The herald., 1897-06-06
NOTES ON GOVERNMENT
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sx ABBOT KINNEY

BY ABBo!
Democracy IL the government Of the
people, by the people. for the people.
All civilized countries are more or less
democratic. The more powerful and
productive they are per capita of popu-
lation the more democratic they are In
government.
The name Of a government Is not the
government. The Republic Of vene-
xuela is less democratic from every point
Of view than Is the Kingdom of England
The Republic Of Bolivia is a, despotism
compared to the Kingdom of Holland
All government grew out of the ex-
perience of man that combination gave
could be got by solitary effort. All gov
ernment commenced In communism.
Even marriage was communistic and
by group relation. Security of paternity
was unknown. Name and inheritance
was from the mother.
Two fundamental defects In COM
munism are: first. that the results of
lnuANiuu0l A0DoA QAC AiOt 6CCuAC ~ tiS
laborer and still less to his new life In
his child: second. the inevitable intro
duction Of despotism with the growth Of
communistic society. The first defect
weakened or destroyed the incentive Of
the Individual to labor and progress.
The second produced privilege and IA
voritism in distributing the results
and benefits Of the entire society.
A..y <>s>
less secured to the Individual the results
of his labor.
THE STATES DUES.
The ultimate principle of government
Is just what 1t was when government
commenced All property and all lives
belong to the State. The recognition of
individual ownership in property and
the guarantee of liberty and life are
matters growing out Of the experience
that society becomes richer and stronger
by this means. In war or In any ex-
tremity the State can and does take
what otherwise would be private prop
erty and can and does draft Its individ-
uals to labor and war and places life at
risk. The State may destroy its own
citizens, towns. crops and property to
injure an enemy, or It may take private
property for the general use. The re-
turn of property SO used or the payment
of pensions to surviving heirs of those
killed in the service Of the State or for
injuries received is a matter more OF
policy than of principle. The State as
now constituted does all It can in this
line, but with prolonged wars such as
those of the 80 years in Europe such
action becomes impossible. A couple OF
foreign wars like our Civil War would
render a continuance Of our pension poi
icy absolutely impracticable. If we as
sumo wars in which all our citizens
would be united against q common en-
emy and the one hundred and fifty
millions paid in pensions to one side oi
our Civil War contestants to be doublec
to cover all the national forces we would
have pensions in three wars In one gen.
Grafton aggregating one billion year
This would absorb the entire revenue oi
the national government.
GOVERNMENT AND SCIENCE
There is no science in government
There never has been. Human govern
ment is like Topsy. 1t just growed. We
may add that good deal Of governmen!
has ''just growed" 80 that the record
would be well described by adding the
word turvey to the name Topsy. Neither
a short time ago was there science in
anything. Now we have science OF
chemistry. a science OF astronomy, a
science Of geology, a science Of botany
ETC., etc.
1t Is reasonable then to hope for a
science Of sociology. Herbert Spencer
has laid foundations for 1t. Indeed, his
wonderful work may be properly said
to have created this science.
Social science is unpractised and un-
known in American politics. About that
fact there Is no doubt
We may. however, hold hope for its
introduction. We know that language
and writing have developed according
to laws that are the same and work out
en- similar lines Independently the world
over The recent lectures OF Professor
Fillmore Of Claremont demonstrate that
music Is the result of law in its evolu-
ton the world over and we may believe
that soon the science Of law and gov
ernment, economics and finance will
come to be recognized. In all countries
and, in fact, in all life there are two op-
posite tendencies at work always. The
one progressive, the other reactionary.
PARTY TENDENCIES
In the United States these tendencies
are In a general way represented by
political parties. The issues are, how
ever. constantly confused, because party
division Is upon sentiment or at most
upon measures and not upon definitely
determined principles. Thus one party
may be progressive today and reaction
ary tomorrow. At the present moment
the reactionary party is the Republican
party. Its measures and policies hail
back to communism. It's practice pro-
notes privilege and favor. It's main
doctrine Of protection pretends to deter
mine the profits Of private industry and
distribute the contributions of all taken
for the state to those who are strong
enough and skilled enough to procure
them. In local affairs party lines are
drawn pretty clearly. But this Is merely
for Offices, contracts etc. Principle and
tendency of policy are extremely hazy
in local affairs. Thus we see Republi-
can or Democratic governing bodies
adopt laws and follow policies that have
neither unity, cohesion or reference to
the main tendencies Of the national par
ties. The last legislature Of this state
was Republican, yet 1t passed to the
voters q constitutional amendment per-
mitting counties to form their own local