The San Francisco call., 1910-06-15

duced the American constitution which
has construed its provisions and foFmu-
lated the laws which have been enacted
and enforced since its creation. To this
conservatism, more than 10 anything
else, Mr.. Bryce points out, is due the
Stablllty OF our government and its in
stitutions. and the success which our
people have achieved in self-g govern
ment. 1t is interesting, therefore, to
consider for a moment whether we are
in danger of losing this conservatism,
whether there are tendencies in pres
ent day legislation, or in reforms re-
Gently proposed, which may carry US
from our moorings to new and strange
seas of political experiments and eX-
pose us to danger of national ship
wreck.
AS ours is a government controlled
inquire what that opinion is and how
il is formed Much has been written
about public opinion as a governmental
and political force, yet we Mhave no
generally accepted definition of the
term; in fact, 1t is a thing most elusive
and most difficult TO define, resembling
and problems of human existence with
which we constantly deal, as well a s
some Of the natural forces with which
physics is concerned If we will but
reflect q moment, however, we will see
that it is the great things of existence
that most perslStently elude analysis
or even description Who, for instance,
has ever given us an adequate defini-
tiOn of life? Yet almost since the
dawn of history, this problem has en-
gagged the most profound intellects, and
today we are no nearer the solution
than we were centuries ago. But the
fact that we can not adequately define
fife does not make it any the less worth
living. And so it is of the phenomena
that lie at the threshold of emotional
and of religious experience, and of the
secret of human personality, and OF
what we call the national spirit, or
the moving impulses of a people. All
these are important forces in human
life, and determining factors in human
development, yet they elude definition
have like difficulties. Who, for exam
pie, has ever satisfactorily defined elec-
tricity? Yet that does not prevent us
from using electricity. nor from recog-
nizing it as one of the greatset physi-
cal forces at the disposition of man.
PUBLIC REASONING
Therefore, though we find it difficult
or even impossible adequately TO define
public opinion. that need not blind us
TO its Importance, nor to the tremen-
dous partyit plays and has always played
in shaping our institutions and in de-
termining the form of our government.
Though we may not say precisely what
public opinion is, i think we can say
with some degree of positiveness what
ii is not. 1t is not, and never was, what
is said or done by the frenzied mob,
and whether the mob is a small.
isolated group of men acting under the
stress of great excitement, or is an en-
tire community in the passing grip OF
the mob spirit, our conclusion must be
the same, that what is done or prompt
ed by the mob spirit can in no proper
sense of the term be said to be a mani
festatiofa of public opinion. We may
then say that public opinion is the op-
posite of the spirit which controls the
mob or goes with any eXcitable, pas
sionate action. I would say that the
must be the result of their serious. de-
liberate thought. Therefore, public
opinion, in the sense in which l use
the term, is the deliberate and rea-
soned judgment of the community.
1t is a curious but significant fact
that our newspapers rarely invoke pub
lie opinion except in times of public
excitement. They then speak of pub
lie opinion demanding" this or that.
They apparently assume that public
opinion-the deliberate, reasoned iudg-
ment of a munity-manifests itself
most Enthusiastically at times of great
show itself at such times, public
caprice. public prejudice, perhaps, but
not public opinion in the true meaning
of that term. We must constantly bear
in mind the great difference between
ptfblic opinion and public clamor, the
former deliberate and reasoned judg-
second thought of a law abiding COM
munity, the latter a momentary or
temporary ebullition of passion or ex-
eitement, hysterical rather than ra-
ing for the best and highest interests of
the community, the other essentially
destructive and transitory, and almost
always at variance with the forces that
make for permanence and stability.
NATIONAL IMPORTANCE
Obviously. then, the formation and
growth of public opinion. of this force
so impalpable yet so powerful for good
or evil, becomes a matter of grave ma
tiOnal Importance. People sometimes
mistakenly imagine that public opinion
is something different from the coll
lectiYe opinion of the individuals who
compose the public; they seem to think
that they have but little part in it's
formation and direction, and that the
only way TO ascertain what it is is to ac-
cept what the newspapers say about it.
Now this passive attitude of the people
in regard to the creation and direction
OF public opinion often leads to their
being deceived is to what it really is.
and sometimes permits small but
clamorous minority temporarily to foist
its views and policies upon the COM
munity.
As matter of fact the formation and
growth of public opinion is an intricate
Imagine. 50 new styles, soft and straw