glasgow1 and later went to ,oxford where he won many honors4 ,after finishing his collegiate work he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in ,london until #ahhb4 ,at the age of thirty-two he was appointed ,regius ,professor of ,civil ,law at ,oxford4 ,up to this point his life had been almost exclusively that of a student and a scholar2 and already at this time he was recognized as a man of remarkable historical ability4 ,the year #ahhj marked a change in his life4 ,he presented himself to the workingmen of ,tower ,hamlets1 ,london1 as a candidate for a seat in the ,house of ,commons4 ,mr4 ,stead tells us that ,mr4 ,bryce1 in this first campaign1 addressed his open-air audiences somewhat after the manner of a professor lecturing in a classroom2 he succeeded1 nevertheless1 in getting himself elected1 and for over twenty-five years thereafter was a member of ,parliament4 ,during these years he held various responsible offices having to do with home and foreign administrative work4 ,the practical results of his political influence were advancement in public education1 the securing of more extensive parks and open country spaces for the pleasure of the poorer classes1 and the furtherance of international peace4 ,in #aijg1 ,mr4 ,bryce was appointed ambassador to the ,united ,states1 which office he resigned in #aiac to carry on literary work4 ,mr4 ,bryce's knowledge is the result not only of university training and experience in public life1 but also of varied reading4 ,he has read art1 science1 history1 and has always been an interested student of poetry4 ,in speaking once to ,americans of ,swinburne1 he suddenly paused and asked1 8,who are writing your songs and stirring your heart1--or isn't your heart being stirred8 ,nothing is more important than that each generation and each land should have its poets4 ,each oncoming tide of life1 each age1 requires and needs men of lofty thought who shall dream and sing for it1 who shall gather up its tendencies and formulate its ideals and voice its spirit1 proclaiming its duties and awakening its enthusiasm1 through the high authority of the poet and the art of his verse40 ,how extensively ,mr4 ,bryce has read the poets1 both ancient and modern1 one perceives from the references and allusions in his ,studies in ,contemporary ,biography4 ,the most important source of ,mr4 ,bryce's knowledge1 the one which has furnished the material for nearly all his books1 has been his first-hand observation and study of many countries4 ,when still a young man he wandered alone over ,mount ,ararat1 since the native guides refused to follow him to the unknown wilds of that lonely peak4 ,he visited the ,ottoman ,empire in #ahgf1 and1 as a result of his investigations there1 became an advocate of the ,bulgarian cause2 in fact it was his speeches on the ,eastern ,question which first made him prominent politically4 ,mr4 ,bryce has traveled also in ,iceland2 he was in ,africa just previous to the ,boer ,war2 he has been all over ,south ,america2 and he knows the ,united ,states as few ,americans know it4 ,he has studied these countries with great faithfulness1 observing keenly every phase of the political and social life4 ,an interesting sample of his method of gathering information is found in the chapter on 8,the ,position of ,women0 in ,the ,american ,commonwealth4 ,when traveling in the ,west he noticed that all of the women seemed so very well dressed that apparently none could be the wife or daughter of a workingman2 but close observation dispelled this illusion4 ,idling in a bookstore one day in ,oregon1 he noticed a woman who was asking for a certain magazine4 ,after her departure he asked the salesman who she was1 and found that she was the wife of a workman1 and the magazine a ,paris fashion journal4 8,this10 says ,mr4 ,bryce1 8set me to observing female dress more closely1 and it turned out to be perfectly true that the women in these little towns were following the ,parisian fashions very closely1 and were1 in fact1 ahead of the majority of ,english ladies belonging to the professional and mercantile classes40 ,thus no detail1 however trivial1 escapes him2 the pleasant and unpleasant phases of our ,american life1 our manners1 clothes1 scenery have all been noted and reckoned with in the statement of tendencies and conclusions4 ,as a parliamentarian ,mr4 ,bryce is said to have been direct1 honest1 and always illuminating4 ,his ability to command attention was due not to any great oratorical gift1 but rather to his scholarly view of any matter under debate4 ,mr4 ,justin ,mc,carthy reports that the members of the ,house who might be dining1 smoking1 or reading in the rooms assigned for these purposes1 would1 when the news was passed around that ,mr4 ,bryce was speaking1 leave these pleasant diversions1 and betake themselves with great speed to the debating chamber4 8,i have many a time10 he says1 8heard ,conservative members murmur1 in tones not altogether expressing absolute satisfaction at the disturbing information1 #8,bryce is up--,i must go in and hear what he has to say4' 444 ,everybody knows that when he speaks it is because he has something to say which ought to be spoken and therefore ought to be heard40 ,mr4 ,bryce was able to command attention also because of his reputation as a courageous nonpartisan4 ,he never advocated a measure or policy for mere party reasons or for personal aggrandizement4 ,not infrequently he has fought bravely with the minority of his own party1 and has at times suffered bitter attacks1 as when he remained resolutely pro-,boer during the rampant jingoism of the ,south ,african ,war4 ,but however widely political enemies might differ from him1 they respected his sincerity and his luminous view of governmental problems4 ,it is further characteristic of ,mr4 ,bryce's public life that he never1 in his desire for the welfare of his own country1 lost sight of what is due other nations4 ,in practice as well as in precept he upheld the doctrine that 8patriotism consists not in waving a flag1 but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong40 ,mr4 ,bryce's books deal1 for the most part1 with historical subjects and present-day governments4 ,the ,holy ,roman ,empire1 written when he was only twenty-four years old1 is still regarded by able historians as an accurate and authoritative work2 and1 in the judgment of literary critics1 it is written with so much charm of style that it is destined to become an ,english classic4 ,all of the books which have to do with foreign nations are characterized by a tactful1 faithful1 and above all a truthful1 handling4 ,it was ,the ,american ,commonwealth which made the citizens of the ,united ,states regard ,mr4 ,bryce as a friend of the ,republic2 but he is not so regarded because he has always stroked the gleaming pinions of the ,american eagle4 ,although he does seem to share the hope universally cherished by ,americans that we shall1 in spite of grave national defects1 8win out0 in the end1 he has nevertheless1 in direct and unadorned statements1 pointed out our faults4 ,as an example of his characteristic straightforwardness of speech1 take the following sentence3 8,america has little occasion to think of foreign affairs1 but some of her domestic difficulties are such as to demand that careful observation and unbroken reflection which neither her executive magistrates1 nor her legislatures1 nor any leading class among her people now give40 ,mr4 ,bryce has never ceased to insist that ,america suffers from lack of honest1 courageous leadership in dealing with such problems as municipal evils and the insidious influence of 8vested interests40 ,our heedlessness and indifference to public matters is our national sin1 but ,mr4 ,bryce foresees a cure for our defects in the increasing zeal with which the younger generation is assuming the public burden2 but how great must be its zeal and how steady its purpose if anything is to be accomplished1 one is made poignantly aware by reading the account of the ,tammany ,ring in ,the ,american ,commonwealth4 ,when a man of ,mr4 ,bryce's ability and experience points out definitely the chief obstacles to good citizenship and furthermore indicates the means by which these may be overcome1 one may be as sure that he will say something which should be heeded as were the members of the ,house when he was a parliamentarian4 ,in #aiji1 ,mr4 ,bryce gave at ,yale ,university a series of lectures which were later published by the ,yale ,university ,press under the title ,hindrances to ,good ,citizenship4 ,the main obstacles to good citizenship are defined as indolence1 private self-interest1 and party spirit4 ,the first lecture1 8,indolence10 brings to mind the chapter in ,the ,american ,commonwealth on 8,the ,war ,against ,bossdom10 with its vigorous concluding words1 8,in ,america1 as everywhere else in the world1 the commonwealth suffers more often from apathy or shortsightedness in the upper classes1 who ought to lead1 than from ignorance or recklessness in the humbler classes1 who generally are ready to follow when wisely led40 ,in the second lecture1 8,private ,self-,interest10 ,mr4 ,bryce states the causes which produce a body of citizens who care more about their own advancement than about the welfare of the country4 ,the most important of these causes are tariff issues1 appropriations of public money for local interests1 governmental contracts1 public officeholding1--all representing 8the insidious power of money which knows how to play upon the self-interest of voters and legislators1 polluting at its source the spring of ,civic ,duty40 ,the third lecture considers party spirit as a hindrance to citizenship4 ,mr4 ,bryce acknowledges the practical necessity for parties in the management of popular governments1 and also the