Problems in American Democracy | Page 4

Heber Smith, member of the Massachusetts Bar, and author
of the admirable _Justice and the Poor._
J. P. Warbasse, President of the Coöperative League of America, went
over the
Chapter on
Profit Sharing and Coöperation painstakingly.
The
Chapter on
the Negro was criticized helpfully by Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, Editor of
the _Crisis._
W. M. Steuart, Director of the United States Census, kindly supplied
advance figures on the 1920 Census.
The author is also indebted to Houghton Mifflin Company, Ginn and
Company, and the Macmillan Company, either for advance information
on certain of their new books, or for permission slightly to adapt some
of the material appearing in books copyrighted by them.
Lastly, the author is grateful to his wife for valuable assistance in
correcting the proof.
THAMES ROSS WILLIAMSON.
_Cambridge, Mass._
February 7, 1922.

CONTENTS
PART I--FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
CHAPTER
I. The Background of American Democracy
II. The Origin of American Democracy

III. The Development of American Democracy
IV. Essentials of American Constitutional Government
V. The Problems of American Democracy
PART II--AMERICAN ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
A. ECONOMICS OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY
VI. The Nature of American Industry
VII. What is Meant by Production
VIII. Exchanging the Products of Industry
IX. Distributing the Income of Industry
X. Bases of the Capitalistic System
B. PROGRAMS OF INDUSTRIAL REFORM
XI. Single Tax
XII. Profit Sharing and Coöperation
XIII. The General Nature of Socialism
XIV. Militant Socialism: The I. W. W.
XV. Militant Socialism: The Bolshevists
XVI. The Case Against Socialism
XVII. A Democratic Program of Industrial Reform
PART III--AMERICAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS
XVIII. Industrial Relations

XIX. Health in Industry
XX. Immigration and Assimilation
XXI. Crime and Correction
XXII. The Negro
XXIII. The Family
XXIV. Dependency: Its Relief and Prevention
XXV. Rural Life
XXVI. Education
PART IV--AMERICAN POLITICAL PROBLEMS
A. SOME ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT
XXVII. Public Interest in Business: Regulation
XXVIII. Public Interest in Business Ownership
XXIX. The Tariff
XXX. Conservation
XXXI. Credit and Banking
XXXII. Taxation
B. MAKING GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVE
XXXIII. Who Shall Share in Government
XXXIV. The Political Party
XXXV. Choosing the Agents of Government

XXXVI. Honesty and Efficiency in Office
XXXVII. The Extension of Popular Control
XXXVIII. Public Opinion
PART V--THE MECHANISM OF GOVERNMENT
A. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
XXXIX. The Federal System of Government
XL. The President of the United States
XLI. The National Administration
XLIL. Nature and Powers of Congress
XLIII. Congress in Action
XLIV. The Federal Courts
B. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
XLV. Constitutional Basis of State Government
XLVI. The State Executive
XLVII. The State Legislature
XLVIII. The State Courts
XLIX. Municipal Government
L. Rural Local Government
Bibliography
Appendix

The Constitution of the United States
Index

PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

PART I--FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

CHAPTER I
THE BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
1. THE MEANING OF NATIONAL GREATNESS.--We apply the
term greatness to nations that have made substantial contributions to
civilization. By civilization is meant a well-rounded and highly
developed culture, or, to say the same thing in different words, an
advanced state of material and social well-being.
Civilization is so vast and so many-sided that it may receive
contributions in very diverse forms. The invention of the hieroglyphic
system of writing is among the leading achievements of ancient Egypt,
but the art and literature of Greece have been no less conspicuous in the
onward sweep of human progress. The promotion of the science of
navigation by the Phoenicians, and the development of law and
architecture by Rome, illustrate a few of the forms in which peoples
may confer marked benefits upon the world. The advancement of music
and painting by Italy, France, and other European nations, and the
application and expansion of the idea of parliamentary government by
England, are further examples of ways in which nations may earn for
themselves the title of greatness.
2. THE CONDITIONS OF NATIONAL GREATNESS.--In order that
a nation may become great, _i.e._ make some distinct contribution to
civilization, two conditions must be fulfilled.
The first condition of national greatness is that the land under that
nation's control must be encouraging to man's honest, helpful efforts.
[Footnote: As used in this chapter the term "land" is held to include not

only such natural resources as soil, minerals, forests, and bodies of
water, but climate as well.] The vigorous Scandinavians have made
great advances in inhospitable Iceland and Greenland, the French have
reclaimed an important section of Algeria, and the British have worked
wonders with some of the barren parts of Australia; nevertheless, it is
with great difficulty that prosperous communities are developed in
lands relatively barren of natural resources, or unusually severe in
climate.
A high and stable civilization has rarely arisen in the tropics, because
there the overabundance of Nature renders sustained work unnecessary,
while the hot, enervating climate tends to destroy initiative and
ambition. It is no accident that the greatest