Problems in American Democracy

Problems in American
Democracy

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Title: Problems in American Democracy
Author: Thames Ross Williamson
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PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
BY
THAMES ROSS WILLIAMSON
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY IN
SMITH COLLEGE; EDITOR OF "READINGS IN AMERICAN
DEMOCRACY."
_Problems are the growing pains of civilization, offering opportunities
for personal achievement and pointing the way to national progress._

TO
My Mother
WHOSE NAME APPEARS IN NO HALL OF FAME, BUT WHOSE
LIFE IS AN UNBROKEN RECORD OF SERVICE TO HER HOME
AND TO HER COUNTRY [Blank Page]

PREFACE
There is an increasing demand for a textbook which will bring the
student into direct contact with the great current issues of American life,
and which will afford practical training to those who soon must grapple
with the economic, social, and political problems of our own time. It is
with the hope of meeting such a demand that this text has been
prepared.
The plan of the book calls for a word of explanation. It is poor

pedagogy to expect the student to attack the defects of American life,
and at the same time to place in his hands a book which deals
predominantly with the mechanism of government. As well send a boy
to a hardware store to buy tools before he is told whether he is to make
a mouse-trap or a boat. Furthermore, to spend much more time on the
mechanism of government than on the actual problems of democracy is
a mistake in emphasis. Government is a means, not an end. It is a tool
by means of which we attack and solve our problems.
Therefore the student of this text begins, not with the mechanism of
government, but with the historical background of American
democracy, its origin, development, and promise for the future.
Following this is a brief survey of the economic life of the nation,
because that economic life constitutes the fundamental basis of our
problems. Considerable space has been devoted to a problem growing
directly out of economic conditions, _i.e._ the question of social justice
or industrial reform. This is the most pressing question before any
modern people, but strangely enough one which heretofore has been
neglected by our schools.
Because they tend to arise primarily from a bad economic situation,
such social problems as industrial relations, health in industry, and
immigration are next considered. From social problems the text passes
to the economic and social functions of government, and thence to the
question of making government effective. The mechanism of
government has been placed last, and for the reason already given,
_i.e._ because a knowledge of the framework of government is
valuable only after the citizen knows something of the needs which that
mechanism must be made to fill.
It has not been easy to compress into a single volume the most
important of our national problems. Obviously, a rigid selection has
been necessary. In this selection the aim has been to discuss the more
important issues of American life, whether economic, social, or purely
political. In dealing with these issues, the attempt has been made to
keep in mind the student's previous preparation; on the other hand, the
civic demands which the future will make upon him have not been
ignored. Some of the problems are difficult, but they are also of vital
importance. Very shortly the student will be confronted, in his
everyday activities, with such puzzling matters as socialism, the control

of immigration, and taxation reform. If the school does not prepare him
to grapple with these questions