perplexing difficulties of a party leader who must decide between conscience and party4 ,there is nevertheless but one course open to him3 he must follow his conscience2 only he must carefully distinguish between conscience and angular independence which is lacking in common sense and in willingness to defer to others in unimportant matters4 ,for the average man the question is a simple one2 relieved of the burdens of party leadership1 he should follow his intelligence rather than his party4 ,a large number of independent voters secures most effectively the right administration of public business4 ,the last lecture in the series1 8,how to ,overcome the ,obstacles to ,good ,citizenship10 suggests various means by which a more satisfactory body of citizens may be secured4 ,in method and style this lecture is illustrative of the author's peculiar strength in exposition4 ,mr4 ,bryce's writings are remarkable for the lucid organization of a wealth of detail into significant principles and sound conclusions2 for vividness in the presentation of whatever pertains to humanity1 and for gracious1 winning ,english4 ,one finds always in his work simplicity in the unfolding of material which has been carefully gathered and calmly judged4 ,there is perfect clarity in the handling of a mass of detail1 and such skillful subordination of it and masterly emphasis of important principles that the reader easily catches the bearing on the central thought of every illustration or description4 ,there is also in the writing a solidity and firmness1 a bracing stalwartness--qualities which are the result of the writer's own sturdy nature4 ,but this is not all4 ,the author's almost novelistic power of seeing persons and things makes his writing as vivid as a story2 even his most abstract propositions are tangible and real4 ,and the material is1 moreover1 so sympathetically and earnestly treated that it is at times lifted above mere pedestrian exposition and becomes warm with the feeling of the writer4 ,the everyday words and unadorned sentences1 infused with the spirit of the one who writes1 become potent to stir slumbering ideals4 ,suddenly over the level way of mere intellectual matters falls a dreamy light1 a ,celtic graciousness of manner2 and the reader no longer journeys along a mere brown path1 but sees the familiar scenes of the way idealized by the touch of poetry4 ,the value of skillful exposition as an asset for leadership1 or for the accomplishment of any other purpose1 ,mr4 ,bryce fully appreciates4 ,a command of language is a power possessed by nearly every one of the men1 eminent in the nineteenth century1 whom ,mr4 ,bryce describes in his ,studies in ,contemporary ,biography4 ,by means of it ,mr4 ,john ,richard ,green wrote the most brilliant history of modern times2 through the stirring editorials of the ,nation1 ,mr4 ,godkin was able to arouse an indifferent ,american public to a more earnest consideration of the national welfare2 and it was ,mr4 ,gladstone's gift of 8noble utterance0 which more than any other talent enabled him for many years to hold an authoritative political position4 ,mr4 ,bryce's own rare power as a writer of vigorous1 persuasive ,english is one of the qualities which has made him in a certain sense a citizen of the world with an almost world-wide influence4 ,however helpful ,mr4 ,bryce's method may be for the student who is attempting to understand and master the technique of successful ,english1 it is the subject-matter which is primarily of importance4 ,it is valuable for the student since it may serve to stimulate the investigation and expression of certain questions connected with the administration of public matters in his own town or city2 and it may also suggest the explanation and judgment of measures proposed to secure better government1 such as the ,referendum4 ,but the essential worth of the material lies in the fact that it is a tonic for relaxed vigilance in public affairs4 ,it would be well to require every citizen of the ,united ,states to read in school days ,the ,american ,commonwealth2 one ventures to say that there would be1 as a result1 a steady advancement in the right understanding and fulfillment of civic duties2 but even a limited acquaintance with ,mr4 ,bryce should serve to define in clearer terms the elements of a sane and effective patriotism4 ,and ,mr4 ,bryce's own life1 unfalteringly and resolutely devoted to a just administration of governments1 together with its unfailing graciousness in the most trying situations1 furnishes an invigorating example of the truly successful statesman4 ,,ada ,l4 ,f4 ,,snell4 ,promoting ,good ,citizenship ,,indolence ,dr4 ,samuel ,johnson1 being once asked how he came to have made a blunder in his famous ,english ,dictionary1 is reported to have answered1 8,ignorance1 ,sir1 sheer ignorance40 ,whoever has grown old enough to look back over the wasted opportunities of life--and we all of us waste more opportunities than we use--will be apt to ascribe most of his blunders to sheer indolence4 ,sometimes one has omitted to learn what it was needful to learn in order to proceed to action2 sometimes one has shrunk from the painful effort required to reflect and decide on one's course1 leaving it to ,fortune to settle what ,will ought to have settled2 sometimes one has1 from mere self-indulgent sluggishness1 let the happy moment slip4 ,the difference between men who succeed and men who fail is not so much as we commonly suppose due to differences in intellectual capacity4 ,the difference which counts for most is that between activity and slackness2 between the man who1 observing alertly and reflecting incessantly1 anticipates contingencies before they occur1 and the lazy1 easy-going1 slowly-moving man who is roused with difficulty1 will not trouble himself to look ahead1 and so being taken unprepared loses or misuses the opportunities that lead to fortune4 ,if it be true that everywhere1 though perhaps less here than in ,european countries1 energy is the exception rather than the rule1 we need not wonder that men show in the discharge of civic duty the defects which they show in their own affairs4 ,no doubt public affairs demand only a small part of their time4 ,but the spring of self-interest is not strong where public affairs are concerned4 ,the need for activity is not continuously present4 ,a duty shared with many others seems less of a personal duty4 ,if a hundred1 a thousand1 ten thousand other citizens are as much bound to speak1 vote1 or act as each one of us is1 the sense of obligation becomes to each of us weak4 ,still weaker does it become when one perceives the neglect of others to do their duty4 ,the need for the good citizen's action1 no doubt1 becomes then all the greater4 ,but it is only the best sort of citizen that feels it to be greater4 ,the ,average ,man judges himself by the average standard and does not see why he should take more trouble than his neighbours4 ,thus we arrive at a result summed up in the terrible dictum1 which reveals the basic fault of democracy1 8,what is ,everybody's business is ,nobody's business40 ,of indolence1 indifference1 apathy1 in general1 no more need be said4 ,it is a sin that easily besets us all4 ,we might suppose that where public affairs are concerned it would decrease under the influence of education and the press4 ,but several general causes have tended to increase it in our own generation1 despite the increasing strength of the appeal which civic duty makes to men who are1 or if they cared might be1 better informed about public affairs than were their fathers4 ,the first of these causes is that manners have grown gentler and passions less angry4 ,a chief duty of the good citizen is to be angry when anger is called for1 and to express his anger by deeds1 to attack the bad citizen in office1 or otherwise in power1 to expose his dishonesty1 to eject him from office1 to brand him with an ignominy which will prevent his returning to any post of trust4 ,in former days indignation flamed higher1 and there was little tenderness for offenders4 ,jehu smote the prophets of ,baal4 ,bad ministers--and no doubt sometimes good ministers also--were in ,england beheaded on ,tower ,hill4 ,everywhere punishment came quicker and was more severe1 though to be sure it was often too harsh4 ,nowadays the arm of justice is often arrested by an indulgence which forgets that the true aim of punishment is the protection of the community4 ,the very safeguards with which our slower and more careful procedure has surrounded trials and investigations1 proper as such safeguards are for the security of the innocent1 have often so delayed the march of justice that when a conviction has at last been obtained1 the offence has begun to be forgotten and the offender escapes with a trifling penalty1 or with none4 ,this is an illustration of the principle that as righteous indignation is a valuable motive power in politics1 the decline in it means a decline either in the standard of virtue or in the standard of zeal1 possibly in both4 ,another cause may be found in the fact that the enormous growth of modern states has made the share in government of the individual citizen seem infinitesimally small4 ,in an average ,greek republic1 he was one of from two to ten thousand voters4 ,in ,england or ,france to-day he is one of many millions4 ,the chance that his vote will make any difference to the result is so slender that it appears to him negligible4 ,we are proud1 and justly proud1 of having adapted free government to areas far vaster than were formerly thought capable of receiving free institutions4 ,it was hoped that the patriotism of the citizen would expand with the magnitude of the ,state4 ,but this did not happen in ,rome1 the greatest of ancient republics4 ,can we say that it has happened