Nevada County picayune., 1889-10-30
FAMILY GOVERNMENT.
Tee Much of It Almost as Bad as . To
 tai Absence of Authority.

Tee Much of It Almost as Bad as To tai Absence of Authority.
 Every body has probably observed at some time the hardships and in- capabilities that result from spasmodic endorsements of the law, and from the enactment of unnecessary or ill-con- sidered laws. Law-making is. or ought to be, science. but as it is in trusted to men with no special training for the business, much of the legisla- tion follows no settled principle or scheme of government, but is prepared as some special occasion seems to de- mand, and often under the influence of passions or emotions that prevent calm and reasonable consideration of the measures to be taken. Examples of this may be found in tire-escape laws promptly enacted after some great confagration and loss of lie, made unnecessarily narrow and rigid in their requirements, re- sisted on that account and ultimately neglected. Frequent
  city ordinances passed in great num- Der for the regulation of every thing and every body, and so numerous and exacting that many of them are alto gether forgotten by citizens and the authorities. The mischief to which such ordinances may give rise lies in the fact that, having been neglected and forgotten, they may be discovered and enforced spasmodically after the custom of violating them has become established and when it is hardship to require compliance with them. Such defects in the ordinances of councils and in the laws enacted by State legis- latures and by Congress have been fre- quently noted and commented upon, but it is not so generally noticed that precisely similar faults are sometimes committed by business men, by edu- cators and by parents. The employer of labor issues unnecessary rules, neglects to enforce them, issues new rules, and through his own administrative neg lect leads his employees into the belief, founded on experience, that these rules and regulations amount to nothing, and are not intended to be enforced. Some day, however, gross violation, or an accident resulting therefrom, turns his attention to the subject and he becomes a strict dis ciplinarian There is no doubt that his rules have been disobeyed; that is his excuse for harsh measures. There is just as little doubt on the part Of his employees that he is unjust in over turning long-established customs, and hence results trade dispute difficult to settle. The unwise teacher in a similar way issues so many directions and fails to have them obeyed that his school is without discipline, and when he tries to enforce order he appears in the light of a petty tyrant. The parent also needs to study the science of government, that he may apply it's principles in the family circle. If he issues orders without due consideration, is sometimes careless about requiring obedience, sometimes rigid in his demands, his children will grow up without due respect for his authority. In the family, as in the State, only reasonable laws or rules of conduct should be made, but these should be strictly enforced. It Is pain ful to observe parent giving unneces- sary directions to a child and then yielding to the latter's persuasion of painful because of the bad effect such experience must have upon the child. Unconsciously he learns that by cajolery or rebellion he may obtain his own way; he becomes sell fish and imperious. and as he grows in years gets altogether beyond the con- trol of his irresolute parent Too much government is quite as bad as none at all. The happy mean is reached when the laws of the State or of the family are only those necessary to the orderly administration of affairs; when they are founded upon reason and are impartially enforced. Consid- eration of this principle may furnish guide 10 parents who sincerely de- sire the welfare of their children, but who endanger it by too great indul- gence on the one hand or too great se- verity and discipline on the other Child nature should be allowed to un- fold naturally as the flower blooms, guided, it may be, trained, protected, Do