The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-30

adopted. Under this revised treatment, conValescence is proceeding slowly but satisfactorily. All that the patient now needs to insure complete recovery is quiet and careful nursing with a firm application of corrective remedies to any Irregularities that may develop. The crisis through which he has passed has been so severe that an immediate return to full Yigor cannot be expected. Time for recuperation will be required, and above all. 1t is important that during this period of convalescence he should be encouraged to recover con fdence in himself.
 Treating the Body Politic.
 In treating the body polite in this period of convaleseence, and in dealing with ills which may affict il in the future, l think we may learn much by studying the methods of physicians in dealing with the ills of the human body. This study would teach us that no system of economic polity can be sound unless 1t is built up on the solid basis of correct fundamental principles. We would learn that the greatest of the early physicians, Hippoerates, laid the cornerstone of medical science when he rejected the superstitions of his age and declared his conviction that all diseases must be scientifically treated as subject 10 natural laws and that it was the duty of the physician to assist nature so that the sick man might cure the disease with the aid of the physician Sound as this Hip pocratic doctrine is now universally ad mitted to be, it was lost sight of by many of the followers of that great physician, and the monastic medicine of the Middle Ages was a mixture Of magic and superstition with the relics of ancient science. Modern medicine dates from the growth of that spirit of skepticism and inquiry which char acterized the first part of the 17th century-a spirit which insisted on demonstration the basis for belief, and on investiga tion as to the opera tion of natural laWs-one of the first fruits of which was Harveys epoch making discovery of the circulation of the blood. From that day onward, the progress of your profession has been steadily upward.
 Skepticism Led To Progress.
 The same spirit of skepticism and in- quiry which led to progress in medicine in the early part of the seventeenth cen utry led to advance in the sciences of government and of economies. It began to dawn upon the minds of some of the more independent thinkers of that age that all human progress was subject to natural laws, rather than to the will of kings. Though the assertion of such doc trnes was at first dangerous, they made headway, until at the close of the eigh- teenth century, with the teaching of Mon tesquieu and Adam Smith before them, our fathers had an opportunity, untram- meled by institutions inherited from the middle ages, to set up a new government in this land. They undertook to frame system which would insure to each indi- vidual the greatest possible protection in his life, liberty, and property and under which there would be the minimum of governmental interference with business, or with the natural operation of economic laws. They were animated by the convic- tion expressed by one of the wisest of them all-Thomas Jefferson-that "agri- culture, manufactures, commerce and navigation. the four pillars of our civili- zation. are most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise" They had wildly in mind the progress of events in France, where one of the causes leading Up to the French revolution, as was afterward pointed out by Buckle, was the exercise by the rulers of that author ity which was mischievous, since it en- abled them, under the notion of protecting commerce, to trouble the freedom of in- dividual action and to prevent trade from running into those profitable channels which traders are best able to select for themselves" The wisdom of the men who founded our system of government on what might be called the Hippocratic sys- tenn of economies has been vindicated by a century of progress such as the world has never seen in any other age, or 1n- any other country. It's success has been so complete that, when propositions are made which would have the effect of practically returning to the seventeenth century system of disregard of natural economic laws, I think we are justified in asking that those who submit these propositions shall demonstrate their wis dom. It is not necessary for them to ask us to make a practical demonstration in our own country, for the history of the past, and the examples of the present in other lands afford illustrations of the re- suits of every possible degree of govern mental restriction of the free operation of economic laws, and I believe that we can safely say that human progress has been greatest and human happiness most widely diffused in those countries and in those times when governmental re- strictions upon the opinions and activities of individuals have been least.
 Conform To Laws.
 Just as the physician insists upon know ing that any newly proposed line of treat ment is in conformity with the natural laws which govern the human body, we should insist upon knowing that any new doctrine as to the regula ton of business conforms to economic laws. If we pursue our inquiries along these lines, 1 believe we will come to the conclusion that, just as in medicine the best results are to be attained by sanitation, so in government the best results are to be attained by con fining governmental activities to what Buckle characterized as "the only two objects at which government ought to aim-the preservation of order and the prevention of crime" In other words, just as by sanitation the physician seeks to remove from the environment of the human body all those external influences which would retard the free and healthful working of natural laws, so, by govern ment, should We seek to prevent those acts of crime, disorder, or injustice, which would prevent the free operation of economic laws.
 Just as in medicine, the public must be educated to the superiority of scientific treatment to incantations or quack nos trums so in public affairs, especially in our country, where the people are the rulers-where we prescribe our own poli- tcal medcine-the adoption of public policies based on sound economic prin-