in the modern world8 ,few of us realize that though our own share may be smaller our responsibility increases with the power our ,state exerts4 ,the late ,professor ,henry ,sidgwick once travelled from ,davos in the easternmost corner of ,switzerland to the town of ,cambridge in ,england and back again to deliver his vote against ,home ,rule at the general election of #ahhf1 though he knew that his own side would have a majority in the constituency4 ,those who knew applauded1 his opponents included1 but ,i fear that few of us followed this shining example of civic virtue4 ,thirdly1 the highest1 because the most difficult1 duty of a citizen is to fight valiantly for his convictions when he is in a minority4 ,the smaller the minority1 and the more unpopular it is1 and the more violent are the attacks upon it1 so much the louder is the call of duty to defend one's opinions4 ,to withstand the 8ardor civium prava iubentium0--to face 8the multitude hasting to do evil0--this is the note and the test of genuine virtue and courage4 ,now this is1 or seems to be1 a more formidable task the vaster the community becomes4 ,it is harder to make your voice heard against the roar of ocean than against the whistling squall that sweeps down over a mountain lake4 ,lastly1 there has been within the last century a great accession to our knowledge of nature1 a more widely diffused and developed interest in literature and art as well as in science4 ,this development1 in itself fraught with laudable means of enjoyment1 has had the unforeseen yet natural result of reducing the interest in public affairs among the educated classes1 while the ardour with which competitions in physical strength and skill are followed has in like manner diverted the thoughts and attention of the less educated--and indeed1 not of them alone but of many also in a class from whom better things might have been expected4 ,politics1 in fact1 have nowadays to strive against more rival subjects attracting men's eyes and minds than they had before scientific discovery and art1 and above all1 athletic sports1 came to fill newspapers and magazines4 ,but so far from being less important than they were1 politics are growing in every country more important the wider the sphere of governmental action becomes4 ,nevertheless1 even in ,england1 which is perhaps slightly less addicted to this new passion for looking on at and reading about athletic competitions than are ,north ,america and ,australia1 a cricket or football match or a horse-race seems1 if one may judge by the eager throngs that snatch the evening newspapers1 to excite more interest in the middle as well as in the richer and in the upper section of the poorer classes than does any political event4 ,how to overcome these adverse tendencies is a question which ,i reserve till the last of these lectures4 ,meantime1 let us look at some of the forms in which indifference to the obligations of citizenship reveals itself4 ,the first duty of the citizen used to be to fight1 and to fight not merely against foes from another ,state1 but against those also who1 within his own ,state1 were trying to overturn the ,constitution or resist the laws4 ,it is a duty still incumbent on us all1 though the existence of soldiers and a police force calls us to it less frequently4 ,the omission to take up arms in a civil strife was a grave offence in the republics of antiquity1 where revolutions were frequent1 as they are to-day in some of the states of ,latin ,america4 ,when respectable people stayed at home instead of taking sword and spear to drive out the adherents of an adventurer trying to make himself ,tyrant1 they gave the adventurer his chance3 and in any case their abstention tended to prolong a civil war which would end sooner when it was seen which way the bulk of the people inclined4 ,there was accordingly a law in some of the ,greek republics that every citizen must take one side or the other in an insurrection4 ,if he did not1 he was liable to punishment4 ,i have not heard of any one being indicted in ,england or the ,united ,states for failing to discharge his legal duty to join in the hue and cry after a thief1 or to rally to the sheriff when he calls upon the posse comitatus to support him in maintaining law and order4 ,but possibly an indictment would still lie2 and in ,england we have within recent times enrolled bodies of special constables from the civil population to aid in maintaining public tranquillity4 ,more peaceful times have substituted for the duty of fighting the duty of voting4 ,but even in small communities the latter duty has been often neglected4 ,in ,athens the magistrates used to send round the ,scythian bowmen1 who acted as their police1 to scour the streets with a rope coloured with vermilion1 and drag towards the ,pnyx 7the place of assembly71 citizens who preferred to lounge or to mind what they called their own business1 as if ruling the ,state was not their business4 ,so in modern ,switzerland some cantons have enacted laws fining those who1 without reasonable excuse1 neglect to vote4#a ,this is the more remarkable because the ,swiss have a good record in the matter of voting1 better1 ,i think1 than any other ,european people4 ,such a law witnesses not to exceptional negligence but to an exceptionally high standard of duty4 ,in ,britain we sometimes bring to the polls at a parliamentary election eighty1 or even more than eighty1 per cent of our registered electors1 which is pretty good when it is remembered that the register may have been made up eleven months earlier1 so that many electors are sure to have moved elsewhere4 ,at elections for local authorities a much smaller proportion vote2 and ,i fancy1 though ,i have no figures at hand1 that in ,france1 ,belgium1 and still more in ,italy the percentage voting at all sorts of elections is less than in ,switzerland or in ,britain4 ,the number who vote does not perfectly measure the personal sense of duty among electors1 because an efficient party organization may1 like the ,scythian bowmen1 sweep voters who do not care but who can be either driven to the polls or paid to go4 ,unless it is money that takes the voters there1 it is well that they should go2 for it helps to form the habit4 #a ,this example has1 ,i believe1 been followed in ,belgium4 ,another form of civic apathy is the reluctance to undertake civic functions4 ,in ,england this is not discoverable in any want of candidates for ,parliament4 ,they abound1 though sometimes the fittest men prefer ease or business success to public life4 ,but seats upon local authorities and especially upon municipal councils and district councils1 seldom attract the best ability of the local community4 ,in ,english and ,scottish cities the leading commercial1 financial1 and professional men do not often appear as candidates1 leaving the work to persons who are not indeed incompetent1 being usually intelligent business men1 but whose education and talents are sometimes below the level of the functions which these bodies discharge4 ,no great harm has followed1 because our city councillors are almost always honest4 ,local public opinion is vigilant and exacting1 so a high standard of probity is maintained4 ,but municipalities have latterly embarked on so many kinds of new work1 and the revenues of the greater cities have so grown1 that not merely business capacity and experience1 but a large grasp of economic principles is required4 ,this is no less true here in ,america1 yet ,i gather that here it is found even more difficult than in ,europe to secure the presence of able administrators in city councils4 ,a man engaged in a large business who takes up municipal work may doubtless find that he is making a pecuniary sacrifice4 ,but if he has already an income sufficient for his comfort1 may it not be his best way of serving his fellow-men8 ,many such men do serve as governors or trustees of educational or other public institutions which make nearly as great a demand on their time as the membership of a public body would4 ,others1 in ,europe1 if less frequently here1 give to amusement much more of their leisure than the needs of recreation and health require4 ,this is often due rather to thoughtlessness than to a conscious indifference to the call of duty4 ,some of your political reformers have dwelt on the difficulties which party organizations1 specially powerful in the ,united ,states1 place in the way of educated and public-spirited men seeking to enter politics4 ,there may be truth in this as regards the lower districts of the larger cities1 but one can scarcely think it generally true even of the cities4 ,more frequently it is alleged that the work of local politics is disagreeable1 bringing a man into contact with vulgar people and exposing him to misrepresentation and abuse4 ,this is an excuse for abstention which ought never to be heard in a democratic country4 ,if politics are anywhere vulgar1 they ought not to be suffered to remain vulgar1 as they will remain if the better educated citizens keep aloof4 ,they involve the highest interests of the nation or the city4 ,the way in which they are handled is a lesson to the people either in honesty or in knavery4 ,the best element in a community cannot afford to let its interests be the sport of self-seekers or rogues4 ,moreover1 the loss by maladministration or robbery1 large as it may sometimes be1 is a less serious evil than is the damage to public morals4 ,if those who have the manners and speak the language of educated men refuse to enter practical politics1 they must cease to complain of a want of refinement in politics4 ,in reality1 good manners are the best way in which to meet rudeness2 and he who is too thin-skinned to disregard abuse confesses his own want of manliness4 ,the mass of the people1 even those