New-York tribune., 1885-08-16
a GLIMPSE OF POSSIBILITIES.

The ideal government mas noV yco ooo" "V
tained. and it may be mildly but conhdentiy
stated that there is no present prospect that
the ideal government will be reached during
tbe next four wears. There may be some satls-
faction. however, in considering what it is, and
how fine It will be when we do get 1t.
The ideal government will not be cheaper than
tbe nresent. Either self-government is good
investment, or it is not. II it is, II the money
which the people expend in their corporate
capacity Yields larger harvest of practical
results for the benefit of the people as whole
than the money which they spend through cor
norations or as individuals, then 1t is safe 10
saw that as the people become more Intelligent
and comprehend better what they need. they
will insist that the public servants shall serve
the public more efficiently. Reform will be ID
the direction of larger aud better service; not
of fewer servants OF more stingy pay III any
machinery of reform will secure better practical
service. the people will insist upon 1t ana get
it if not, not. Theorists worship forms ana
formulas the people want results.
The ideal government will help the people IN
q great many ways, through the more active
and efficient service of men who have now
little or nothing to do. 1t will begin by pro-
noting the peoples industry more effectively.
The ideal government will not be affected
with any fear that it may offend
some British professor, or some American
imitation of British pr Ofessor, or some
foreign manufacturer or importer, III de-
Tending the industry of the people. Neither
will il have political wrecks or incompetents
like Mr.. Kelley floating about in foreign lands
like chips on the water, in place OF men who can
mtelligently and with trained capacity collect
information of value to our manufacturers and
merchants.
The ideal government Will serve the people
more usefully by collecting information than
nv fostering any political organization. In the
selection of country postmaster, for example,
it will not be so anxious to find man who can
helm party as to find man who can report
intelligently and promptly all about the lapor
and the products in his neighborhOod. In pick
ing out officials, 1t will not be 80 anxious TO Sc
lect professional reformers as to get men VINO
can secure for labor in all parts Of the country
the earliest information of facts that are OF
practical use to it.
Perhaps the ideal government is long way
off. But the time will come when the produc-
tions of industry in this great country will be
reported as regularly, month by month and
season by season, through official channels, as
the imports or the exports of those products.
The time will come when the IRON worker may
know every month whether the products OF his
industry are increasing beyond the demand
and so can the cotton spinner, and
so can the weaver of wool. The
time will come when the tools OF specula-
tors, who afilict the public every year with
fraudulent crop reports, will be out of date for
official returns more complete and more reli-
able than any that individual enterprise can
| obtain will be gathered by the government
and made public as promptly as possible.
The time will come when from every part of
the country the wages paid in different branches
| of labor will be reported regularly and
promptly, and when if there is demand for
| labor of a particular sort in any quar-
| ter, the news of that demand shall
be made public through official channels with
out delay. The time will come when the num-
Der of y unemployed, in different branches of
industr,, will be made known to those in other
parts of the country who want to engage such
| labor.
| All these things could be done to-day,
with no more public servants than we have
now in Office, if only the men chosen were suf-
| ficiently intelligent and rightly trained, and
directed by wise laws, and required to serve
| the country rather than any party.