Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-02
WOULD PUT LICENSE
ON ALL u. S. POLITICIANS
Relief From Mediocrity and Gaining Of
Trained Men for Public Life,
Philosophers Plea.

| therefore. a count OF noses must O.
| tabliSh any truth and sanctify any
custom. No sensible business man
| believes that all men are of equel
value in the business world or I'm the
world OF science. But we proceed on
/ that tremendous error in the political
| world.
las we have extended our suffrage
and believed implicitly in the equal
value of all men politically, it was but
natural that the lowest elements in
our society should dictate the caliber
of our public men. A wide suffrage
values those things which come only
within the comprehension OF the av
erage man. 1t builds motion picture
palaces and thinks they are Parthe-
mons. II the Athenian Assembly had
| had it's way there would have been
no Parthenons at all"
"Well, what's to be done about II?
Should we curtail the suffrage? IL we
allow only those intellectually quail
| fed to vote, then we may get an
intellectual product into Office"
| inquired.
''L used to think that education
might help; that if we lavished wealth
on education we might hope for
an intelligent electorate. But / have
observed what devilish tricks the
birth rate plays with education. The
minority acquire education, and have
small families; the majority have no
| time for education and have large
| families. There Is, in consequence. a
4 sort of perennial futility in liberalism
the propaganda of intelligence can
not keep pace with the propagation OF
the ignorant.
Training Our Servants.
| "The way out" said DIR. Durant
lis to compel our public officers TO be
trained before they can be eligible Tor
| public office. The American people
would not stand for any restriction OF
| the suffrage. They would not stand
/ for any abolition OF the elective prfn-
| ciple. / propose to keep our wide
suffrage and the elective principle.
but to change the kind of candidate
who presents himself for election.
To-day we do not permit an un-
I trained doctor to operate on a person.
We do not allow an unframed lawyer
| to represent a client. We do not allow
an unframed engineer to build a
| bridge. We do not allow unskilled
drivers to operate cars. All or these
must pass examinations. They must
have gone through some test OF their
fitness before they can undertake
work that vitality effects the welfare
of people.
"This wasn't always so. Originally
every man was his own physician ana
every household prescribed It's own
drugs. But as medical knowledge
grew 1t became impossible for the
average individual to keep up with
medical progress. A special class Of
persons grew up who gave all OF their
| hours to the study OF medicine, ana
they became in time licensed physi.
clans The same evolution Is true OF
the law. At one time every man was
his own lawyer. He came into court
and pied his own case. Then the
law became too involved and a speclaI
class grew up called lawyers. once
| the state was comparatively simpie
affair. No special knowledge was re-
ouired to be public official. But
| that was before science had Deeh
awakened. Today the state requires
much knowledge in its daily func-
tons.
Political License Bureaus.
''Now. why shouldn't we REQUIRE
our politicians to be licenseoE VIZ!
| shouldn't we refuse to let them oper-
| ate on the commonwealth until they
| have been properly trained? why
not a school for political administra-
ton? Why permit Legislator TO pass
| on an economic measure when ne
| knows nothing but plumbing, any
more than we would let a surgeon
! operate who knew only about car
1 pentry?
"Such a school would not be place
| for abstract discussion. 1t would not
have futile discussion of philosophical
| subleties but would look upon the
| problems of the city not as street
| corner statesman might but as a sci
| enlist would, or as an executive
| whose traininS. and ability have made
| him see administration as an art.
1.-The next step would be to permit
| only graduates of such training To
offer themselves for public once. Inc
| choice of the people would be re
stricted to them but unrestricted
| among them. Then. for final re-
| quirement, no trained administrator
would be eligible to higher office
who had not been twice elected to
| lower one. Only successful mayors
could offer themselves for governor
and only successful governors for the
Presidency. Such a system would be
the beginning of the creation of as
nearly as possible q foolproof democ-
racy.'"
"But isn't it possible that such
trained men would be corrupt-per
haps as corrupt as the old-fashioned
saloon Politician 1 asked, as a part
ing question.
"In substituting our universities
for our saloons and hotels as
a medium of nomination we must
not forget that graduates can be cor
rupted, too. But it is a question of
degree. l think a man who goes
through a long and laborious scientific
training is more proof against cor
ruption than one who does not. He
is likely to take more pride in his
work. There is a higher standard by
and large among scientists than
among politicians. Let us move up"
Copyright. q. p. G. News Service, 1927