who are neither educated nor fastidious1 know honesty when they see it1 and discount such abuse4 ,when a man is firm and upright1 nothing better braces him up and fits him to serve his country than to be attacked on the platform or in the press for faults he has not committed4 ,it puts him on his mettle4 ,it toughens his fibre4 ,it gives him self-control and teaches him how to do right in the way which is least exposed to misrepresentation4 ,it nerves his courage for the far more difficult trials which come when friends as well as opponents censure him because honour and obedience to his conscience have required him to take an unpopular line and speak unwelcome truths4 ,a little persecution for righteousness' sake is a wholesome thing4 ,the deficient sense of civic duty1 though most frequently noted in the form of a neglect to vote1 is really more general and serious in the neglect to think4 ,were it possible to have statistics to show what percentage of those who vote reflect upon the vote they have to give1 there would in no country be found a large percentage4 ,yet what is the worth of a vote except as the expression of a considered opinion8 ,the act of marking a ballot is nothing unless the mark carries with it a judgment1 the preference of a good candidate to a bad one1 the approval of one policy offered the people1 the rejection of another4 ,the citizen owes it to the community to inform himself about the questions submitted for his decision1 and weigh the arguments on each side2 or if the issue be one rather of persons than of policies1 to learn all he can regarding the merits of the candidates offered to his choice4 ,how many voters really trouble themselves to do this8 ,one in five8 ,one in ten8 ,one in twenty8 ,it may be asked1 ,how can they do it8 ,what means have they of studying public questions and reaching just conclusions8 ,if the means are wanting1 can we blame them if they do not think8 ,if they feel they do not understand1 can we blame them if they do not vote8 ,in every free country the suffrage is now so wide that the great majority of the voters have to labour for their daily bread4 ,in most ,european countries many are imperfectly educated4 ,in the rural districts they read with difficulty1 see either no newspaper or one which helps them but little1 lead isolated lives in which there are scanty opportunities for learning what passes1 so that the best they can do seems to be to ask advice from the priest1 or the village schoolmaster1 or take advice from their landlord or their employer4 ,in the northern parts of the ,united ,states and also in ,canada1 the native population has indeed received a fair instruction1 and reads newspapers2 but the mass of voters is swelled by a crowd of recent immigrants1 most of whom cannot read ,english and know nothing of your institutions4 ,broadly speaking1 in modern countries ruled by universal suffrage the ,average ,citizen has not the means of adequately discharging the function which the constitution throws upon him of following1 examining1 and judging those problems of statesmanship which the ever-growing range of government administration and the ever-increasing complexity of our civilization set before him as a voter to whom issues of policy are submitted4 ,as things stand1 he votes1 when he votes1 not from knowledge1 but as his party or his favourite newspaper bids him1 or according to his predilection for some particular leader4 ,unless it be held that every man has a natural and indefeasible right to a share in the government of the country in which he resides1 the ground for giving that share would seem to be the competence of the recipient and the belief that his sharing will promote the general welfare4 ,so one may almost say that the theory of universal suffrage assumes that the ,average ,citizen is an active1 instructed1 intelligent ruler of his country4#b ,the facts contradict this assumption4 #b ,it may no doubt be argued that even if he is not competent1 it is better he should be within than without the voting class4 ,but this was not the ground generally taken by those who brought in universal suffrage4 ,does this mean that widely extended suffrage is a failure1 and that the ,average ,man is not a competent citizen in a democracy8 ,this question brings us to reflect on another branch of civic duty not yet mentioned4 ,besides the civic duties already described of ,fighting1 ,voting1 and ,thinking1 there is another duty4 ,it is the duty of ,mutual ,help1 the duty incumbent on those who possess1 through their knowledge and intelligence1 the capacity of ,instruction and ,persuasion to advise and to guide their less competent fellow-citizens4 ,no sensible man ought ever to have supposed that under such conditions as large modern communities present1 the bulk of the citizens could vote wisely from their own private knowledge and intelligence4 ,even in small cities1 such as was ,sicyon in the days of ,aratus1 or ,boston in the days of ,james ,otis1 the ,average ,man needed the help of his more educated and wiser neighbours4 ,while communities remained small1 it was easy to get this help4 ,but now the swift and vast growth of states and cities has changed everything4 ,private talk counts for less when the richer citizens dwell apart from the poorer2 their opportunities of meeting are fewer1 and there is less friendliness1 if also less dependence1 in the relation of the employed to the employer4 ,public meetings do not give nearly all that the ,average ,man needs1 not to add that being got together to present one set of facts and arguments and deliberately to ignore the other1 they do not put him in a fair position to judge4 ,besides1 the men who most need instruction are usually those who least come to meetings to receive it4 ,to fill this void the newspapers have arisen1--organs purporting to supply the materials required for the formation of political opinion4 ,whatever the services of the newspaper in other respects1 it has the inevitable defect of superseding1 with most of those who read it1 the exercise of independent thought4 ,the newspaper--,i speak generally1 for there are some brilliant exceptions--is1 in ,europe even more than here1 almost always partisan in its views1 often partisan in its selection of facts or at least in its way of stating them4 ,presenting one side of a case1 addressing chiefly those who are already adherents of that side1 putting a colour on the events it reports1--it serves up to the reader ideas1 perhaps only mere phrases or catchwords1 which confirm him in his prepossessions1 and by its daily iteration makes him take them for truths4 ,seldom has he the leisure1 still more seldom the impulse or the patience1 to scrutinize these ideas for himself and form his own judgment4 ,he is glad to be relieved of the necessity for thinking1 because thinking is hard work4 ,indolence again6 ,the habit of mind that is formed by hasty reading1 and especially by the reading of newspapers and magazines in which the matter1 excellent as parts of it often are1 is so multifarious that one topic diverts attention from the others1 tends to a general dissipation and distraction of thought4 ,it is a habit which tells upon us all and makes continuous reflection and a critical or logical treatment of the subjects deserving reflection more irksome to us in the full sunlight of to-day than it was to those whom we call our benighted ancestors4 ,this is only one form of that supersession of the practice of thinking by the vice commonly called 8the reading habit0 which is profoundly affecting the intellectual life of our time4 ,yet as steady thinking was never really common even among the educated1 the difference from earlier days is not so correctly described by saying that people think less than formerly1 as by noting that while people read more1 and while far more people read1 the ratio of thinking to reading does not increase either in the individual or in the mass1 and may possibly be decreasing4 ,intelligence and independence of thought have not grown in proportion to the diffusion of knowledge4 ,the number of persons who both read and vote is in ,england and ,france more than twenty times as great as it was seventy years ago4 ,the percentage of those who reflect before they vote has not kept pace either with popular education or with the extension of the suffrage4 ,the persons who constitute that percentage are1 and must for the reasons already given continue for some time to be1 only a fraction1 in some countries a small fraction1 of the voting population4 ,but the fraction might be made much larger than it is4 ,the citizens who stand above their fellows in knowledge and mental power ought to set an example1 not only by themselves thinking more and thinking harder about public affairs than most of them do1 but also by exerting themselves to stimulate and aid their less instructed or more listless neighbours4 ,the voter1 it is said1 should be independent4 ,yes4 ,but independence does not mean isolation4 ,he must not commit his personal responsibility to the keeping of another4 ,yes4 ,but personal responsibility does not mean the vain conceit of knowledge and judgment where knowledge is wanting and judgment is untrained4 ,just as his religion throws upon every ,christian the duty of loving his neighbour and giving practical expression to his love by helping his neighbour1 succouring him in the hour of need1 trying to rescue him from sin1 seeking to guide his steps into the way of peace1 so civic duty requires each of us to raise the level of citizenship not merely by ourselves voting and bearing a share in political agitation1 but by trying to diffuse among our fellow-citizens whose opportunities have been less favourable1 the knowledge and the fairness of mind and the habit of grappling with political