Omaha daily bee., 1921-04-29
Some Detects of Democracy
Lord Brpee's Criticisms Get
Careful, Critical Consideration
CT. E. c." in Boston Transcript

As Lord Bryce, in his writings about tn
! United States, has never shown lack either c
understanding of OF admiration for our in
stitutions and our national character, we ar
bound to view with respect his summary OF tn
| defects OF our system, IN his recent work o
Modern Democracy Those detects he note
| as follows:
|. State legislatures do not enjoy the con-
tldence OF the people, as is shown by the re-
t strictons imposed upon them, and by the trans
! fer, III many states, OF some OF their powers to
! the citizens acting directly. Congress main
! tans higher level, yet one below that to be
expected OF nation proud OF its institutions
as whole.
,. The civil service with the exception OF
! the scientific branches OF the national govern
| ment, is not yet equal to the tasks which the
extension OF the function of government is i'm
! posing upon it. ,.-
,. The state Judiciary is, in the large ma
jority OF the states, inferior in quality to the
| better part OF the bar that practices before it,
and has in some few states ceased to be re-
spected
A. The administration OF criminal Justice is
slow. uncertain, and III many states so incl
tcctive that offenders constantly escape pun
ishment.
s. The laws are in some states so imper-
fcctly enforced that the security for personal
rights, and to less extent for property right
also, is inadequate.
6. The government of cities, and especially
OF the largest cities, has been incompetent,
wasteful and corrupt.
7. Party organizations, democratic in theory
and in their outward form, have become selfish
ogarchies worked by professional politicians.
8. The tone of public life and the sense that
public service is an honorable public trust,
though now rising, are not yet what THEY
should be in SO great a nation.
9. The power of wealth. and particularly
OF great incorporated companies to influence
h4k lac IL ~.,l ALo. .f..saz &
sit in legislatures and on the judicial bench,
has been formidable
10. Though there are and always have been
in public life some men Of brilliant gifts. the
number OF such persons is less than might be
expected i'll a country where the national issues
before the nation are profoundly important
The statements contained in his summary are
certainly in the main correct, though we fancy
Lord Bryce has not gone to the bottom OF the
matter in one or two instances. In the matter
OF the removal of power from legislatures to the
citizens acting directly, for example, the changes
are not SO much due TO dissatisfaction with the
legislators themselves to the general tendency
to transrute our purely representative republic
into democracy. The tendency is growth,
not an impeachment, OF the democratic idea in
which Lord Bryce continues to affirm his con-
fdence And it is the more marked in the states
than in the affairs of the nation because the laws
OF the states are more readily open to such
changes than those of the naton-because they
are nearest to the peoples hand. But even in
tho affairs OF the nation, in spite of the constitu-
tional difficulties, the change asserts itself,
the constitutional amendment for the popular
election of senator's proves 1t would be impos-
sible moreover, that the state legislators should
be looked to with quite the same degree Of re-
spect as congress, for the reason that the actiyi-
ties of the nation being on broader scale and
much more distinguished attract the highest
minds and the greatest political genius, leaving
9ff ft,e Jdora htafE
gree to the tyros in government.
The civil service is indeed inferior to what it
ought to be, and perhaps it always will be. We
had great hopes. OF the civil service generation
ago, when men like Theodore Roosevelt devoted
themselves to its regeneration But the public
civil service suffers perennialy in this, country
IRON the competition OF business, with its great
prizes. 1t is not so much denocracys fault as
the fault Of democracy's. prosperity. The same
may be said OF the state judiciary in its relation
to the bar. The bar leads to iortune-the bench
only to- dignihed public service inadequately re-
wardeds The condition may we'll produce a
higher grade. OF acunlen at the bar than on the
bench. But 1t does not prevent the bench from
being honorable and, in the main, learned and
sagacious. Justice is indeed slow, and often in
effective. The condition as we'll as the criticism
deserves she attention of the people.
Personal rights and property are in the main
well guarded under our democracy. Do rot
cases where such protection is lacking immed-
ately arouse public attention and indignation?
II the government of Our cities is still corrupt,
we cam nevertheless, prove that on the whole
we have been making progress in this field. Bos-
ton, for example, has introduced several i'm
portant reforms in her city administration in re-
cent years. New York is less corrupt in this
generation than in the last. Yet it is very likely
that the limitations of democracy. in the matter
of city government are perpetual. In the last
analysis democracy is the more emotional. the
more completely governed by feeling, the nearer
it gets to the popular source OF power. The dele
gated national power is the least emotional, the
least subject to spasms and outbursts the state is
more emotional; the city most Of all. In city
elections cool judgment is periodically upset by
personal passions, prejudice. or blind choice
Tammany is the type OF personal basis the rule
of feeling, in the operation of democracy. Wei
shall probably never have ideal city government
and more's the pity.
We are not so sure that Lord Bryce is right
in condenning, in SO sweeping way, our party
organizations as selfish oligarchies. They are
imperfect agencies, but they are generally repre-
sented as worse than they are. After all, their
motive, in board affairs, is good, and the fact
that they must function in obedience to the peo-
pie at least periodically corrects their worst de-
flow quite rise to it: but they do fairly we'll The
tone OF our public life is indeed rising. and per-
haps that is enough to ask Nor is the power
Of wealth. repressve. It is probably declining
We do our share of "muddling along" in this
country, as we'll as the people of other detnoc-
racies. And it IS at least one good sign that We
keep our public. arrangements and proceedings
wide open to criticism II -,
The Way to Quicken Prosperity
When general production costs are brought
down to something approximating prewar costs
wage earrers, like everybody else, will be al the
better off. The production, without which the
f,np act pfl l~xr e1-