Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1890-03-08
FAMILY GOVERNMENT.
Too Much OF 1t Almost as bad ~ n II
tai Absence OF Authority.

Too Much OF 1t Almost as Bad ~ u To-
tai Absence OF Authority.
Every body has probably observed
at some time the hardshiIs and in
equalities that result from spasmodic
endorsements OF the law, and from the
enactment OF unnecessary or ill-con-
sidered laws. Law-malting is. or
ought to be, a science. but as II is in
trusted to men with ne special training
for the business, much of the legisla-
ton 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 fire-escape
laws promptly enacted after some
great conhagration and loss OF life,
made unnecessarily narrow and
rigid in their requirements, re-
sisted on that account and
ultimately neglected. Frequent
examples are also found in
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 systematically after the
custom of violating them has become
established, and when it is q 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 fire.
quently noted and commented upon,
but it is not so generally noticed that
precisely similar faults are sometimes
committed by business men, by edu-
Gators and by parents. The employeroi
labor issues unnecessary rules, neglects
to enforce them, issues new rules, and
through his own administrative neg
iect 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, a gross
violation, or an accident resulting
therefrom, turns his attention to the
subject and he becomes a strict dis.
ciplinarian. There is no doubt thai
his rules have been d%isobeyed; that i:
his excuse for harsh measures. There
is just as little doubt on the part o
his employees that he is unjust in over
turning long-established customs, an(
hence results a trade dispute Difficult
to settle. The unwise teacher in
similar way issues so many direction
and fails to have them obeyed that hi
school is without discipline, and whel
he tries to enforce order he appears il
the light of a petty tyrant. Tn
parent also needs to study tn
science of government. that he ma,
apply its principles in the famil.
circle. If he issues orders without du
consideration, is sometimes careles
about requiring obedience, sometime
rigid in his demands. his children viii
grow up without due respect for hi
authority. In the family, us in tn
State, only reasonable laws or rules 0
conduct should be made, but thes
should be strictly enforced. 1t is pain
full to observe a parent giving unneces
sary directions to a child and the
yielding to the latter's persuasion {
resistance-painful because of the ba
effect such experience must have upo
the child. Unconsciously he learn
that by cajolery or rebellion he ma
obtain his own way; he becomes Sc.
fish and imperious, and as he grows j
years gets altogether beyond the COZ
troll of his irresolute parent. Tc
much government is quite as bad G
none at all. The happy mean
reached when the laws of the State {
of the family are only those necessar
to the orderly administration of affair
when they are founded upon reasc
: and are impartially enforced. Consi,
Grafton of this principle may furnis
, a guide to parents who sincerely d
-, sire the welfare of their children. b,
who endanger it by too great indu
gence on the one hand or too great s
!, verify and discipline on the othe
Child nature should be allowed to u
= fold naturally as the flower bloom
o guided, it may be, trained, protecte
= but not forced. Baltimore Sun.