questions which a democratic government must demand even from the ,average ,man4 ,democracy1 they say1 is based on ,equality4 ,but in no form of government is leadership so essential4 ,a multitude without intelligent1 responsible leaders whom it respects and follows is a crowd ready to become the prey of any self-seeking knave4 ,nor is it true that because men value equality they reject eminence4 ,they are always glad to be led if some one1 eschewing pretension and condescension1 speaking to them with respect1 but also with that authority which knowledge and capacity imply1 will point out the path and give them the lead for which they are looking4 ,to do this has now1 in our great cities1 become more difficult than it used to be1 because men of different classes and different occupations do not know one another as well as they once did1 and economic conflicts have made workingmen suspicious4 ,but there are those in our ,english and ,scottish cities who do it successfully1 and ,i have never heard that it is resented4 ,it is largely a matter of tact1 and of knowing how to express that genuine sense of human fellowship which is commoner in the richer class than the constraint and shyness that are supposed to beset ,englishmen sometimes allow to appear4 ,if you and we1 both here and in ,britain1 are less active than we should be in this and other forms of civic work1 the fault lies in our not caring enough for our country4 ,it is easy to wave a flag1 to cheer an eminent statesman1 to exult in some achievement by land or sea4 ,but our imaginations are too dull to realize either the grandeur of the ,state in its splendid opportunities for promoting the welfare of the masses1 or the fact that the nobility of the ,state lies in its being the true child1 the true exponent1 of the enlightened will of a right-minded and law-abiding people4 ,absorbed in business or pleasure1 we think too little of what our membership in a free nation means for the happiness of our poorer fellow-citizens4 ,the eloquent voice of a patriotic reformer sometimes breaks our slumber4 ,but the daily round of business and pleasure soon again fills the mind1 and public duty fades into the background of life4 ,this dulness of imagination and the mere indolence which makes us neglect to stop and think1 are a chief cause of that indifference which chokes the growth of civic duty4 ,it is because a great ,university like this is the place where the imagination of young men may best be quickened by the divine fire1 because the sons of a great ,university are those who may best carry with them into after life the inspiration which history and philosophy and poetry have kindled within its venerable walls1 that ,i have ventured to dwell here on the special duty which those who enjoy these privileges owe to their brethren1 partners in the citizenship of a great republic4 ,,how ,,to ,,overcome ,,the ,,obstacles ,,to ,,good ,,citizenship ,in the preceding three lectures#c the chief hindrances to the discharge of civic duty have been considered4 ,let us now go on to inquire what can be done to remove these hindrances by grappling with those faults or weaknesses in the citizen to which they are due4 ,when symptoms have been examined1 one looks about for remedies4 #c ,the two lectures reprinted in this volume are the first and last of a series of four given by ,mr4 ,bryce at ,yale ,university4 ,we have seen that of the three causes assigned1 ,indolence1 ,selfish ,personal ,interest1 and ,party ,spirit1 the first is the most common1 the second the most noxious1 the third the most excusable1 yet also the most subtle1 and perhaps the most likely to affect the class which takes the lead in politics and is incessantly employed upon its daily work4 ,whether the influence of these causes1 or of any of them1 is increasing with that more complete democratization of government which we see going on in ,europe1 is a question that cannot yet be answered4 ,fifty years may be needed before it can be answered1 for new tendencies both for good and for evil are constantly emerging and affecting one another in unpredictable ways4 ,the remedies that may be applied to any defects in the working of governments are some of them ,mechanical1 some of them ,ethical4 ,by ,mechanical remedies ,i understand those which consist in improving the structure or the customs and working devices of government1 i4 e41 the laws and the institutions or political methods1 by ,ethical those which affect the character and spirit of the people4 ,if you want to get more work and better work done in any industry1 you may either improve the machinery1 or the implements1 by which the work is done1 or else improve the strength and skill of the men who run the machinery and use the tools4 ,in doing the former1 you sometimes do the latter also1 for when the workman has finer tools1 he is led on to attempt more difficult work1 and thus not only does his own skill become more perfect1 but his interest in the work is likely to be increased4 ,although in politics by far the most real and lasting progress may be expected from raising the intelligence and virtue of the citizens1 still improvements in the machinery of government must not be undervalued4 ,to take away from bad men the means and opportunities by which they may work evil1 to furnish good men with means and opportunities which make it easier for them to prevent or overcome evil1 is to render a great service4 ,and as laws which breathe a high spirit help to educate the whole community1 so does the presence of opportunities for reform stimulate and invigorate the best citizens in their efforts after better things4 ,i will enumerate briefly some of the remedies that may be classed as ,mechanical because they consist in alterations of institutions or methods4 ,two of these need only a few passing words1 because they are so sweeping as to involve the whole fabric of government1 and therefore too large to be discussed here4 ,one is propounded by those thinkers whom1 to distinguish them from the persons who announce themselves as enemies of all society1 we may call the ,philosophical ,anarchists1 thinkers who are entitled to respectful consideration because their doctrine represents a protest that needs to be made against the conception of an all-engulfing ,state in which individual initiative and self-guided development might be merged and lost4 ,they desire to get rid of the defects of government by getting rid of government itself2 that is to say1 by leaving men entirely alone without any coercive control1 trusting to their natural good impulses to restrain them from harming one another4 ,in such a state of things there would be no ,citizenship1 properly so called1 but only the isolation of families1 or perhaps of individuals--for it is not quite clear how far the family is expected to remain in the ,anarchist paradise--an isolation more or less qualified by brotherly love4 ,we are so far at present from a prospect of reaching the conditions needed for such an amelioration that it is enough to note this view and pass on4 ,a second and diametrically opposite cure for the evils of existing society comes from those who are commonly termed ,socialists or ,collectivists4 ,it consists in so widely enlarging the functions of government as to commit to it not merely all the work it now performs of defending the country1 maintaining order1 enacting laws1 and enforcing justice between man and man1 but also the further work of producing and distributing all commodities1 allotting to each man his proper labour and proper remuneration1 or possibly1 instead of giving any pecuniary remuneration1 providing each man with what he needs for life4 ,under this rgime two of the hindrances to good citizenship would be much reduced4 ,there ought to be less indifference to politics when everybody's interest in the management of public concerns had been immensely increased by the fact that he found himself dependent on the public officials for everything4 ,nobody could plead that he was occupied by his own private business1 because his private business would have vanished4 ,so also selfish personal interest in making gains out of government must needs disappear when private property itself had ceased to exist4 ,whether1 however1 self-interest might not still find means of influencing public administration in ways beneficial to individual cupidity1 and whether personal selfishness might not be even more dangerous1 under such conditions1 in proportion to the extended range and power of government1--this is another question which cannot be discussed till some definite scheme for the allotment of work and of remuneration 7if any7 shall have been propounded4 ,party ,spirit would evidently1 in a ,collectivistic ,state1 pass into new forms4 ,it might1 however1 become more potent than ever before4 ,but that again would depend on the kind of scheme for the reshaping of economic society that had been adopted4 ,we may pass from these suggestions for the extinction1 or reconstruction on new lines1 of the existing social and political system to certain minor devices for improving the structure and methods of government which have been put forward as likely to help the citizen to discharge his duties more efficiently4 ,one of these is the system of ,proportional ,representation4 ,it is argued that if electoral areas were created with more than two members each1 and if each elector was either allowed to vote for a number of candidates less than the number to be chosen1 or was allowed to concentrate all his votes upon one candidate1 or more1 according to the number to be chosen1 two good results would follow4 ,the will of the electors would be more adequately and exactly expressed1 because the minority1 or possibly more than one minority1 as well as the majority1 