Arizona republican., 1899-10-25
TENDENCIES in RECENT STATE CON
STITUTIONS.
BY JAMES OUAYLE DEALEY PHI. D.,
Associate Professor of social and Political
Science n Brown University,
Copy lighted 1899 by E Benz Andrews.)

Copy lighted 1899 by Benz. Andrews,)
No one doubts that our country dur
ing its brief history has made
many important contributions to
the worlds civilization. Among
these should be classed it's con-
tribution to the political knowl-
edge and experience of the human race.
Though modern democracy is not de-
rived solely from the United States, yet
here it gained at least its strength and
breadth.
A conservative and tradition bound
race, like the Chinese, may preserve its
governmental forms for centuries with
out serious inconvenience, but mod
ern political community rapidly ex-
banding and developing it's industrial
life must be able to adjust itself quick
ly and wisely to new conditions or it
will be surpassed by a more progress
sive community. In this respect the
American genius for invention, so man.
ifest in industrial life, has shown itself
to advantage in adapting ancient gov
ernmental machinery into forms suited
to modern conditions. For government
is, after all, merely a piece of mechan-
ism which may become old fashioned,
which is ever capable of improvement,
and which may be regulated and con-
trolled with skill and honesty or the
reverse.
Governmental machinery in different
countries may be the private possession
of an autocrat a family or a narrow
-oligarchy; but in the United
States, since the declaration of indie
pendence, the whole people has been
considered the ultimate source of pow
er. If, for practical convenience, the
term people be defined so as to include
only those citizens that have suffrage.
it is obvious that the control of the
people over the machinery of govern
ment is more theoretical than real. De-
Votion to private business, lack of in
terest in public affairs, ignorance of po-
litical principles all tend to throw the
management of government into a few
hands not always the most capable and
honest. Yet a study of the present
tendencies will show that intelligent
and honorable citizens are taking part
in governmental affairs as never be-
fore; that antiquated methods and
worn-out customs are yielding place to
modern methods and new devices; and
that the people, through the press and
the ballot, are using their power more
and more vigorously in the direction OF
securing the general interests of the
whole rather than the particular inter-
estS of the few. Present indications
lead one to believe that, despite the
dismal forebodings of foreign critics
and the corrupt condition of much of
our politics, the day is rapidly coming
when the democratic ideal, so we'll set
forth in Lincoln's Gettysburg speech,
will at last be realized and these Unit
ed States prove to be indeed a gov
- %1,1
and for the people"
Of the many changes introduced by
the fathers of the revolution two are
at this time especially worthy of study;
first, the written constitution and, sec
ond, the federal system, which is made
up of a centralized and powerful ma
tional government, combined with local
state governments having full powers
of self-rule in domestic affairs. This
federal system allows full play to the
individuality of each state and at the
same time unites the strength of all for
common purposes. The written consti-
tuition guarantees the rights of the peo-
Pile against possible governmental tyr
amy and yet renders government
stable by removing from the people the
power to alter at moments whim the
fundamental law of the land.
never been seriously questioned by
American students. Our country is too
great it's wealth too vast and its pop
ulation too aggressive to justify CEN
tralized control over local affairs, how
ever wise and benevolent the govern
ment might be. AS it is, each state
regulates at will its own interests. Its
government, as it pleases. may be wise
or foolish, radical or conservative, ia
vor manufactures or agriculture, but so
long as it attends to its own business
and administers it's own affairs, sub
ject, of course, to the limitations set
forth in the national constitution, no
other political power in the country
dare interfere, however much it may
feel aggrieved. Illustrations of this
could easily be multiplied by comparing
state legislation in respect to such
matters as corporations, trusts, quasi
public monopolies, or such questions as
suffrage, labor, divorce or lynching.
These differences, irritating at times,
are yet far preferable to a compulsory
uniformity. For democracy and good
government in the long run are best
attained by allowing each state to work
out it's own salvation as best it can,
suffering when it blunders and pros
pering when its citizens elect farseeing,
capable and honest men to govern the
state. The system allows varying laws
for varying interests; it allows expert
ments in government, the benefit OF
which is ultimately shared by all. Most
important, perhaps, it develops among
citizens a feeling of personal response
bility and political alertness. without
which democracy of the English
American type would prove failure.
The federal system is certainly one of
the wisest political devices of the faith
ers, and its adaptability to modern
conditions is seen in its adoption,
among others, by such important states
as Mexico, Germany and Great Brit
ain in Canada and now in Australia.
The principle of the written constitu-