would have everywhere its representative4 ,the zeal of the electors would be stimulated1 because in each district a section of opinion not large enough to have a chance of winning an election1 if there were but one member1 and accordingly now apathetic1 because without hope1 would then be roused to organize itself and to take a warmer interest in public affairs4 ,the ,proportional system is1 therefore1 advocated as one of those improvements in machinery which would react upon the people by quickening the pulses of public life4 ,some experiments have already been made in this direction4 ,those tried in ,england did not win general approval and have been dropped4 ,that which is still in operation in the ,state of ,illinois has not1 if my informants are right1 given much satisfaction4 ,but the plan is said to work well both in ,belgium and in some of the cantons of ,switzerland2 so one may hope that further experiments will be attempted4 ,it deserves your careful study1 but it is too complicated and opens too many side issues to be further discussed now and here4#d #d ,since the above was written a ,royal ,commission has been appointed in ,britain to examine divers questions relating to elections1 and is investigating this1 among other plans4 ,attempts have been made in some places to overcome the indifference of citizens to their duty by fining those who1 without sufficient excuse1 fail to vote4 ,this plan of ,obligatory ,voting1 as it is called1 finds favour in some ,swiss cantons and in ,belgium1 but is too uncongenial to the habits of ,england or of the ,united ,states to be worth considering as a practical measure in either country4 ,moreover1 the neglect to vote is no very serious evil in either country1 at least as regards the more important elections4 ,swiss legislation on the subject is evidence not so much of indifference among the citizens of that country as of the high standard of public duty they are expected to reach4 ,when we come to the proposals made both here and in ,england for the reference of proposals to a direct popular vote1 we come to a question of real practical importance4 ,i wish that ,i had time to state to you and to examine the arguments both for and against this mode of legislation1 which has been practised for many years in ,switzerland with a virtually unanimous approval1 and has been applied pretty freely in some of your ,states4 ,it has taken two forms4 ,one is the so-called ,initiative1 under which a section of the electors 7being a number1 or a proportion1 prescribed by law7 may propose a law upon which the people vote4 ,this is being tried in ,switzerland1 but so far as ,i have been able to gather1 has not yet proved its utility4 ,the balance of skilled opinion seems to incline against it4 ,the other is called the ,referendum1 and consists in the submission to popular vote of measures already passed by the legislative body4 ,in this form the reference of laws to the people undoubtedly sharpens the interest of the ordinary citizen in the conduct of public affairs4 ,the ,swiss voters1 at any rate1 take pains to inform themselves on the merits of the measures submitted to them4 ,these are widely and acutely canvassed at public meetings1 and in the press4 ,a large vote is usually cast1 and all1 whether or no they approve the result1 agree that it is an intelligent1 not a heedless1 vote4 ,the ,swiss do not seem to think that the power and dignity of the legislature is weakened1 as some might expect it to be1 when their final voice is thus superseded by that of the people4 ,all ,i need now ask you to note and remember is that the practice of bringing political issues directly before the people1 whatever its drawbacks1 does tend to diminish both that indolence and indifference which is pretty common among ,european voters4 ,it requires every citizen to think for himself and deliver his vote upon all the more important measures1 and it also reduces the power of that ,party ,spirit which everywhere distracts men's minds from the real merits of the questions before the country4 ,when a law is submitted to the ,swiss people for their judgment1 their decision nowise affects either the ,executive or the ,legislature4 ,the law may be rejected by the people1 but the officials who drafted the law continue to hold office4 ,the party which brought it in and carried it through the ,legislature is not deemed to have been censured or weakened by the fact of its ultimate rejection4 ,that party spirit is less strong in ,switzerland than in any other free country 7except perhaps ,norway7 may be largely attributed to this disjunction of the deciding voice in legislation from those governmental organs which every political party seeks to control4 ,the ,swiss voter is to-day an exceptionally intelligent and patriotic citizen1 fitter to exercise the function of direct legislation than perhaps any other citizen in ,europe1 and the practice of directly legislating has doubtless helped to train him for the function4 ,it must1 however1 be admitted that the circumstances of that little republic and its cantons are too peculiar to make it safe to draw inferences from ,swiss experience to large countries like ,britain and ,france1 the political life of which is highly centralized4 ,the ,states of your ,union may appear to offer a better field1 and the results of the various experiments which some of them 7such as ,oklahoma7 are trying will be watched with interest by ,europeans4 ,in considering the harm done to civic duty by selfish personal interests we were led to observe that the fewer points of contact between government and the pecuniary interests of private citizens1 the better both for the purity of government and for the conscience of the private citizen4 ,how far government ought to include within its functions schemes for increasing national wealth1 otherwise than by such means 7being means which a government alone can employ because to be effective they must be done on a great scale7 as the improving of education1 the diffusing of knowledge1 the providing means of transportation1 the conservation of natural resources1 and so forth1 may be matter for debate4 ,but at any rate government ought to avoid measures tending to enrich any one person or group of persons at the expense of the citizens generally4 ,common justice requires that4 ,accordingly1 all contracts should be made on the terms best for the public1 and if possible by open bidding4 ,franchises1 if not reserved by the public authority for itself1 should be granted only for limited times and so as to secure the interests of the community1 whether by way of a rent payable to the city or county treasury or otherwise4 ,public employees should not be made into a privileged class1 to which there is given larger pay than other workers of the same class and capacity receive4 ,all bills promoted by a private person1 firm1 or company looking to his or their pecuniary advantage ought to be closely scrutinized by some responsible public authority4 ,in ,england we draw a sharp distinction between such bills and general public legislation1 and we submit the former to a quasi-judicial examination by a ,parliamentary committee in order to avoid possible jobs or scandals or losses to the public4 ,as respects general legislation1 i4 e41 that which is not in its terms local or personal1 it may be difficult or impossible to prevent a law from incidentally benefiting one group or class of men and injuring another4 ,but everything that can be done ought to be done to prevent any set of men from abusing legislation to serve their own interest4 ,if there be truth in what one hears about the groups which in ,france1 ,belgium1 and ,germany have1 through political pressure1 obtained by law bounties benefiting their industries1 or tariffs specially favourable to their own commercial enterprises1 the danger that the general taxpayer1 or the consumer1 may be sacrificed to these private interests1 is a real danger4 ,to remove the occasion and the opportunities for the exercise of such pressure1 which is likely to be often exerted in a covert way and to warp or pervert the legislator's mind1 is to diminish a temptation and to remove a stumbling block that lies in the path of civic duty4 ,whether a man be in theory a ,protectionist or a ,free ,trader1 whether or not he desires to nationalize public utilities1 he must recognize the dangers incident to the passing of laws which influential groups of wealthy men may have a personal interest in promoting or resisting1 because they offer a prospect of gain sufficiently large to make it worth while to 8get at0 legislatures and officials4 ,such dangers arise in all governments4 ,that which makes them formidable in democracies is the fact that the interest of each individual citizen in protecting himself and the public against the selfish groups may be so small an interest that everybody neglects it1 and the groups get their way4 ,as we have been considering improvements in the machinery of government1 this would be a fitting place for a discussion of what you call ,primary ,election ,laws1 which are intended both to reduce the power of party organizations and to stimulate the personal zeal of the voter by making it easier for him to influence the selection of a candidate4 ,we have1 however1 in ,europe1 nothing corresponding to the ,primary ,laws of ,american ,states1 nothing which recognizes a political party as a concrete body1 nothing which deals with the mode of selecting candidates2 and many of you doubtless know better than ,i do what has been the effect of these ,american enactments and whether they have really roused the ordinary citizen to bestir himself and to assert his independence of such party organizations as may have heretofore interfered with it4 ,europeans do not take kindly to the notion of giving statutory recognition to a ,party1 and they doubt whether the astuteness of those whom you call 8machine politicians0 may not succeed in getting hold of the new statutory ,primaries as they did of the old ones4 ,be the merits of the new legislation what they may1 one must hope that its existence will not induce the friends of reform to relax their efforts to reduce in other ways the power of political 8,machines40 ,one obvious expedient to which good citizens may resort for keeping other citizens up to the mark is to be found in the enactment and enforcement of stringent laws against breaches of public trust4 ,i took occasion1 in referring to the practices of bribery and treating at elections1 to note the wholesome effect of the statute passed in ,england in #ahhc for repressing those offences4 ,although ,st4 ,paul has told us that he who is under grace does not need to be under the law1 ,christianity has not yet gone far enough to enable any of us to dispense with the moral force law can exert1 both directly through the penalties it imposes and indirectly through the type of conduct which it exhorts the community to maintain4 ,laws may do much to raise and sustain the tone of all the persons engaged in public affairs as officials or as legislators1 not only by appealing to their conscience1 but by giving them a quick and easy reply to those who seek improper favours from them4 ,a statute may express the best conscience of the whole people and set the standard they approve1 even where the practice of most individuals falls short of the standard4 ,if the prosecuting authorities and the courts do their duty unflinchingly1 without regard to the social position of the offender1 a statute may bring the practice of ordinary men up to the level of that collective conscience of the nation which it embodies4 ,in every walk of life a class of persons constantly subject to a particular set of temptations is apt to form habits1 due to the pressure of those temptations1 which are below what the conscience of the better men in the community approves4 ,the aim of legislation1 as expressing that best conscience of the whole community1 ought to be to correct or extirpate those habits and make each particular class understand that it is not to be excused because it has special temptations and thinks its own sins venial4 ,even the men who yield to the temptations peculiar to their own class are willing to join in condemning those who yield to some other kind of temptation4 ,thus the 8better conscience0 may succeed in screwing up one class after another to a higher level4 ,but the enactment of a law is not enough4 ,it must be strictly enforced4 ,procedure must be prompt4 ,juries must be firm4 ,technicalities must not be suffered to obstruct the march of justice4 ,sentences must be carried out1 else the statute will become1 as statutes often have become1 a record of aspiration rather than of accomplishment4 ,to contrive plans by which the interest of the citizen in public affairs shall be aroused and sustained1 is far easier than to induce the citizen to use and to go on using1 year in and year out1 the contrivances and opportunities provided for his benefit4 ,yet it is from the heart and will of the citizen that all real and lasting improvements must proceed4 ,in the words of the ,gospel1 it is the inside of the cup and platter that must be made clean4 ,the central problem of civic duty is the ethical problem4 ,indifference1 selfish interests1 the excesses of party spirit1 will all begin to disappear as civic life is lifted on to a higher plane1 and as the number of those who1 standing on that higher plane1 will apply a strict test to their own conduct and to that of their leaders1 realizing and striving to discharge their responsibilities1 goes on steadily increasing until they come to form the majority of the people4 ,what we have called 8the better conscience0 must be grafted on to the 8wild stock0 of the natural ,average ,man4 ,how is this to be done8 ,the difficulty is the same as that which meets the social reformer or the preacher of religion4 ,one must try to reach the ,will through the ,soul4 ,the most obvious way to begin is through the education of those who are to be citizens1 moral education combined with and made the foundation for instruction in civic duty4 ,this is a task which the ,swiss alone among ,european nations seem to have seriously undertaken4 ,here in ,america it has become doubly important through the recent entrance into your community of a vast mass of immigrants1 most of them ignorant of our language1 still more of them ignorant1 not only of your institutions1 but of the general principles and habits of free government4 ,most of them doubtless belong to races of high natural intelligence1 and many of them have the simple virtues of the peasant4 ,you are providing for all of them good schools1 and their children will soon become ,americans in speech and habits1 quite patriotic enough so far as flag-waving goes4 ,but they will not so soon or so completely acquire your intellectual and moral standard1 or imbibe your historical and religious traditions4 ,there is no fear but what they will quickly learn to vote4 ,to some ,europeans you seem to have been overconfident in intrusting them with a power which most of them cannot yet have learned to use wisely4 ,that however you have done1 and as you hold that it cannot now be undone1 your task must now be to teach them1 if you can1 to understand your institutions1 to think about the vote they have to give1 and to realize the responsibilities which the suffrage implies as these were realized by your ,new ,england forefathers when they planted free commonwealths in the wilderness nearly three centuries ago4 ,valuable as instruction may be in fitting the citizen to comprehend and judge upon the issues which his vote determines1 there must also be the will to apply his knowledge for the public good4 ,what appeal shall be made to him8 ,we--,i say 8we0 because this is our task in ,europe no less than it is yours here--we may appeal to his enlightened self-interest1 making self-interest so enlightened that it loses its selfish quality4 ,we can remind him of all the useful work which governments may accomplish when they are conducted by the right men in the right spirit4 ,take1 for instance1 the work to be performed in those cities wherein so large and increasing a part of the population now dwell4 ,how much remains to be done to make cities healthier1 to secure better dwellings for the poor1 to root out nests of crime1 to remove the temptations to intemperance and gambling1 to bring within the reach of the poorest all possible facilities both for intellectual progress and for enjoying the pleasures of art and music6 ,how much may we do so to adorn the city with parks and public buildings as to make its external aspect instil the sense of beauty into its inhabitants and give them a fine pride in it6 ,these are some of the tasks which cannot safely be intrusted to a municipality unless its government is above suspicion1 unless men of probity and capacity are placed in power1 unless the whole community extends its sympathy to the work and keeps a vigilant eye upon all the officials4 ,municipal governments cannot be encouraged to own public utilities so long as there is a risk that somebody may own municipal governments4 ,have we not here a strong motive for securing purity and efficiency in city administration8 ,is it not the personal interest of every one of us that the city we dwell in should be such as ,i have sought to describe8 ,nothing makes more for happiness than to see others around one happy4 ,the rich residents need not grudge--nor indeed would your rich residents grudge1 for there is less grumbling among the rich tax payers here than in ,europe--taxation which they could see was being honestly spent for the benefit of the city4 ,the interest each one of us has as a member of a city or a nation in seeing our fellow-citizens healthy1 peaceful1 and happy is a greater interest1 if it be measured in terms of our own real enjoyment of life1 than is that interest1 of which we so constantly are reminded1 which we have in making the ,state either wealthy by the development of trade1 or formidable to foreign countries by its armaments4 ,we may also appeal to every citizen's sense of dignity and self-respect4 ,we may bid him recollect that he is the heir of rights and privileges which you and our ancestors fought for1 and which place him1 whatever his birth or fortune1 among the rulers of his country4 ,he is unworthy of himself1 unmindful of what he owes to the ,constitution that has given him these functions1 if he does not try to discharge them worthily4 ,these considerations are no doubt familiar to us ,englishmen and ,americans1 though we may not always feel their force as deeply as we ought4 ,to the new immigrants of whom ,i have already spoken they are unfamiliar2 yet to the best among these also they have sometimes powerfully appealed4 ,you had1 in the last generation1 no more high-minded and patriotic citizen than the ,german exile of #ahdi1 the late ,mr4 ,carl ,schurz4 ,when every motive has been invoked1 and every expedient applied that can stimulate the sense of civic duty1 one never can feel sure that the desired result will follow4 ,the moral reformer and the preacher of religion have the same experience4 ,the ebbs and flows of ethical life are beyond the reach of scientific prediction4 ,there are times of awakening1 8times of refreshing from the presence of the ,lord10 as your ,puritan ancestors said1 but we do not know when they will come nor can we explain why they come just when they do4 ,every man can recall moments in his own life when the sky seemed to open above him1 and when his vision was so quickened that all things stood transfigured in a purer and brighter radiance1 when duty1 and even toil done for the sake of duty1 seemed beautiful and full of joy4 ,you remember ,wordsworth's lines-- 8,hence1 in a season of fair weather1 ,though inland far we be1 ,our souls have sight of that celestial sea ,that brought us hither40 ,if we survey the wide field of ,european history1 we shall find that something like this happens with nations also4 ,they1 too1 have moments of exaltation1 moments of depression4 ,their ideals rise and fall4 ,they are for a time filled with a spirit which seeks truth1 which loves honour1 which is ready for self-sacrifice2 and after a time the light begins to fade from the hills and this spirit lingers only among the best souls4 ,such a spirit is sometimes evoked by a great national crisis which thrills all hearts4 ,this happened to ,england or at least to a large part of the people of ,england1 in the seventeenth century4 ,it happened to ,germany in the days of the ,war of ,liberation1 and to ,italy when she was striving to expel the ,austrians and the petty princes who ruled by ,austria's help4 ,you here felt it during the ,war of ,secession4 ,sometimes1 and usually at one of these crises1 a great man stands out who helps to raise the feeling of his people and inspire them with his own lofty thoughts and aims4 ,such a man was ,mazzini1 seventy years ago in ,italy4 ,such were ,washington and ,lincoln1 the former more by his example than by his words1 the latter by both1 yet most by the quiet patience1 dignity1 and hopefulness which he showed in the darkest hours4 ,nations respond to the appeal which such a man makes to their best instincts4 ,he typifies for the moment whatever is highest in them4 ,unhappily1 with nations as with individuals1 there is apt to be a relapse from these loftier moods into the old common ways when selfish interest and trivial pleasures resume their sway4 ,there comes a sort of reaction from the stress of virtue and strenuous high-soaring effort4 ,everything looks gray and dull4 ,the divine light has died out of the sky4 ,this1 too1 is an oft-repeated lesson of ,european history4 ,yet the reaction and decline are not inevitable4 ,when an individual man has been raised above himself by some spiritual impulse1 he is sometimes able to hold the ground he has won4 ,his will may have been strengthened4 ,he has learnt to control the meaner desires4 ,the impulse that stirred him is not wholly spent1 because the nobler thoughts and acts which it prompted have become a habit with him4 ,so1 too1 with a nation4 ,what habits are to the individual man1 that1 to a nation1 are its ,traditions4 ,they are the memories of the ,past turned into the standards of the ,present4 ,high traditions go to form a code of honour1 which speaks with authority to the sense of honour4 ,whoever transgresses that code is felt to be unworthy of the nation1 unfit to hold that place in its respect and confidence which the great ones of the days of old have held4 ,pride in the glorious foretime of the race and in its heroes sustains in the individual man who is called to public duty1 the personal pride which makes him feel that all his affections and all his emotions stand rooted in the sense of honour1 which is1 for the man and for the nation1 the foundation of all virtue4 ,we have seen in our own time1 in the people of ,japan1 a striking example of what the passionate attachment to a national ideal can do in war to intensify the sense of duty and self-sacrifice4 ,a similar example is held up to us by those who have recorded the earlier annals of ,rome4 ,the deepest moral they teach is the splendid power which the love of ,rome and the idea of what her children owed to her exercised over her great citizens1 enabling them to set shining examples of devotion to the city which the world has admired ever since4 ,each example evoked later examples in later generations1 till at last in a changed community1 its upper class demoralized by wealth and power even more than it was torn by discord1 its lower classes corrupted by the upper and looking on their suffrage as a means of gain1 the ancient traditions died out4 ,whoever1 studying the conditions of modern ,european democracies1 sees the infinite fatalities which popular government in large countries full of rich men and of opportunities for acquiring riches1 offers for the perversion of government to private selfish ends1 will often feel that those ,european ,states which have maintained the highest standard of civic purity have done it in respect of their ,traditions4 ,were these to be weakened1 the fabric might crumble into dust4 ,every new generation as it comes up can make the traditions which it finds better or worse4 ,if its imagination is touched and its emotions stirred by all that is finest in the history of its country1 it learns to live up to the ideals set before it1 and thus it strengthens the best standards of conduct it has inherited and prolongs the reverence felt for them4 ,the responsibility for forming ideals and fixing standards does not belong to statesmen alone4 ,it belongs1 and now perhaps more largely than ever before1 to the intellectual leaders of the nation1 and especially to those who address the people in the universities and through the press4 ,teachers1 writers1 journalists1 are forming the mind of modern nations to an extent previously unknown4 ,here they have opportunities such as have existed never before1 nor in any other country1 for trying to inspire the nation with a love of truth and honour1 with a sense of the high obligations of citizenship1 and especially of those who hold public office4 ,of the power which the daily press exerts upon the thought and the tastes of the people through the matter it scatters among them1 and of the grave import of the choice it has always and everywhere to make between the serious treatment of public issues and that cheap cynicism which so many readers find amusing1 there is no need to speak here4 ,you know better than ,i do how far those who direct the press realize and try to discharge the responsibilities which attach to their power4 ,the observer who seeks to discern and estimate the forces working for good or evil that mark the spirit and tendencies of an age1 finds it easiest to do this by noting the changes which have occurred within his own memory4 ,to-day everyone seems to dwell upon the growth not only of luxury1 but of the passion for amusement1 and most of those who can look back thirty or forty years find in this growth grounds for discouragement4 ,i deny neither the fact nor the significance of the auguries that it suggests4 ,but let us also note a hopeful sign manifest during the last twenty years both here and in ,england4 ,it is the diffusion among the educated and richer classes of a warmer feeling of sympathy and a stronger feeling of responsibility for the less fortunate sections of the community4 ,there is more of a sense of brotherhood1 more of a desire to help1 more of a discontent with those arrangements of society which press hardly on the common man than there was forty years ago4 ,this altruistic spirit which is now everywhere visible in the field of private philanthropic work1 seems likely to spread into the field of civic action also1 and may there become a new motive power4 ,it has already become a more efficient force in legislation than it ever was before4 ,we may well hope that it will draw more and more of those who love and seek to help their fellow-men into that legislative and administrative work whose opportunities for grappling with economic and social problems become every day greater4 ,here in ,america ,i am told in nearly every city ,i visit that the young men are more and more caring for and bestirring themselves to discharge their civic duties4 ,that is the best news one can hear4 ,surely no country makes so clear a call upon her citizens to work for her as yours does4 ,think of the wide-spreading results which good solid work produces on so vast a community1 where everything achieved for good in one place is quickly known and may be quickly imitated in another4 ,think of the advantages for the development of the highest civilization which the boundless resources of your territory provide4 ,think of that principle of the ,sovereignty of the ,people which you have carried further than it was ever carried before and which requires and inspires and1 indeed1 compels you to endeavour to make the whole people fit to bear a weight and discharge a task such as no other multitude of men ever yet undertook4 ,think of the sense of fraternity1 also without precedent in any other great nation1 which binds all ,americans together and makes it easier here than elsewhere for each citizen to meet every other citizen as an equal upon a common ground4 ,one who1 coming from the ,old ,world1 remembers the greater difficulties the ,old ,world has to face1 rejoices to think how much1 with all these advantages1 the youth of ,america1 such youth as ,i see here to-night in this venerable university1 may accomplish for the future of your country4 ,nature has done her best to provide a foundation whereon the fabric of an enlightened and steadily advancing civilization may be reared4 ,it is for you to build upon that foundation4 ,free from many of the dangers that surround the ,states of ,europe1 you have unequalled opportunities for showing what a high spirit of citizenship--zealous1 intelligent1 disinterested--may do for the happiness and dignity of a mighty nation1 enabling it to become what its founders hoped it might be--a model for other peoples more lately emerged into the sunlight of freedom4 ,transcriber's ,note ,page #dh3 8,americans0 was printed as 8,ameritans01 and changed here1 presuming it was a typographical error4